You could do that, but what a messy job!!!!! Why not do the precomposting in an outside pile?
I believe you would spend about the same amount of effort by cutting/chopping/shredding the cardboard into smaller pieces. Ideally, the smaller the matter, the better.

Or, you can use the cardboard as bedding material, keep it in larger pieces and transfer it with the worms when the other materials are composted.

Varied materials will never decompose at the same rate hence the worms will not eat them at the same rate.

Chuckiebtoo

I can't compost outside. The rest of the family isn't as fond of the worms and even less so of "junk" in the yard. Even in a pretty container, it wouldn't be tolerated. That's why the worms are forced to live in a corner of the basement.

I do use cardboard as bedding but tend to rip it into smaller pieces. That's really why I wanted to try precomposting everything. I hate fishing tons of cardboard out of the compost.

you do not want anaerobic compost - the microherd in airless composting is totally different than in aerobic composting, and the smell of putrifying organics would not add much to your basement!
not sure what you're unhappy w/, but castings are usually pretty 'greasy' and muddy, and can't imagine how pre-composting would change that - you might to try some coarser material like coarse sawdust to improve texture, as to getting the cardboard to disappear faster, shred it and soak it well before you put it in the bin - goes fast enuff if mixed in so it doesn't dry out - the smaller the pieces of material you put in the faster they'll get microbially active and be consumed

Bill

I use primarily cardboard as the bedding in my bins now. The biggest trick i have is to buy a shredder that rips the cardboard into small pieces. The shredder i use for cardboard is a cross cut shredder designed to shred credit cards and cds. It cuts the cardboard into 2.5" long strips and about 1/4 inch wide. A recent bin that i semi-harvested had no cardboard in it ... but it did have 1/2" wide strips of newspaper that had been put in it (at the same time as the cardboard).

As mentioned above anaerobic conditions utilize a different type of bacteria than aerobic conditions. In actuality you would only be introducing a smelly mess into the worm bin. The anaerobic bacteria would have to die off before the aerobic bacteria could move in. (for alot more info on this look into fishkeeping).

I think this shredder cost about $30 US at walmart. Since i also use it to shred personal information there is no real loss. The biggest pain is cutting the cardboard into less than 8" strips.

Bryan

Castings are not, or should not, be "muddy or greasy". If they were, sifting them out of the compost would be very difficult. Normally, castings I recover are fairly light but will clump together somewhat if squeezed.

Many of the posts I read here mention moisture problems, leachette, anaerobic conditions, etc. This indicates excessive moisture to me. My beds are moist, but leachette rarely drips out of the bins. If you use plastic bins with the lids on, most of the time the moisture content of the foodstock is all the moisture they need.

Watch the worms...they will tell you if conditions aren't OK.

Chuckiebtoo

My concern is---why doesn't his cardboard get eaten? Is it maybe the wrong kind of cardboard?

It doesn't make sense to me, though of course I believe it.

Hmmmm....goood luck!

Miz B

Thanks for the suggestions, everyone.

I think my main problem was continually feeding even the bins that I planned to harvest soon. On the bin that I decided to harvest, I stirred up the bedding then left it alone for a while. After a few days, the castings had a much better texture and the cardboard was greatly reduced. I now have a beautiful planter with plenty of castings. :)