Ladders & Worms

I went to check out my worm bin today expecting to see great things after improving their airflow, etc., last week. However, when I opened it up this afternoon, all ready to give them some rare watermelon rind treats, I noticed that they hadn't even touched the papaya rind that I had placed in the top try for them last Sunday. This boggled my mind because this is one of their favorite foods, they wouldn't miss out on such a thing! There were a lot of other critters around, but no worms that I could see with the exceptions of a few crawling around on the underside of the lid.

Perhaps they were contentedly munching away in the second tray, I thought, although I would have assumed that the papaya would have been sufficient to draw up a few worms at least. When I picked up the top try to see what was going on in the second level, I noticed the problem immediately. The second tray matter had collapsed enough that the material was no longer touching the bottom of the top tray - there was no way for the worms to climb up except for on the sides, which they seem to prefer not to do. So I piled up the half-processed compost on the second tray so that it came into contact with the top tray. In a couple of days, I expect that papaya to be almost gone so that I can give them some of their hard-earned watermelon rinds.