I don't have an outdoor compost pile but I would think the onion bag filled with nice melon waste and other delicacies would be just the thing to attract them.

Thanks, Jazdip.

Just rake out a 3 or 4 in deep flat place about 2 ft square along the edge of the pile and wet it good and put some feed or scraps there and cover with a board and you will have all the worms you have in the pile if you keep it damp. Probubly would not hurt to leave some in the pile to reproduce as they must be happy there or they would have left.

Thanks Jasdip and Wfike. Sorry it took me so long to answer, but I thot that it best to wait until some results came in. I really appreciate your advice.

I'm using both techniques, and the scraps under the board seems to be working well. I also put wet hay over the scraps and then the board. I did it the day you left the message, and have been checking it every week or so. Finally there are some worms, (at first there were just lots of sow bugs) and the food is almost completely gone, so I guess I'd better put more food out, because there are still plenty of worms in the huge compost, just too good an environment for most worms to leave it. But I have high hopes for this technique of yours, Wfike.

I've added some worms from the compost pile into my worm bin. The local worm doctor said it's OK to do that.

In the other technique, worms come to the food in the net bag, but when I'd lift up the bag from the pile, all the dirt and worms just fall thru the holes. But I'll keep trying, maybe a different kind of bag.

Yes, I'll leave my worm metropolis compost pile undisturbed until most have left, but I want to use the compost. When I first found the worms, there were lots of babies in there, so I'm very excited, and that compost looks great.

I learned to make compost by the hot method, so now, I'm thinking of trying to replicate this cold compost, which was originally a mistake, because the worms seem to do so well in it. I worry tho, that cold compost doesn't kill pathogens or weed seeds. Is that really a problem? There's no one sick in our household, and I try to keep pernicious weeds out of the compost. I'd like to put this compost on my fall vegetable and salad garden. It needs it because the cauliflowers and broccolis need very rich soil. Plus I want to start another bed, for salad greens, so I need to use this compost, but maybe I should just use it on the flower garden because it's a cold compost.

did you see the thread on 'worm charming'? Titled something like 'another way to harvest worms'

sorry-it's actually called 'a new way of harvesting worm casts and separating worms'

Don't forget some of us can afford to purchase worms even though we have the option of collecting them; yet we prefer to support the industry. We all contribute in our own way.

About how many worms did you catch and did that rose cutting ever live that you cut off by accident?