Tips to control the humidity in your Balkonton

A good humidity in the Balkonton is important: not too dry, but certainly not too wet. Compost worms breathe through their skin. They can even drown if it gets too wet. The contents of your worm tube should be about as moist as a squeezed sponge.

Balcony barrel too dry?

A worm tube that is too dry is actually rare, because the fruit and vegetable waste already contains a lot of moisture. But just to be on the safe side, you can seal your worm tube at the top with a damp plug of newsprint. That keeps it nice and dark and humid inside, and immediately keeps pests such as fruit flies at a distance.

If your Balkonton is really dried out, the water that you add often immediately runs straight out of the drain pipe. In that case, you can temporarily close the waste tube and give the Balkonton a lot of water.

At the bottom of the bottom you should have laid a layer of hydro granules. These absorb excess water and release it again when the Balkonton begins to dry out.

Balkonton too wet?

  • Make sure that you also add some cardboard, straw or sawdust every time you add green waste. That can absorb the excess moisture.
  • Do you have your Balkonton outside in full rain and it rains incessantly? Temporarily cover the worm tube with a tray, lid or umbrella.
  • Remove the cap from the bottom and see if the tap is not clogged. Is there perhaps a lump of paper at the bottom of the tube that clogs the drainage?
  • TIP: place a steel sanding sponge at the bottom of the tube, on top of the cap. This works as a filter so that your tap does not clog and the excess water can be removed from your Balkonton.

Top dry but too wet at the bottom?

Then mulching is the solution. Possibly in combination with a drip system such as an inverted PET bottle with dosing cap at the top of your Balkonton. These dosing caps are for sale in any garden center.

Read more tips on worm composting and vertical gardening in our knowledge base

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