Cutworms are most often a dirty brown color and they stay very close to the soil, so if this green "worm" was on a leaf it was not a cutworm. If there are only a few of these there is no good reason to spend money on some pesticide since squishing them is as effective as anything you can buy. Flea beetles are very small brown colored beetles and the larva are very small white colored "worms". The best control for flea beetles is Floating row Covers. Some Neem products appear to have some repellant properties and if the damage to plants is bad enough that might be something to consider. Small green "worms", especially on the cabbage family plants, may be the Imported Cabbage Worm and the best control for them is "Bacillus thuringiensis - Kurstaki". The synthetic chemical controls mentioned in the link are not organic. Here is a link that might be useful: Flea Beetles

Greenbean, I found just such a handful in a front yard flower bed, one Spring. The Fall before, Halloween had come and gone and the Jack o'Lanterns were no longer needed. So, I carried them all of about 20 feet and buried them in that bed. The entire interior of the pumpkin looked like your photo's. Usually, the Jack o'Lanterns are the last things to go on the compost piles. However in 2008, I cut them up, cooked and froze them, and then parceled them out to the 4 laying hens thru the Winter. digitS'

Happy to post pictures when I construct and fill mendopete's "cages". I am slowly - as is 'normal' and appropriate - discerning the wheat from the chaff. And here's the rub - "chaff" is still part of "wheat". By that I mean that in a recent epiphany, I realized that a whole great lot of "experts" (pick ANY field) aren't TECHNICALLY "liars" (telling falsehoods), they are more "deceivers"(intentionally leading people to incorrect conclusions by virtue of carefully crafted "explanations"). Deceivers in that they know that what they are saying is 'technically' "true", but that any reasonable person will interpret their carefully crafted comments in a manner that is inconsistent with reality. So what does all the above actually mean in the context of this thread? WRT "leaves": I am with you on this most of the way. There are two elements that cause me to stick with using worms to compost leaves: 1) The observation of them coming in DROVES to the fermenting leaves in bags, and 2) leaves compost "on their own" in "regular" compost bins. They are a large component of the "browns" of "greens and browns". There is no doubt in my mind that being made up of considerable amounts of celulose, leaves are a bit more difficult to 'digest'. I think the 'solution' to that is to make them 'smaller'. Your willingness to put the extra effort into your prep - be it #2 above, or "blending" your kitchen scraps - is the same level of commitment I have to macerating leaves to accelerate their 'usability' by my worms. Also, I think that mixing in the goat litter while macerating the litter -with it's urine and straw - will inoculate the leaf matter with microbes that will accelerate their conversion to something edible by worms. So to summarize on "leaves": I agree with your assessment of the use of leaves, but am willing to put in the extra effort to try to facilitate their consumption by worms. "Deceivers" are telling the community-at-large that "anything" can be "worm composted" and that leaves are especially "good". Yeah, "true" (with a lower-case "t"), but not really True, because their use requires extra preparation or a LONG time. Both points intentionally excluded from the propaganda that the politically correct want to propagate. Namely, "You can compost anything organic! Huzzah! Let's save the earth." "Density": I'm of two minds here. What I read, and what I know from personal experience from culturing other animals, is that "density matters". The more there are, the more get made in an EXPONENTIAL manner. By the same token, exceed a certain density threshold, and production is actually inhibited. There just "ain't no free lunches". I share your concern with regard to the density in one bin. The current "indoor" bin I am using has a surface area of approximately 1.79 square feet. (19.5" x 13.25"). From what I read (wheat or chaff???) 500 worms per square foot is a "good" density for "maximum" production, with "maximum production" defined as "half a pound of food consumed per day per square foot". Of course I do not assume this is "the law", but it IS a place to start until I can sort REALITY from "technical truth". To summarize on "density": As soon as I see how the worms are doing at this density AND I have another bin set up, I will reduce the number in this bin to something like the 500 per square foot (500 X 1.79 = 897). I don't agree so much with the "desserts". (Although I am not strongly in disagreement. I could still be convinced.) In the "wild", it is my understanding that E. fetida's primary food source is ungulate manure. Do "we" find them coursing through the 'rotten' apples at the base of a wild apple tree? I'm pretty sure not. That said, I certainly found them advancing in droves to fermenting bagged birch leaves. Were they headed for food, or shelter? I don't know. Could have easily been shelter, as it was the fall in Alaska, and it is KNOWN that worms in Alaska seek shelter from the cold in leaf litter. Meaning... maybe it was 'bedding' (your assertion) that they were looking for. One of the 'settling points' I am coming to is that the quickest way for me to "make soil" may be to macerate and mix the goat litter, leaves, and "sawdust" and call that "soil" for large - multiple cubic yard - planters. For the most part, that mixture would have everything except sand - which I can add - that a reasonably good commercial "potting soil" would have. At this stage, no need to spend the time running all of that through a worm's gut, acknowledging the 'value added' by the worms, but also acknowledging the fact that YEARS could be in the waiting. I do NOT make the above comments in 'argument' FOR or AGAINST any comments or postulates that you or anyone else is making. I offer them to give insight into the "methods of my madness". Just MY thoughts on how and WHY I am acting in a certain fashion with regard to how I choose to "raise worms". I have no interest in "converting" anyone to "my way", and I am most certainly NOT seeking prosyletites. I enjoy the discussions of what people THINK, and do not assume that the person 'speaking' is demanding that I follow their lead. (That assumption fails on occasion.) I LIKE hearing other people's ideas, and theories, and concerns, and suggestions. I hope no one thinks I am willing to simply mindlessly follow in lock-step every piece of "instruction" given. That "ain't gonna happen" for several reasons, some of which are: 1) I have a "y" chromosome; therefore I have a genetic predilection to 'rebel' against authority. To aggressively suppress that genetic predisposition seems counter-intuitive. Why would it be genetically 'carried on' if it wasn't 'useful'? 2) I am not a "follower". That has gotten me into trouble occasionally in my life. Still, the occasional pain that ensued by NOT following, has not been sufficient to beat me into mindless adherence to the 'social norm'. 3) NO INNOVATION OCCURS WHEN WE ALL DO THE SAME THING! All of us doing the same thing is "comfortable, and superficially "safe", but it is oppressive and stifling to creativity. Creativity is OFTEN painful! I wandered there a bit, but I wanted you to know that I wasn't being argumentative for argument's sake. I APPRECIATE your comments, thoughts, suggestions, and recommendations. I have taken to heart FAR MORE of the suggestions I have received here at this forum, than I have rejected. Paul

Looks like fruitworm damage. From the FAQ section: Tomato Fruitworms - are also referred to as the Corn Earworm. They are green, brown, or pink with light stripes along sides and on back; up to 1 and 3/4 inches long and are the larvae of various moths. The moths lay eggs near the stem of the green fruit and within 1 week the hatched larvae bores into the fruit where it feeds. It may move from fruit to fruit until it is ready to fall to the ground where it pupates till the following spring. Discard portions of fruit that have earworms in them. Disk or rototill plants immediately after harvest. Organic/Biological Control: Parasitic Trichogramma sp. wasps parasitize tomato fruitworm eggs. Bt, (Bacillus thuringiensis) can be used for control of tomato fruitworm. Birds may feed on larvae. Moles and tilling destroy the pupae. Chemical Control: Sevin 5% dust. Treat every 5-7 days when fruit begins to set as once inside the fruit the pesticide has little or no effect. Continue as long as fruit is present, if needed.