Killed a batch of worms after a heat wave caught me off guard

Back when I first started composting on my balcony in Phoenix, I had a worm bin going during a July stretch where temps hit 115. I didn't think about where the bin was sitting, so the sun baked it through the afternoon. Came home to find about half my red wigglers dead and the rest trying to escape out the air holes. I ended up moving the whole setup into my bathroom near a window with a fan, and now I keep a cheap thermometer in there during summer months. Anyone else learn the hard way about heat and their bins?

2 comments

2 Comments

wesley_grant3321d ago

Totally feel you on this one, @beth_baker69. I'm in a hot region too and that surprise heat wave is brutal. Lost a bunch of wigglers my first summer before I figured out they need shade and airflow like crazy. Even now I keep a digital thermometer in my bin and check it every morning when temps are supposed to spike. It's a lesson you only learn once, but man it stings when you see them all trying to escape.

beth_baker6921d ago

Oh man, I felt this one. "The sun baked it through the afternoon" - that's exactly what got me too, lol. I'm in Texas and we had a surprise 108 day last August. I came home and my worms were all clustered at the bottom trying to get away from the heat. Lost maybe a third of them before I noticed. Now I keep a cheap thermometer stuck to the side of my bin and check it like crazy when it gets hot. Moving them to a cooler spot really is the only way, even if it means sacrificing some convenient space. It's wild how fast the heat can hit them, like you blink and they're already struggling.