Took me 2 years to realize the worms were escaping through the drain holes

Started composting in my 4th floor walkup in Portland back in 2021. Set up a worm bin, thought I had it all figured out. Kept finding dead worms around the base and on the floor. Replaced bedding, changed feeding times, even tried different moisture levels. Nothing worked. Finally last month I took the bin apart completely and saw the little holes I drilled were way too big. The worms were squeezing out every night, drying up on the linoleum. Covered them with window screen material and not a single escape since. Has anyone else had a simple fix like that take way longer than it should have? What was your "aha" moment with your bin?

2 comments

2 Comments

jana_hill2727d ago

...and here I was thinking my worms were just really adventurous and wanted to see the rest of the apartment. Guess they were just trying to escape their landlord, same as the rest of us. At least you caught it before they started leaving Yelp reviews.

wren_brown25d agoProlific Poster

Jana's joke about the landlord is funny, but I see it differently. If your worms are constantly trying to bail, that usually means something's off in their setup, not that they're just exploring. The drain holes were the obvious culprit here, but I bet the bin being indoors and dry also played a part, so the screen fix might not be the whole story.