The turning you don't need for vermicompost. Let it sit. That might be part of what's upsetting the worms.

I would not add more worms. Do you have a thermometer? The first question is whether it's too hot for them: if you're getting into the upper 80s Fahrenheit that might be a problem.

Otherwise, this sounds like worm unfamiliarity with a new home. My suggestion (and it can't hurt) would be to add more bedding on top. Torn up cardboard, shredded paper, some coir if you have that around. I keep a bale of coir for emergencies. The worms need space to hang out.

Don't worry about organically grown inputs. The worms can't tell the difference!

Colin3....Thanks I truly appreciate your help! I will most definitely follow all your suggestions. I don't have coir, however, I do have corn husks & silk as well as the husks the mango beans are in, I'll add that for now if you think it will be beneficial.

As far as organically grown input I know the worms can't tell the difference, my questions is, since I am gardening strictly organically does putting non organically grown materials into compost compromise the organic "integrity" or purity of my organically grown food?

Again, thank you for your rapid reply, as a newbie to vermicomposting I was worried about...well everything LOL

Great! Tell us how it turns out.

Re your last question, "organic" has different meanings for different folks.

In my own view, sustainability is a more practical concept than purity: I want to garden in ways that do no additional environmental harm and reduce the harm that my current lifestyle does. That means less waste to the landfill, less consumption of trucked-in veg, try to improve my soil, and avoid the kinds of gardening inputs that do collateral damage. For these aims, composting all the cardboard that comes into the house makes sense, along with any kitchen waste.

This is in line with the USDA standards, which aim to "foster cycling of resources, promote ecological balance, and conserve biodiversity." (http://www.ams.usda.gov/AMSv1.0/nop) In other words their understanding of organic emphasizes sustainable agricultural practices. According to their guidelines vermicompost of any origin will qualify as an input into organic agriculture. In other words what you grow will be more than up to the standard of organic food available in a supermarket, no matter what you feed your worms.

"Purity" has a long history as a moral, religious, and ritual concept, and as such it's an absolute: something is either pure or impure. It has powerful cultural resonance, and if it gets people to prefer sustainably-grown produce, that's great. But it's not clear what it means for actual gardening practice in a messy world. (It always reminds me of Gen. Ripper in "Dr. Strangelove" and his worry about the purity of our precious bodily fluids.)

Hello, just wanted to mention that husks and other veggie matter isn't a replacement for bedding. Bedding is a high carbon (low nitrogen), mostly inert material that the worms can live in. It will get consumed over time, but gives a place for the worms to live while it is there. It's so good that it's one thing you can never put too much in, no one has ever killed worms with too much bedding. Corrugated cardboard is one of my favs as it's easy to get, great aeration and doesn't clump up as much as shredded paper.

With a new bin, with the quantities it should be more adding a bit of food to a lot of bedding, as opposed to having a little bedding with lots of food. As Colin mentioned, can't go wrong with bedding. Once you see the worms settling down and eating the food, then you can work on the amount to feed. Overfeeding (not the food itself) is the number one killer of bins. Just take some time to get the feel for it :)

Worms will leave if something is amiss and they will stay if they are happy. It sounds to me like quite a few things are amiss in your bin.

I think you are confusing composting (sometimes we call that 'regular composting') with vermicomposting.

You do not add browns and greens or turn or tumble a vermicompost bin. You do not want the material (most of us us kitchen scraps) to heat up or the worms will die (they will try to flee first). You need drainage holes in the bottom of the bin. A few on the sides are also recommended, but not absolutely required. You don't mention any holes in the bottom of your bin and I think you need some ASAP. The worms need bedding, and sopping wet dirt and cardboard is not going to work. Bedding needs to be moist and have some air spaces. Vermicompost bins tend to be more horizontal than vertical (think tote boxes, not garbage cans) to maximize the surface area as the worms like to stay near the surface.

There are many ways to vermicompost successfully and lots of the 'rules' are broken by lots of people, but you can't get away with breaking them all. I think you need to do some reading on the subject and get clear on what is and what is not vermicomposting.

