Las Vegas Red Wigglers Compost Bin FAQ

If you are having problems with your worm composting bin in Las Vegas (vermicomposting) or are wondering if your bin is normal, I’ve got some answers. If what I have for you here doesn’t answer your question, please contact me at Las Vegas Worms. I’ll send you a reply and maybe post your question here!

What is worm pee? or Why is my compost bin so wet?

You might have heard that the liquid that drains out of your bin (if you have a drain) is worm pee. It isn’t.

It’s actually the liquid from the fruit and vegetables in your bin. Plants are over 90% water and as bacteria, mold and your worms break down the plants, the water from them is released into your bin.

By the way, I discovered this by accident. I’m a scientist by education and I tried an experiment…

What I did was feed a bin of worms ONLY damp newspaper for 2 months. There was absolutely NO “worm pee” that entire time. And the worms looked small with no babies being produced.

After that, I switched to chopped up fruit and veggies. But… I messed up and fed them too much food at once. All of a sudden my bin was waterlogged! (By the way, If you are getting what others describe as worm pee, it means that you are feeding your worms way to much at one time, so you’ll want to cut back on the amount of food you give them.)

That’s how I found out there is really no such thing as “worm pee”. And for the record, worms don’t grow very quickly when all they have to eat is newspaper. 🙂 Feed yours lots of fruits and veggies.

If there is too much food in the bin at one time, bacteria and mold break it down, releasing a lot of water at one time. This isn’t good and to fix this, see the next question.

Why does my worm composting bin stink?

This has happened to me a few times. The problem is that there is too much liquid in the compost bin. Anaerobic respiration is taking place (sorry, it’s the scientist in me again.)

You are feeding too much at one time. The liquid in the food, especially if you chop it up or run it through a food processor like I do, is making things too wet. (DO NOT puree or freeze your food like you read about on some sites, that will really mess things up!)

Some people say that the smell is from rotting veggies, they’re wrong. Rotting fruit and veggies actually have an earthy kind of smell and it’s completely normal to see some mold in your bin. The mold will make a lot of liquid fast though.

Your bin should be damp but never wet. If there is too much liquid in your bin, you’ll need to take immediate action or your red wigglers will die.

What I do is mix in some dry, shredded paper to absorb the extra liquid. I’ve also used half dry soil and half peat moss. Either method will work.

I’d suggest mixing it using gloves because your hands will stink to high-Heaven otherwise! I learned that the hard way. Took me 2 days to scrub the stench off my hands.

Once your bin is damp but not moist, you’ll be fine. The worms will recover and you can go on as usual. Just don’t feed them as much at one time.

Does newspaper make good bedding in my worm compost bin?

NO! I was tricked into thinking newspaper makes good bedding too. I read about worm composting on other sites and they say to use newspaper for bedding. And when I first started, I used it too.

But, I never, ever use it anymore. It gets wet and makes a paper mache damn on the bottom of the bin, trapping water and poisoning your bin!

The only thing I use for bedding now is coconut coir (pronounced “core”) you can get at any hydroponic store. It’s by far the best bedding I’ve found in 6 years of doing this now. If you want to make your worm farming a whole lot easier, get coir.

Do I need drain holes in my worm compost bin?

You don’t have to have them, and if you just have a little dishpan bin like I explain how to make, you don’t need drainage as long as you aren’t feeding too much at a time.

Holes in the bottom of your bin are nice because if too much liquid does get in the bin, it has someplace to go and won’t mess up your worms.

My outside bins have big 1/4 inch holes in the bottom because I have a waist-high, raised bed garden and I need to drain the water from watering my plants. The worms don’t crawl out since it’s open air underneath the bins.

And that’s the trick to keep your red wigglers from crawling out the bottom of your bin, have OPEN AIR under the holes. They won’t crawl out into open air.

In the bins that I have where it’s a tub inside of a tub, I put bricks or blocks of wood in the bottom bin to support the bin the worms are in with the holes in the bottom. In that case the worms will sometimes crawl out the bottom of their bin where the holes touch the bricks. I just check for worms in the bottom bin every week or so and toss the stragglers back in the top bin.

Get your Las Vegas composting red wigglers from me, and here’s SOME of the reasons why…

I know a lot about raising worms in hot areas and can show you how to keep your worms alive whether you’re putting them outside or inside. Also, I’d be happy to answer your questions if  you purchase from me. I’ll show what has worked for me after 7 years of trial and error. And maybe the best reason is that these worms are used to the Vegas heat and cold. They’re going to live. Other worms will die.

If you want to know how these heat-loving worms got their start, click here.

Also, you should know that when you get worms online, most sellers “pump them up” on a special diet that makes the worms hold water before they ship them to you.  (We don’t do that when we ship our worms!!!) The diet they feed them would kill the worms if that’s all they ate, but the shipper risks it when sending them to you. The diet also makes the worms retain water so that they weigh more. When you get a pound of worms from them, you’re getting mostly water.

The worms you get from Las Vegas worms are in great health, probably the strongest, most resilient worms in the US.

You can buy your worms here and have them shipped right to you!!!

Shipping is free right to your door!