I just built another stacking system. I originally was going to sell it with about a half pound of worms on Craigslist, but between my wife not commenting on the new stack and the fact that my worms don't keep up with kitchen waste, I might start feeding it for me :)

1. Have been worm composting in 5 tray worm factory for about 8 months. Have 5 Earth Machine compost bins. Had one, but then started collecting them....

My only regret about Worm Factory bin is putting leaves in as bedding and I have thus introduced predators to my bin.... centepeedes...

I have tons of compost in the works but I don't turn it very often, if at all.... slow composter I am.

Patrick,

Funny I was imagining a system like yours.... Now can do that, wife willing....

Once I have all of these compost and worm castings, I will need to learn better how to use it! That is my biggest ? right now. 20% worm castings as soil amendment, for veggigarden.

My best piece of advice: copper lining around raised beds is wonderful: no snails at all in our garden. None. But, I bought my copper from a guitar web site as crud bought at home depot lasted 4 months....

Mike

moandtg...Mike, I am curious where you came up with the idea of repelling slugs with copper.

moandtg: "Wife willing." That's my biggest hurdle. The bucket stack is fairly small and I keep mine (just added the one in the video) in the hall/entrance way. I've been trying to talk my sister in law (who has a tiny garden but doesn't have room to compost) and my mother in law (ditto) to take up the worm bucket system. So far, I've just given my sister in law about a gallon of VC in a ziplock.

Morgan,

I read it online don't remember where... google snails copper or ways to combat snails.... Cory's tape stinks... thinner than aluminum foil so lasts only months... thicker better, have tape that has lasted 1.5 years and expect it to keep on going....

apparently copper keeps tiny electric current and slugs/snails don't like it....

Mike

it was going on 10 years or so ago i innocently accepted my fist bin.

most important thing i've learned - you are more likely to kill worms with food than neglect

i tend to keep my bins on the dry side. it's surprising how long worms/cocoons will survive 'dry' bins. as long as they are cool and ventilated they are very forgiving. over feeding on the other hand....

a friend gave me a bunch of compost once - i failed to notice the abundance of tomatoes/lemons/avocados. white mold took over and i had worms everywhere but in the bins. it was awful!

citrus/acidic foods in moderation! i know folks have experimented with overfeeding worms but my mistake was leaving them unattended for to long after feeding them inappropriately.

i've learned lots more but i keep that one lesson i keep with me.

One thing - keep it simple stupid!
Probably easier said than done with indoor worms but for my outdoors guys, just keep throwing stuff in and leave 'em alone!

I started going on two years ago with a pound or so of red wigglers in an old recycling bin. Then expanded to a second recycling bin, then a large nursery pot (maybe 25 gallons?). Now I use all sizes of nursery pots and throw paper and compost into them then sit them atop the other bins so worms can work their way in in their own time.

I also use nursery pots around the garden (3-gallon mostly), sometimes with a couple of them stacked. I try to keep them either hidden among plants or some of them I've painted so they look pretty. Then the runofff can go straight into the plants. Sometimes I take a large pot and fill it with leaves, paper, table scraps, and then sit one smaller pot with worms in it on top so they can work their way in, then put some smaller potted plants into the big pot so it looks like a little container garden. When in reality all kinds of disgusting unmentionables are occuring below!

Later I can harvest the vc in the large pot or just plant something directly in there. If I plant directly in them I will place small pots with paper and compost scraps in them so that remaining worms in the big pot can come up into the new batch.

I also like to keep a peanut butter jar in the sink. I use the 40-ounce plastic ones, and after leaving the jar upside down outside somewhere to let the ants clean the PB out, keep the jar and lid in the sink where I deposit vegetable scraps, egg shells, and torn-up bank statements, etc. Actually I usually have a couple of these jars in rotation and can keep a backup under the sink if I fill one till I can take 'em out and dump them. (I also let sink water run into these containers so all the paper and stuff is nice and soaked when I dump it.)

Anyway, those are a few of my thoughts.

Happy worming!

Thank you for the idea of using giant nursery pots as worm composters! I was so excited I trudged through the cold rain to the garage and climbed the tractor to reach the stack of huge 15-gallon pots that were on the top shelf!

One of them is in the basement and loaded with bedding, worm compost and some old food now. I think I'll wait a couple days for that to get all settled and then move some of the worms over.

I'd like to do some worming outside, but with forecast lows in the teens coming up I don't want to risk my worms!

