Seasonal changes affect the way one raises their red worms. When winter arrives we concentrate on keeping our red worms warm. It is much easier when raising red worms to keep a worm bin warm than trying to keep it cool enough during the warmer months.

Moving from the summer through fall and into winter is actually easier since even though the temperatures drop, so does humidity. Once summer arrives the humidity rises in most parts of the country which can make your red worm bin become an oven similar to roasting a roast.

Even if you live in areas such as Arizona where the temperatures are hot but the humidity remains low, remember your worm bin has trapped moisture within it, hence creating humidity within the worm environment.

Another reason why it becomes easier to raise red worms during the cooler months is the fact many are composting by throwing in loads of food scraps such as vegetables. This helps to heat up the worm bin which works fine during the winter.

During the transition from winter to spring, things begin to heat up. While adding plenty of nitrogen rich, green products, such as leftover vegetable scraps work well during colder, drier months, this can prove detrimental when transitioning from winter to spring into summer.

Raising red worms and transitioning from winter to spring can be relatively simple if you approach it properly.

Start by making sure your worm bin does not have too much moisture. Moisture and heat do not mix when it comes to raising red worms. A soil moisture meter can be purchased at most hardware, home improvement and even discount stores this time of year. A good year round moisture percentage to maintain is 60% to 70%.

I know many people purchase a worm farm of one sort or another offering a spigot at the bottom by which is advertised to produce worm tea. First, this is not worm tea but rather leachate, which can be anaerobic and detrimental to your worms. Leachate can be full of detrimental anaerobic microbes rather than beneficial aerobic microbes hence why landfills for example need to build retainers to catch the leachate to prevent run off into local soil and drinking wells. If you are producing liquid within your worm bin this time of year as well as during the summer months there is a good chance you will kill off your red worms.

To reduce the heat within your red worm bin, slow down on the green products and begin adding more brown which are carbon products. Carbon products consist of shredded newspaper and cardboard for one. These products will not generate nearly as much heat within your worm bin as green products do. At the same time they do not increase the moisture content but rather absorb it. Green products not only generate heat but also produce moisture content.

Certain vegetables produce more moisture than others. This is a good time of year to avoid melons and vegetables such as cucumbers for a while.

If you are raising red worms in a garage or basement that becomes hot during the summer months, now is the time to start thinking about where you can move them to. Garages that reach even 80 degrees Fahrenheit will end up cooking your worms as the internal temperature of the worm bin will exceed this.

Think of a sauna and how the steam literally heats up within the room and makes you hot. The same holds true when raising red worms within the worm bin and the heat and moisture content builds up within.

If raising your red worms outside, now is the time to find a nice shady spot for them if you have not done so already. Direct sun on the worm bin will bake your worms quickly and leave a foul odor.

Heading these precautions will save you and your red worms much aggravation and are the same guidelines used at Red Worms For Sale worm farm to insure healthy red worms. For additional information on raising red worms, be sure to sign up for the Worm Composting Newsletter!

The result was that the red wigglers avoided the computer paper side of the bin like the black plague. I decided to fool around with this experiment further by taking bunches of the shredded computer paper and moving it to where the worms has settled in comfortably within the worm bin. This actually chased the worms away from these areas to other areas of the worm bin.

Unlike years ago when households relied mainly on well water, today most homes depend on local municipalities and utility companies for their drinking eater. It is suppose to be better water which could be correct due to contamination of thousands of wells across the country.

In order to be sure that our tap water is free of any unwanted bacteria, the water treatment companies add chloride to our drinking water.

This is when it hit me when a number of people have had problems with worms trying to escape and they state their pH, moisture and temperature levels are all correct. There was a common denominator here; they all used tap water straight from the faucet.

The tap water can actually have more chloride than the residue left behind during production of computer paper.

So how does one resolve this issue? It is actually pretty simple and does not cost anything.

First I have seen where some people state that you simply aerate the water to remove chlorine. This will NOT work!

Anyone with a pool can relate to the consumption rate of chlorine on sunny days compared to overcast days. This is because the chlorine is broken down under the influence of the UV radiation in sunlight.

One of the simplest ways to remove chlorine from your tap water for your worm bin and garden areas using worm castings since they too consist of bacteria and fungi is to set a bucket of water out in direct sunlight for a day or two.

Another way to obtain chlorine free water is to collect rain water. One problem with rain water can be the impurities within the air that are washed out when it first begins to rain. These impurities can be harmful to your worms especially if you live near a factory for example putting out a lot of smoke or other atmospheric pollutants.

Another way to obtain chlorine free water is to purchase a gallon jug of natural spring water. Just be sure they have not added chlorides to help preserve the shelf life. For the average worm bin, a one dollar jug of water can go a long way!

A last note, if you are trying to produce the best possible worm castings, the chlorides will kill off a majority of the beneficial microbes you want. When watering plants using the worm castings, always use chloride free water otherwise you are defeating the purpose.

Good Luck in Your Worm Composting & Gardening Adventure…

Bruce Galle