wfike, are you adding wood shavings to improve the texture of the casts or to help aerate the bedding? I've read, and surmise, that wood shavings take a long time to break down, so I'm assuming you aren't adding them as feedstock, am I figuring this correctly? I've also read, from several older vermi books (and the Vermiculture_FarmersManual), that horse manure by itself is not the best feed, but that cattle manure is good. Do you mix the 2 as feedstock and bedding? I guess what I'm trying to understand is whether you use horse manure as feedstock and feel it is an adequate feed by itself. I added soaked, torn corrugated cardboard to the horse manure because I'd read that it has excellent nutrition due to the high-protein glue that is used to hold the layers together. Another advantage that corrugated cb has is it's water absorbancy, so the 2 (horse manure and corrugated cb) mixed together make a good bedding and a good feedstock. But, you know, you can find all sorts of contradictions when comparing books, websites, and opinions...so I'm interested in what you find to be true, based on your experience. Cheryl, I have been freezing the food waste lately. It does seem to speed things up a bit, but there is still the issue of varying amounts of water being released, mold/fungus, and odors if you use too much or have strong smelling foods to vermicompost. I've found that as much as I want to keep food waste from the landfills, it's a lot of aggravation (too much water, mold, fruit flies, fungus gnats, march flies, houseflies, odors..etc), inconvenience (both of my freezers are half full of food waste for the worms, leaving only half for my own food), and guess-work involved in feeding food waste to the worms. Now, if I didn't have access to horse manure and corrugated cardboard, I would still use primarily food waste. But since I do have access to those materials, I much prefer using them. I have encountered very few issues/problems using horse manure and corrugated cb. So, I ease my conscious by reminding myself that these 2 items would have been dumped in a landfill somewhere, had I not taken them. I still plan on freezing some food waste to use as trench feedings in my raised beds. This practice has eliminated all issues/problems with using food waste because it is buried 4-6" under the soil, and I have many worms in my raised beds who process this food quickly (and thank me for the cold stuff when it's hot outside). The junk mail I use are advertisements for credit cards, various insurance, and a hodgepodge of solicitations. I just remove them from the envelope and tear into strips that could be used as bedding (I put them in the compost crate, so they will be partially composted by the time the worms get to it). I don't use glossy papers, not because they are bad for the worms, but because they take forever to break down and I don't like the look of them in the compost. The Vermiculture FarmersManual recommends shredding cardboard that has a waxed coating, so I assume wax is safe to use if shredded or had the wax seal broken in some other fashion . I've read that oils are not good for worms (I assume oil would smother them since they breath thru their skin), but I wouldn't think a small amount would be harmful. The boxes that you have should be fine. Most of the corrugated cardboard that I use has colored printing on it and I haven't noticed any problems with it (the majority of people say that most inks are soy based now). I also use shredded office paper in the indoor bin I just created, and to absorb water from the barrel bins outside when rain has been heavy, and that paper has been thru laser printers. I haven't seen any ill effects from any of the paper products I have used. Welcome to the thread, Cheryl. I look forward to reading about your experiences in the vermi-world.

Hi Shekhynah. Welcome. If you would like to get worms,do it. Just start with a few and have fun. Turn the "few loose in a 2 cu ft or larger bin. The best advice above is having BULK where worms can roam. The larger a bed,the less it swings in moisture and temperature,more accuratually the SLOWER swings will be. Just do your best to keep bin from overheating. Excessive amounts of food during hot weather will create needless heat as it rots. If you neglect the bin and worms die from heat,cold or drying out,don't discard bedding. Treat it as if it was full of worms EXCEPT don't add food until you see worms then only feed as required. Egg cocoons survive harsh conditions then hatch when conditions improve. Many folks up North have accidently alowed bins to freeze into a block of ice then repopulate once temperature becomes stable. Good luck

I am fairly new to worms myself, but it sounds you're doing the right thing for the moisture. It probally just needs a little time. The critters a probally BSF. As long as the bin is outside, you'll probally have them. I pick them out and feed to my Chickens. They are not supposed to harm the worms, though they appear as if they would. Since the adult fly doesn't like being inside, if you move the bin back inside you might find after one cycle the larvae are gone.

Personally, I would not add any orange peels... the pulp, though acidic, should be okay if you don't overdo it. The peel contains a goodly amount of d'limonene which is harmful not only to the worms but also to most of the other creatures in the bin. Your worms are only one of the many inhabitants of the bin. The health and balance of all these composting workers are necessary to keep the worms happily eating. I don't have a worm factory, so I'm not familiar with the particulars of bin size (surface area and bedding volume) but one pound of worms doesn't sound like a lot of worms. For a reference, I started with 8000 worms spread across two bins (each a 27-gallon tote, around 2/3rds filled mostly with coir for bedding) and it took 3 months just to achieve a balanced eco-system and that's when the bins/worms really began to take off. I was able to harvest quite a lot in vermicompost just two months later... that would be 5 months since starting the bins. It takes time. Also I'm learning that bedding temperature can have a significant effect on speed at which the worms process through the foodstuffs. Where is your worm factory located? can you accurately measure or estimate the bedding temperatures? (I say temperatures because it will vary somewhat depending upon where each measurement is taken at). Red wigglers seem to get quite active when the temps remain reliably above 65F... don't go by air temperature as the two can differ quite significantly depending upon a number of factors. Also, what are you using for your bedding? Oh, and about the tomatoes... others have mentioned it before but its worth repeating as I didn't really listen too well and managed to put a couple tomatoes, seeds and all, into the bins thinking its no big deal... well, I've been pulling young tomato plants up from everything I've spread the vermicompost on thus far... I'm just glad it was only a couple small tomatoes and I ran them through a juicer prior to adding to the bin. Perhaps if you zap the tomatoes in the micro before adding to the bin that would prevent the seeds sprouting from the vermicompost months later, either that or strain the pulp first before putting into the bin.