I buy ten cubic yards of compost every year for my 45 foot by 60 foot garden that is almost pure clay. Its made from horse manure and wood shavings, and is fine screened and has no garbage like broken glass or soda cans or plastic bag scraps that you find in some commercial compost. They charge ten dollars a cubic yard for new customers, but old customers like me can get it for eight dollars a cubic yard, plus $35 to deliver it a distance of about 20 miles to my house. So for $115 I get a full 10 cubic yard truck load delivered to my driveway, plus they usually put about 11 cubic yards on the truck, don't try to short you like some companies. The company is also a licensed compost maker and must meet all regulations, including measuring the temperature of their piles several times a day to make sure the temperature is high enough that any weed seeds or pathogens are killed. The compost is actually a sideline, their main business is a 280 horse stable and ranch so they know exactly what went into their compost. Over the course of the years I have probably put 60 or 70 cubic yards of compost on my garden and lawn, plus countless bags of store bought potting soil, mulch, and bark, plus over a ton of gypsum, and hundreds of pounds of chemical and organic fertilizer. My soil is so rich that weeds just explode out of it if we ever get any rain, which is quite rare.

Idea is a 30:1 Carbon/Nitrogen ratio (Browns:Greens) Determine the C:N ratio of the Browns and Greens you will be adding. There are many charts online that give the C:N ratio of commonly composted items. Browns Greens C1:N1 C2:N2 Divide the C by 30 for Browns and multiple N by 30 for Greens N1 = C1/30 C2 = N2*30 Divide those 2 numbers NUMBER = C2/N1 Multiply C by the number for Browns and divide the N by the number for Greens High Carbon High Nitrogen C1*NUMBER N2/NUMBER -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Example: Wood Chips Urea 400:1 1:46 N needed to make a 30:1 ratio for Wood Chips(N1) = 400/30 13.3 C needed to make a 30:1 ratio for Urea(C2) = 46*30 1380 NUMBER = C2/N1 NUMBER = 1380/13.3 NUMBER = 103.8 C1*NUMBER 400/103.8 = 3.9 3.9 lbs of Wood chips to 1 lb or Urea will balance out the 400:1(Wood Chips/Browns) and 1:46(Urea/Greens) to 30:1 -or- .26 lbs of Urea to every 1 lb of Wood chips. (1 divided by 3.9) -=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=-=- Using that formula, its more like 12 lbs of urea for 50 lbs. Thats about a gallon and a half of urine.

I can't agree that I don't really "care" what they eat. I'm certainly not trying to turn this into a full-fledged debate (not that I would ever get offended by having one unless someone get's offensive during it), but if I'm going to undertake any kind of 'project' (especially one that consists of playing with moldy, smelly 'waste' on a regular basis - LOL), regardless of my reasoning for doing so, I like to edumacate myself as much as possible on the information surrounding the particular subject so I can be the 'best' I can be at it. I guess I'm just the sort of person that likes continuously learning new things in as much depth as possible and strives for some extent of excellence in all areas of my life... whatever those may be. That said, I originally got into composting (as a whole) for several reasons. First and foremost, I started my first garden last year, and decided to go totally organic/non-GMO. In that quest, I began composting... primarily for soil addendum due to what I've been dealt by nature in my yard, but also, as a positive byproduct, to reduce my household's overall 'footprint' in some way (no matter how small). So for me, vermicomposting is not just a 'hobby', but I'm actually concerned about the end result and/or finished product, which is why threads such as these interest me. Bottom line (for me), I just want to understand what I can about the topic as a whole, and perhaps, eventually, figure out what is, indeed, "fact", and what is "faith". Unfortunately, I'll never be able to travel down the gut (not that I'd probably survive the gizzard) of one of my worms and see the process firsthand, so I will have to take a few things on "faith" that I read along the way... but despite that limitation, I am certainly not above discussing if what I have read, wherever, is commonly accepted in "faith" by others more experienced than me. All that clarified, I will at this point agree with certain things discussed here: 1) Worms do 'eat' bacteria, but not ONLY bacteria (which is what I initially assumed you were saying in your first post) 2) They do NOT 'eat' anything that is not broken down into "RTE" 'food' 3) Everything organic can and will eventually break down into RTE form Now given #3, horse manure may indeed be a better IMMEDIATE food (or more readily accepted) than non-RTE substitutes, but does that necessarily make it "better" for the end product... the castings? Not saying it does or doesn't (as I honestly don't know with any certainty at this point), and since the worms obviously like it (whether in captivity or the wild), I can only assume (or take on "faith", as I've yet to feed mine any) that it is, in fact, "good" in some sense of the word. Then again, in their natural habitat, there is rarely the opportunity for them to encounter what we feed them from our kitchens, so it's also possible they simply migrate to whatever is available. Either way, I am still not sure that the topic of the thread has been fully determined, however... and unless that is eventually accomplished here, why are we bothering to waste valuable hours of our days writing about (and purely speculating on) it?

10 gallon indoor plastic bin experience with HM - I get HM from a small stable near my home and use it in my indoor bins. I collect two 5-gallon buckets worth of HM at a time. When I get the buckets home I cover them with garden fabric and secure with bungi cords to keep flies out but let rainwater in. I then let the buckets stand outside getting soaked with rain for a couple months. When I'm ready to start using that HM I put a good amount in a gallon freezer bag along with some frozen vegitables. As the veggies thaw that adds water to the HM. The next day I mix the HM and now thawed veggies and add cut up pumpkin to the bag that had been frozen and thawed. I also add spent coffee grounds that have soaked in water overnight to the bag. All of this adds more moisture to the mix as well as some diversity to the feed stock. This concoction processes one more day before being added to my bin. If it's a little too wet I'll add some shredded paper to the bag to soak it up. So far I haven't had trouble with dry HM or with my bin heating up or with worm death from deworming chemicals. Don't know if this is a viable process or if I'm just lucky so far, but it's working for me.