While sharing the done tray I would be like King Midas. I would bestow more to the plants I liked the best.

I have zero experience with a worm factory but apparently that does not stop me from having an opinion. Don't they have like 5 or 7 trays? Before distribuiting the first tray I would add tray 3 and 4. Until the first tray is needed for composting space I would let it be. Well not really. I would be in there bothering it a whole lot and probably dump the whole thing into a bucket and push it back into the tray bit by but to see what was going on inside there. Some people find there are still worms so they add the first tray back on top of some new trays to encourage the worms to migrate out. If it is not gardening season and you need the tray, feel free to put the contents of the tray into a bucket until you need it.

I find myself wishing for more details about your bin care. Once the drain was no longer clogged how often did you drain it? Tell us about your bedding and feeding. Do you like the worm factory? How do you share the hobby or information or vermicastings?

I gambled my whole 10 gallons of rough vermicompost on a $$plant that likes swampy areas my mom was partial to and planting in beach sand. It was a really bad winter. I will not know the results until spring.

It has 5 trays and I've been into the second for a about 4 months. I'm about a month and a half out from transplanting vegetables to garden. This is the first year we've also tried starting from seed indoors too. So we've got quite a few seedlings that have just sprouted. (veggies)

I drain it every day; usually get about a quarter to half of a 16 ounce cup full of liquid. Bedding is shredded 8"x11" printer paper. If it gets too moist I add more spread across the top or add it when they eat it up.

So far I like the worm factory, only thing I thought I would be adding more material by this time and getting more compost. I've got it to add they just don't seem to engaging it right off. By far most of the material I've added over the winter was lettuce and spinach. Maybe that is not the best to use. Because when it breaks down(sometimes it breaks down before I feed it to them) still in a full bag there is just a tiny bit of left in bottom. I have added, over time, a full bag of apples which I sliced up before placing in and they devoured it but that is the exception rather than the rule.

I've read over the internet about adding a half cup of the compost every 2 months but I really have no idea of how to use over time. I'm used to hitting the plants with triple 13 and calling it a day till time to fertilize again.

I bought worm castings last year but to be really honest the plants I used them on did not do as good as when I use commercial fertilizers. My mother's garden put my mine to shame. We've had leaves on our raised rows over the winter and have added wood chips too.

Your or your neighbor's cardboard, not foam, egg cartons and coffee trays might want to jump into the pool too. Some vermicomposters feel a drop a day of drainage is just right. You do not mention adding water to the top so I'm not sure where this fountain of youth is from. If you add dry shreded egg carton you can pour back in the drainage so as to not loose any water soliuable nutrients. Maybe a container next to the kitchen sink will capture little bits of excitement for the worms supper.

You are doing good. Keep going. We all learned and are still learning by experiementing that is the part we find so fun. Read back in the archives to see our vermicompost achievements and horror stories.

I have read that VC has an NPK of 1.3-1-1 approx. so it is no match for 13-13-13. VC does have a biologically active community of soil builders that are in the process of repairing the soil that has been sterilized by the use of chemical fertilizers. Naturally, this process takes time and if you want to 'grow organic' I suggest soil builders such as mulch and regular 'hot' compost. An excellent book- 'Teaming with Microbes' explains the whole process without a lot of scientific jargon. It's a good read on soil biology.

Ok, thanks steamy. I will say this, today we went down and uncovered a few of our raised rows which have been covered with leaves all winter. It was super moist underneath, had kind of nice dark tone and working it just a little showed it was teaming with worms. And the ground felt so "puffy?","airy"?

Last year was the first time we tried 100% organic, so maybe we'll fare better this year with production and better looking plants.

steamyb, I have thoroughly enjoyed your book recommendation. I bought it on Monday and finished up this weekend. Absolutely fascinating and engrossing. Really has the opportunity to change the entire way a person thinks about tending to their garden spots.

Hope it is accurate because I will be applying right now. Really brings into focus why organic works and better yet how to apply. I will be adding grass to mulch my veggies.

Even makes me think of modifying the way run my compost heap. e.g. turn it a few times get the bacteria really cooking and then mulch with that before it's done. The maybe making a protozoa mix out of grass clippings and dousing the mulch. It is a thought anyway.

Also would think that adding worm compost really soon out of the worm bin would be much more benefical that letting it sit.