Wow!! You have them in your office!??!! I would love to have my clan in my office and scare away the BAD PEOPLE!

The only time I had an escape attempt (it was NOT a mass attempt - I think I lost under 10 and when I'd see them climbing I would squirt them with the plant mister and they would dive for cover) was when the weather got stormy and it rained for days - I didn't think my bin was "muddy" but I shredded more paper & board and left the top open for a week and the escapes stopped. I have mine outside on the lanai (behind some shelving so the sun doesn't give it a direct hit).

You don't give your wormies any veggies/fruits?

Nell

Nell - worms eat microbial life, not vegetables, they don't have teeth, but they're carnivores, once any organic material gets a good start on decomposing, the soft bacteria laden surface is slurped off by the worms

they'll do fine on that Kevin, the major part of the food I add to my large outdoor worm bin is stuff that's been first hot composted, very little recognizeable left, and worms do fine on paper alone in fact, if it's kept wet

the primary reason worms will wander is conditions aren't pleasant - they need lots of moisture because they breathe via the oxygen in the moisture on their skin, leting them dry out suffocates them

if there's drainage holes in the bottom of the bin you won't be able to over water them, but if you get much liquid out those holes, you're supplying more water than necessary, maybe just because most vegetable matter is 80% or more water ... they need microbial life to eat, bacteria or molds, and the composted material is loaded with bacteria - note you find worms in nature under decomposing surface litter, not nibbling on the edges of things

Bill

Bill: I know they don't actually EAT the scraps, but what it gets broken down to: soup! Doesn't it matter that the beginnings of the worm "food" isn't a broad mix?

I thought that is why we are supposed to mix apples, melons, veggie, corrugated paper for the glue protein, egg shells, paper, tea bags w/out the staples. . . what's a great recipe for our pets?

a "great" recipe depends on what you're doing, raising worms or recycling waste, someone who raises worms to get a lot of worms might want to feed some fancy purchased stuff to get the fastest growth and reproduction possible, someone who is using vermicomposting to avoid sending organic waste to the landfill uses whatever waste is generated, and the worms will thrive just as they do in the "wild" with no access to human food :)

what really feeds the worms is bacteria, what feeds bacteria comes down to carbon and nitrogen, nothing else really "required" ... OTOH, when it comes to using the finished castings/compost as "fertilizer", it does increase it's value if there was a wide range of material used in order to wind up with a range of micronutrients, although the real plus of worm castings is the high load of bacteria added to the soil - a healthy soil is microbially rich, and that's where you find the worms, a poor, heavily chem fertilized soil has few bacteria, so few worms

at the same time, folks seldom are aware of just what nutrients are really in the food we eat - one example: many of our common foods are high in Boron [apples, pears, grapes, all legumes, leafy greens and nuts], so a compost with a high percentage of those foods will have a high Boron content .... maybe even TOO high for the health of the plants it's used on - at the same time many areas have soil deficient in Boron [coastal BC included], so mixed food waste compost includes a bonus there, but the worms couldn't care less, and the bacteria never notice

to microbes, the carbon ["woody" waste like paper] is the energy food, like carbohydrates for us, the nitrogen [greens are highest] is protein, supporting growth and reproduction, an ideal mix of C to N [mixed food waste on average is close to ideal] encourages the largest/fastest volume of bacterial growth, but nothing else is required, and with worms it's best to keep the N on the low side so the bin bedding doesn't turn into a hot compost pile and cook the lil critters, meaning heavy on the bedding [like paper]

that's the long and short of it all, that many who get into vermicomposting don't seem to understand, the whole thing is about decomposition, basicly a bacterial process, and worms are part of the large decomposer community

Bill

Thanks Squeeze Bill!!

My worms are to reduce waste going to our landfill and to have the cast for my assorted potted plants! I'd really love to get the entire complex (only 40 of us) to participate!

Thanks for the science lesson too. I think the "mix" I'm using is well-balanced for plants. Some of the topics, here and in other sites, that I've read about nitrogen are confusing! I only put one coffee filter and grounds a month in the "mix" - I used to do it once a week. Now I save it for my papaya orchard but I thought it would raise the N in the soil. . . but it looks like greens are the N but greens are for the worms - so. . . I am slightly confused!

Well, everyone in the bin seems happy - I just fluffed them and fed them. Not too compact, not too wet, not stinky and I am procrastinating harvesting. I don't want to murder any of the worms!!!

Nell

there is a confusing difference between nitrogen in general, vs available nitrogen - "greens" are nitrogen, very readily available, but all food waste has some amount of N, even things that aren't "green" - grass clippings for example have mostly available N, so breakdown and heat up quickly, releasing that N as ammonia, gas or liquid

coffee grounds actually don't have a very high amount of available nitrogen [less than 0.1% of the total], but are high in phosphorus, potassium, magnesium and copper - in order for the N in grounds to be available to plants, it must be broken down from the organic fraction by microbes .... coffee is actually bacteria food, not plant food [http://www.sunset.com/sunset/garden/edible/article/0,20633,1208232,00.html], so grounds will only raise the plant available N after being worked over by bacteria, fine for worm bins, but slow to be broken down

I've added large amounts of grounds to a large bin with no evidence of heating, but the only way I've found them to decompose as fast as other food waste is to mix them well with carrot pulp from juicing - still don't heat up, but seem to keep a better moisture level to support bacteria and be attractive to the worms

Bill

Hi Bill,
Can you recommend a book on vermicomposting in regards to the chemistry involved or do you just read online?

I have a bin and I've never had any issues with it. I keep it just to reduce the amount of garbage that leaves the house but I'd be interested to read more about what you mention in your comments.
Thanks.

Hello Bill

I'm sure interested to know if there is a book you recommend, online, or just years of experience. I appreciated reading your breakdown.

Thanks

"I have been composting coffee grounds, grain from a brew pub, shredded office paper, newspaper, cardboard and leaves since Nov. Although it is Buffalo, the pile has been cooking. I was wondering whether the worms would further refine this finished compost or do they require less decayed food sources?"

Worms will process former hot compost that has cooled, however they do also require actively decaying material.
Worms process organic material in order to derive their nutrition from some very specific protozoa (which feed on bacteria). The most interesting thing is that even though this is so, protozoa, bacteria and fungi exiting the worm is often greater than the amount ingested! These creatures actually flourish in the worm intestine.
Some might claim that worms do just fine on shredded paper alone. I'd suggest that they may survive, but not do as well as on a more balanced diet of browns and greens in amounts that provide a good micro climate for bacteria and subsequently necessary protozoa.
Caution: Although I have found worms in outdoor heaps very close to hot regions breaking down, it's important in the confines of a bin NOT to have active decomposition encouraging thermophile bacteria - high temperatures that the worms can't escape can spell doom for a herd very quickly. Only add cool materials to a bin.

Worms usually leave because the conditions in the box become inhospitable. For newbes i think they usually let the bedding get to wet...although sometimes they get to dry. When i was starting, i lost several beds because of over overfeeding (to much lettuce and watery type stuff) and the worms just drowned in all the moisture. make sure you have air holes in your box.

Worms usually leave because the conditions in the box become inhospitable. For newbes i think they usually let the bedding get to wet...although sometimes they get to dry. When i was starting, i lost several beds because of over overfeeding (to much lettuce and watery type stuff) and the worms just drowned in all the moisture. make sure you have air holes in your box.