Thankfully, composting worms are very tolerant of a wide range of dampness, between 50-90%. But “wet it and forget it” is decidedly not a winning plan. A sopping wet worm bin can cause a slowdown in worm activity and reproduction and worse yet, stinky, anaerobic conditions which may spoil your entire bin.
Too little moisture will kill earthworms but they also need to be breathe, so too much moisture will cause them to drown. You may have seen worms on the surface of your soil or lawn during extremely wet periods when the soil gets is constantly waterlogged.
Once every week, pour about five litres of fresh water into the Top Working Tray, which will flood down through the lower trays, ensuring the entire worm farm remains very moist. The sudden 'flood' will not harm the worms. Adding water is especially important in the hotter months of the year.
How Much Water do Worms Need? Worms like red wigglers need a damp, but not wet, environment to thrive. The ideal amount of water in a worm bin is just enough to produce 1-2 drops of water when you squeeze a handful of bedding.
Too Many Moist Foods
First, stop adding foods with high moisture content. These include melons, cucumbers, tomatoes, and berries. You can add them again once your bin gets back to normal, but try to do so in moderation. The second part of the cure is to add some fresh, dry bedding to your bin.
It is important that the bedding material be moist, but not soaking wet. Worms need moisture or their skin dries out, but too much moisture will cause them to drown. Red wigglers will survive in a temperature between 40℉ and 85℉, but prefer 70℉ − 75℉.
Your worm farm environment should maintain a moisture content range of around 60-85%. How do you know if your worm farm is the correct moisture level? This 'squeeze test' method is a simple way to make sure the moisture is just right for your worm friends.
Every week or so it's a good idea to flush your worm fam with half a bucket of water. collection tray with a vessel that will hold the sudden influx of water. lime or garden lime (a dusting over the top is a sufficient amount). make sure the worm farm is out of the rain and a thick worm blanket is being used.
Feed them a small handful of food waste at a time, and check them every day or two; when you see them writhing in the last batch of food you fed them, it's time to feed them another handful. It's completely natural that worms avoid the food waste you've just added.
Thankfully, composting worms are very tolerant of a wide range of dampness, between 50-90%. But “wet it and forget it” is decidedly not a winning plan. A sopping wet worm bin can cause a slowdown in worm activity and reproduction and worse yet, stinky, anaerobic conditions which may spoil your entire bin.
Worms might seem sick and start to die. This situation can be triggered by too much food. The type of food you use makes a difference.
The problem is, earthworms need to stay moist. Most of the time, they would dehydrate if they were above ground. But when it rains, the surface is moist enough for worms to survive and remain hydrated. For a few species, they can more easily move about and find mates.
To avoid drowning
They need moisture-enriched soil with a certain oxygen content to survive. Very wet soil won't necessarily drown a worm because they can live fully submerged for days if oxygen levels are right. However, according to Penn State Extension, worms can suffocate in soaked soil if conditions are right.
If you suspect your worms to be in an environment which is too dry for them, then after a while they may start to suffer from dehydration.
The worms are heading to the bottom as they are trying to get cool. Add some bedding to the top layer (damp newspaper, cardboard) to encourage the worms upwards. Is the worm farm food too dry? Add a little moisture if it is.
Unlike other pets, you can leave worm farms unattended for weeks at a time. Worms will happily eat wet shredded paper for up to 6 weeks!
Bin too dry
If your worm bin is slightly dry, place a layer of moist full sheets of newspaper over your worms' food and bedding mixture. Re-dampen the moist newspaper cover with a spray bottle as needed and let your worms snack on some high-moisture foods.
Earthworms can survive and recover after three-week drought stress.
Oftentimes, when temperature conditions are not ideal (optimal is 55-75 degrees Fahrenheit), the worms will make an attempt to escape the situation. This thwarted escape plan (if your lid is on tight) ends up with many worms in your bottom collection tray or on the sides and lid of your bin.
They will eat some of their bedding, but they really love scraps of fruit and vegetables. Worms will eat the parts you won't, like cores and peels. Don't feed them too much or too often at first. A yogurt container full of scraps once a week will be enough.
This caused the worms to pause their normal growth and enter what scientists call a “dauer state.” “Basically, if immature worms sense stress of any kind they can temporarily halt their normal growth for months and then restart it when the stress passes.