brown ticks in bin

by roxanne
(central fl)

I have several worm bins which are doing really well. I've had them for approx 7 mos. They were started with composted horse manure, peat, shredded cardboard and paper.

Recently I've noticed super tiny bugs crawling up my arm after fluffing the soil.

I had a pest control guy inform me they were brown ticks and if I didn't get rid of them soon, I would have an infestation! I'm gonna try DE (Diatomaceous Earth).

Hope my worms will be ok.

Wondering if anyone else has had this prob?

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Jan 01, 2020
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Brown Ticks in Worm Bin?
by: Pauly

Hello Roxanne,

I've never heard of brown ticks in a worm bin or any kind of tick in a worm bin before. Rotting vegetation is just NOT a habitat favorable to ticks.

If you have any ticks, I would bet they will not thrive in the worm bin, but would eventually die off due to no host they can feed off of.

Diatomaceous Earth in a worm bin should work well for any insect infestation. I've been pioneering this for several years. It's why I've written several pages on DE.

Using Diatomaceous Earth in a Worm Bin

However, I'm not so sure the pest control guy identified the insect properly, but that's only a guess. He might have mistaken small brownish spider mites as seed ticks.

Spider mites are very popular in a worm bin and are completely harmless to the worms and humans. It's just part of the decomposition process and are beneficial in moderate numbers.

You can use DE (please see my pages on how to use in a worm bin) to control you infestations or you can remove some of the nitrogen kitchen scraps they love so much or both.

Usually an overpopulation of insects like mites, springtails, maggots, flies, etc. is from very moist/wet conditions and too much nitrogen foods.

Adding plenty of shredded carbon only (till you've remedied the issue) will help bring the numbers of pests back down. In the future only add enough food scraps as worms can keep up with.

However, you still may not really have an issue at all.

Uploading some pics of your insect will help ID it much better.

This is not a complete guide to infestation problems but has much to do with the issues.

Thanks for the question,
~Pauly

Jan 01, 2020
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brown tic
by: Anonymous

im pretty sure they r ticks because hubby and i have found them embedded inour skin...gross, right? they r sooo small but next time i c one i will try n upload pic...thanx for the help!!!

Jul 11, 2020
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Also have bugs that look like ticks.
by: Paul

I assumed you can crush mites easily while ticks are pretty much indestructible. In my case I'm not able to smush them between my fingers which makes me think they really are ticks.

I probably have over 100 crawling on the surface of the bin. I have a photo. I'll see if I could figure out how to post here.

Aug 12, 2021
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Ticks in Worm Bin
by: Pauly

Yes, Please upload your pics of these "ticks in Worm Bin".

Just click on the form and upload the pics.

Thanks,
~Pauly
(Worm Farming Revealed Publisher)

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