2 years.

- That it's a lot like gardening or even cooking: you just need to get a feel for how things should look/feel/smell. When I started I was too worried about trying to nail down details, like a novice cook looking for a precise recipe to follow. Once you have a sense for the range in the worms are happy you can improvise: what's fun about this forum is the creativity.

- That you should start with at least a pound of worms. I started with less, and that meant I was not getting much composting done for the first six months.

- That fruit flies etc. are part of the deal, and you're better off with the bins in a place where that's not an issue than spending a lot of time on elaborate anti-fly measures.

I'm using two 4-tray Worm Factories plus a larger plastic bin that I dump the bottom trays into for final processing; that also lets me scrape compost off the top layers as the remaining worms head down. The Worm Factories are not as cheap as home-made systems, but they're space-efficient, and it's easy to take them apart, inspect the different trays, and see what's going on.

We're in the rainy pacific NW where the soils have been leached of nutrients over millennia. We also put out lots of vegetable peelings and accumulate plenty of cardboard. It's great to have the second problem solve the first problem.

I decided to copy Patrick's 5 gallon bucket setup. I found a guy on craigslist giving white buckets away. I did all the drilling, and sawzalling today and yesterday. I only am missing the lids. Might buy Orange ones at Home Depot.

I made two of them. One for me, the other for a neighbor.

I used an old drill, with a small drill bit, so just put in a ton of holes. My only concern is that worms are supposedly not happy in White bins. But, I will keep it out of direct sunlight and I think that will not be an issue.

Thanks for the idea, Patrick.

Mike

Mike,
All of my white buckets are recycled from Burger King - they get in three or more of those per week full of pickle slices and I can usually get tops with them.
I had not heard that they don't like the white containers, clear for sure due to light. Mine are in the normally dark hallway and seem to be very happy.
Happy worming.

Patrick,

I am thinking about adding another level. So, would be 8 buckets.
Have you tried that? I never go for the little stuff. 5 compost bins, and when I got my first worm bin, got a 5 level one.... even though not sure about it. Go strong or Go Home!

Patrick, I will let you know how it goes.

Mike

I haven't gone that high due to space constraints. The biggest drawback I could see to going that high is checking for and draining leachate. The higher the stack the further down the catch bucket. I use the lid to set buckets on so they don't stain the floor when I want to check levels of leachate or vermicast. The taller your stack the more lids - or something - to place on the floor.

I also just did an interesting rotation (for me) with one of my stacks. I have the 5 bucket stacks as in the video. I notice that over time the level in the bottom working bucket will shrink away from the upper working bucket and worms can't migrate directly up. I moved one spacer from the order and placed it over the top working bucket. The result is that there is only one spacer between the two working buckets and more of the worms can migrate upwards. The more spacers you have, the more flexible you can be with this and I think this is a feature that the commercial stacking worm bins do not have.

So, if the weight, space and floor protection are not concerns for you, I say go for it.

I have been vermicomposting for 3 years now. What I have learned is what I wish I knew back then- that it is kind of like the Ronco Rotisserie: "Set it and forget it!"

Everybody seems to say that a long, shallow bin is better than a deep, narrow bin. The opposite is true for me. I use a 20" plastic pot that I drilled large holes in the bottom and tiny holes into the sides for aerobic ventilation. Everybody always said to not drill the holes so large because the worms will escape. Well, if you keep food in your bin, why would they escape?

I throw in all kinds of food in there, even meat occasionally. I rarely turn it. It does build up flies and gnats (it's outdoors), but that's part of the decomposing process.
I'll wet some newspaper and tear up some phone books and throw it in there. I don't layer the newspaper on the bottom and the food on top as everybody has said to do. I just throw it in. I have a life to live after all :)

Three years into it, I have tons of baby worms and very healthy fat mommies and daddies. It fits my lifestyle of a casual hobby gardener. I want a garden that I can enjoy and if I have to spend every day tending to it for hours then it's not an enjoyable hobby for me.

I can't remember for sure, but I think it was 1996, give or take a year. I know it was prior to '99 because that's when we moved and I had worm bins in the old house.
So, I've been 'worming it' for about 17 years.
Over that time period, I learned a ton of stuff. My special interest is the biologic interactions of all the things in the worm bin along with the worms themselves, and how it all relates to plants.

