"Hi, is it ok to turn your compost over to further aerate it?" Cathy

Hi Cathy,


In vermicomposting, you should have hundreds, thousands or millions of workers helping you aerate the compost itself!!! (If you don’t, the scraps you feeding them will become putrid because there are not enough earthworms to process the scraps)

The worms naturally dig/create holes and pockets of air within the compost keeping it healthy(please note that this is only in the top +/-2 inches of compost and this allows the beneficial micro-organisms in the bin to grow well, which in turn becomes part of the diet for the worms. The compost below becomes compacted and hard for the worms to move through.

Do you need to further aerate it?

Yes, l believe you must do it at least once a week, even if the worm bin smells earthy, it is healthy. Keeping things the way they are will reduce stress on the worms and they will work happily.

However, if things smell bad and sour, (putrid/acidic) then it is possible it is going anaerobic. You will need to either take out the source of what is causing the problem or amend the feed to get it back to neutral, as l instruct in my Saturday demos to customers, as soon as it starts smelling sour/stinky take shredded paper, shredded cardboard or bleached grass cuttings and tuck it into the compost so that it absorbs the excess liquid that has turned acidic/putrid and will neutralize it (remember the shredded paper, shredded cardboard and bleached grass cuttings are the carbon to keep it in balance, you get nitrogen from all the vegetable matter – so if you do this it will keep it in balance).

If the conditions in the bin are not good, worms will try to escape. Add some cardboard or good carbon material (shredded paper, shredded cardboard or bleached grass cuttings) to keep pockets of air within the system and at the same time, give your wormery system an extra hand by giving it a good mix using your hands that will minimize harm to your worms. If you are an ‘eeka’ (squeamish) invest in a pair of washing up gloves (yellow ones) or if you are very squeamish cow birthing gloves and get stuck in and give your system a gentle mix, from the bottom to the top.

I hope that l have answered your question sufficiently, if not please have a look at the graph above as it will help you assess exactly what might be the problem with your system. If not, please don't hesitate to contact me.