I’m very pleased with how the worms are coming along. After the fruit fly scares, we’ve had no major problems with bugs, just lots of slow white mites.

A couple of weeks ago, I started noticing earwigs hanging out near the worm bin.  While earwigs don’t fly (after researching I discovered they can fly, but they rarely do) and they don’t multiply as quickly as fruit flies and fungus gnats, I still didn’t want any problems with them. They kind of gross me out with those menacing pincers. (I know they can’t pinch humans, but still…gross.)

So finally I decided, enough is enough. I invested in a Worm Inn. Worm Inns are amazing contraptions, sold through Bentley Christie’s Red Worm Composting website. Bentley’s site has taught me basically everything I know about worm composting. So if these posts intrigue you and you’re thinking about starting a worm farm yourself, definitely check his site out.

Anyway, I bought the Worm Inn (pictured below) and got it set up today. It is amazing. Very easy to set up, holds all of our worms, and takes up less space while looking more attractive than our old Rubbermaid tub with mosquito netting taped around it. Plus, the compost that comes out is supposed to be much better quality, not so soupy and mushy like the kind produced in the Rubbermaid tub.

As I transferred the worms, I saw tons of baby worms and worm cocoons, so they seem to be quite happy. If anything, they were probably hungry since I stopped feeding them so often to decrease the fruit fly threat. Matthew chopped up lots of food for them, and they should be quite content in their new home.

The old Rubbermaid worm bin. I taped mosquito netting around it to keep pests out.

The new Worm Inn, available at http://www.redwormcomposting.com. I had to get some PVC pipes cut at Ace Hardware to make the stand, but it was super cheap, like $5 or less. And VERY easy to put together, even for the technically challenged

The top view of the Worm Inn. The extra oxygen flowing through makes the compost better quality, but the mesh top also keeps the bugs out.

There are drawstrings included with the Worm Inn, but I made it a little more secure by tying some clothes line around. So far nothing is leaking and no worms have escaped.

The Worm Inn came with zip ties, but I thought clothes line knots would be more secure.

The empty Rubbermaid bin after I successfuly transferred all the worms to their new home. We had some interesting white mold growing in there that I'd never seen before. I think it came because of some moldy coconut remains that Matt's mom gave us. Hopefully the ventilation in the Worm Inn will stop it from spreading.