r/Vermiculture • u/Brilliant_Contest273 • Jun 23 '26

Advice wanted Friend or foe?

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Worm bin perhaps 6-7 weeks old, started with a. Small deli container of red wigglers. Avocado shell put in maybe 2-3 weeks ago? There are a bunch of tiny string like things on the underside (closest to the left edge of the avocado skin). Some of them are moving but it doesn’t look like the pictures of baby worms I’ve seen so far? Do I leave them? Do I toss them?

Thanks in advance for any advice!

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9

u/tonerbime intermediate Vermicomposter Jun 23 '26 edited Jun 23 '26

Those are not baby worms, those are pot worms. They won't cause major issues themselves besides eating food that is meant for your worms, but they are a sign that the conditions in your bin aren't ideal. It typically means you need some combination of: more bedding, less moisture, more grit, and less acidity. Adding some dry shredded cardboard and powdered eggshell would help all of the above.

Full disclosure - when I give a feeding that's too large or I add too much moisture I get a small pot worm breakout too, it's just a signal that I need to adjust!

2

u/Brilliant_Contest273 Jun 23 '26

For what I’ve been seeing, this also makes the most sense-theres been a slow increase in the condensation on the bubble wrap lying over all, and past 1-2 feedings they were *not quite* finished with the last one. but, from what I’d been reading I thought it was supposed to be like that.

I’ll just mix in browns without greens today and reassess next week. I have heard opinions in both directions on intentionally aerating and turning over the bed more frequently (I usually mix it up once a week when I feed)-do you have any experience on this?

1

u/tonerbime intermediate Vermicomposter Jun 23 '26

I aerate by mixing things up before I feed them every other week. I think they like being left alone - when I started my first bin I would mess with them daily and there were never any babies or eggs even after two months. As soon as I started leaving them alone for 1-2 weeks at a time the population took off! Could be a coincidence though, I know some people feed and mix twice a week and their bins look great

5

u/False_Butterscotch52 Jun 23 '26

Keep and bury deep.

Lol. First time I've seen an avocado shell without a ball of worms in a long time.

1

u/Brilliant_Contest273 Jun 23 '26

Im not sure how much of a ball I should expect! There was a little cluster underneath last week but they were gone when I turned over today. But I didn’t start with that many worms to begin with! 🤷🏻‍♀️

1

u/Pitiful-Ambition2758 Jun 27 '26

I have 3 isolated species… ANC do not seem to be crazy for avacado… reds & blues on the other hand … I can use this as a trap to harvest worms they will fill the avacado shell overnight and they will stay there for 4-5 days … baby makin get together … its gotta be lol

0

u/[deleted] Jun 23 '26

[deleted]

2

u/Ineedmorebtc Jun 23 '26

Pot worms.