I know, right?! I’m very happy with how the bins are looking/performing. It has a lot to do with using the new bedding mixture I think. It also helps that there are a lot of little hungry mouths in there too ❤️
@@ThehandygeekGA Thank you! Since I can’t seem to be able to get wisps out of castings by sifting or various types of migrations, I’ve found that simply feeding them in their original bin until they do grow big enough to sift or migrate works best for me. 👍🪱
Hi Patti! Worms do love it pretty moist, bordering on muddy. It’s a shame that the castings can’t be easily removed when so wet. Grr! 😆 I’m so glad your worms are doing great!! It’s so nice when they’re ticking along nicely ❤️
Hi Peggy! I’m starting to think a one-two punch may be the way to go to control mites. Dolomite lime to address any pH slide toward the acidic that mites like plus DE to eliminate mites directly. Plus of course drying down the effected bin a bit too if that’s possible - I like to keep the breeder and cocoon bins very moist so drying them down enough to make the mites unhappy isn’t an option I want to take. I did make the mites video last night and plan on uploading it tomorrow 😊.
@RockinWorms I've used DE and I don't notice a whole lot of difference. The natural "go to" method is take a piece of bread and wet it and the mites come running. A few hours later you just remove the bread and throw it away. You can repeat until the population is minimal.
@@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920 Darn! You just stole my whole mites video 😂. Ok not the whole thing - I do talk about a few more things of interest 👍. Tomorrow my friend!
Hi Richard! The bedding is generally about 2-2.5” deep. I’ve gone 3” deep on breeder bins when I’ve had close to 1,000 breeders in a bin but I don’t think I’m going to do that again. The bin gets a little too heavy/awkward for me to easily handle. Depth isn’t super important for the red wigglers - they handle up to 12”-18” without a blink. And worm folks often report finding worms much deeper, especially in worm bags that breathe all around vs plastic bins. That’s probably more than you wanted 🤣.
I'm just starting out and trying to learn as much as I can 😅 so this very well may not be true. I heard somewhere that if you mix molasses water, its only good for 24-48 hrs or something like that, and after it can harm the worms. Have you experienced that at all??
Hello! I’ve heard the same thing - I think from Captn Matt. I don’t recall him citing any research or references on that though. Or saying that he actually experienced negative worm health using old molasses water. He may be repeating what he’s heard too! I have used molasses water spray on my worm bins before (as you saw) but hardly do it now. I don’t find it necessary after all 😊. My worms are big and healthy with all the pre-compost and veggies/fruits they get plus worm chow. Adding the spray is just more work for me 😆. I do have a spray of maple syrup right now as it was the end rinse out of the bottle. And I would do the same thing with a molasses or honey jar too😎. I’ll freely admit to using the made up spray (when I do have it) until it’s gone even if that’s a week or more. I can’t say that I noticed any harm to the worms but I’m not sure I would unless there was a field of them dead. Dead worms decompose really fast though and I’m not in the bins every day. I absolutely have not smelled anything bad in my bins ever… yet. Anaerobic conditions happen to everyone sooner or later. I have a hard time thinking ‘bad molasses’ would harm worms. They love mold and bacteria and are being researched for use in toxic chemical mitigation. Molasses does have toxic chemicals in it and in high doses has been linked to cancers 😳. But I doubt anyone is adding that huge amount into their worm bins. So here’s the bottom line - I don’t know for sure and can’t find any data saying it’s ok or bad if molasses water ‘gets old’. I’ve used it until it’s gone which is always longer than 24-48 hours. It may start to stink - which can be a human turnoff - but that doesn’t mean it’s bad for the worms. I’d stick with small batches of molasses water and use as fast as you reasonably can to be on the ‘safe side’. I wish I could be more definitive- if anyone has data on this please share! I don’t want to dismiss concerns without knowing for sure but I also know that things get said without proof and become ‘common wisdom’ when it shouldn’t. I don’t want to add to that phenomenon. I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.
@@RockinWorms you were a lot of help! I appreciate any sort of answer, and hearing that you've never seen it negatively effect your worms is a good sign!
Holy Moly, those are some perfect looking bins Jane!
