The temps will be too warm, but the weekend only feeding is fine.

From what I read 75F is optimal for the most active worms, but much above 80 and they supposedly get sluggish and 90ish I believe they are dead.

Does this house have a basement or cellar that stays cooler?

put the bin outside! on the north side of the house where it never gets sun, even dug into the ground halfway

Bill

I agree with squeeze. Outside should work fine. And feeding on the weekend wont be a problem.

Good luck

carey

Actually, there is a storage room that stays cool. Great ideasÂthanks! And I'm glad the weekend-only feedings will be enough.

Outdoors may not work too well because of invading crittersÂraccoons, bears, etc.

For (say) 4 pounds of organic waste per week, any suggestions on bin size/type, worm type/count/source, etc.?

Well, you have undoubtedly heard the rule of thumb that they eat 1/2 their weight per day. In my experience with a Can of Worms (my experience is about a month now, not a lot) I doubt this is true. I don't weigh the food though so my guesstimate is that they eat around 1-2 times their weight per week.

Thing is there are many, many variables. I suspect your bin will do really well because you won't be around. From what other wormers have told me constantly opening the bin to poke around and check things out is a little counter productive. If you put in fresh food, it will be eaten only after it starts to rot. Some foods rot really quickly, others take a long time. They don't really need to rot, they just need to be covered with bacteria to interest the worms.

If you toss everything in a blender and puree it then most anything disappears in no time. If you toss in large chunks of food, it takes longer, but it still disappears. You really will have to experiment to find out the rate they eat for you.

Also, use bedding material such as peat, coco coir, shredded newspaper and the like (light weight 'woody' stuff) and they eat this as well so there really is no concern over running out of food for them. One experienced wormer at another forum has left her bin for 3 weeks with no ill results.

OK, so 4lbs of food per week. I would recommend starting with 2-4lbs of worms. If it were me I would go with 2 lbs (that's what I have now). They will double their population in a few months if all goes well anyway.

If you return and find lots of visible food left, just back off the food until their population increases.

- For (say) 4 pounds of organic waste per week, any suggestions on bin size/type, worm type/count/source, etc.?-

Oh, bin size & type. Forgot to address some of your questions earlier:

I have a CoW (Can of Worms) and am happy with it thus far. It is a stackable system where you use one tray until it is 'done' then add a second tray and let the worms colonize it, then another tray when the second is done etc.

The bad part is it costs money. Around $170 with shipping for the CoW and 2lbs of worms. Many others just use a rubbermaid 18-30 gallon container. There are instructions on the web how to set these up.

Sources: I bought from http://www.abundantearth.com/store/canoworms.html (various bins and worms available).

Many others recommend Happy D Ranch. http://www.happydranch.com/canoworms.html

They also have a selection of bins + worms.

Here is a generic link to how to set up a worm bin using rubbermaid containers. This example uses a 10gal container, but you can use whatever size you like:
http://www.newfarm.org/features/0804/wormbin/index.shtml

You're right, $170 is a bit steep; that would buy a lot of compost! I'll check out some of those alternatives. New York City's ecology center sells worm bins as well. Thanks for all the advice and the encouragement!

You can get a Rubbermaid bin (the bigger-than-a-breadbox size) and one pound of worms which would make a great start for you. Drill holes in the bin with the tip of a hot glue gun. Put your bedding and some scraps in, dampen it to be like a wrung out sponge, order worms.

Get a copy of Worms Eat My Garbage if you want to do some reading.