Goodbye, Squirmy!
On February 20, I enthusiastically started an indoor worm bin and posted about vermicomposting. Before starting, I had consulted books and attended a workshop given at the Civic Garden Center. I was thrilled to begin the process that would use my fruit and vegetable scraps to make nutrient-dense compost tea for the garden. And I was happy about keeping those scraps out of the landfill.
Sadly, I had to evict my little wormy friends today. They brought with them some uninvited guests that were having a party in my kitchen. Yes, I’m talking about drosophila melanogastere (even their name sounds horrid) … otherwise known as the dreaded fruit fly. I had followed all of the recommended preventative measures — I buried the food scraps and put dry bedding on top. Once I noticed them, I set fruit fly traps and even stopped feeding the worms for a while. Absolutely nothing worked, but rather, got worse.
Fruit flies aren’t very smart, so were easy to smash. I sucked up plenty with the vacuum, stepped on a few, clapped my hands and got some in mid-flight. But mostly I smashed them with my finger and deposited them onto a paper towel. But I was out-numbered and they all just had to go. The Civic Garden Center volunteer who taught the workshop is taking them from me, bin and all. They are in the trunk of my car, ready for tomorrow’s trip. I couldn’t keep them inside one more night.
Sorry, Squirmy. It’s been real, but I’m going to look for another composting method that will work OUTDOORS.
Clare you are hilarious. I love your sense of humor about this whole thing. Amazing that you had such a gross-out experience and can laugh. Thanks for a very funny read. Goodbye wormies, good riddance.
Well, I am sort of going to miss Squirmy. He was my favorite.
I had a similar experience when I tried worm composting inside. Fruit flies, and low productivity. So I transferred the operation outside to a 55 gal. metal garbage can (metal keeps out the critters) in which I drilled many 3/8″ holes, bottom and sides. Solid top keeps out rain and snow and sun. That was 3 years ago, and I now have about a million red worms devouring kitchen scraps, year round. I live in upstate NY, and the can freezes solid most every winter, but the worm colony thrives. When my indoor 3 gal. kitchen scraps bucket is full, I dump the entire 55 gal. big can to the ground and sift the damp batch through a 1/2″ mesh over a wheelbarrow. I pluck out as many wiggly worms from the sifted compost as possible. It’s dirty and messy, but each year it produces 3 heavy wheelbarrows of the Best worm castings compost I have ever seen. Excellent for dressing on containers and rows of plants. Its not a hot compost process, which I do to leaves and grasses, etc. in a separate tumbler, but it is very effective, and I get red worms for bait. Don’t give it up ! Gardening is all about giving to and getting back from our plots,and worms are our friends in that.
Thanks, Tom! Good to know you’ve found a vermicomposting method that works! I’m surprised the red wigglers survive outdoors. I was told (in a composting workshop) that they would die in the cold. It sounds like it’s worth a try, though…especially if you’re getting that much rich compost. I appreciate you sharing your tip.