Benefits of Worm Light Sensitivity

Red Wigglers and European nightcrawlers light sensitivity make them an ideal in-home hobby. When starting a bin, keeping a white light over the bin trains the worms to stay inside their home. After two weeks, the light can be discontinued.

Could there still be worm escapes later? Yes. It’s important to monitor bin conditions regularly to ensure you have the most ideal living quarters so the worms don’t decide to look for better accommodations. It’s a balancing act and what you want to look for are: too acidic, too much food, wrong temperature, bad ph level, too much water….

Light sensitivity is a also big advantage when harvesting the vermicompost. I take large handfuls of vermicompost and sit it under a light for a few minutes. This gives the worms a chance to crawl to the bottom of the pile. Then just continue taking more finishing vermicompost from the top of the pile and soon you the majority of the vermicompost will be removed and you’ll be left with a beautiful squirm of worms.

One of the things I will be trying out with my bin soon will be putting a red light over the bin. A study at www.RedLightMan.com showed that worms processed 55% worm castings under red light compared to no light at all. Have you tried this? If so, did you see a difference?