I find that my red worms who live outside do really well, so long as the soil is kept moist and they are fed often with vegetable/fruit trimmings. I often will add some partially composted leaves from my compost bin. Although, I find that they do well without much attention in my raised beds that have lots of organic compost, I like to keep one 4ft square bed that is shaded and kept covered with cardboard to add my veggie/fruit trimmings/composted leaves. I go clockwise around the bed to add food and to remove the vermicompost as needed to use in my containers/other beds. There are so many worms in the bed that is necessary to spread the vermicompost out to let it dry out and get the worms to move back to a moister section. Try to use unchlorinated water to moisten the rest of the bed or some that has sat out for 24hrs so that the chlorine has mostly evaporated. Red worms will eat the bacteria from the decaying foods, and I never have a problem with offensive odors ....actually, the compost in this bed smells really good and the plants seem to really thrive on it. I agree that getting these worms from someone in your area may be better as they will have adapted to your local weather conditions. I live in a desert area that has temps from the 20's to the 110's and they have survived many years outside this way.

I'm very skeptical that anyone sells pure worm castings. I define a casting as a particle that has actually passed through the digestive tract of a worm. Vermicompost or worm compost is a much more accurate description of what is probably in the bag. Your homegrown VC is probably different from stuff you buy for a number of reasons. I can't remember which forum this came from, but it was posted by: Kelly Slocum On: 2001-09-01. "the feedstocks chosen for producing maximum worm biomass are not always those chosen to produce the best castings for a particular situation, no. keep in mind that castings value is determined largely by the intended end use. if you want the castings to amend your soil for planting a fruit orchard, for instance, the castings you'd most want would be dominated by microscopic fungi, supported in castings produced by a feedstock with a high proportion of carbon material (leaves, wood, paper, cardboard, etc.). were you looking for castings with which to amend soil that will be growing annual flowers the product with the highest value to you would be dominated by bacteria. bacterial castings are produced with feedstocks higher in nitrogen (greenwastes, manures, etc.). castings that have the most generally diverse community of organisms possible are generated from feedstocks with a particular balance of carbon and nitrogen bearing materials. now, studies show that, provided appropriate moisture and aeration are maintained, manure is the material that produces the greatest worm biomass. manure alone is not going to produce castings with the most diverse numbe of organisms, however, needed for a high qualtiy general purpose product." Note the tacit implication that NPK is not what makes VC a valuable soil amendment. Search "soil food web" and you'll have plenty of reading material. Cheers, Andrew

If anyone wants some worm castings, worm tea and live worm for fertilizers and breeding, please email me rodliz12002@yahoo.com

Thinking about adding worm castings to my new pot mix for some -rose trees-. Should I be be fine or do you think it might make the mix too wet. Or is it the latter effect and might add aeration to it ?