I Just Opened a Can-O-Worms

I just opened my Can-O-Worms , and I have some funny looking bugs in there, what should I do? Don’t panic, this is quite normal, and until you get your worm environment completely sorted out, you should expect some funnies. Actually even then, you can expect some infestation from time to time. My first uninvited bugs where something that looked like small fruit fly, and then a while after that I also had little white maggots visiting, yes, I know, a little bit disgusting. That was what I thought, but you kind of get used to all the bugs after a while that come to visit your wonderful little Can-O-Worms eco system.

When I first got the flies, I went to read up a bit more about why my Can-O-Worms was getting infested, and if there where any other infestations that I should be looking forward to. Here are some of the basic visitors you can expect:

• White worms – these tiny little white worms won’t hurt your earthworms but it probably means that you have a bit of an acidic environment, a handful of garden lime should probably rectify the situation. A piece of moistened bread will attract them for relatively easy removal.
• Flies – I thought that the flies that I had were fruit flies, but apparently these small guys are called vinegar flies. Again, they do no harm, but it probably means you are adding too much waste to your wormery, which in turns means things could get a bit smelly if you don’t take care and slow down a little, you have to keep the feeding in pace with what the worms can manage to eat.
• Maggots – don’t panic! It is quite normal to have these too. Though you probably won’t want to encourage them. One way to get rid of these guys is to add a piece of bread soaked in milk which will attract the maggots. Once they are all on the bread, you can take it out and discard them.

Just remember with all these little organisms that they are all part of the system of organic breakdown of matter that is happening inside our magic Can-O-Worms, so whatever little critter you may find in there, it probably will be aiding the breakdown process. However, often these little visitors have another message they are telling us, so we just need to take heed in order to keep our wormeries in tip top shape.