Troubleshooting Your Worm Bin

Having trouble with your worm bin? Here are tips for some of the most common questions.

Symptoms	Causes	Solutions
Worms are dying	Food and bedding all eaten	Harvest compost, add fresh bedding and food.
	Too dry	Add water until slighly damp. Add moist bedding if needed.
	Extreme temperatures	Move bin so temperature is between 55 and 77 F. Make sure bedding is adequate.
Bin attracts flies and/or smells bad	Food exposed or overfeeding	Add a 4- to 6-inch layer of bedding and stop feeding for 2 to 3 weeks.
	Non compostables in bin	Remove meat, dairy, etc.
Ants in bin	Food exposed	Cover food with 5- to 6-inch layer of bedding. Also try a light dusting of boric acid powder around the legs of the bin, spread a light path of Vaseline or Vick's Vapor-Rub around the legs, use ant barriers around the legs, or set the legs in small cans (tuna, cat food) with water in them.
Sowbugs, beetles in bin	These are good for your worm compost!
Segmented white things in bin	These are soldier fly larvae You may also see them in your backyard compost bin. They hatch into slow flying black flies eventually and are harmless, as the larva help with the decomposition process.