"a few well rotted tomatoes" is a few to many! A few dozen redworms will only eat a tiny amount of food each day. Less than a tablespoon and any more will sour and disrupt the farm and kill the worms. Tomatoes are a little acidic to start out with as their main food. Get rid of all you can get out of the bed. You did not mention soaking or dampening the newspapers and leaves either. They should be moist. I would put something soft like a little blended pumkin or cantalope at first to get them started and not another bit till it is all gone for a day. Overfeeding is one of the worst things you can do to a new bed. A handfull of compost or garden dirt without chemicals would help also. Good Luck with it!

wfike - oops! Guess I got carried away - I will fetch the tomatoes out asap. I do have some pumpkin that I can add. How about cooked spinach? I did moisten the newpaper, but not the leaves. I do have some bagged mushroom compost as well as regular garden dirt that I can. Hopefully I didn't burn the little guys. Thank you for your quick response. Lots to learn!

Blend up the pumkin so it will go faster and the spinach is ok to but not till they eat all the pumkin. Gonna be slow with that few worms but they will multiply.

I'm not as experienced as others, but here's what I'd do:

Throw in a couple handfulls of garden soil and the mushroom compost to introduce additional microscopic organisms.

Banana peels also seem popular, so you can add those also as they break down pretty fast...besides they're good fer ya!

I'm not sure why you nested the buckets. To collect the liquid? I would be inclined to drill a few more holes in the sides of the inside bucket and just use it, but if this does work for you, then go for it!

It's at least 90 degrees here all summer, and often much higher, and my worms are outside all summer, in the shade on the north side of the house.

Good luck and have fun. I think you are off to a great start.

Socks12345... Thanks for the response. Since I have the bin in my kitchen, I nested the ventilated bin inside a non-ventilated bin to trap any moisture and to reduce the potential for roaches (I live in roach capital - FL). I think after this one gets going, I will delegate future bins to the outside - I do have some shaded areas under my house (crawlspace) as well as under trees along my north property boundary.

I checked on them last night and they had migrated upwards into the leaves. I will add some mushroom compost too as you and wfike advised.

I did drill many holes in the upper 1/3 of the ventilated bin to increase air supply, as well as periodically keeping the top open.

It's surprising how one can get excited over starting a worm bin! Thanks for the tips...

I see why you nested one inside the other. I think keeping the bins outside is good if you can, unless you have a great back porch or somewhere to keep it that it's not in the way. I think we're in the same zone, but here in CA we probably have less humidity and cockroaches than you do. My bins are outside all the time, in the shade.

If you do find your worm bucket is getting too wet (starting to smell), you might want to drill a few holes on the sides. I use a hot glue gun, but it sounds like you have that handled with a drill.

I actually have a bucket with a few worms going now which has no holes, and I have to keep a flower pot on top to keep the critters out. Not much ventilation, but all seems well anyway. I actually have three going now...2 rubbermades and 1 bucket. The hobby seems to grow.

It is fun, and I'm glad you are enjoying it.

I really like the recycle spirit in your choice of bin - I considered them too - but I've recently come to the conclusion that roughly 2 cubic foot sized bin that I started 9 months ago isn't enough to process the amount of kitchen waste I, as a single adult, produce. And I really dont eat or cook at home much at all. I confess I'm vegetarian so that might be upping my input a bit, but between bread, coffee grinds, banana peels, various veggies wasted because I didnt have the time, house plant and balcony garden waste, my little guys don't chew through it all fast enough.