"""Jokes about taking my worms fishing don't go over very well in my house."
LOL. Same in this house, but most people know me well enough not to even try. :)""

I've used my worms to fish. I would go over to the bin and say: "I need some volunteers for a very dangerous mission... and some of you won't be coming back!" My kids always got a kick out of that. :)

One week.

I am learning that there is more to read than do once the bin is ready and I'm waiting for the earthworms to grow... just to keep me out of their bin...

Discovering in myself the unexpected tendency to become a worm bin pest, and have to seriously tell myself to not touch it more than once in 24 hours.

Learned a lot just from this thread...

Paul

Was a very good thread Paul, I saw someone mentioned the use of nursery pots to coach the worms up out of the ground for moving around the garden. So my thinkin wasnt so novel but I still like it.

Apparently this thread was ghost bumped along with the ANC threads and I for one am glad it was.

I have been vermicomposting for almost 3 weeks now, so certainly not an expert. I started with a 10 gallon Rubbermaid tote and 1 lb of red wigglers. I plan on adding another 10 gallon tote on top of first one and rotating the two as vermicompost is ready for harvesting.

So far, I have learned:

That sometimes worms just don't like having a lid on top ( I have tried all different things, and it is "No you're not!"),

Eucalyptus leaves are poisonous to worms.

My worms love wet newspaper on top of their bedding, then a piece of cardboard that I dampen the underside of.

Worms are pretty forgiving of my newbie bumbling/experimenting. lol

If you look hard enough, you may find someone locally who is selling/giving away red wigglers, horse manure, rabbit droppings, and boxes. Check craigslist and freecycle.

You can use things to feed your worms that you used to think of as just trash,and get excited when you see them in your yard or in your neighbor's yard or recycle bin.

Redwormcomposting.com (Bentley Christie) is a great place for information.

Despite my attempts to recreate optimal conditions for my bins, no two ever seem to be exactly alike. Some seem to produce smaller/bigger worms, some reproduce at faster/slower rates etc. etc. Just when you think you've got it all figured out those worms surprise you with yet another......"hmmm, I wonder why that is happening" moment. Guess I'll just have to keep experimenting - that's half the fun anyway don't you think?

Harry

I had a Can O Worms back in about 2003-2004. I lived in a small apartment then, not so much as a closet space for the bin, and didn't even really have any use for the castings. I also found that fruit flies/drain flies were bugging me a bit. When I moved from there into an even smaller apartment, regretfully, I decided the worm bin needed a better home - fortunately I found a good worm parent to give it to.

Now I live thousands of miles away in a new city, and I have finally got a condo with a teeny patio and garden and a fairly substantial basement. Practically the first thing I did when I finally closed and moved in was to order a new worm bin - this time a Worm Factory. No real reason for the change from the COW, just that I thought the Worm Factory was worth a try and might be a bit easier to handle with slightly smaller trays.

Apparently I haven't learned that much, or else I've forgotten all I learned, because I've already made several rookie mistakes all over again, such as not ordering enough worms to start with, overfeeding the bin, not cutting up the food into smaller pieces, etc. No serious harm done, though - I recognized the over-soggy conditions in time to hold back on the food for a while and aerate and add more bedding. Just need to be patient until the worm population comes up.

I like my invertebrate pets.

I've been at this for 3 or 4 years. I've learned that all the "must do" tidbits you read all over the place usually aren't must do's. I've learned this can be made very complicated with slicing, cooking, freezing, grinding and buying a lot of crap or it can be as simple as a pile of compostables with reasonable protection from the elements.

I've learned that looking for food never stops. It's always on my mind. Going to a restaurant, I gather up all the napkins on the table when we're done to take home for the worms. I scrape leftover food into the napkins to bring home. My family just rolls their eyes. I say, "But they're just going to throw them out....."

I've learned that fruit flies are never ending. In the summer there are clouds of them - which the dragonflies love. Unfortunately they got in my house, and they have a life cycle where they live upstairs in the bird droppings (caged birds). So I got some blue little bowls (the fruitflies really love blue) and put yeast and sugar into some really warm water. The fruit flies love it. I get a spray bottle and "help" them into the water when they land on the bowls. I get thousands and thousands over the week. I may actually be down to just a few fruit flies. Thank goodness!

Carol

One new thing that I've learned, from reading this forum, is how the worms feel about corn meal. Holy heck!

