Keep the bedding about 6 inches deep. You can go deeper after the bottom couple of inches have been well worked by the worms. Add it to the top when you feed the worms. About once every 3 months you should turn the whole thing over so that any matted, undecomposed bedding at the bottom of the bin will be brought to the top so it can decompose.

thank-you

sbryce - you said "About once every 3 months you should turn the whole thing over". Is there some rule of thumb that tells the novice (me!) when the VC should be harvested? Our bin has about 3" of dark, earthy stuff at the bottom. It all looks roughly the same. The worms are in the upper 2-3" of stuff (food and bedding). There's about 3-4" of damp corrugated cardboard pieces on top of that, with some worms in there too.

We add food by pulling back the cardboard on top, putting the kitchen waste in smallish heaps, then replacing the cardboard. But when do we stop?

I had hoped to use a third bin on top, prepared with bedding and food. Supposedly the worms will migrate into this bin through the drainage holes drilled in the bottom. To me, this seems less messy than stirring up the current bin and pulling the VC from the bottom?

Thanks,
Cheryl

First, if ALL of the bottom 3 inches is dark, earthy stuff, then don't bother turning the whole thing over. If there is a matted layer of soggy bedding below the 3 inches of dark, earthy stuff, turning the whole bin is intended to bring that to the top. The first time I harvested, I was surprised to find that the bottom of my bin was almost entirely undecomposed. That is why I suggest turning the whole thing.

As for harvesting, that is a judgement call. I let my bins go about 6 months, about long enough for the 3 inches of dark, earthy stuff to get to a depth of about 6 to 8 inches. I also did the third bin on top. Initially, I only bedded it a couple of inches deep. The worms will move up over time. Give this new layer a few months. Not all the worms will crawl up, but most will. During that time the worms who stay behind will finish off the food and bedding in the lower bin. During that time you can gradually bring the level of the bedding in the upper bin to a depth of 6 to 8 inches.

You will still want to screen the VC in the lower bin, and it will still be messy, but not near as bad as the dump and sort method. After you harvest the lower bin, it is available to became your new upper bin. The VC in the lower bin will be very damp, so it will need to dry out before you can do much with it. I harvested a little each day over a two week period, allowing the top portion to dry out over night. When you get to the bottom, it will be full of small worms which you can just toss into the upper bin.

sbryce - thank you. I clearly need to recalibrate my time scales. I had no idea it would take months for the worms to move into a new bin, or 6 months to harvest. Patience isn't my strong suit.

The stuff at the bottom of the second bin seems to be all composted, but I don't want to stir up the worms too much so I haven't looked very thoroughly. I was surprised the first time I poked down to find out that the bedding seemed to have disappeared.

Cheryl

I use Worm Factories - I have never had to wait more than 3 months to harvest I use a combination of shredded paper, cardboard and coir for bedding.

I've been throwing in a few small handfuls of fine sphagnum peat moss when I add bedding to the top (I had a bale leftover from gardening, and yes, I know it's not sustainable!) Just trying to use it up. But it made a wonderful improvement to the vermicompost in my plastic rubbermaid bin. I too use newspaper, shredded or torn cardboard (especially those egg cartons!) and sometimes found that the bottom layer got a little too dense or mucky. I dislike turning the whole bin, as then the uneaten food in the top layers ends up on the bottom. The added peat seems to keep the "fluff" factor in that bottom layer, eliminating the need to turn the bin, and it's a much nicer finished product that is more "friable and crumbly" than before. If I'm checking the bin by lifting materials by hand and I see an area that looks a bit too wet (oops, maybe I added too much food!) I just sprinkle a handful of dry peat on it, and it quickly wicks up the extra moisture. I'm loving it!

I only have a single bin, but to harvest, I try to move aside all looser undigested or partially-decomposed material and get down to the good black stuff, lift it out into buckets, then dump onto a plastic tablecloth outdoors and kind of hand-sort, so I can throw any remaining worms back into the bin. Some get missed, and that's ok, but I like to try and keep my wormies working the bin! Also, any larger undigested bedding or stubborn bits of food can go back into the bin for further composting. Dry the finished compost a bit on trays or screens until it's easily crumbled into a finer product. Store in a covered bucket or bag -- you may want a few pinholes in the bag so it doesn't get sour.

I have a couple worm factories and try to add roughly as much corrugated cardboard, by volume, as food scraps.

Generally I'm emptying the bottom (of four) trays once a month, so the cycle is about four months. But I usually empty them into a separate large plastic bin that sits for a week to a month or longer before I get round to hauling the bin into the sun.

Sun makes sorting easy: On a bright day the remaining worms will retreat below the top inch or so of compost. Skim that inch off and toss it into the veg beds. Do 20 minutes of yard work while the worms retreat again below the surface, repeat. Eventually you get down to a bottom layer that is mostly worm and that gets tossed back in the bins.

I don't worry about anything undigested at that point: unless it's something that shouldn't be there like a plastic label, I figure the wriggling creatures in the garden will take care of it.