The addition of partially decomposed leaf matter certainly introduced a few of your localized species to the bin, and this is a good thing! Those species best suited to the bin environment will be the ones that ultimately dominate the system, with other species remaining present, but at lower population densities. Worms appreciate diversity!

Earthworms can only produce young with members of their own species. There is no hybridization among worms, despite claims about "special hybrid worms" made on some internet sites.

Wood ashes are as broken down as they are going to get, and are not recommended for a worm bin. Acidity is not a problem for eathworms as they are equally tolerant of pH levels from 4-9. Another internet-driven myth is that they need or prefer a neutral pH level, which is innacurate. Though they perform equally well across the entire pH range stated above, when given a choice they actually demonstrate a preference for a pH near 5-5.5, which is a pretty acid environment!

Ph does not need to be either monitored and controlled in your bin, and wood ash would not be the recommended control agent if it were. Avoid this one.

Kelly S

I built two compost bins out of rabbit wire some time ago....I love to use shredded leaves in my compost bins...I located the bins in some dogpens w/concrete floors so I wouldn't have to deal with the bins sitting on the ground...A week later I came in from my truckdriving job and when I began to turn the material, I noticed that there were thousand's of worms in the compost materials....My bin is also located at the edge of a wooded area and I guess the worms thought the bins offered a "perfect" home/enviroment....Anyway, I just allowed the worms to remain and didn't turn the pile anymore....Just said this FYI...If you can locate an outside pile next to a wooded area, the worms will come, just like Kelly said....Millions of free worms....Dwight

"Just said this FYI...If you can locate an outside pile next to a wooded area, the worms will come, just like Kelly said....Millions of free worms....Dwight"

Yeah, since I live in the sticks I suppose I should have saved my 15 bucks and just harvested some local guys.

HPD

Thank you for the valuable information, Kelly.

HPD

​Researching the wood ash question myself, I came across this link which states the opposite of Kelly-Slocum's statement: https://www.growveg.com/guides/improve-your-soil-using-wood-ash/ Namely, that wood ash is a pH balancer and therefore beneficial to the worms.

I will clarify that I'm using Red Wigglers which are purportedly native to the area whereas "earthworms", i.e., nightcrawlers or Lumbricus terrestrial are not (which is another can of worms, as it were).  So the worms species may make a difference.