[Adoptacomposter] Fwd: [WORM BRIEFS] - Breaking the Mold

[Alexandra R. Toland]

Hi everyone,
for those that don't know redwormcomposting yet, here's a great piece on
mold.
re: temperature -- it's not too cold yet. The worms on my balcony are
thriving as ever, but we will need to think about insulation or an
indoor spot pretty soon.
also a question for shu lea -- how many worms did the bins start out
with? And are they E. foetida or a mix?
best Alex


-------- Original Message --------
Subject: 	[WORM BRIEFS] - Breaking the Mold
Date: 	Sun, 23 Sep 2012 16:18:14 -0400
From: 	Red Worm Composting <bentley at redwormcomposting.com>
To: 	Alexandra Toland <alex.toland at feld11.net>



People often ask me about "mold growth" in their worm bins.
This seems especially common during the "aging period" (when
food materials and bedding are left to sit).

There are a variety of different fungi that will start to
spread over food wastes - especially when there aren't any
worms to keep them in check - but the good news is that this
generally isn't something you need to be overly concerned about. 

[NOTE: Obviously, if you or someone else in your family has 
any sort of serious mold allergy you should be a lot more 
careful about these sorts of things - and starting an indoor 
worm bin might not actually be the best idea.]

One very simple strategy for taking care of fungal growth
before it takes over your bin, or - even more importantly - 
before it starts producing spores, is to break it up, and mix
everything around using a small garden hand fork. This breaks
up the fungal mycelia (the furry, cotton candy stuff - lol),
impeding further growth - especially if done regularly.

I also recommend mixing in a lot more bedding, and adding an 
additional layer over top. This helps to create a more
"worm-friendly" habitat in general, so never a bad idea (whether
you have fungal growth or not).

If you happen to end up with a serious growth of fungi even
WITH worms in the system, this likely means that you are either
adding too much food at once, or that you are not optimizing
the materials enough for the worms (so they are not immediately
feeding on them). I recommend removing excess foods and/or
employing various additional optimization strategies (such
as chopping, mashing etc).

----

As an unrelated side note, I just want to say thanks to all
those of you who have been sending in positive feedback about
these "Worm Briefs" (along with related questions/suggestions etc) 
- I'm really glad to see that so many of you are finding them 
useful/interesting. Unfortunately, the only downside seems to 
be my inability to respond to all the new emails! :-(

My apologies to those of you who have written in but have not
heard back. Rest assured, I'm not simply ignoring you. I can't
at this time guarantee that I will be able to reply to everyone,
but my aim is to get back to as many people as possible! 

Kind regards

Bentley




Red Worm Composting
"WAY too much fun with worms!"
http://www.RedWormComposting.com


55 Northfield Dr. E
Suite #291
Waterloo ON
N2K 3T6

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