Welcome Aussie from Oz! I have only limited experience, but that experience is in Alaska, so I am 'sensitive' to temperature issues with worms. As sbryce pointed out, the PRIMARY issue is really just TIME. Even at an ideal temp of 70F/21C, I would expect it to take monthS - PLURAL - for "things" to get "cooking" worm-wise in your bins. (My bins are at 72F and it was AT LEAST 3 months before they started showing signs of "increase".) I have found that reported "doubling" times AND how much compost worms - like Eisenia fetida - eat per unit time are GREATLY exaggerated by those who would part one from one's money. "Keep on truckin' " as we used to say in the '60s when we were encouraging people to stick with something. I have only one 'thing' to add: others with far more experience than I recommend "LEAVE THEM ALONE". I would add my limited-experience voice to theirs in that recommendation. Paul

Luke, not sure you still have the worm farm, but I will respond for others out there. I had mine for nearly a year. Got my composting worms from a competent worm farmer and she answers my questions when something pops up. I freeze all my worm food before I serve it. It breaks down the cells and make it nice and mushy for them when it thaws out. The worms eat through it much faster. If the apple core is not starting to rot, the worm will wait for the decomposition to start. If you get different types of worms, read about them and their favourite habitat. Some worms are for fishing and will not survive in a bin. Outdoors worms don't feed on the surface and are not good for the bin either. I got 1/2 a pound of European night crawler. They are not big, but they are awesome. They make babies and eat a lot. They are small to medium in size. Very easy to care for because when I started I knew very little about vermicompost. Good Luck, Gale

for me i'd be putting them in the garden wherever now, storage might result in loss of benefit, also would need to be dry i would imagine as stored wet in bags it could rot or mildew. our worm farming now occurs in the gardens where the benefits are delivered direct and where they are needed most. len Here is a link that might be useful: lens garden page

hi snoopy, I have 2 reln worm farms and I encountered the same problem so I have placed one of those bags that chook feed comes in - kinda a woven plastic bag on the bottom collector unit before placing the next module on top. This type of bag allows moisture to flow through it whilst keeping the worms in the upper levels. I think a few layers of hessian would do the same trick, but would keep being eaten by the worms. I have heard of people putting a layer of old carpet to stop the worms going south too. Also I leave the taps on my units switched on with a bucket underneath to catch the 'juice', this way if any worms do make it to the bottom they don't drown. cheers, mudlark