Escape or Die Trying

If you want to catch up on my little vermicomposting experiment click here for the first part, and here for the second part. Below is the third part.

So last you heard, I had a dilemma. Here is what was decided:
Being too disgusting to keep the bin inside, all the bugs were moved to and have been thriving on the porch. The worms grew quite large. And we watched the BFLs go from to pupae to Soldier Fly. For a while we had Soldier Flies keeping us company on the porch and a few followed us inside. Oh joy.

But recently the bin has been too wet for the worms and their numbers have been slowly declining. I put more dry foods in the bin and more bedding so the worms would be a bit happier (bedding=shredded paper and chunks of cardboard.) But the gluttonous BFLs keep eating the bedding. And there were so many of them, they began to bother the worms. The BFLs have multiplied dramatically—the Soldier Flies laid more eggs around the air holes of the bin.

Long story short, the other day I think I had maybe 25 unhappy worms left. It got really cold that night and the next morning there were several dead escapees on the porch. Now, I can't find a single worm in the bin.
Currently, this is what it looks like. As the BFLs keep eating and re-eating, the compost is drying out and the BFLs have begun moving very slowly (they move better when it's wet.) But, it stinks. Every time I open the bin I start gagging. It's not the same kind of compost I would have gotten had the worms had a fair go at it. So I'm not sure how usable this type of compost is in this stage.

I am getting a lot of compost tea though! In fact, the tea saved the life of my bonsai tree, so the stuff does work.

I suppose I will probably keep adding food to the bin because it is still a better alternative than throwing kitchen scraps away. But I will have to do some more research to find out if the BFL by-product can be mixed with soil or if it needs to go through some other process.

Recommendation:
If you are thinking about composting with worms, dish out the cash. Buy a composting bin (above) made for worm farming with trays and a spout. It's worth it. You will be much happier as will the worms. Harvesting your compost and tea will be much easier. Otherwise, when it comes time to use the soil, you'll have to separate your worms from the compost by hand. (Image found here.)



Same goes for the BFLs, I found this composter made just for them. It's got a little ramp so the BFLs can crawl their way up and into another compartment making harvesting much easier. (Image and product found here.)

If you are thinking about composting with both worms and BFLs at the same time . . . I'm not sure what the best container would be.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me.