I'm not sure how much sympathy you might expect on the complaint of too much info available. Some may say you need to better redefine the question.

Volume versus quality?
Having a problem inside (fruit flies?) versus having a problem outside?

The volume of material available, and the volume of compost wanted; would be the main factors for me in deciding worm bin vs. outdoor bin.

Thanks, robert. Well, I know indoor composting (which is often smallish-scale worm composting) often starts in a cupboard under the sink. But it does not necessarily stay at the micro scale. I've known of people who had a worm-compost system going in a 55-gallon drum in the basement. Or, also, sometimes people start the worm-composting process under the sink, but continue it outdoors, in one or more larger bins during the warmer months.

In terms of my needs: I'm gardening in a 100x35 ft patch, and a 30x30 ft patch. So - while I don't build huge piles - I definitely feel the need to build sizable ones.

I hope I'm helping to better focus my question, as you suggest.

Why not both? At work and at home we hot compost the bulk of our materials and then feed the worms out of these bins. This takes care of the bulk and gets us some good worm stuff for our favorite plants ;-)

Doing it strictly with worms is a slower process. With hot composting, you get the best of both worlds. After the pile cools off, worms move in. Consequently, you have worm castings mixed in with your compost.

I have worm bins inside for food scraps. It's nice to not have to go out in the cold during the winter months to put food waste on the compost pile. But it would take the worms a long time to get through the amount of material that I have in my outdoor piles. The outdoor piles get grass clippings, shredded leaves, and horse manure.

Deanna

Thanks, Deanna.

rookie09, you wrote: "Why not both? At work and at home we hot compost the bulk of our materials and then feed the worms out of these bins. This takes care of the bulk and gets us some good worm stuff for our favorite plants"

Do you have a specific method for this? Like a certain amount of time until you consider the hot compost process finished? is it just until the original materials are no longer recognizable? And also, do you have a particular method that you use for enhancing the worm population of your finished compost? or a method you use for introducing the worms to your finished hot compost?

I am new to composting, but one of the things that I have learned is this...compost it and the worms will come. I am hot composting and my pile is still hot, but the worms have already moved into the cool portions of my pile, mostly at the very bottom and one side, and they are huge! I have harvested some of my compost and spread it on my garden which doesn't have very many worms in it. I was out there weeding just today, and as I was weeding in the area with the compost, I noticed a lot of worm holes as well as areas where they are bringing dirt to the surface.

I do both. I hot compost to get rid of yard waste and mostly use the compost when it's still a bit chunky for mulch. BTW, the cold part at the end is part of hot composting. The hot period only breaks down so much and then you need to give it some time to finish, which is a cold process.

I worm compost mostly to get the wonderful product that I apply in a water drench to plants. They don't need fertilzer when I mulch them with compost and douse them a few times a year with worm poop soup.

I don't see this linked anywhere upthread. I may have missed it. GardenWeb has an active forum on Vermicomposting. Quite active with knowledgeable participants.

One of the advantages of a cool compost operation is supposedly a more fungally dominant microherd which benefits to the way plant root systems absorb nutrients from the soil.

Joepyeweed, you wrote: "One of the advantages of a cool compost operation is supposedly a more fungally dominant microherd which benefits to the way plant root systems absorb nutrients from the soil."

Okay. This seems like a possible advantage. But what about the ideas that hot composting reduces vible weed seeds and pathogens?

I agree with doing both... but do them both in ONE heap!

My outdoor compost area is 6 ft wide and I build it up to about 4' deep. (yes, I collect LOTS of stuff).

The worms love the bottom 12 - 18 inches of the pile, and they proceed higher as it cools.

Every week I add a layer of cardboard on top, veggie scraps from a local farm market, and grass clippings.

That layer cooks for about two weeks and then the red wigglers go after it!

Last fall the heap was 40 ft long. I soaked it and then covered with a tarp. it droped to about 18" of all castings by spring!

Here is a link that might be useful: The Wormist

That's a great link, compostcritter.

Yeah, it seems that with either pure vermicomposting or with coars material that's been allowed to heat up, the method of covering with a tarp seems to really promote worm proliferation... hence lots of castings

I have three compost piles going right now. One is the typical leaves/grass mix, the second is ramial wood mixed with grass clippings, the third is a manure pile. Each has a different application; garden soil amendment, berry patch mulch, new bed material, respectively. I also have a leaf mold pile, but it has been taking its sweet time. It will go into a carrot bed.

I'd have to buy the red wigglers if I wanted to start a vermicompost bin. And I'm not sure what I'd do with the results. Potting soil?

Joel -- like Karchita I hot compost the yard waste at home and LOTS of coffee filters and grounds at work. It is very unscientific but it works pretty well. The only down side I see with doing both in one heap would be the inability to capture worm castings only. On the plus side, your regular compost quality should improve with the additional worm poop. Have fun and keep us posted on what you choose.

Vermicompost is supposed to improve plant immunity to disease and stress even more than hot compost. Hot compost's primary advantage as far as I'm concerned is the ability to destroy weed seeds. Re: pathogens, there are some reputable studies that would seem to indicate that vermicomposting can be as effective as hot composting, but it's a lot easier to confirm the necessary conditions in a hot pile as opposed to a wormery. Vermicompost can't be used as a sole-source seeding medium, as it actually deters seed viability at full strength; however, adding some percentage of finished vermicompost to a prepared seeding medium increases sprouting and reduces damp-off--I want to say @10%, but don't have that citation at hand, sorry. Numbers only stick in my head if they're relevant to me, and I don't do much with "pure" composts of any sort, but let all the micro- and macro-digesters play.

DSF