After I overloaded my bin and it got too soggy and gooey, I held back on feeding for a while, then I started adding in a few spoonfuls of leftover corn meal (no, I didn't buy it special, but I had it left over from a recipe and there's not really enough left to make anything else out of it.) The corn meal is at or near the surface of the bedding - and now when I lift up the lid, SQUIRMING WORM FRENZY!!

I had thought the corn meal would be a good thing to feed them that wouldn't further increase the moisture level, but it is unexpectedly entertaining to see how they go for it. This information will come in useful if I ever need to draw the worms over to one particular area. Now, I'm just hoping it makes my worms so healthy and lustful that they make me lots of babies in a hurry, since I need to expand the herd. I don't see many cocoons yet, although I've spotted a few tiny worm babies. (yep, nice and red, not pot worms.)

That's a great idea for separating worms from the compost. I'll have to remember to get some corn meal for that purpose.

Thanks!

Carol

I just started. I have my WormFactory ready to go, waiting on the worms. They should be here in the next few days.

I've enjoyed ready this forum and have found a lot of good information.

Anna

A thousand worms sounds like a lot, but it does take time for the system to get all the way into gear so that it's processing the scraps efficiently. The worms have to settle into their home and get used to the bedding environment, the microbe population needs to get built up, the food needs to start decomposing before the worms can even start eating it. That's why it's a good idea to go very slowly at first with adding the food scraps into the bin. Too much bulk of food scraps too soon tends to become a soggy mess that doesn't let enough oxygen through, so anaerobic decomposition may set in, which smells bad and creates a bad environment for the worms.

The worms won't starve if you feed minimally at first. They have plenty to eat that we can't see, and their appetites will be a little low until they've settled in. My experience has been that they huddle in the bedding they were delivered in at first, and take a little while to move freely throughout the bin. My advice would be to let them do that - put the worms, and their "travel" bedding, into one spot in the bin. Moisten it but don't stir it around or break it up. Put small amounts of food nearby after a couple days and see if the worms go there.

Just for convenience sake, most people put their scraps in a container and feed only once a week, or a few times a week. The advice is often repeated to freeze the scraps first. That's not absolutely necessary but it can help kill off fruit flies and eggs. (I used to freeze my food scraps, even when I didn't have a worm bin, to keep them out of the garbage and avoid rancid trash smells in my apartment before trash day.)

Tastes differ as to whether to blend or cut up your food scraps before tossing them to the vermiherd. I have to admit that with my new worm bin, I decided not to blend, process or even cut up my food scraps, and now I sort of regret that, because there are big chunks of stuff in the bin that will take forever to break all the way down. It doesn't matter much in the long run, but I want finished vermicompost for my garden ASAP and now I realize I've slowed the process down. Patience is necessary!

THANK YOU! Great info.

Should the initial bedding be dry and fluffy? The bedding I put in the bin, per the instructions, was very dry. I did add some water to it and stirred it around. I hope it isn't too wet, but I can take the lid off to dry it some since I have no worms.

The initial bedding should be evenly moist but not dripping. "Like a squeezed out sponge" is the usual guidance. So when starting, you usually soak the bedding material in water and then squeeze the water out. The plastic bins retain moisture very well, so you generally don't have to add much more water after that initial soaking, since whatever food material you add after that usually contributes plnety of water as it breaks down. Once the worms are active and moving throughout the bin then they distribute the moisture as well. A bin with food going in regularly can easily accumulate too much moisture, but that won't become a concern until later.

I have been vermicomposting for 16 months now. I am still learning new things every day. I have only just discovered this forum; it seems an excellent source of information. It is great to be able to learn from the varied experience of others.

I built up my wormeries slowly, using a small number of Dendrobaena veneta purchased from a fishing shop and Eisenia fetida/andrei from my compost bins. It has taken some time to build up the numbers of worms but I am getting to the stage now where all the kitchen waste and food scraps that we produce can go into the wormeries rather than into the compost bins.

I now have five wormeries: two Can-O-Worms, one 50cm plant pot and two green recycling boxes. As others have previously stated, the successful approach seems to involve minimal disturbance of the worm beds and a relaxed approach to vermicomposting, rather than constantly checking your worms and worrying about all the details. I also think that the simpler the design of your wormery the better.

My interest in vermicomposting led to an interest in earthworms in general. I taught myself to identify earthworms to species level using an earthworm key and a USB microscope. I now take part in earthworm surveys to determine which species are present in different areas.

