- 1). Examine the surface of the worm bin and concentrations of food scraps for evidence of a mite infestation. Remove spoiled food from the worm bin, as a high mite population occurs when beds are overfed or provided with fleshy fruit and vegetable scraps with a high water content. Place the food in the sun for a few hours to kill the mites and return it to the bin.
- 2). Leave the cover off your bin for a few days to reduce bedding moisture. Alternatively, you could add dry bedding material to the bin in modest amounts until the moisture content lowers to about 70 percent, as measured by a moisture meter, a probe with an attached needle that moves across a marked dial.
- 3). Aerate the bedding using a three-tined hand cultivator to gently add air to the middle and bottom of the vermicompost bin.
- 4). Avoid overfeeding the worm bin. Bury just a cup or so at a time of chopped food scraps and mark the spot with a small flag or chopstick. Inspect the pocket of food to make sure the worms have eaten most of it before adding more food to an adjacent spot in the bin.
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