Worm Bin Update: One Month In

Okay, I'll just say it: the worm bin is pretty cool. I was a little grossed out by it at first, and I still am not ready to stick my bare hand in there, but it is coming along wonderfully.

I've put about a pound of food waste in every week, which is the recommended amount for the bin and amount of worms that I have. Much to my surprise, my worms have started reproducing already! In looking closely at the bedding, I can see several white egg sacs. This is a good sign. It means that, overall, my worms are happy with their environment.

Besides the egg sacs, I am seeing castings--lots and lots of lovely worm castings. The newspaper bedding is breaking down, and I'm planning to add more today. Much of the first batch of food that I put in is gone already.

The only problem I'm having with the worm bin so far is that a couple (literally, I saw two) fruit flies flew out of the bin today when I opened it up. I've heard horror stories about fruit flies and worm bins, and how they can completely infest a bin. There are a couple of ways to prevent fruit flies in your worm bin, if that is a concern:

• Wash all produce thoroughly before adding peels to the bin. Fruit fly eggs are practically invisible, and are found on most fruit peels. By scrubbing all produce well, before peeling and adding those peels to your worm bin, you can prevent a good number of fruit flies from ever hatching.
• Microwave all contents to be placed into the worm bin for at least one minute. The heat from the microwave will kill any hitch hiking fruit fly eggs, and they won't end up in your bin.
• To prevent fruit flies from getting into your bin and laying eggs on the fruit and veggie peels, always be sure to bury your food waste under a couple inches of bedding material.

I've been doing the first two, and, go figure, I haven't seen any fruit flies until the bedding started breaking down, leaving some of the fruit and veggies exposed. I'm going to add more newspaper bedding to the bin to make sure that all of the food stays covered. That should do it.

If you are interested in setting up your own vermicompost bin, check out my step-by-step instructions for setting up a worm bin.