Good luck! You might want to start with reading a lot of the older posts on this forum. There is a gold mine of information here. You could also look at the Soil & Compost forum (check out the FAQs to start) to see what vermicomposting is +not+.

Leave a tiny bit of light on in the room and they will escape less. This is mostly for the first night and a few days afterwards. Also for whenever the bin has been messed with recently.

A note on water absorbtion of bedding materials. Corn husks, even old dried ones, when water is added to them are still corn husks and water. Cardboard, such as corrigated, when water is added has some magical qualities in a worm bin. Once damp it can then hold a bunch of water leaking from new kitchen waste. Once damp it seems to retain dampness enough to keep the worms alive for a long time as it slowly dries out. Cardboard or any bedding is sort of judged for fitness on this water holding, water releasing, non clumping, air space providing ability. Also a nice bedding is once passed through compost that is still too big to fit through the size sieve you use when harvesting. It makes a great bin cover. The problem is, with a new bin, there is none of this stuff, safety refuge for the worms, available yet. The hardest day vermicomposting will be your first because nothing is broken down yet and ready to feed and house the worms. The second hardest is that first time one smells that smell and discovers melted worms. Corn husks can still go into the worm bin, maybe as a cover, whole or chopped, or into an outdoor compost bin as you see fit. Corn cobs, minus butter and salt can be good or bad. On the one hand they might not break down the first or thrid time around. On the other hand they do seem to hold a lot of water, releasing it slowly if needed. You may wish to break the cobs into halves or thirds, or 4ths if you are really strong. On the second and third pass through the bin I figure they are like little coral reefs of wee beasties that are seeding the new material and moderating any excesses from it.

Ironhorselady this is weird - I happen to live in South/Central Florida also and logged on because I've been having the same problem the past couple of days but only the tiny baby worms are trying to escape.

I also keep my bin on a shaded, enclosed patio so I'm thinking it may be getting too hot for them.

Thanks, Jen

> I lined the bottom of the bin with soaking wet cardboard
> a few hand fulls of organic dirt,

There is no such thing as organic dirt. Dirt is mineral.

> I think I was supposed to add the worms before the material
> to be composted

The worms don't care. Generally, you put the compostables in the bin and let them break down for a week or so before you add the worms. If the worms don't want to be on top, they will burrow down.

> Will the worms survive even though I added them last?

Yes.

> The bin is about 1/3 of the way full,

Which is probably too deep. The worms tend to want to stay in the top 6 inches or so of the bin. If you start out with much more than that, you will find the bottom of the bin does not get consumed.

> is that too many scraps for a lb. of worms,

Yes.

> will they be ok

Yes.

> or do I need more worms?

The worms have their own methods of adjusting their numbers. Let your worms do the more worm thing on their own. It may take a few months to get an adequate population, but newly hatched worms will adjust better than newly purchased worms.

> I've stopped adding compost materials until I know
> if my bin is ok.

You did good. Let the worms catch up. They have a lot to consume.

> I noticed worms crawling up the sides of the bin & on the
> lid I also found some who escaped, I'm assuming the jail
> break was through the holes, is that normal

This is normal for a new bin. Worms take a while to adjust to a new environment,

> or is there a problem with the compost & a reason the
> worms are trying to escape?

Well..... See below.

> It has no odor so I'm assuming my brown/green ratio is
> correct.

No odor is a good sign, but it does not mean that the ratio is correct. If there IS an odor, it probably means that the ratios are wrong.

> I did notice it is warmer inside the middle of the bin.

Too warm?

> I live in Central Florida where it's really heating up,

This could be a big problem. Worms don't like temps over 90 degrees F.

> I turn my bin daily by turning it on it's side,
> rolling it around a few times & then stand it upright.

But you won't anymore. This could be why the worms are trying to escape. Worms hate to be disturbed this way. It isn't necessary. (I advocate doing this ONE time after about 3 months.) This could also cause the bin to heat up, which can kill your worms.

> I am container gardening organically. Should my compost
> material be all organically grown materials?

