Thank you so much for your kind and knowledgable advice, Felix.

I made the mistake of getting a bit frustrated at this forum, swearing off it (The Forum), and threw the eggshells into the worm pot wholly cracked. I can easily rectify that now, just have to dig up those eggshells and crunch them.

And now I know to give everything a whirl before depositing kitchen leftovers into the worm bucket. (Having made the mistake of sticking whole fruit in there before.)

Happy Thanksgiving, dear Felix and family. One more question: some people say give coffee grounds to the worm pot. I'm of the opinion (just instinctively) that worms would not like coffee grounds. What is your input on UCG for our worm friends?

Thank you again, Felix.

(And P.S. I'm very glad I didn't commit to swearing off the forum.)

I visit Starbucks for their grounds. DH does drink the stuff not me.
I use some in the worm bin and some in the compost pile,some on my roses. and some I just dump in the garden but be careful doing that as I realized they can compact and make a thin crust if not turned in.
You are correct in not using too much coffee grounds as we do not want the worm bin too acidic. Thus, very little citrus or pineapple should be used. You will notice the worms trying to escape if you do!
I was given someones cast off worm bin to add to my collection.It was full of coarse sand, sea shells and citrus rinds. The poor worms were all on the lid trying to escape from the painful sand and acid wash. I plucked them out and placed them in much more habitable surroundings!
If you do get grounds from Starbucks they tell you to use them right away. I didnt get around to emptying a few bags and later discovered what I believe iwas army fly larvae. I figured they would make great bait but I have 2 ducks(FELIX and JINXIE) and thought I would see what they thought. They LOVED their tasty treat!
I tell you that so you won't be surprized at the other critters.
BTW Im not aware of the negative probs so just keep me in the Dark.
I like my happy place LALALA

I visit Starbucks for their grounds. DH does drink the stuff not me.
I use some in the worm bin and some in the compost pile,some on my roses. and some I just dump in the garden but be careful doing that as I realized they can compact and make a thin crust if not turned in.
You are correct in not using too much coffee grounds as we do not want the worm bin too acidic. Thus, very little citrus or pineapple should be used. You will notice the worms trying to escape if you do!
I was given someones cast off worm bin to add to my collection.It was full of coarse sand, sea shells and citrus rinds. The poor worms were all on the lid trying to escape from the painful sand and acid wash. I plucked them out and placed them in much more habitable surroundings!
If you do get grounds from Starbucks they tell you to use them right away. I didnt get around to emptying a few bags and later discovered what I believe iwas army fly larvae. I figured they would make great bait but I have 2 ducks(FELIX and JINXIE) and thought I would see what they thought. They LOVED their tasty treat!
I tell you that so you won't be surprized at the other critters.
BTW Im not aware of the negative probs so just keep me in the Dark.
I like my happy place LALALA

Thank you Tanya, you are so kind. You are a kindred spirit, not even snarling at me about addressing you as Felix (which in my humble opinion would be an honor).

I just got into worm bins as a result of the last issue of the Florida Gardening Magazine and plucking a big pot out of a neighbor's yard on trash pick up day.

I shared your info. with my 8 year old great niece in Jensen Beach and her 10 year old step-brother who resides in Lake Worth at the family Thanksgiving doo today, just so you know.

I'm with ya sister on staying happy LALALA.

But this leads me to another worm question. When I changed soil for the herb pot this year, there were approximately 15 give or take happy worms in there. I saved those worms separately in another pot and plucked them back in. (This pot being on the front porch on cement.) By the time I filled that big pot back up with soil and repotted my plants, the worms looked (pout) dead! Do you reckon they're still okay? (I re-deposited them, and haven't/won't dug/dig them back up to check on their status.

m

P.S. Thank you very much.

