Winter poses a serious threat to your prized worms with its short days and long, chilly nights. Worm farmers understand the many advantages of a nutrient-dense heap of lush worm compost, and they understand that caring for their red wigglers throughout the growing season will lead to a pleased, robust, and prolific unit.
Unfortunately, one strong freeze can destroy your overall worm community. You can assist your worms to survive the winter cold and stay active while composting your table scraps with some planning and precision. Accidents that result in death are preventable. This article will equip you with the skills you’ll need to succeed with winter worm composting.
Regulate Temperatures in Your Worm Bin
Knowing the red wigglers’ sensitivity to their microenvironment is essential for winter worm farming effectiveness (the environmental conditions inside of the worm bin). Temperature is the major factor that influences the eventual productivity of your worms in the artificial habitat you construct in your bin. That is why, during the bleak winter months, temperature regulation is the most critical consideration.
Composting Worms In Winter
Temperatures between 55 and 80 degrees Fahrenheit are ideal for worms (12 to 26 C.). When the air becomes cooler, the worms become lazy, avoid eating, and occasionally try to flee their surroundings in search of a warmer climate.
In relatively cold vermiculture or worm farming in cooler temperatures, the worms are conned into believing it still falls and not yet winter.
The simplest method is to take the worms and put them somewhere warm, such as an insulated garage or cold basement, or even bring them indoors. If that isn’t an option, you’ll have to make an insulated environment for your worms to survive the winter.
Tips for Worm Farming in Cold Weather
When it’s chilly outside, the first thing you should do is stop feeding the worms. When the temperature drops, they stop feeding, and any remaining food may rot, allowing disease-causing organisms to thrive.
Allowing them to live through the winter is the goal, rather than forcing them to produce more compost, is the goal. Cover the compost pile with a waterproof tarp after insulating it with 2 to 3 feet (60 to 90 cm) of leaves or hay.
The warmer air will be kept in while snow, ice, and rain will be kept out. Before sealing cooked rice leftovers, try putting them in the compost. During the chemical process, the rice will decompose, producing heat. Raise the pile and feed the worms as soon as the weather rises to over 55 degrees F (12 degrees C).
Feed Your Worms And Put Them to Bed
Another crucial step in ensuring your composting worms’ winter safety is to make sure they have enough food and good bedding. You should feed cold overwintering worms less often as usual.
If you keep your worms at home, you can anticipate them to eat on a more constant schedule. Give high-quality bedding, food, and a dark spot to keep them occupied. In really frigid conditions, the worms’ bedding will last considerably longer, possibly all winter.
It’s important to remember that your worms’ bedding has to stay damp to stay healthy. Wet skin allows worms to breathe. When there is too much water in the bedding, it fills in the small air pockets beneath the surface that they depend on for oxygen. Worms that haven’t had enough water become dry and oxygen-depleted.
How Cold Is Too Cold For Worm Bin?
To stay warm, worms may collect in a ball that resembles ground hamburger meat if the temperature in your worm bin is too low. Your worms will perish if the temperature falls below 40° F (4° C) for a lengthy period.
