xenar14•1mo agoProlific Poster

My worm bin got way too wet and started smelling like a swamp

So I got a bit too excited with my new worm bin about a month ago and added way too many fruit scraps at once. I'm talking like two whole melon rinds and a bunch of soggy lettuce from cleaning out my fridge. I didn't add enough dry browns to balance it out. Fast forward to last Tuesday, and I opened the lid to a gross, wet mess that smelled awful. The worms were trying to crawl up the sides to get away. I had to do a full rescue mission. I took the whole thing apart, picked out all the worms, and mixed in a whole bag of shredded paper from my home office. It took me over an hour to fix. Now I'm super careful about how much wet stuff I add at a time. Has anyone else had to do a full bin reset like that? What's your go-to 'brown' material when things get too soggy?

3 comments

3 Comments

wade_hall1mo ago

Been there... shredded cardboard is my go-to fix.

coleman.karen1mo ago

Cardboard can work in a pinch, but it breaks down way too fast to be a real fix. For a long term solution, you need something like straw or wood chips. @wade_hall, I tried the cardboard thing last season and had to redo the whole bed by July when it turned into a soggy mat. A thick layer of wood chips lasts the whole year and keeps the weeds down better.

rivera.henry2d ago

Did you catch that recent study from some ag school about how cardboard can actually mess up your soil's moisture balance? I read that it traps water on top instead of letting it soak down deep, which is why it turns into that mushy mess you're talking about. Wood chips definitely breathe better and let the rain go where it needs to. Plus they add organic matter as they break down instead of just rotting into sludge.