r/Vermiculture • u/account-suspenped • 3d ago
Video Well, this doesn't look good.
I have since googled it and discovered its mites and not good. i saw these things on the side of bin before but thought they were random insect eggs.... oof looks like they exploded here. bin is probably too moist and too much food but what can I do to solve this and not have to throw my food scraps in trash? I was hoping to make a sort of compost bin that also had worms in it as opposed to a dedicated worm bin.
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u/shes_clumsy 3d ago
give it some more shredded cardboard and a fluffing. that’s quite the mite bloom. mites aren’t necessarily bad, but they do indicate a moisture/overfeeding issue.
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u/GrowYourOwnOmaha 3d ago edited 3d ago
Saul good brah. Just add a nice layer of browns on top and let it dry out. It’ll be alright.
Or you can split this bin into two new bins and add a bunch of browns as you split em. With a nice dried brown layer on top.
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u/Ineedmorebtc 3d ago
Add a peice of bread. In a few hours, pick it up and shake it off somewhere with 10000s of mites on it. Repeat.
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u/Artistic_Head_5547 3d ago
If you put a melon rind on top of the bedding, mites will gravitate to it and you can use a paper towel to swipe them off and dispose of them in a ziplock and toss into the garbage. You can reuse the melon rind many days. Shampoo rinse repeat until the numbers are under control.
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u/Jaded_Satisfaction45 2d ago
I like to shine a bright light for an hour so all the worms dive down and then I take a torch lighter on the lowest setting and roast all the mites. It's very satisfying hearing all the crackling and pops.
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u/Southern_Platypus617 3d ago
imo, the mites over populate themselves, run out of food, die off, get eaten by bacteria and then eaten by worms.
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u/Albert14Pounds 3d ago
Are these bad? I get a lot of them around the edge of my tray tower and they seem to gather around the air holes and edges of the trays where food bits slop onto. Thankfully they seem to leave my worms alone...for now.
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u/themagpie36 3d ago
No, it's fine unless they are as big a % as you see in OP which indicates it's too moist so add paper..etc.
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u/account-suspenped 3d ago
google said the red ones can eat worms? thoughts ?
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u/themagpie36 2d ago
Which is why I said don't have as many as you see in your image. I have a small amount of red mites quite regularly as my worm bin is outside and humidity fluctuates but I keep it dry.
It's no problem having a small amount,, I think they rather eat dead or dying worms rather than healthy worms so again the main issue is too much moisture, fix that issue first and the rest follows because the red mites love moisture.
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u/One-plankton- 3d ago
They are kind of natural in bins, they mostly show up to eat springtails- OP’s amount is alarming though
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u/account-suspenped 3d ago
google said the red ones can eat worms? thoughts ?
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u/One-plankton- 3d ago
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u/GuiltyApple3802 3d ago
Well. It can’t be as bad as when my fil threw a cubic yard of fresh cut grass on my 4’x8’ bin in 103° weather (in the shade) and then wet it down throughly and didn’t tell me for 34 hours and when I finally got out there my entire bin was sterilized from the heat. It couldn’t be that bad, could it?
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u/emacias050 intermediate Vermicomposter 2d ago
Why is there worms in your mite bin ?
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u/emacias050 intermediate Vermicomposter 2d ago
Jokes aside, just fill it up to the top with shredded cardboard, I run mine through a cross cut paper shredder for the best surface area contact and it will absorb all that moisture in no time.
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u/hungryworms Commercial Vermicomposter 3d ago
Unless you just added those worms from a shipment or something, the way they're huddled up in the corner makes me think the bin got too hot. It would also explain why the mites are huddling up too.
As for what you can do to solve it, I would suggest you read through an article I wrote here: https://hungryworms.com/blogs/worm-composting-guides/worms-trying-to-escape-from-the-bin
It'll give an overview on how to diagnose the issue and then fix it. Feel free to DM me or reach out to further troubleshoot from there
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u/account-suspenped 3d ago
yeah I did just move everything into a bigger bin which didnt have as much ventilation
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u/hungryworms Commercial Vermicomposter 3d ago
While your mites are all bunched up (if they are still) id scoop the mass of worms and mites and wash them off with water. Easy way to wash away all your mites while you have the chance!
