Greetings! First, thank you for all the posts I've just read. I'm pretty sure I have a firm grasp on how to start vermicomposting, and I think I'll start preparing my first bin next week. I love the "Worm Factories", but in the interest of saving money (and shipping costs), I've decided to start with a stacking plastic tote system. I'll get the "Worms Eat My Garbage" book for reference as well.

I just have a couple quick questions. My worm bin will have to be out in the greenhouse, as my hubby is not thrilled with the idea of composting in the house. Overall, they should be fine out there from what I've read here, especially this time of year when I'm heating it at night to a minimum of 50 degrees, and ventilating it during the day (it does get into the low 100's, but never for very long, normally it's between 70 and 85 or so during the day). Fans are running 24/7 out there as well. In the summer I can move them out into a shady spot (though the doors and vents will be open all summer, so they might be fine just staying there). I have a remote thermometer out there so I can keep tabs on the temps.

I'm wondering about next fall/winter though. Daytime temps won't generally be a problem, in fact, I'll have automatic vents installed to let out heat as most days it will warm up quite nicely in there by mid-morning (it can get over 100 degrees in the greenhouse on a sunny 20 degree (or less) day in winter). What I'm wondering about is how cold the worms can handle it being at night...some nights it gets below zero here in January/February (usually a couple of weeks), and I can run the heater, but I'd prefer not to have to keep it quite so warm since I won't be growing anything (aside from worms) out there at that point. Does anyone have any idea of what the lowest nighttime temp I could let it drop to without doing any harm? No sense in paying for more electricity than I have to before I start stuff for the garden again in March.

And my second question is, I may not have much kitchen scraps to feed them all the time - the occasional fruit/vegetable scraps, some leftover pasta, and certainly a few banana peels & egg shells per week, but other than that, not too much aside from tea leaves and plenty of shredded junk mail and paper. Will it be okay if I feed them on the "lean" side when it comes to scraps, and heavier on the paper/cardboard side (I have a ton of cardboard all the time from mail orders)? I have plenty of decaying leaves to put in there as well, from mulching the gardens for the winter (obviously there will be more in fall).

Thanks again - I've been wanting to do this for a long time, and finally, it seems like the time is right! I hope to start a "regular" compost pile soon as well, but I'd like to get the worms going in the next month or so. :-)