I agree with Susan on the population of sow bugs and pill bugs this year. I have NEVER seen so many as we have this year, even though we always have plenty of them in any given year. I'm guessing our generally mild winter--esp. the warm weather in Jan. and Feb. allowed them to start reproducing earlier than usual, and maybe with higher survival rates of their young. I love DE and am never without it. I have it in my pantry and in my potting shed area. DE is actually the fossilized remains of ancient sea life, including diatoms and algae. I only use the food-quality DE and not the swimming pool DE in my landscape, as there is a difference in the way the two are manufactured/processed that makes the pool type less effective. I also feed the food-grade DE to my cats and dogs once every couple of weeks, mixing it in with their canned food at a tiny rate (2% to 3%) to help eliminate parasites like worms from their bodies. It really works and is not potentially toxic like so many of the animal de-worming medications. I stir it into their food and mix thoroughly because my animals won't eat the food if they can see the D.E. DE will eliminate almost any pest insect that has to crawl over it. Sometimes I find I have to reapply it after a heavy rain, as it seems to disappear...I'm assuming it has been washed into the soil. In areas where pill bugs and sow bugs (commonly referred to by all of us as roly-polies) are a problem, which is anywhere I have mulch, I put DE down under the mulch whenever I am adding mulch. I also sprinkle some on the top of the mulch. And, if I find the roly poly bugs are climbing up into plants or nibbling at the base of plant stems, I pull back the mulch away from the stems and put DE in a little circle around the stems. I usually leave the mulch pulled back an inch or so from plant stems to discourage the roly poly critters. I try to be careful not to inhale the dust when using DE, as inhalation can lead to health problems. If you are worried about this, or are applying a large amount or using something like a Dustin-Mizer, wear a little respirator mask! I buy it at garden centers or nurseries, usually in a 25-lb bag, which will last me a long while. I also have seen it sold in huge bags in feed stores as a feed additive for cattle. However, if you only need a small quanity, I have seen it at Home Depot and Lowe's in a little applicator bottle that held probably a half-pound or a pound. It isn't always labeled as DE in big letters: sometimes it is labeled as Roach-Killer or Crawling Insect Killer. You may have to check the label of of one these products to make sure the active ingredient actually is DE. I love DE and cannot even imagine how I could garden organically without it. Dawn

Hi jinaxire! More than likely the worms died of several causes. I'll list them in order. The new environment took a few likely. The cup of cooked oatmeal took lots of them (all the ones that had a chain fo beads look)(--0-0--o-0--) and so on(protein poisoning). Then the addition of too much food. The worms decay and dissapear quickly with mites and microbes feeding on them. They also stink strongly during this short decomposition period. The fresh scraps with only a few microbes on it may have taken a few (srarvation.) To rectify order new worms. Put in bin and let them go into coir bedding (use a light if needed). When all have gone down remove damaged worms and disguard as you did. Do NOT FEED UNTIL they are settled in (2-3 days). Then feed small chunked kitchen scraps .25 inch size. Remember your bin will have only a few microbes at this time. As the worms excreat their castings the microb population will grow. It will start processing the food making it ready for the worms. Let the microbes from the first bunch of worms stay in the bin. DO NOT CLEAN the bin. If you can start feeding the microbes before the new worms arrive only in very small amounts (jump start food processing for worms.) Worms are not really hard to keep as long as the changes they are exposed to are small and time consuming. Once you have gotten them started you will be more puzzled as to why the first ones died. Once established they are very resilient. larry

Your set up sounds like my original bin. It worked great and I have since bought a commercial set-up that doesn't really work much better, just has a few added convenience factors. I'll pass along some things I learned through trial and error. I found that newpaper works well but works even better as a bedding when mixed with some other matter. A handful or two of dirt gives the worms some grit that help them break down the food scraps. Be careful if you add compost (no commercial stuff! it has chemicals and will kill your worms) and unfinished compost will generate heat, also bad for the worms. I also added some Coconut Coir to my bin. It helps keep the beds moist, but not wet and I found a cheap source locally at a pet shop at about $5.00 for three bricks. If you go this route add no more than 1/2 brick at a time because this stuff really expands when you soak it. You may not notice much activity for a while, 50 worms is a relatively small number. The nice thing is the food will break down if they can't keep up and actually will help increase the feeding pace as it rots. So be careful with overfeeding. After a few weeks you will begin to see little balls that look like tiny BB's. These are eggs, a good sign you have happy worms, and will soon have many more worms. Moisture is a must but too much water will cause your bin to get funky. I had this experience first hand and had to dump my bin on a tarp. The bottom chunk came out like a lump of wet clay and smelled like raw sewage. No surprise, considering I was dealing with poop. I saved the worms, rebedded and now add very little water if any. Last thing is I started my bin with some "trout and panfish" worms from Walmart. They worked really well and are thriving 3 months later. A friend gave me a handfull of red-wrigglers, I added them and they are thriving as well. No turf wars between the two. I tried nightcrawlers, they all died off, and I tried worms from my yard. The yard worms really hated the bin and we had nightly "jail breaks". I would wake up in the morning to worms crawling across my kitchen floor. Found out later from others that free range worms will not stay in the bin. A good rule of thumb is, if you find more than a couple outside of the bin, you have a problem. Check inside the bottom of your outer bin from time to time for escapees as well. Hope this helps.

Your question is whether to " harvest " the live worms. One disadvantage of another major change is that I'm told worms prefer what they are used to. Food on the bottom is not what red wigglers are used to in nature. A good temperature for a worm bin is 70ú, so, yes, probably some cooked. In weather that hot, shade does not suffice. (IME) Wormers use a variety of strategies to protect their bins from overheating: ice ( or frozen food, such as pieces of melon) in a corner, creating a temperature range in the bin to -- an air conditioned garage. If the worms died from heat, the surviving life in the bin can manage the bodies. If there are other unfavorable-to-worm factors, another strategy may be necessary. I hope someone else on the forum can address the lime factor.