Worm Farm Pests Greg Wallace • For a healthy worm farm your bedding should be of neutral pH (6 – 8) • Bedding should be light and crumbly • Well drained • Able to retain moisture. • Don’t over feed • 1 kg of worms needs 3-4 kg of food per week • A good worm farm should smell earthy. If the food sits it sours and smells rancid. The worm farm should be damp not wet (refrain from tipping water through the worm farm this can cause problems as it leaches out all the good bacteria the worms create in the recycled food (worm cast) • If your worm farm is acidic you may also attract pest which like the wet acidic waste. It is not difficult to keep the farm healthy add some garden soil and dolomite every now and then or add the dolomite to your waste collection bucket it only needs to be a sprinkle. Sprinkle the farm with garden soil it helps the worms grind the food they will turn the soil into castings. I also suggest aerating the worm farm this helps the food break down and the worms need oxygen to live. Slugs, snails, ant’s cockroaches and slaters may be present in your worm farm. They generally don’t cause any harm to the worms covering the food with a sprinkle of soil or burying it into the farm will help control these. Ferment flies (small flying insects) Oribatid mites and Psocids (book lice) can occurwhen the bedding is over feed, to damp or acidic. Reduce feeding, water less and apply a sprinkle of garden soil and dolomite or ag lime to reduce acidity. If you see little worms in your worm farm, they could either be young composting worms, nematodes or entrachyadids (if you think they may be one of these Google it and check a picture to help identify the critter) Or email me I. Young composting worms are translucent white at birth and look like a thread of cotton just a few millimetres long. They quickly change into their red- brown colour. Entrachyadids and nematodes are little white non segmented worms and do no harm they also may indicate acidic conditions in the bedding. Sprinkle with dolomite and garden soil also aerate and check the bedding is not to wet. If large maggots are seen in your farm these may be solider fly larvae. Control these also with dolomite and aeration. The soldier fly larvae are attracted to bread soaked in milk so you can then simply remove the bread and remove the larvae. Keep your farm healthy and get on top of any problems early with a sprinkle of dolomite and garden soil. Put on some rubber gloves and aerate often. Harvest castings and keep a layer of garden soil as a sanctuary. The worms like 100% shade in the Australian summer. Any further questions email me [email protected]
Posted on: Tue, 08 Oct 2013 23:12:29 +0000
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