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

I have two large bins (4'X4'X8') As one side fills, I start on the other side. It pretty much is a one year cycle. I turn the pile as best as I can. I have a lot of used coffee grounds and the pile stays pretty hot in the core. I have lots of worms in the pile. They move to the edges as the center heats up. When I start the new side, I take a few shovels of compost with worms and throw it in the new pile as starters. I have kept lots of worms in my piles for many years using this method. When I put the finished product in the garden the worms go with it. They are "red wigglers" and I am not sure what happens to them there, but I always say a small prayer that they survive and flourish as they have done in the pile.

Basement, Blue Ridge Vermiculture has the European Night crawlers for $30 per pound including shipping. I just got mine from there and was quite pleased. But, I'm not sure you want a nightcrawler in there. It would seem to me that when the food source got low, they would high-tail it under the cover of dark! I think I would go with one of the earlier suggestions... JMHO! Robert

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.