KirkD
User
A Fertile Cocoon
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Re:Worms just...disappeared! - 2006/01/20 12:28
Thanks for the replies.
As for what food I'm giving, it is exclusively fruit and vegetable scraps. Vegetable and fruit peels, wilted lettuce, old potato and carrot, blueberries, raspberries, strawberry scraps. Occassionally we'll have left over pasta. Nothing exotic. There may have been some brussel sprout scraps and some old broccoli parts. I chop eveything to no more than 1 inch square.
As for the smell being the mass of dead worms, that's what I thought but there was not a worm corpse to be seen. Trust me, I dug through the bin (about 2-3 inches deep in castings/bedding) and saw no sign of a worm ever having been there. Nothing. It looked like they all packed up and left, but apart from a few dead ones on the floor (5 or 6), there was no sign of them anywhere. Like I said, they just disappeared.
Regarding conditions between looking good and the disappearance (abduction?), when I checked them after Christmas, the bin look great. Fluffy, slightly moist castings, and some food scraps remaining. I dug into the castings and saw a huge number of worms on a banana scrap. I chose not to add food as there seemed to be enough left over for a week's dining. During that week, the temperature of the bins was around 60-70 degrees F, and more or less undisturbed. One week later - worm's are gone.
The bins themselves are Rubbermaid type bins. I have a smaller bin that has 1/4 inch holes drilled all over it for ventilation and drainage. (The holes are in a staggered pattern and spaces about 2 inches apart. The bin is effectively perforated.) It has a lid that also has holes drilled all over it. This is contained in a larger bin with no lid. I put the smaller bin on top of a couple of wood blocks (scrap 2X4 pieces) to allow drainage. The walls of the larger bin are also full of drilled holes, and again, no lid. Previously, I had huge problems with moisture so I tried this to allow proper ventilation and drainage.
I'm stumped.
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Okay..A bad smell would indicate that the bin had become anaerobic, and that could do your herd in. What food had you put in between when they looked good and the last time you looked in? Something, like potato peels, could heat things up inside the bin and also cause the demise. I hope you did not pitch your whole bin, as all is probably not lost. Aerating the bin with some dry bedding and monitoring your feedstock would be helpful and your cocoons, that have probably stayed dormant until conditions get better, will start hatching.
