Sorry about the double post, I didn't think it worked the first time.

Sometimes your post won't show until you hit the double arrow refresh button.

From my understanding, it is possible to gather your own worms from the wild (though my experience is very limited and I probably have no idea what I am talking about). However, you really need to know what you are looking. If you get wrong worms, your bin will run, but it will not be nearly as efficient as if you had the right worms. Though I recommend getting the correct worms, I think $25 for a bunch of worms is excessive. The most I have seen is $10 for 1/2 pound. I got mine free (~ 1/2 lb) from a seminar hosted by the city. Perhaps you can contact the local government to see if there are compost programs in your area. There, you will most likely meet people who would happily give you a hand ful of worms to get you started.

Being a cheap SOB, I've come to using open piles and local worms. It works great, and they can be collected to seed a new pile etc. However, I process more than a few yards of material in a year so this may be more practical in my case than for others.

Thanks for your replies. The cardboard trick didn't work last night, so I am going to check my local bait and tackle shop and see what they have. The $25 price was what I was finding online. I don't think my city has a composting program, at least not one I could google.

One more question. I have some tomatos in the fridge that are starting to get a bit furry. Should I toss them in the bin, toss them in the woods, or toss them in the garbage?

So, I just got back from the fishing shop and they don't have the kind of worms I need. I wasn't thinking straight and fresh water fishing isn't big around here, salt-water worms just won't cut it. I guess I have to order online.

your cardboard trick could work, but it would take more time. I found a few red worms in areas of my yard that I knew already had decaying matter. Places where I placed big rocks or other objects that haven't been moved in quite some time. It is a slow way to start, a few months waiting for the worms, then only having a small amount to work with. By that time, you may forget about the whole idea.

I'll keep trying, I know I saw one in the woodchips around my house. But, just for insurance, does anyone know some inexpensive resource online where I can buy some worms. I don't want to spend more then $10-$15 with shipping. Thanks.

If you collect worms from the garden there is a good chance they will be earthworms. Earthworms are different to compost worms and they wont survive in a bin. You need more than $10-$15 with shipping to get proper compost worms.

Marshall

I've seen them on ebay for $10-15 but who knows what you'll get. One that I saw on there said $10 a pound but then listed about 1/2 a dozen different types of worms, so you can't tell what your gonna get. Cheapest I've seen from a online vermiculturist is the Happy D Ranch at $20 a lbs an $6 s/h. Thats about the best you can do.

Toss the tomatoes in the bin. Could you phone a couple more stores to see if they have red worms? Do you have Big 5 in your area? I think our local Big 5 has them.

put the cardboard down in a place out of the sun, preferably on gras [even patchy] and soak it with water - give it a few days and check, might take a week or 2, but they'll show up if they're in the area, keep the cardboard wet enough so the side against the ground stays wet .... the kind of worms you want like a rich organic diet and move slow, the kind most folks call 'earthworms' are night crawlers, deep dwellers that are ok for fishing but not as good for composting as Eisena [red worms]

Bill

No Big 5 stores around here. I don't think any sporting good stores around here would sell them because we don't have many freshwater fishing areas in the county, I don't even know if they allow fishing in the freshwater ponds around here. So all of the live bait they sell are for salt water fishing.

I found two redworms yesterday in the woodchips that are around my patio, but the rest were nightcrawlers. I threw those two in the bin, but I know that at this rate it is going to take forever. I am continuing to wet the cardboard. There is a local retailer I found online, but I don't think they have a store--all mailorder or online, and the minimum they sell are 1000 worms for $28. Ouch. I am going to send them an email and see if they will sell a smaller amount for someone local, and maybe save on shipping since I can pick up.

Also, after a storm when all the worms come up to the surface, are redworms usually among them. Before I started this project a worm was a worm and i never tried to differentiate. But, the redworms are red, and smaller (I am noticing from what have been reading and finding in my soil), right?

Hello all,

I'm new to this forum and vermi. I just purchased some red wrigglers online at Planet Natural for about 20 bucks and the shipping is free to the continental US.

http://www.planetnatural.com/site/red-wiggler-worms.html

Willy

Willy,

Congratulations, welcome to the forum. What kind of bin are you going to put the new herd in??

Marshall

Thank you for the resource! I am new here too.

Marshall,

Thanks for the welcome. I'm planning on using a Can O Worms for my first Bin. Also purchased at Planet Natural. I didn't even consider building one, I just dove-in. But the next bin will be some sort of homemade bin. Probably made from 3 or 4 Rubbermaid tubs.

I didnt realize how simple they were to build, but I think the Can O Worms will work for now.

Willy

Willy,

Nothing wrong with a can o worms. Plenty of those around.

There is a thread on http://thegardenforums.org/viewforum.php?f=42 by Redhen and the topic is called "COW unwrapped" it is a step by step look at the Can O Worms complete with photos. Try a search or post a message to find it.

Another good forum is: http://www.wormdigest.org/index.php?option=com_joomlaboard&Itemid=50&func=showcat&catid=4

Regards,
Marshall

I think I've heard that the composting worms are not actually native to North America but have become naturalized and disrupted the native ecosystem.
Anyway, I've seen what might be some type of red worm on my concrete patio under piles of leaves and mulch. I've read that they don't tend to be soil dwellers and would much rather a good layer of organic matter on top of the soil so looking in areas of leaf litter and mulch will probably find them better than just placing cardboard above soil. Perhaps try placing the cardboard among your mulched areas where you have already found red worms.

Other places to look might be under leaf piles, in compost piles, in manure heaps (since these are often called manure worms.)

I went and bought mine since I wanted to know what I had and we live close to a comercial worm farm so didn't have to pay shipping.