I threw mine in and everything else laying around the basment(; They seem to be crawing around it real nice

I put a few hand fulls of mushroom compost in my bin once, didn't seem to hurt anything but I probably wouldn't use it as the primary substance in the worm bin or anything. Ripped up corrugated cardboard or shredded if you have a shredder that can do it without breaking is better as bedding for an indoor bin at least I would think. Mushroom compost is too useful out in the garden for me to put much of it into the worm bins.

This is my understanding from what I have read...

Mushroom compost will not harm your worms, but by the time the mushrooms have been harvested, there is little nutrient value left for the worms.

It may depend on the mushroom farm the compost comes from. At the mushroom farm 3 miles from me, they compost horse manure and straw along with some other additives. They load the compost into the buildings and steam pasteurize, then inoculate and grow the mushrooms (probably only one or two batches) then steam pasteurize again before hauling it out of the building and selling it cheap. Now I've heard people insist that there isn't much nutrition left in it but I've planted crops in mushroom compost that grew just wonderfully with no additional fertilizer. I do not believe that the mushroom compost is depleted. It is simply depleted of the things the mushrooms need most and they need to be careful of other strains of fungus infecting their medium which is the primary reason for pasteurizing and starting fresh all the time.

Thanks for the info. I will be using newspapers and cardboard...shreaded of course... for the main bedding. Unfortunately I won't have everything in place for a whole week before adding my worms. It will only be a few days before the worms get here so I thought a handfull of mushroom compost might help. I also have a compost bin that I could dig down into for some soil if that would be better.??
Thanks for all the help.

The worms will arrive in bedding and in some kind of breathable bag. After checking them (my first from a hardware store was all dried up and the worms looked like tiny threads), seal the bag, spray it and put them away somewhere dark until the bin is ready. This will give them time to get over the trauma of shipping and the micro-organisms time to get established in the bin. Throw a handful of that compost into the bin to start the process. There is enough food (the micro-critters) in the transit bedding to keep them satisfied for some time. Just make sure you keep the bag damp. Good luck.

If the mushroom compost has been pasteurized, it won't help your bin get a jump start, unless it has been sitting outside for a few weeks since being pasteurized.

Compost from your compost bin will be a great way to get things going. I only had four days to get my bin ready. I found a place where a neighbor had been tossing yard trimmings over the fence. I dug down into that pile and took about a quart of partially finished compost. The worms went straight for it. They even ignored the food for the first couple of weeks in favor of the compost.

Definitely toss in a couple of handfuls of compost from your bin. The mushroom compost won't hurt, and might help.

How do you know when the bin is ready to add worms?

How do you know when the bin is ready to add worms?

Moist, but not soggy, bedding between 6 and 10 inches deep.

Something in the bin decomposing.

If you just toss together bedding and fresh food scraps, it can take a week or two before it is decomposing well enough to provide food for the worms. If you toss in a couple of handfuls of compost, the worms can eat that right away.

The bin should not be heating up. Some foods will get hot when they start to decompose. If you use these foods, wait for them to stop heating.

Thanks so much for all the help. I think my wormies will be very happy in their new home. I have tried to use all the advise I have read and know I will be learning lots more in the months to come.
A great day to all.

if anyone can provide more info on mushroom compost for redworms, please let me know - websites, forums, etc.