To minimize fruit flies in your home:

• Don't bring them into your house. Fruit flies come into the home as cocoons in the peels of fruit. Their tiny eggs are planted into the skins.
• To kill the eggs, drop the skins and peels into hot water, microwave a couple of minutes or steam them.

To minimize fruit flies in your worm bin:

• Bury foodwaste several inches deep in the bedding.
• Place a couple layers of damp newspaper flat over the surface of the bedding, making sure it fits tightly along the sides. This acts as a barrier.
• Freeze or microwave foodwaste prior to feeding to the worms.

The most common type of maggots found in a worm bin are grey brown and about 1/2' long.

These maggots are attracted to worm bins and will not harm you or your worms. They are actually good decomposers, and like the red wriggler worms, produce a high-quality casting (compost).

• When your worm bin stinks, it's important to get the material in your bin aired out quickly.
• If there's just one stinky item: break it up, remove it, or cover it and give it a chance to decompose (for examples, apples can often smell).
• If a whole layer stinks, mix the bedding to aerate.
• Add more shredded paper or cardboard to promote better aeration and to balance excess nitrogen.
• Add more holes in the bin to increase air flow.

Remove waterlogged castings from the bottom of the bin and place them in some kind of porous container, such as a box with holes in the bottom.

Solutions to prevent:

• To improve aeration, particularly of plastic bins, drill 1/4 inch holes on the bottom and sides of your bin.
• If it's a stacking tray bin, see where it's designed to allow air to enter. You may have to improve the aeration of the bin somehow. Leaving the lid off will help, so will keeping the spigot open.

Worms that are uncomfortable will try to escape from the worm bin.

Possible causes/solutions:

• If the bin is too wet, a large number of worms will be found climbing the sides and on the lid.
• If it's a newly established worm bin, give it time. When worms arrive in a new environment, they like to explore, and may not be used to the kind of food you are feeding them. They'll adjust.
• Keeping the bin in a lighted area, out of direct sunlight, will prevent them from wandering, allowing time for them to get used to their new home.
• Was something offensive added to the bin (i.e., pet feces)? If so, remove the offensive item.
• Relocate the worm bin if predators are getting into the bin (such as dogs, cats, raccoons, etc.)
• Bin may be too warm. Keep in a shaded location.