lazy worms?

My worms seem to prefer to burrow into old lower tray rather than travel up to the next fresh tray. The old tray is full of castings and ready to harvest except it has the majority of my ''herd''.

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Feb 17, 2019
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starstarstarstarstar 		Lazy Worms, Worms not traveling up to top tray?
by: Pauly

Hi Anonymous,

I doubt that your worms are lazy (I know you doubt it too ;), but there are some things we can look at.

1. Make sure that your worms CAN actually travel up to the top tray by affirming that the old castings are touch the top tray.

This is not always necessary, but it does help.

2. The next thing we'll look at is to be sure the food/bedding is favorable for them.

Be sure you have more carbon than nitrogen. A mix of C:N (carbon to nitrogen) of 20:1 is preferred. If there is too much nitrogen foods (such as kitchen scraps) it will become to acidic or anaerobic (lack of oxygen).

Great bedding materials for carbon are shredded cardboard or torn into small pieces, shredded newsprint, coco coir (without salts present), peat moss, etc.

When applying kitchen scraps, only feed a couple of handful and slip it under the bedding material or lay on top as long as you cover it with wet sheets of newsprint.

3. Proper Moisture - Maintaining the right consistency in moisture is extremely important or too wet can be an issue as well.

Be sure that the bedding is moist or slightly wetter than a fluffy cake. It should not drip when holding in your hand but maybe a few drips.

Having a spritz bottle of water is very handy to maintain moisture.

4. No Pests - Although there are many great composting organisms other than worms, some of them can get out of control. If you have too much competition and worms are competing for food then refer to my section on Pests in the worm bin.

Worm Farming Pests

Be sure you add minerals. like ground eggshells, agricultural lime, azomite, etc to your bedding so worms can properly digest their food.

The better you make their home, the happier they will be, and the they will always migrate up towards they food.

I hope this will help, but I don't have much to go off of your question.

Here is a print out of what worms need:
five-step-success-to-worm-composting



Thanks for writing,
~Pauly

So much more in the book:

The Worm Farming Revolution

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