One of my favorite things to do is building earthworm farms. It is a pretty easy activity that can be a great weekend project. Keeping your earthworm farms is a totally different story though. They can be erratic at best, so it is sometimes very hard to understand what to do. Fortunately, they sometimes drop us a few tips to tell us what they need us to do. Here are a handful of basic problems that I go through with my earthworm farms and what I do to troubleshoot them.The most serious problem I experience, which happens every so often to everyone, is when some of my worms try to escape or even die. Of course this is the most serious problem for any earthworm farmer to experience. earthworms don't think like humans. If their environment isn't perfectly appropriate, they move on to greener pastures as quickly as they can crawl. If your worms are dying or trying to get out, the first thing you need to check is the environment in the earthworm farms and re-examine if it is acceptable for your worms.-If the compost bin is too damp, that is if there is standing water in the bottom, you should confirm that your drainage holes are not congested and add more bedding to help disperse the moisture.-If the compost is very dry inside, simply get a glass of water or a hose and spray down the bedding. Your bedding should be wet enough that when you squeeze it out, you notice a few drops fall.-If the bedding has been completely broken down, your worms will have nothing to live in but their own compost. This is a common reason worms try to escape. Simply gather your compost and add new bedding to your earthworm farms.If your earthworm farms stink, this can be very unpleasant. There are a few reasons that cause this and a few things you can do to try to clear up the air in your compost bin.-The first thing you should do is check the moisture level in your bin. Sometimes if your compost bin is too moist it will cause odors. If the water content is high, verify that your drainage holes are not clogged and add more bedding.-The next thing you should check is how much garbage is in your earthworm farms. If you are adding food faster than your worms can decompose it, the food will deteriorate and start to rot from bacteria. Simply remove some of the food and slow down how quickly you add food.-If these methods don't work, drill more holes in the top of your compost bin to allow for more aeration.Possibly the most common concern I see about earthworm farms is about fruit flies. Stopping fruit flies from hanging around your earthworms is a very easy thing to deal with. They are there because they can smell the food inside your compost bin. When you add waste to your earthworm farms, dig a hole down into the bedding, place the food, and bury it. By burying the waste, you stop the smell from escaping the compost bin.
Article Source: http://www.articlecontentprovider.com/articlesubmit
Building earthworm farms can be a simple and fun activity. Still, there are several problems that can go wrong when you're trying to run an ecosystem.
For years I have been building and maintaining earthworm farms. I am always running into these issues myself, but if you listen to your worms you will know exactly what to do. If you are interested in learning more, check out this website about earthworm farms: earthworms. Get a Unique Version of this Article Article Marketing
Please Rate this Article
5 out of 5 4 out of 5 3 out of 5 2 out of 5 1 out of 5