I know, right?! I’m very happy with how the bins are looking/performing. It has a lot to do with using the new bedding mixture I think. It also helps that there are a lot of little hungry mouths in there too ❤️
Another great vid 👍🏾
@@ThehandygeekGA Thank you! Since I can’t seem to be able to get wisps out of castings by sifting or various types of migrations, I’ve found that simply feeding them in their original bin until they do grow big enough to sift or migrate works best for me. 👍🪱
I have been keeping my bin on the wet side and my worms seem to love it. They are plump and breading.
Hi Patti! Worms do love it pretty moist, bordering on muddy. It’s a shame that the castings can’t be easily removed when so wet. Grr! 😆
I’m so glad your worms are doing great!! It’s so nice when they’re ticking along nicely ❤️
Great video 👍
Hi Jayne, Good video👍🪱👍
I need to try the Dolomite Lime to decrease the mites in my Can-O-Worms 👍
❤Peggy❤
Hi Peggy! I’m starting to think a one-two punch may be the way to go to control mites. Dolomite lime to address any pH slide toward the acidic that mites like plus DE to eliminate mites directly. Plus of course drying down the effected bin a bit too if that’s possible - I like to keep the breeder and cocoon bins very moist so drying them down enough to make the mites unhappy isn’t an option I want to take.
I did make the mites video last night and plan on uploading it tomorrow 😊.
@RockinWorms I've used DE and I don't notice a whole lot of difference.
The natural "go to" method is take a piece of bread and wet it and the mites come running. A few hours later you just remove the bread and throw it away. You can repeat until the population is minimal.
@@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920 Darn! You just stole my whole mites video 😂.
Ok not the whole thing - I do talk about a few more things of interest 👍. Tomorrow my friend!
How deep are those bin beddings?
Hi Richard! The bedding is generally about 2-2.5” deep. I’ve gone 3” deep on breeder bins when I’ve had close to 1,000 breeders in a bin but I don’t think I’m going to do that again. The bin gets a little too heavy/awkward for me to easily handle. Depth isn’t super important for the red wigglers - they handle up to 12”-18” without a blink. And worm folks often report finding worms much deeper, especially in worm bags that breathe all around vs plastic bins. That’s probably more than you wanted 🤣.
I'm just starting out and trying to learn as much as I can 😅 so this very well may not be true. I heard somewhere that if you mix molasses water, its only good for 24-48 hrs or something like that, and after it can harm the worms. Have you experienced that at all??
Hello! I’ve heard the same thing - I think from Captn Matt. I don’t recall him citing any research or references on that though. Or saying that he actually experienced negative worm health using old molasses water. He may be repeating what he’s heard too!
I have used molasses water spray on my worm bins before (as you saw) but hardly do it now. I don’t find it necessary after all 😊. My worms are big and healthy with all the pre-compost and veggies/fruits they get plus worm chow. Adding the spray is just more work for me 😆. I do have a spray of maple syrup right now as it was the end rinse out of the bottle. And I would do the same thing with a molasses or honey jar too😎.
I’ll freely admit to using the made up spray (when I do have it) until it’s gone even if that’s a week or more. I can’t say that I noticed any harm to the worms but I’m not sure I would unless there was a field of them dead. Dead worms decompose really fast though and I’m not in the bins every day.
I absolutely have not smelled anything bad in my bins ever… yet. Anaerobic conditions happen to everyone sooner or later.
I have a hard time thinking ‘bad molasses’ would harm worms. They love mold and bacteria and are being researched for use in toxic chemical mitigation. Molasses does have toxic chemicals in it and in high doses has been linked to cancers 😳. But I doubt anyone is adding that huge amount into their worm bins.
So here’s the bottom line - I don’t know for sure and can’t find any data saying it’s ok or bad if molasses water ‘gets old’. I’ve used it until it’s gone which is always longer than 24-48 hours. It may start to stink - which can be a human turnoff - but that doesn’t mean it’s bad for the worms. I’d stick with small batches of molasses water and use as fast as you reasonably can to be on the ‘safe side’.
I wish I could be more definitive- if anyone has data on this please share!
I don’t want to dismiss concerns without knowing for sure but I also know that things get said without proof and become ‘common wisdom’ when it shouldn’t. I don’t want to add to that phenomenon.
I’m sorry I can’t be of more help.
@@RockinWorms you were a lot of help! I appreciate any sort of answer, and hearing that you've never seen it negatively effect your worms is a good sign!