by Wonder Worman | Jan 18, 2011 | Red Wiggler World
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A fruit fly has red eyes and it’s body is a yellow orange color.
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Adult fungus gnat is black and smaller than a fruit fly
Both the fruit fly and fungus gnat are rather annoying to me, and unfortunately they are part of the composting system. They are attracted to decomposing and rotting food. So if you are composting with or without worms, you are going to attract these creatures. The upside to these winged creatures is their short life span. Many sites claim they live for a day to a week depending on the temperature and the availability of food. They do reproduce quickly if food is around for them to feast on so it may seem that they live forever. Also, the warmer the weather, the longer the life span and the more they reproduce. The opposite is true for the cooler weather.
Sign: The mantra buzzing around is “Everything in moderation”. This is true for the fruit fly and fungus gnat. You don’t want a herd of these creatures. For example, if you were to open the bin and a swarm rushes out to you and tries to get up your nose and in your mouth, then things need to change in the bin. They are just giving you a sign that you are producing more food scraps than the wigglers can handle. So the decomposing food is very appealing to the wigged creatures, and they will begin to lay their eggs in the food and the wet bedding. A swarm like this will deter your wigglers from coming to the surface to feed on the food scraps.
Solution: There are a few things you can do to rid yourself of a majority of these guys. Once again a few won’t harm your wigglers. and are actually speeding up the composting process. They are more of a nuisance to us, but if you have a swarm try one or all of these methods.
– stop feeding for a week or until the wigglers consume what is left in the bin. In the meantime, the scraps that you are producing can be stored in the freezer.
– burry the food scraps in the bedding so the flies can’t get to them.
– cover the bedding with extra sheets of newspaper.
– add some peat moss, or shredded paper to absorb any extra moisture.
– put the bin outside, over night ,exposed to cooler temperatures.
– buy fly paper
– put some fruit juice with a bit of soap in a bottle. The flies will go in and die….so sorry
Happy wormin’
Here’s where I got some info on the fruit fly and the fungus gnat.
by Wonder Worman | Jan 14, 2011 | Red Wiggler World
There are many different types of ants out there in this world. The type that may infest your bin depends on the area in which you live in. There are fire ants, sugar ants, carpenter ants, acrobat ants, harvester ants. I know I have left out a bunch, but you get my drift, right? Basically there are many, many types. I really, really, really don’t care for these creatures. When I lived in Dallas, I stupidly sat on a fire ant mound and was bitten a billion times. They are nasty little creatures! I know they were defending themselves, and I was unaware of my area but come on! I actually don’t care for fast moving insects like spiders, centipedes, millipedes, and ants. Their legs freak me out and send shivers all over my body! I don’t have this reaction to Red Wigglers because they are slow and calm. They don’t have appendages that move quickly. Occasionally, I find various creatures in my worm bin, including ants. Most of these are harmless and actually speed up the composting process. If you find a swarm of these, it’s a sign that things need to change. So, in my series “Creature Feature”, I will be sharing my knowledge of worm bin invaders and steps to take if there is a swarm. Today’s feature is the ANT If you find a few in your bin, that isn’t really a problem, but most likely there are more around that you don’t see. They eat food scraps, fungi, other ants (that’s mean) and wood. Depending on the ant you have in your bin will also tell you about the conditions of your bin. Most ants are attracted to dry areas with food so this might be a sign that the bin is too dry. The carpenter ant is an exception though. They are attracted to moist wood. Treatment Most ants don’t like moisture so you could add more moisture to the bin and bury the food scraps in the bedding. You could also have water traps around the bin, kind of like a moat. They won’t want to cross that and will look for food else where. If you have carpenter ants and have a wooden bin, check around the perimeter to see if there is a rotting log and remove it. Then relocate your bin and keep an eye out for the ants. I have a client who had a swarm of carpenter ants. I removed the bedding and worms. We moved the bin to a different area away from the logs and wood. So far so good and the ants have not returned. I don’t recommend spraying a chemical around the worm bin to get rid of the ants. Just sharing what I know! Please comment if there are methods that have worked for you!
by Wonder Worman | Jan 13, 2011 | Red Wiggler World
I love my Red Wigglers and try my best to keep them safe and happy. Occasionally, there are a few unwanted visitors in the worm bin. In the next few days, my posts will focus on a few creatures and why they are in the bin and whether or not they are harmful to the Red Wigglers. Stay tuned!
by Wonder Worman | Jan 5, 2011 | Worman Cooks
This is really the best banana bread recipe! It’s just super tasty and made with the real stuff. You’re not gonna find fake sugar or fake oil here. Just real honest to goodness real ingredients! It’s super easy to make and doesn’t take a real long time to mix it up. I whooped it up in 10 minutes and baked it for about 50 minutes, depending on your oven. (Ours at the moment is really screwed up. Things aren’t made the way they used to be so I make sure to poke it before pulling it out of the oven.)
As you can see by the picture, I bake this often and I am a really messy baker! There are oil drops, batter smears and water stains! I could have retyped this, but I love the history behind the paper and the recipe!
My sis in law, Yvette, made this for us when she came to visit Bend for the very first time. She had these really cute loaves of bread for us along with a bottle of wine. What an awesome house warming gift! We really love bread, all sorts, and really, really, really, really, really, really love red wine! We drank the wine that night and ate the bread the next morning. We loved it so much that upon her return to La La land, she found an email from Carlos, requesting the recipe for the bb bread. Yvette is really, really nice and emailed it that evening! and there ya go!
By the way, I think it’s really, really cute that his sisters call him “carlitos”. I can’t get rid of the recipe for that reason, too!
The red wigglers also really love the banana peels!
by Wonder Worman | Jan 3, 2011 | Sidetracks
Check out Lucy’s lip! Isn’t it so cute?!
I took this picture a month or so ago while she was snoozing! She snoozes most of the day. Her favorite place to rest is on the couch, where she is right now! Sometimes I find her resting on a pillow or curled up on a blanket. She normally doesn’t put her lower lip out like this, but for some reason on the day I took this picture, it was hanging out!
I love so many things about Bassets, especially Lucy and Bob!
Their ears are incredibly soft and abnormally large which makes me want to play with them every time I touch them!
Their fur is smooth and abnormally bulky which makes me want to pet them and grab their extra fur and roll it through my fingers which makes me want to play with their ears!
Their eyes are a deep shade of brown and abnormally droopy which makes me think they are always in need of a hug… which then makes me pet them and then I start playing with their ears.
Their legs are chubby and abnormally short which makes me think they are slow…. which then makes me think they are sad…which makes me want to pet them….which then makes me play with their ears!
Their jowls are saggy and abnormally drooly (not a word but it makes sense, right?) which makes me want to gently fick them to watch them vibrate…which then makes me want to pet them and then OF COURSE play with their ears.
I know you probably think I harass the heck out of the dogs…well…. I do! Probably about 50% of the day!
Believe me, I make up for that harassment with some delectable Dehydrated Lamb Lung as a tasty snack!