It depends on how much you are committed to growing organically. If you want to be organic to the point of being certifiable, your food and bedding should all be from organically grown sources. Otherwise you would be OK to simply avoid feeding the worms anything that has been sprayed with pesticides, etc.

I've been having the same problem. I'm down here in So. Texas right next to the Mexican border. It's been over 90 deg f for over a month. A couple of years ago, we had 4 straight months over a 100 deg days and 80s at night. I have my bin in the garage. My husband won't let me bring it in the house, "it creeps him out." and he won't let me run a fan or AC in the garage for a bunch of worms. I've been thinking about maybe putting a little bit of the frozen scraps in while still frozen to cool the bin. I'm going to try that and let y'all know how it turns out. Hopefully I won't end up with a worm popsicle.

I've used ice as an emergency measure, and frozen scraps sound like a great idea. Ice may add more moisture than you want, but it definitely brings the temperature down. My other remedy is more bedding, figuring that greater air circulation can't hurt.

Well I tried leaving a bit of the scraps froozen when I fed my worms last night. I check them this morning and they are hanging out in the area that used to be too hot, but is now cooler. Also, I tried another guys suggestion on this form about giving them a shower and they really liked that. I added 6 more inches of corrugated cardboard bedding ant that's helping to keep things cool. Finally, I left the lid off the bin. I keep it in the garage and only have to worry about maybe a mouse getting in there; although, haven't had any mice in there as far as I know. So far no further attempts at escaping. They are hanging out in the middle of the bin. As for the fan, well, what can I say. I'm married to a meat and potatoes, redneck. He's sweet though and gets up at 5 every moring I work to make me breakfast and coffee even though he doesn't have to get up til 7:30 for his job. He also provides hard labor for my garden and doesn't complain. But the garage is his man cave so to speak and I'm just happy he lets me keep my worm bin in there. I'd keep it in the house, but our place is so tiny that I just can't seem to find a place where it's not in the way. Thanks so much for this forum.

collin3: instead using ice, I use 1 liter pop bottles ( or 2 liter for the bigger bin) filled with water that I froze overnight. That way I don't add moisture to the bin. Make sure you wrap the outside of the bottles w. several layers of newspaper so no worm will stick and freeze to the bottle.

SuperGreenKat: it would be a good idea to wrap your frozen worm food in a couple layer of newspaper. That way the cold will last a bit longer.

Maybe think about two bins in case in the heat of the summer things go south quick. That way you will not loose all of your worms. What is the temperature in the garage? How about in July? Wow, Texas gets hot.

Today it's supposed get around a 100. It'll be about 90 or hotter in the shed. It has been that way for several days. However, the actions I've taken the last two days seem to have helped. The last layer of cardboard I put on, I put on wetter than the other layers and this helps cool the bin. I'll try the soda bottle idea too. For now my worms seem happy and are feeding well and not trying to escape any more. The escape attempts may also have been because of it being a new bin. We'll be spending July and August in the Missouri hills where it'll be cooler.I'm taking the bin with me, otherwise I'd worry about them the whole time I'm gone. Guess I'm hooked. My husband says, "jeese, it's like having another dog or kid!" Now all I gotta worry about is my vegetable garden. It's tough living down here and being into gardening and organic things. People don't grow veggies down here much, don't do organic gardening or compost. There aren't even any gardening clubs! The closest worm farm is hundreds of miles away. It's really more like living in Mexico than in the US. People here think I'm nuts for having a worm bin. I don't dare tell them about the black soldier flies!

Just an update. I'm beginning to think that the advice one person gave on another link is correct. That person stated that worms will often try to escape a new bin because things aren't the way the worms want them yet, but will settle down after a few days. I just finished a 3 day work cycle where I'm gone for 14 hrs a day. I only got to check on my worms after getting home at night and didn't have time to do anything special towards keeping them cool and it's been over 100 deg every day. They have stayed in the bin and are doing just fine. Guess they just needed time to adjust to the bin. It still feels really warm when I put my hand into the middle of the bin, but the worms are staying put and appear healthy and happy.