Most vermicomposters use Eisenia fetida/andrei and quite a few people use Dendrobaena veneta. I am interested in which other species of worm could be used in vermicomposting systems.There are people who say they use Lumbricus rubellus; I would be interested to know how sure they are about the identification of their worms. L.rubellus is a fairly slow reproducer and does not seem ideally suited to vermicomposting. I would be very interested to know how many people actually use this species and how sure they can be that they have correctly identified the worms that they use.

I should add that when I said "most vermicomposters use Eisenia fetida/andrei and quite a few people use Dendrobaena veneta", I was referring to the situation in the UK. These species are suitable for vermicomposting in a temperate climate. If you live somewhere much hotter, there are other species of worm which perform better.

How wonderful that you have made worms into something that can be useful to others too! Very clever!! :)

Which wormery do you like best? And why?

Carol

I've been doing this for a few months. Started on accident when boss at my job asked me to remove a creeping ivy which had taken over a quarter of the asphalt loading area. I discovered a thriving worm bed, more than I had ever seen before. Filled a five gallon bucket with worms and rotting leaves, dumped my little compost bucket of egg shells and etc on top and forgot about it. Several weeks later I remember, and the bucket of worms and rotting leaves was now much darker from castings. Lifted up a half eggshell and witnessed a squirming ball of worms, eating or breeding i couldn't tell which. Fast forward two months or so and I have four bins under my porch now. Made these with layers of shredded newspaper, sandy dirt, grass clippings, cardboard, wet limestone, repeat, with compost food scraps on top. I use lids with drilled holes because otherwise animals get into my bins and root for my slimy slaves.

Harvested seven gallons of castings today for the first time, using the mound in the sun trick, peeling off a layer at a time and letting the worms retreat to the bottom of my tarp.

Seven gallons!!! Wow!! Good for you!!! Did it take a really long time to harvest your 7 gallons using the sun method?

Carol

Slimy slaves! Awww. Sounds to me more like feral pets that got you to adopt them. Kittens do this by being cute. Apparently worms do it by being...especially wormy. You must have a lot of pets to be harvesting seven gallons of castings after just a few months.

I had to follow the sun (drag the tarp around) to get the job done, because cutting grass took up most of the day. I think the large amount of castings has to be due to the enormity of the initial herd. I kid you not that I was picking up handfuls of worms from that bed, and continued until the five gallon bucket was full. Something about ivy growing over asphalt, with plenty of leaf litter falling as the seasons change, with all the wine, beer (broken glass is in my castings) and food runoff from the restaurant, made a perfect habitat for them.

I eventually dumped my bucket of slime into a bin I made up with nothing but horse manure and dirt. Fed that bin until I realized they had consumed everything besides what I was feeding them (the habitat was now all black castings). I waited on this problem longer than I should have due to work and probably lost some guys due to that. But because I'm a tiny bit OCD, I had already made four other bins before this point, populating them with worms from my overpopulated bin, as well as worms from under rocks and logs. The survivors from the poop bin went into a fresh bin, with just a little poop to remind them of home.

Fwiw, the ivy is already retaking the asphalt. The worms are ready.

Wow!!! Great job!!! Compost nirhvana (sp??)!!

Carol-

I bought a bag of worms from Uncle Jim's Worm Farm last summer and placed them in a wood box buried 1/2 way into the soil in my garden in a spot that gets morning sun and afternoon shade. I am in zone 4 in MN, so was not sure about overwintering. The bin I built has holes drilled in the bottom for an escape route and lid to keep them shaded.

Last fall I packed the inside of the bin with dried leaves and then buried the whole works in a couple feet of leaves.

When I checked things out this spring, to my pleasure, I found a few hardy survivors. It appeared that most of them had died or moved out (and likely died). We had a mild winter. I don't think it got much colder than -10f more than a few times.

I placed a pail of kitchen scraps in there, and plan to keep feeding them, and check them more carefully when it warms back up to see if the survivors are able to repopulate their abode.

In terms of the product (VC), I used it for making tea, and in some flower pots, but have not had enough of it to do much else yet.

I was mostly hoping for a sustaining population of hearty, active "red wiggler" type fishing worms, but the worms themselves are rather small and very fragile to extent that they easily break apart when threading on a hook, so it appears that my standard garden worms and nightcrawlers will still get that job.

