Here are a few tell-tale signs; The majority of your compost has a deep, rich color - it will also have the same texture throughout.
Avoid grass clippings (as they heat up), glossy printed paper and cardboard (lots of chemicals) Non Biodegradables (of course), Dog and Cat droppings (can carry human pathogens) and raw meat. [more info]
There are a few types of mite that love a worm composting kit and this is all normal and part of the ecosystem. However, as with most things if they start to take over the kit this can become a problem. There are two main types – a reddish brown mite and a white shiny round mite. Both are tiny and if numbers become huge they eat the food and your worms will tend to burrow deeper into the kit and this in turn stops the worms from reproducing as effectively.
Once you have filled one tray in your worm composting kit, there are a few things you can do to continue the composting process:
Worms thrive at a pH of 6-8. Most kitchen waste is slightly acidic so do not overfeed with acidic wastes [more info]
Fruit flies can enter Subpod when you are adding your food waste. They can also get into the system before your food scraps are added to Subpod if there’s a loose lid.
Worms are decomposers and they consume organic matter and convert it into nutrient-rich compost.
What to do if the worms try to escape from your worm composter! There could be several reasons why your worms are trying to escape on the first night:
The great thing about a tray system wormery is that a: It's off the floor so very unlikely to be attacked by rodents and B: Worms compost waste as you add it so they really help to neutralise the odours. We have had no problems with rodents with Urbalive or other tray system worm composters.
Your moisture mat is just there to encourage your worms to work in the surface of the waste and as it is biodegradable the worms will eventually eat it.
Our composting worms are mixture of species (mainly reds and dendras) selected for their composting ability
The Urbalive Worm Composter is a home wormery kit that can be used indoors or outdoors for composting kitchen waste with the red worms. The perfect wormery for households, classrooms or offices.