theres a few types of worms that do well in a worm farm because they are what they call surface feeders. the ones you found might be for starting a worm farm so just ask or look at the box to see if theyre red wrigglers, tigers or blue worms. the most common ones you find are red wrigglers but you could also get a mixed box of the other types. I bought mine (red wrigglers) at a feed store (where they sell garden stuff) for $15 for 500 worms so it was a cheap way to get started. the guidelines are to start with about 1 to 2000 but even if you start with less theyll breed up to that number anyway. youll find them around the place, some nurseries and hardware stores will have them. but check the box to make sure theyre alive because if no one is looking after them you could end up with a box of dead worms. Id start phoning your local nurseries to see if they have them or they will probably order them in for you. if you ask for red wrigglers for a worm farm you cant go wrong.

they won't be selling common garden worms in boxes for worm farms, they should be red wrigglers or tigers or the like, steer clear of night crawlers they are by name and nature at night they crawl away.

len

Here is a link that might be useful: len's garden page

1000 for $40 is about the going rate. As Len and redcryptonite said, you won't be buying garden worms. My experience is that they usually sell a mixture. I have mostly PE's ... Indian blues.

Here are some sites you might find helpful.

Cheers,
Marshall

http://thegardenforums.org/viewforum.php?f=42

http://www.wormdigest.org/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=50&func=showcat&catid=4

http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/verm/

Thanks for all the replies. :) I posted a longish follow-up some time ago, or tried to. The server didn't register it (now I can't seem to do paragraphs), and I gave up after a while and forgot all about it.
I bought a box of 500 worms as redcryptonite suggested, after visiting a few hardware stores. Good tip to check the boxes, thanks! Many were dried out. The poor worms.
I now realise that red wrigglers are quite earthworm-like in appearance, and not as I had pictured.
Composting proceeded quite slowly, so I bought a "booster" box from Northey Street City Farm. ( www.northeystreetcityfarm.org.au ) They would have been my first choice had I discovered them earlier. Big, fat happy worms fresh from their beds in an ice cream container for around $10. Things are going nicely now. :)
Your straw bale garden is amazing, Len. Wish I had the space to do one myself. I wanted to build my own worm farm with plastic boxes, but chickened out and bought one, but I'll be more adventurous when expanding! Thank you for the links marshall2000. I'm going through them now. Good reading.

g'day milogarden,

great stuff hey?

did you check our homemade worm farm pic'?

len

G'day, Len. It is great stuff. I could have done something with my hard-as-concrete patch of clay that passed for a garden had I known anything about straw bale gardens. :) It's very rewarding to harvest home grown vegies, isn't it? I have a bunch of salad leaves in a few pots and even that is a lot of fun. And yes, I did check out your homemade worm farm. I wanted to make my own too, but not with half oil drum because of space issues -- with cheap stackable lidless plastic boxes. I'm keeping mine in the laundry though, and I worried about getting flies and other creepy crawlies, so I stuck to what's less likely to go wrong and bought one. It's worked out great so far, no problems and almost maintenance free. It's going to take a while, but I'm going to try out the homemade stackable farm idea when my present bin gets full. I wonder if the boxes are too deep though, around 25cm? Also, just a few holes might not be enough for them to migrate upwards and they'll stay stuck in one layer.. But those are things I can work out. You seem to have plenty of space and can expand laterally! :) Worm farms are so great. Did you know the city of Vancouver provides its residents with worm farms, and a hotline for live worms? Hmm. I don't think the ibis population would appreciate it if that happened here. :)

a worm farm can be kept in the house near the kitchen, so long as you don't put things that aren't supposed to go in there. you will have no odour, and a lot less of a chance of flies finding it in a screened house. worm farms do best in dark cool spots.

i've moved on from worm farming now and along with compost bin/piles all my worm farming and composting happens where it is needed right in the garden beds.

we only have a 750 sq/mtr yard now the house tc.,. takes up most of that. with straw/hay bale you can plant directly into the bales, no need to define a bed as such.

len

I was given a 'can o' worms" for my birthday but they didn't realise it didn't have worms in it. I paid the $40 for 1000 worms at Flower Power a few weeks back. They are going really well, already have filled one section and have started on the next.

A few years ago I started a worm farm on a budget, I found directions for making one out of a cheap plastic garbage bin, bought the smallest amount of worms I could find (ie cheapest) and soon had an efficient system. I then had the idea of transferring them to a tumbler compost bin, I had no luck in composting in it and everything was slimey and smelly. In a few weeks the worms had changed all that, soon I had sweet worm castings. Until someone emptied the bin that is because they thought the compost was done.

I have just started a worm farm as my future brother in law gave me his old box (no worms) and looking forward to the end result. I got my worms from Scarbrough for $25.00 a 1000 only got 1 lot figured they can do the nature thingie and breed. Nice bloke to chat to and he indicated my setup will hold some 10000 worms. Not sure how long that will take but I'll learn. The purpose for my worm farm is to enrich the soil and grow my veggies.

Brian

my worm farm is giving me lots of liquid and also syrup from yhe bottom box.My leafy seedlings are looking greatbut i still have a few queries.The manufactures manual says to use a 50% dilution, but I FIND this much too strong.I believe I heard Jane Edmanson say to use a 15%mixture so I decided to use the weaker mixture-seems to be working ok.Also the middle compartment never seems to have enough material in it to allow the worms to migrate to the top box.This is after 18 m0nths but bye and large I'm happy with the results
regards chas

I know that redworms do really well, but I disagree with a lot of people about earth worms not being effective. Growing up, we didn't use composting boxes or anything like that, we just had a composting pit, and mostly earth worms around it. At times we couldn't keep up with them because they worked very well, although it was outside so there wasn't really a limitation to the number of worms that would get involved :)

Here is a link that might be useful: worm farm

Worm farming is a large step toward making your family environmentally pleasant and our planet a little greener. You won't discover an easier way to do that than worm farming. Below, you will discover out precisely what worm farms are and learn about the advantages of worm farming. You will really feel better about your self knowing that you simply did your component to help the planet.

Here is a link that might be useful: Discover How To Create A Worm Farm From Scratch!

You might want to consider a worm farm system. These systems can allow you to manage you compost and worm production in a more systematic way. I suggest avoid the smaller systems you find at large chain stores. These smaller kits don't seem very well equipped to deal with the large amount of green compost waste generated by typical households. I suggest for the average household, you consider a domestic worm farm system in the order of 240 litres capacity or more, that works on the never fill principle.

As well as producing what they call worm castings or 'worm poo', which is basically like refined garden soil, worm farm systems also have the ability to produce liquid worm concentrate, that can be diluted with water and used as plant fertilizer. Worm farm systems are a very environmentally responsible way to manage green waste. There are certain food waste that should not be place in worm farm systems, ( such as citrus fruits and peels and other acidic food waste etc.. ) however worm farm systems can handle most other plant based food waste, like vegetable scraps, banana peels etc... These worm farm kits usually come with worm farm care instructions to guide you through the process of establishing your worm farm.

Regards,
WormsRUs
www.wormsrus.com.au

Here is a link that might be useful: WormsRUs - Worms & Worm Farm Systems