Perhaps but Im not one to give my pretty pink pets mouth to mouth no matter how much I like them.They prefer cooler shade and as you know a container dries out ever so quickly and this wind doesn't help. Were the wrigglers or garden variety earthworms. The RW are ever so happy in containers but you must provide them with the correct amount of moisture ,air. food and bedding. I check mine about once a week, I keep them in the garage. I do not do worms the way they said in the FG magazine and I wish they would have mentioned the other other way of doing it. But some people may like it that way. I keep mine in bins and harvest the castings ,placing the worms BACK into the orininal bin to eat more poop more and have more babies.They only live about three years.
I encourage the garden variety by adding plenty of compost and shredded newspaper in my beds but I do not purposely add my RWs,
Did you add fertilizer to your herbs that also could make them ill die or leave.So can chlorinated or salty water. I add only rain water soaked papers or at least leave the water out for a day so chlorine dissipates

Hi Tanya, and thanks for your feedback and great instructions (and giggles).

The worms I found in my big herb pot on the front porch wiggled alot but were fairly large and I just presumed they were earthworms.

To answer your questions, I don't think I ever fertilized my herbs last year, just started out with purchased soil (which of course had fertilizer in it, I don't know if there's any you can buy without it, except black cow). I didn't ever spray any pesticides in the vicinity of the herb pot last year. So I had 12 earthworms or wigglers that felt it was worthy to crawl up on my cement front porch and into the big herb pot. When I swapped out soil last month, I used another commercial mix with the "fertilizer in the soil" again. Hope I didn't toast the worms with that. I guess I'll never know for sure.

When I read your earlier post, I was saying to myself, "Holy Cow! I reflected back to the article I read and I think the first submission to the bin recommended in the article was a great big batch of orange juice and coffee grounds."

If you publish an article, I want to read yours, no offense to the author of the article in Fla. Gardening.

Thanks again!

Well, now here is the difference in THEIR method.
I am not stating she is wrong it is just a DIFFERENT type of worming.
The author states that she cuts out the bottom of the bin and buries it partially in the ground.
In a totally enclosed bin(with air and drainage of course)you will have to be a bit more careful. In a bottomless bin if the worms are not happy they can dig to China or the nearest flower patch . In an enclosed bin they are stuck there as unhappy little fellas.
Nothing worse than whiny wormies LOL
tanya

I've been playing with worms since I was 4 years old. My mom got traumatically bit in the eye by a dog when she was a youngster, and dislikes dogs even up until today.

I asked for a puppy for every Holiday and birthday. The response was always "NO!" Mom stumbled upon me in the garage one day and asked me what I was doing. I told her that I was playing with worms, my only pet.

So Mom was tortured into letting me get a puppy. Now I want to have worm pets again (especially for the garden), and I greatly appreciate your insight.

Thanks for everything!

Tanya, did you buy one of those spendy worm "castles" or is it your worm condominium a "do it your selfer?" (I'm on a bit of a budget.) Would love to receive a worm farm education, I'd just have to substitute "shed" for garage.

Please enlighten us.

Thank you,
m

I started with the Wonder Worm three tier bin. I actually went to APOPKA and saw their huge worm farm.
I decided to take a worm class from Ken Gioeli who is the St Lucie Resource Agent and taught us about entomology in our Master Gardener class.Basically I wanted to learn how to teach others and see how he did it.He used the rubbermaid bin method and I thought it would be great if it worked . Well it does!He does it in one bin in quadrants but I think if you are REALLY trashy(LOL) you should do more than one bin. I also saw a sight where they piled their rubbermaid bins on TOP of each other with larger holes so the worms could travel up through.Basically it is a cheap version of the Can O Worms. I also do a compost heap for yard trash

I started with the Wonder Worm three tier bin. I actually went to APOPKA and saw their huge worm farm.
I decided to take a worm class from Ken Gioeli who is the St Lucie Resource Agent and taught us about entomology in our Master Gardener class.Basically I wanted to learn how to teach others and see how he did it.He used the rubbermaid bin method and I thought it would be great if it worked . Well it does!He does it in one bin in quadrants but I think if you are REALLY trashy(LOL) you should do more than one bin. I also saw a sight where they piled their rubbermaid bins on TOP of each other with larger holes so the worms could travel up through.Basically it is a cheap version of the Can O Worms. I also do a compost heap for yard trash

Thank you Tanya!

I've been blending my eggshells and veggie refuse in a mini food processer ever since your original post.

Thanks for the additional info about Ken G. and rubbermaid bins.

I truly appreciate your fascinating information, and thank you for sharing your knowledge!

Marilyn