My worm bin froze solid last February, now I pre-insulate with foam board

I kept my worm bin on the balcony in Portland for 2 years with no issues, but that cold snap in February killed most of my red wigglers. The castings were mush and it stunk like rotten vegetables for a week inside my studio. I tried moving it inside by the heater but that just made fruit flies worse. Last month I wrapped the bin in 1 inch foam board and put a small seedling heat mat under it, and the temp stays around 60 even when outside drops to 40. It cost me about 25 bucks and I have not smelled a thing since. Has anyone else dealt with balcony frost killing their colony, or do you just keep it inside year round?

2 comments

2 Comments

zara_hill4628d ago

Wait, you're telling me worms need better winter housing than I do? I mean, my apartment gets down to 58 degrees in January and I just put on another hoodie, so maybe I should take notes from your worm bin setup. The foam board and heat mat sounds way more reliable than my "shove the bin under the kitchen sink and pray" method, which just ended in me finding frozen worm jerky in March.

paul_owens2527d ago

Ha, that "shove under the sink and pray" is exactly what got me last year, so your worm jerky joke hits close to home. That heat mat trick should honestly work indoors too, might just need to unplug it on warmer days to keep from cooking them.

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