These temperatures are also the ideal temperatures for your worms. Which Temperatures are Dangerously Cold? Temperatures below 50° Fahrenheit (10° Celsius) will slow down worm activity. Temperatures below 40° Fahrenheit (4° Celsius) will kill your worms over an extended period.
The temperature
For optimal performance, the worms and the whole composter ecosystem need a temperature between 15° and 25°C / 59°F and 77°F. Below those temperatures, the ecosystem works at reduced level. Above, it does not work properly and it can even be lethal for the worms above 35°C / 95°F.
Most composting worms are best kept in the 72°-80°F range. And the accepted conventional wisdom is that worms will be fine between 55°F and 90°F.
“It's true that worms don't regulate their body temperature, but they do regulate their response to high temperature, slowing down processes that would otherwise go much faster.
Composting worms hate heat. If they can, red wigglers will escape from hot compost piles. If they cannot escape, they usually die.
You can use eco-friendly cleaners like vinegar and baking soda, but if you want something a little stronger, try chlorine-free bleach. The bleach will also ensure that any worm larvae is eradicated. In the bathroom, you'll want to make sure drains and toilets are especially clean.
Creatures cool boiling water so bacteria can thrive
Cooler. Pompeii worms tolerate scalding temperatures but temper the environment for other creatures. Pompeii worms like it hot--extremely hot--but their fellow squatters around seafloor hot springs don't.
Compost worms can adjust to a wide temperature range, however bed temperatures much over 30C worms become stressed and can die if the temperature remains high for sustained periods. Your worm farm has thermal mass making it slower than the surrounding air to heat up (but also slower to cool down).
Regular “hot” composting may attract a few wild worms. However, “hot” composting produces more heat than vermicomposting. Temperatures above 95 degrees Fahrenheit will kill Red Worms. Both methods break down organic waste into fertilizer.
Unfortunately, if the bin temperature gets too high, the composting worms will overheat, dry out and die. There are many things you can do to keep your worm population cool enough to survive.
Based on data from the current study, 4–5 seconds of exposure at 80°C appears sufficient to inactivate Ascaris eggs. At 75°C and 70°C treatment may also be effective, but exposure time should be increased to achieve the same level of inactivation.
It indicated that the metabolism of earthworms was very sensitive to the temperature. Therefore, to maintain the vital activities in low temperatures, it needed more metabolic energy, which was facilitated by higher specific activity of the metabolic enzymes.
Use a carbamate insecticide to kill the earthworms. Some carbamate insecticides include carbaryl (Sevin), bendiocarb (Turcam) and propoxure (Baygon). Use about as much insecticide to kill the earthworms as you would to kill grubs, which is generally 4 to 8 lb.
Any temperature below an air temperature of 40 degrees could be a problem for the worms.
They stay indoors during the day and emerge at night because sunlight's UV rays are toxic to them, paralyzing them, damaging muscle cells, and ultimately drying out the moist skin through which they breathe (there are studies indicating that earthworms may turn out to be useful as UV monitors for humans).
Usually, worms dying in vermicompost systems can be traced back to one of a few problems: incorrect moisture levels, problematic temperatures, lack of air circulation, and too much or too little food.
Coffee grounds, as an organic material, can be added to your compost pile. Worms like coffee grounds, so you may want to put a layer of coffee on the bottom of your pile to attract worms.
Composting allows organic wastes to slowly convert back into soil-like products and helps eliminate unnecessary waste and produce nutrient-rich soil. Vermicomposting is a specific type of composting that uses worms to speed up the decomposition process and is easily implemented at home or in areas with limited space.
Freeze pork less than 6 inches thick for 20 days at 5°F (-15°C) to kill any worms. Freezing wild game meats, unlike freezing pork products, may not effectively kill all worms because some worm species that infect wild game animals are freeze-resistant.
Worms can survive a wide variety of temperatures, but they thrive best at temperatures between 55 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit (13–25 degrees Celsius).
If you have advanced warning of a heat wave, drape some hessian (or perhaps an old beach towel) over the worm farm and keep it moist with a sprinkler or dripper. As moisture evaporates from the hessian it will cool the worm farm in a similar principle to that great Australian invention, the 'Coolgardie safe'.
Earthworms try to stay out of sunlight because the heat from the sun dries out their skin. If an earthworm's skin becomes too dry, it wouldn't be able to breath, and it would die. The red light's more like a cloudy day to the earthworms.
Want to give your worms a treat? Add ice. Place plain ice on top of the bedding or buried in the center of the bin. You can cool and feed the worms all at once by freezing scraps and water together.
According to one source, "All fecal microorganisms, including enteric viruses and roundworm eggs, will die if the temperature exceeds 460C (114.8°F) for one week." 42 Other researchers have drawn similar conclusions, demonstrating pathogen destruction at 500C (1220F), which produced compost "completely acceptable from ...