It really depends on conditions in the bin. Total worm biomass will double every 60 to 90 days, so it should take between 6 and 9 months. or longer if you make a mistake and kill half of your worms.

It also depends upon the population density. If it is harder to find each other they will indeed breed less often. I'm not advocating overpopulation of bins. But there is a balance where you can reach optimal propagation.

thanx for the info sbryce, but now i'm worried, what mistakes do i need to not make?

You'll know when you make them.

I overfed with food that had gone anaerobic and lost about half of my worms. About a month later they seem to be making a great comeback. The bin was loaded with cocoons, which are now hatching like crazy.

Another mistake you can make is overfeeding with grains, which will make the bin heat up.

I would guess that if we all listed our mistakes here, almost all of them would have the word "overfeeding" in them somewhere, The word "anaerobic" would be a close second.

Another mistake you can make is to gather food from unknown sources, like horse manure with dewormer in it, grass clippings with insecticide sprayed on them, food with too much salt, etc.

well thanks again for the info folks, but now i have a new question. does anaerobic mean that the food is to rotten cause i thought aerobic was rotten?

acenjason,

anaerobic means without air, aerobic means with air. In other words both are decomposition/rotten but the microbes that live in an aerobic environment smell nicer and the worms actually eat these. The anaerobic microbes produce sulphur compounds as result of their metabolism and this is what you smell. Alcohol (metanol and etanol) is also a by-product of anaerobic decomposition. Worms don't like anaerobic conditions.

Hope that cleared things up?
Alex

So the bottom line is that anaerobic means too wet, not too rotten. Food that is rotten will be eaten by worms within a couple of days in a healthy bin.

Anaerobic conditions are often caused by overfeeding.

When you say too rotten, I think you mean that awful smell we associate with rotting food. It is lack of oxygen available to the microbes that causes that smell. The good microbes die from lack of oxygen, and are replaced by microbes that break organic matter down into compounds that stink.

Ok thanks again for the info, in the time since my first posting ( the one about breeding)I think I over fed the bin cause it got a funky smell. So I added some beding and stired things up in there. The worms seemed fine the whole time(not escaping or dead) but the smell worried me. Keeping in mind that I live in a dry climate ( the colorado rockies) do you folks think it will be OK? If not what more can I do? Thanks again for all the help!!! It looked so much easier on tv!

Go easy on your new bin until you get a good feel for how much to feed them.

I started with a little 5 gallon rubbermaid and 40 worms, October 2007. My intention was to keep them alive and slowly build up the population towards having a larger bin, and then on to several bins. At the time that I started space in our home was tight as to where to store it dark and undisturbed.

Weekly, I lifted off the lid and checked the paper on the surface, it usually needed a spritzing. I used a tiny 1/4 cup size container with lid, and scooped out their upcoming dinner into it, from my compost collecting pail. I'd chop it up tiny, then freeze. I fed them only twice/month, checking the area where the food was last to be sure it was all gone.

After 6 months or so, I noticed the presence of what I think are called 'springtails' - cute little white creatures scurrying all over the paper (and food if there was some). They were my indicator as to whether there was food to be worked on in the bin, or none. When there wasn't any food in the bin, these little guys were all over the place, the sides and the ceiling of the lid when I'd open the bin. When there still was food in the bin, most were on/in the paper or on the food. I adjusted same amount of thawed feed, but now every 10 days (or thereabouts). Also noticed I didn't need to moisten the top of the bedding anymore, and had slight moisture droplets on the ceiling of the lid.

At about a year, I moved to feeding weekly, then realized I could feed more scraps at a time weekly, so that now I am up to 1/2 cup at a time.

February of this year I moved the worms into a 10 gallon rubbermaid, and kept the vermicompost in the 5 gallon to finish off. I stopped counting at 350, and didn't count all the teeny ones that were shorter than one inch in length. Just last week I scooped about another 20 juveniles out of the vermicompost, plus more eggs.

I feel I've underfed them at times (like the months of December when there's lots of other stuff happening) and yet they've done well. Because I've got the composter outside, I wasn't too concerned I needed to have enough worms to take care of all our scraps, although that is my eventual goal since it's a pain to take the compost out in the winter with snow and -30 C* temperatures.

I've yet to have a 'stinky' smell come from my bin - I stored the first one on the floor of our kitchen pantry, and am married to a man with a sensitive nose, he did not suspect a thing (and let's not tell him about it, okay?)

So be patient, get to know this population, then consider whether you can give them some time or order up some more of them. And don't go digging around the bin more than necessry just to check up on them! Keep the bedding moist (not wet) and try to underfeed slighty for the first while, and things'll go great.

I would not be concerned about a slight smell for a couple of days after you feed. If it is a strong smell, or persists for more than two days, or the worms seem to be trying to get away from the source of it, then you may have problems.

Kioni,
Excellent depiction of how to begin raising worms. It is a lesson plan on moderation and patience, two of the three key guidelines for vermiculture. The third being "diversity."
Folly

Folly, please tell me how you mean I lack diversity?

Is it what I think it is....having a large population of worms derived from a rather small gene pool? If so, I intend to purchase another bag or 2 of red wrigglers from the bait shop this summer, and introduce them to my own.
Would that help?

Thanks.

Hey kioni,

I don't think Folly meant anything to do with the gene pool. With worms, I don't think that matters like it does with chickens, cows, horses, dogs, cats and such. I believe the "diversity" that she spoke of would have more to do with food and bedding sources. In other words, don't stick just one "thing" in the bin and expect your worms to flourish. Give them a variety of "things." Long is the list of materials that can be used for bedding. And, even longer is the list of foods that can be fed to them!

I hope this helps!!

Robert

Kioni,

I meant no criticism. but rather praise of the way you are proceeding. Beebiz read me right about "diversity." In your excellent post you hadn't spoken specifically about the different foods or combination of bedding that you were using. "Moderation...Diversity...Patience" is the signature line of one of the wisest, funniest, and most reasonable posters on this forum.

Well then, thanks for the praise!

You guys would laugh if you seen the variety of foods I stuck in that little 1/4 cup container, and now the larger one to freeze, for their meals. It's like, lets see, we've got cuke ends, carrot scrapings, apple cores and a tea bag for them this week. The next week as I'm trimming up canteloupe, I think, hey, they'd like some of that, so that starts up a new container, and how about adding in shredded cabbage, and some leaves I've trimmed off my overwintered coleus, and maybe a sprinkling of cornmeal for their 'seasoning'. They've gotten some pretty gourmet meals, let me tell you. Othertimes, it'll be one thing straight (container of carrot peelings), but then the next it'll be something else (can't have them overdose on beta carotene!).

As for bedding, I've stuck with shredded newspaper and cut up toilet paper rolls, since we do the recycling thing with cardboard. No glossies, but I have caught myself withhold 'nice' looking cardboard with no print on it, just for them. And in the fall I brought in a small bag of dried leaves to try, and really liked how they worked that over (or they really liked to work it over). The rest of the leaves I need for the compost pile, but next fall I plan to reserve more for the indoor fellas.

Bye!

Well the worm bin is back to smelling good and earthy once more! I want to thank all of you for your help. This is such a great forum!