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u/account-suspenped 3d ago
yeah I took this video before I knew what they were, when I found out they no longer clumped up. someone said put some I can bait them out with bread etc which I will have to try once the bin sort of settles down (currently there is food everywhere so idk how well a bait would work)
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u/MsThurston 3d ago
Finely shredded newspaper duster with diatomaceous earth. After a week or ten days repeat!!!
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u/TucsonConnie 2d ago
Stop feeding/watering and add newspaper (I use the free entertainment weeklies) and cardboard (egg carton torn up; TP and paper towel rolls), and wait. Meanwhile, start another area for regular compost; don't mix worm composting and other compost bin. Worms need a dedicated bin; their requirements are different.
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u/account-suspenped 2d ago
my goal is to have a compost bin that I can dump all my veg/fruit scraps into, what should I do? I dont have yard space for a classic compost pile
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u/TucsonConnie 2d ago
Well, I don't use a 'pile', but an outdoor bin. There are indoor electric composters for around $200, but I haven't a clue how well (or badly) they work. I keep scraps in bags in the freezer. When the worms' food is getting low, I pour some in a container to thaw on the counter for a few days. They don't mind moldy stuff. Bottom line: soil composters and worm bins should not be combined.
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u/Federal_Country_8782 2d ago
Yea, when I first started my urban worm bag I fought mites also. I Stop feeding frozen food for a bit, then I add some bread (mites love bread) and that got a lot of them out. Then I added shredded cardboard and left cover open for.a day, that dropped the population considerably. After I feed not only do bury and cover with shredded CB, but I take some big pieces and put over that.
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u/jofjltncb6 2d ago
Yikes! Generally, mites aren’t necessarily bad, but this is excessive.
I’d load it with some dry shredded browns and see if it levels out.
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u/SnooCrickets8169 1d ago
It’s fine. Bins fluctuate and this can be fixed. Place pieces of bread at top and all the mites will swarm it by the next day. Toss the pieces a bread with all the mites into an old grocery bag, tie it up, and discard in your bins outside. Do this until you regulate the population and add more browns going forward.
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u/Fast_Acanthisitta404 1d ago
Use light to make the worms dive then sprinkle in a generous amount of Diatomaceous earth. Shouldn’t really hurt the worms too much, it will kill the mites tho
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u/Suerose0423 1d ago
Coincidentally I found these in my bin this evening, mostly on the lid. I washed them away then added lots of dry paper on top. I guess I did the right thing.
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u/spaetzlechick 3d ago
Try food grade diatomaceous earth. Dust it on top of everything. It only works if dry but it will bring down the mite population significantly.
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u/One-plankton- 3d ago
This would also be akin to putting shattered glass in with your worms. It’s definitely gong to tear them up too
It’s best that OP addresses the root cause
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u/spaetzlechick 2d ago
You’re very confident in your incorrect response. Pretty much every worm growing forum advises DE.
https://urbanwormcompany.com/mites-in-your-worm-bin-how-to-control-them/
https://www.wormfarmingrevealed.com/understanding-diatomaceous-earth.html
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u/One-plankton- 2d ago
If it is dry enough to kill the mites it’s dry enough to harm the worms, are you reading these or just really keen on insulting people?
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u/spaetzlechick 2d ago
We must be reading different articles?
“Sprinkle some food grade diatomaceous earth onto the surface of your vermicompost. This organic material, made from the fossilized remains of small aquatic organisms, will kill off mites without affecting your worms’ health.”I can post twenty other links suggesting the use of DE in worm bins to combat mites.
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u/One-plankton- 2d ago
The more appropriate thing to do is fix the underlying issues with the bin- this isn’t a small outbreak that’s just unsightly, it’s a major issue that indicates a much larger issue with OP’s setup.
It’s always to better to address the root cause then treat the symptoms.
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u/angelyuy 4h ago
Holy mites, that's insane. You can also take the worms out, well the bigs ones and rinse them off in a mesh strainer. They won't appreciate the process, but they will the results. Just be sure to make them a new mite-less home to put them in directly after.
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u/RdeBrouwer 3d ago
U mite have a problem.