I Accidentally Drown My Worms!

by Jane
(USA)

I was new to worm composting and had a lovely little colony I'd produced that was giving us tons of great fertilizer for our garden.

My neighbor, whose a Master Gardener, gave us a bag of worm soil at the end of a series of classes she taught on the subject to school children.

Instead of putting the soil in the garden I bought a 4 tray worm bin with a spigot and set up a lovely hotel for my new guest to arrive.

After several months, we had masses of worms devouring our kitchen scraps.

I kept them outside all year and in the winter I found a way to keep them warm and dry by insulating them with sheets of foam packing an an old fleece mattress cover. Then I'd put a lid to a storage bin on top and upside down to catch any rain that landed and keep them from drowning.

I tried to only feed them once or twice a week but a huge quantity so as not to disturb them, and about once few weeks I'd start a new tray and clean out the catch basin.

This one time, I must have not checked the spigot for it was clogged and I should have realized it when I didn't get any worm tea out a few days later.

A few days later I found my worm trays filled with mold and the bottom ones sopping wet, and all my worms were dead.

Half a year has passed but not the guilt of harming such innocent creatures. They could have drown in a rain storm, if they were in the ground, but it was my responsibility because they were living under my roof ~ worm bin.

Maybe my pennance is to start a new worm family and do a better job of composting this time