Revisiting the slime mold growth in the ENC worm bins - vermicompost

[@A-V]

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[@PlantObsessed]

Got to love to see all the babies snuggling in the corn cob.

[@A-V]

Yes indeed - it was a nice thing to see 👍🏻

[@albedo6300]

Today I've discovered slime mold in one of my RW bins too. On the newspaper covering the top. I let it live, we'll see what will happen.

[@A-V]

It's a great thing to have in your worm bins 👍🏻

[@mrlauro9150]

Weird, between my worms, springtaiks, isopods, and mites. I never get mold

[@koicaine1230]

Thank you for this video. I have a worm bin with Slime Mold and wasn't really sure if it was good or bad and now I know it's harmless at worst and beneficial at best. I've had my worm bin for about 4 years and this is the first time I've ever seen it. I had no idea what it was and thought there was something wrong with it being in there, now I can relax 🙂

[@A-V]

I can relate to your reaction to seeing that stuff for the first time. It's startling to see alright - I can vouch for that... haha! :)

[@koicaine1230]

@@A-V It moves so fast! And it's gross 😝

[@Vermicompost]

That was a good demo of why molds are so prevalent in nature & in our homes🤣😂🤣That was like a smoke signal coming up from the second bin!! Great point about younger bins needing a little add moisture occasionally!! Excellent slime moldy video AV!!🪱🪱🪱

[@A-V]

The mold must be hydrophobic the way it all got airborne as soon as I applied some water to it - or maybe the moisture was just being applies at too high a pressure. Either way, I think I could have probably done a somewhat better job being mindful not to inhale the stuff. Such a stark contrast to what can be seen over on the World Composting channel, where face masks are used during half of the worm bin maintenance tasks :)

[@Vermicompost]

@@A-V I just pretend I'm a whale and try to keep my blow hole away from any stuff that flies up😂🐳I know I've inhaled far worse in my 20 year Air Force career!! It was fun to watch the mad scientist in you create a big puff of "smoke"😂🤣😂

[@nunliski]

You're giving them super high calorie, high starch food which takes them longer to break down. That might be contributing to the mold problem.

[@A-V]

Good point. My feedings are pretty consistent, usually - but once in a while some out of the ordinary things wind up on the menu. Thanks for watching!

[@ericcarve4476]

Been looking forward to this vid. I am just a minute in but wanted to post a thank you! Onto the vid…

[@ericcarve4476]

I wasn’t disappointed, glad the mold didn’t bother things for the worms!

[@A-V]

And hopefully I didn't inhale too much of it - *and* , perhaps more importantly, since I most certainly did suck some of it in, hopefully it isn't the kind that makes we wimpy humans ill :)

[@ericcarve4476]

@@A-V yeah, I sometimes wonder about that with worms. We breathe a lot of bad stuff in. Egg shells put off calcium that gets stuck in the lungs, mold and fungus, manures. I am leaning on it strengthening us over time but maybe not? Time will tell.

[@A-V]

Exactly - whatever doesn't kill us will make us stronger 👍🏻

[@ericcarve4476]

So I am at a weird place with my worms where I want to protect them but also want to bring in foods or beddings that might not be pest free. Sure we can freeze banana peels to kill the fly eggs but I need to be able to freeze more at a time than is practical. I got manure in that has some bugs in it, but can’t use it out of fear. Unsure how to bulk freeze or microwave or steam. Love these guys but one wrong decision and BAM, square one. :(

[@A-V]

Sounds like you might need to recruit a special mission team from your worm population to launch off a new outdoor worm system where you can throw caution to the wind a bit more & broaden the range of food & bedding types that you can use :)

[@ericcarve4476]

@@A-V you know, I never considered that possibility and it’s a good one. I put the huge load of rabbit manure into my unused large recycle toter and left it in the sun, hoping it would kick off a hot compost… but rabbit poo is a cool compost fuel and I don’t think it has the same thermogenic bacteria in there. The sun is making it warm, but not baking the crap out of it like I’d like. I stopped seeing the black earwig with wings bugs I saw when I got the manure, but I suspect they are nested inside just munching away. Got to consider your outdoor worm colony idea…

[@A-V]

Stuff stored outside with access to the earth could have already been occupied by wild wormies. Except since it's been baking the sun then it might be a bit too harsh of an environment for worms. Perhaps just place it in the shade, add some moisture & a few worms - then wait to see what becomes of it. It wouldn't take much effort to make it happen... :)

[@ericcarve4476]

@@A-V that is likely a good plan, I’ll keep you posted. I was thinking of starting a worm channel, if I do I’ll let you know.

[@A-V]

Can never hurt to have another worm composting channel :)