Eggs in the worm bin…sound about right? For those of you new vermicomposters out there, you have probably witnessed bunches of tiny moving white eggs along the rim of your worm bin, and maybe on some of the material. This is totally common when starting out and none other than a form of mites or springtails. They might look like this:
These little guys are nothing more than moochers…they exist separately from your worms, other than when they snack on worm corpses, it seems. Apparently, they are a sign of imbalance in your worm bin…however, they like to munch on material that’s not appealing to worms. Personally, I don’t mind them because a presence of critters means you have an active habitat.
To get the bin a little more stable:
A) Add finely crushed eggshells to increase the calcium levels and stimulate worms into reproduction.
B) Take a break on adding new material for a week or so. They’re picking up the excess slack. But remember, they’re going to eat the crap the worms don’t want anyway.
Give the power back to the worms! It’s a bummer, because I want to give all my food scraps to the bin. Alternative? Dig a hole out back and bury your scraps for a little while. Not the most efficient, but it will nonetheless keep waste out of the general waste stream while eventually giving you some great dirt.