Symptom:
Smells like rotten eggs or garbage
Cause:
Too wet
Meat, fish, dairy or pet waste in bin
Food scraps not covered
Solution:
Mix in shredding computer paper, dry leaves, peat moss or sawdust. Keep food scraps and pet waste out. Cover food with bedding when added.
Symptom:
Bedding is dry, few worms
Cause:
Not enough water
Solution:
Mix and moisten bedding, cover with plastic or moistened cardboard. Move bin out of sun.
Symptom:
Food scraps building up
Cause:
Too much food
Bin too cold or too hot
Solution:
Limit food scraps. Add more worms. Build another bin. Move bin to cool basement or garage. Keep bin filled with bedding.
Symptom:
Maggots in bin
Cause:
Meat, dairy or other animal products
Solution:
Keep animal products out of the bin. Cover bedding with cardboard or plastic.
Symptom:
Fruit flies swarm out when bin opened
Cause:
Exposed food scraps
Solution:
Always cover food scraps with bedding. If you still have fruit flies, add an inch of sawdust or peat moss to top of the bedding, or cover bedding with cardboard or plastic.
Symptom:
Worms crawling up sides of bin
Cause:
Too much food, bedding too wet or fully decomposed
Solution:
Limit food scraps or build another bin. Add dry bedding.
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