My worm bin got way too wet and started smelling awful last Tuesday

I got a little too excited with my coffee grounds and veggie scraps, and the whole thing turned into a soggy mess. The bottom tray had about an inch of nasty liquid in it, which is called leachate, and it STANK. I had to pull the whole bin apart, add a bunch of dry shredded newspaper I got from my building's mail room, and mix it all up. It took two full grocery bags of paper to soak up the extra moisture. Now I'm checking the dampness every other day like it's my job. Has anyone else had a bin go this wrong, and what's your best trick for keeping the balance right?

3 comments

3 Comments

wright.drew2mo ago

I mean, an inch of leachate is pretty gross, but is it really a crisis? My bin got soupy once and I just tossed in some torn up cardboard from a cereal box. It was fine in a couple days. Maybe we overthink the moisture thing.

julia_fisher282mo ago

Disagree about it not being a crisis. That much liquid can drown your worms and make the whole bin smell awful fast. A cereal box isn't always enough to fix a real problem.

the_piper1mo ago

An inch of leachate is pretty gross" for sure, but I think the real hidden problem is if that liquid gets warm enough it can go anaerobic and start creating methane pockets. Those little gas bubbles can actually suffocate your worms way faster than just being too wet will. So yeah, the cereal box trick works for absorbing moisture, but if you don't mix it in deep enough those gas pockets stay trapped and cause bigger issues down the line.