The biggest mistake I made was dumping a small bag of old, buggy birdseed into the bin. The bugs didn't seem to be a problem, but the sprouting was out of control.

I've read that some people like to prepare the food in a blender. I think this is totally unnecessary and extra work.

If you have too many scraps for the bin, put them in a plastic bag (bread sack works well) and freeze until needed. Be sure to let them thaw well before introducing into the bin.

It's a fun thing to do--vermicomposting--and I like recycling kitchen scraps. I mostly just do it in the summer because the temps promote fast action in the bin. It's easy to overfeed in winter as activity is slower.

Ooooh...bird seed...yikes.

Well, at least you vermicompost....as long as there's one in the family that does it. :)

Carol

I have a bag of sunflower seeds that some friendly little indoor critter (at my former apartment) got into. I was thinking of maybe tossing it into my worm bin, but stopped myself in time. Guess I'll keep giving the squirrels and sparrows the occasional treat instead. Not the most exotic wildlife watching around here, but they entertain me.

I should think that sprouting seeds in the bin would eventually die from lack of light and then decompose, as long as you kept any of them from peeking out of the bin into the light. Hmm, I begin to see the problem here. Maybe not insurmountable for those of us with basement bins though.

If I had a basement I would probably live down there with the worms, what with the stable, cool temps and the quietude. Where I live, a basement would be a swimming pool in no time. We're all just floating along around here, when I think about it...

This is a great thread to read if you are the type like me who goes crazy researching what a 100 different resources say to do.

Very informative and I think I got the overall message to keep it simple / don't overthink it.

Should be a sticky thread if that was possible!

Vermicomposting since November 2015.

I've learned that it's important not to let drain flies get established in your bin because it is almost impossible to get rid of them once they are. They can live on the bacteria in vermicompost, just like earthworms, and for some reason there tends to be no earthworm cocoons in the bin when drain fly larvae are present. The larvae can survive for 17 days and the flies start laying eggs within hours after they emerge. I eventually got rid of them by placing a window screen on my bin, killing the drainflies on the walls of the bin daily, and dumping an excessive amount of cardboard bedding on the bin.

I've also learned that I can make the worms attack their bedding immediately by moistening it and sprinkling milk powder evenly on it. I think it's because the sugar in the milk (lactose) dissolves and is absorbed by the bedding. It drives them crazy.

I have worm composting for 20+ years. When I started no one did it. I now compost with worms,and their fellow creatures in 3 square compost bins(large) and one rd bin. It takes about 2 years for the bins to produce and then I process it and store in a garbage can. If you want to go bigger but not the great big ones, I have done it in plastic garbage cans where I cut the bottom off and invert the can and cover the top with my cover. Make sure you have some kind of stone,brick base on these as moles and rats will move in otherwise. Yesterday I again had a black racer who loves the little tiny toads who live in there. The toads keep the flies down. I like the product and you never need a baby sitter!!!

I've been vermicomposting for more than 25 years. It started as a homeschooling project, and went from there. We've reduced our garbage output by 1/2.

One of the things I've learned is that worms really do prefer benevolent neglect, cornmeal, and also not to feed them bay leaves. I've fed my worms many many things over the years, but I killed off the bulk of my population (hundreds and hundreds of thousands of worms) with bay leaves. So, don't put bay leaves in your bins.

I have been vericomposting from about 1995. Then I started to teach it and in 1997 joined the Master Gardener Program. As the years have passed my compost bins have grown from an 18 gallon can to large compost bins. I have 4 going now. And I still teach for the City/County of Napa and Master Gardener. Love those worms.

One thing is for sure dont over-feed in relation to whatever size bin you might be using. Been using the factory 360 for years and love the system. I store my castings in 5 gal buckets and that has worked fine. Over the years I have liked to add some castings to plants and seedlings, but the other day while adding from a fresh bucket I noticed spider mites running all over. So I say once stored it needs to sit for a while and check any new castings as you wont want to add mites to your new seedlings or any plants for that matter.

I started my first worm bin about 25 years ago. had to read the book to get it right. Now i have 3 big compost bins and 4 big ones buried in my veg garden beds. I feed them a variety of things and harvest from the big bins about every two years. also teach worm composting for the City and county of Napa. They love cardboard so I save all of mine for that and workshops. Have little pals living in various bins: small toads who graze on the fruit flies, a couple of lizards, sometimes a garden snake. I have the bottoms closed up to keep moles, gophers and rats out.