As others have posted in the past, I am seeing some migration of the stock in the bins I am using for top soil conditioning before spring planting. I figure they may be on the move after having been used to the heavy slurry diet and now that I am using them to prep the soil, maybe they're heading out for take out. Any how, last night thought up a few ideas that I may try as added confinement barriers to keep the worms out the bin vents in the lids and off the floors.

Barbed wire : actually a line of steel wool stuck to the inside of the bins about 2 inches from the edge, maybe they wont slither over it.

Electric fence : 2 fine wires placed about a 1/4 in apart paralell to each other in the same area as the steel wool, connected to a 9v battery. Remember touching your tongue to one?

UV growlight about 6 in above bins. Maybe it will keep em down in the bins. Kinda bright though.

And a guy I work with suggested I use salt and make the bins look like compost marguiritas. Ouch. I explained to him I reuse the worms.

So, there are some possibles, whats y'alls opinion or ideas.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), February 08, 2001

Answers

I guess I would go back to keeping the worms the way it worked before and maybe just put some out in my beds to work the soil out there.

-- diane (gardiacaprines@yahoo.com), February 08, 2001.

Jay- I haven't had any problems with migration, but you might just try a low wattage light over the bins. As you know, they prefer to stay out of the light, so this may compel them to stay in the bedding. Don't think you need the heavy duty grow light.

-- Elizabeth (ekfla@aol.com), February 08, 2001.

You might want to consider .0050 caliber machine guns mounted at the border and corners. Guess you could get some stink bugs to man them as I hear they positively dislike "earth" type inhabitants. Maybe a few micro tear gas launchers for good measure.

-- Lynn Goltz (lynngoltz@aol.com), February 08, 2001.

Straight jackets? Ball-and-chains? ;-)

Seriously, Jay, I don't really know. I've seen the worms crawl up about 30 inches worth of smooth garbage can (interior) and hang off the underside of the lid of the garbage can! I tell you, they were alien worms . . . . Slugs are supposed to not cross copper strips. Something about the mucus on the their bodies reacting with the copper to give them a low-level shock. Don't know if red wiggler mucus is the same, but you might give it a try. I think it needs to be strips, rather than just a wire.

Please keep us posted, because "worm crawl" is a major reason why I haven't tried keeping them myself. [The alien worms were Julie's]

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), February 08, 2001.

Joy, Up to now, the well vented bins seemed to suffice. Only since trying to finish some cast and topsoil prior to garden use has the migrations been a problem. probally due to the tripled population in the bins now. I did get them back down in one of the bins by mixing in a cup of pulverized dog food with the topsoil/cast mix.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), February 08, 2001.

Jay, the only time I've had a major migration as you mentioned was when I let one bin get too wet. It was a deep bin, almost ready to harvest. First I noticed the migration then when I stirred it a bit, a powerful odor I associated with a dirty latrine hit me. I figured that by its being too moist and heavy, the air was forced out and an anaerobic (sp?) bacteria took over. I didn't have the inclination to mess with it and just took it outside and dumped it where it would have gone anyway. Most of the worms were either gone or dead anyway so not much was lost.

Hope this isn't your case but the only answer I could provide.

-- marilyn (rainbow@ktis.net), February 08, 2001.

The moisture accumulation might be some cause. Since I quit evaluating the bins and started using them to finish the topsoil, I have let the medium temps run as high as possible by layering garden leaf mold on top, may try lowering the temp on the other two bins by removing or mixing that layer in.

-- Jay Blair in N. AL (jayblair678@yahoo.com), February 08, 2001.

Jay:

Keep movie rights in mind. Hey, it worked for chickens.

-- Ken S. in WC TN (scharabo@aol.com), February 09, 2001.

Jay, something that just occurred to me -- that worm crawl that I experienced (Julie's alien worms) was in the spring. I wonder if that could have anything to do with it?

-- Joy Froelich (dragnfly@chorus.net), February 14, 2001.