Mike - the worms are only interested in food waste that has become microbially active and is actually decomposing - their food is really the microbes that cause the decomposition, so if the feed stock you have in the bin is pretty fresh outta the kitchen, they won't find much use in it - give it time, and don't put large quantities of it in one place to avoid having the decomposition heat it up, worms prefer a coolish place to chow down - melon is a fast acting thing that they like a lot, wet stuff is good

skip the cheese or any animal products [fat], but any veg/grain based food is fine, no exceptions, although some things will take longer to decompose to their liking [citrus for one], and some things will be too dry at first - they will tend to roam if things don't seem ideal, but it shouldn't take more than a week or so before they settle in if there's good food available - don't worry, you're on the right track

Bill

I know it is fairly common for people on US forums to say skip fat but Darwin has a few paragraphs describing how his worms, presumably from England, rather like fat.

I tend to agree with squeeze on the dairy products and fat. worms will eat nearly anything but fat and meat will cause flies and in turn maggots and larva and the smell is not to good either. stick with the veggies and you won't have near as many bin problems.

Except for big chunks of cheese, your list seems great. Your worms, if they came in the mail, were subjected to vibration, heat, and dehydration. They will be crawling for a bit, to find a quiet, cool, moist place to survive. Keeping a light on will keep them more in their new bed and when things are to their liking they will not leave. I don't know how many worms you have started with, but make sure you do not overfeed and heat things up in the bin.
One other thing..Sometimes what you think are redworms are not. You may have Perionyx Excavatus mixed in. These worms will crawl much more often in mass, (even in light). They do not like being disturbed. If you were to take an adult out into the sunlight you may just see a purple/blue irridescence on the length of their backs.

Banana peels, yes. Better if you tear them in long strips.

Tomatoes, yes. Spoiled is better than fresh, because it's already begun to rot and that's what they eat.

Moldy bread, optional. Some folks do not put grain products in their bins. I put in a few slices here and there, but not huge amounts.

Moldy cheese, usually not. I might put a few shavings of cheese mold in, but not whole slices.

Corn husks, yes with a caveat. They are like grape stems -- they take a LONG time to break down. But they eventually will. I tend to put this sort of thing in my regular compost bin because I want all my worm compost to be done at around the same time.

Herbal tea bags, yes. I tear the bags in two so the tea sprinkles out. The worms don't seem to have any troubles with tea, whether black or herbal, loose or bagged.

Dry cat food, usually not. Unless you know the food is all-vegetable, you might want to forego using it.

Old taco shells, optional. This goes under the grain category, like bread and rice and cereal and oatmeal and crackers. A little might be fine. more than a handful may not be a good idea.

Roaming worms: As one of the other posters said, they are probably shaken up from their trip and will settle soon. once your bin reaches the right moistness and has food they can eat (food in the process of decomposing, rather than fresh) they will not try to leave. I find worms up the walls of my bin sometimes. If I have a lot, I check the moisture levels. I had real problems with my bin being over-moist when I first started out. once I got it balanced, I had much fewer problems with climbers.

About cooked grains (bread, pasta, taco shells, etc.) Â won't the salt in most baked goods stay in the finished compost and salinate your soil when you apply it?

Good responses, I'd skip the cheese & dairy also and I'm on the same page as nygardener watch the salt. Breads, pasta's and cereals are fine but if the taco shells are as salty as I think they are, I'd skip them the next time.

Wash your banana peels before adding. I hear they can contain pesticides on the skin, on the rare occasion enough to kill everything in the bin. I wash the peels after eating, let them sit for a few days to dry, and cut them up with scissors and put them into the next batch.

My worms wander for a few days after adding them. After that, you shouldn't be seeing the fetida or andrei variety but may see another species. I see several on the sides/lid of one of my bins every time and everything seems fine for food & bedding. I also see the occasional snuck out and died, it's not the fetida or andrei variety I think it's Lumbricus rubellas but I'm going to take a second look to verify it's not the Perionyx excavatus. If it is, and it may be, you DON'T want them in your bin and have to take measures to irradicate them. They are invasive and will beat out the other worms including E. fetida. Here's a useful link to identify them, and how to eliminate them http://www.happydranch.com/138.html while at the same time make sure it's not Lumbricus rubellus which is beneficial. Both L. rubellus and P. excavatus are similar colors and both have an irridescent sheen but the L. rubellus is very good in a worm bin and can work along with E. fetida (it eats in the lower portions of the bin, whereas E. fetida which eats in the upper and not invasive) whereas P. excavatus does not. To see if you're safe and it's L. rubellus the clitellum would be on somites 27-32, whereas the bad P. excavaus has it's clitellum on 13-17.

Here's a great picture or P. excavatus vs. E. Fetida
http://image24.webshots.com/25/5/41/91/101054191ObNoup_ph.jpg

That Amy does such a good job of taking pictures and particularly comparing them with E. fetida. You can see P. excavatus has its clitellum right near the top of the head.

During lunch I opened up my bins to make sure the ones on the sides & top weren't P. excavatus and low and behod they were (they weren't L. rubellus as I was hoping). Since my bins are well established, and the species by some deemed invasive I grabbed a corner of each of my bins and counted what ratio of worms where what to see where my bins are now. Low and behold, 94% were P. excavatus 6% E. Fetida. They appear to be ousting the E. Fetida population.

Now, to consider what to do. I guess the reason they're not recommended for the worm bin is because there will always be wanderers whereas E. Fetida there aren't but that doesn't mean they don't work in one. They breed faster then E. Fetida and in my case are more successful. But, it's also a let down. It's amazing how much faster their population has increased. I think I'm going to finish the bins I have, remove any of the remaining E. Fetida, wash them off, and move them over to a new bin and start fresh with a new batch of E. fetida from a source that ensures you won't get anything else besides fetida. That way, I can use them for fishing for the one time I do go a year and I won't have to pick up the dried escavatus that escaped and died anymore.

Hi,

I have mostly P escavatus and don't have any wandering away or trying to escape. They breed well and make lots of castings which is all I want from them.

Marshall

I have 7 indoor bins with PE's and some EF's mixed. I am with Marshall...They are all working just fine and making loads of vermicompost.

My main issue is I purchased E. Fetida and got mostly P. excavatus which are the weeds of the worm industry and shouldn't have paid the same price. PE's produce twice the babies which reach sexual maturity in half the time of E. Fetida so they should be like 5 bucks a thousand. My math isn't good, but I calculated that PE's are able to triple their population every 1.5 months. In the amount of time it takes E. Fetida to double their population, PE's will have tripled, and tripled again. In 6-7 months EF's population should be double doubled, PE's should be tripled, tripled, tripled, tripled. PE's are a weed, and I shouldn't have paid show flower price.

I read for hours last night gathering everything I could about them. I live in the north and it's a tropical species. Last winter was mild, they survived in my unheated basement but that doesn't mean they'll survive a normal or harsh winter. If 2,000 (2 lbs) survive they can increase in population to 18,000 (18 lbs) in only 3 months and they do make vermicompost at blazing speeds and appear faster and eat more than E. Fetida. I would guess because it takes a lot of energy to make babies, and the amount and how fast they produce them they have to eat a ton and don't have time to waste.

So, I decided to make the best of this and excited to try an experiment. I just ordered 2 lbs of guaranteed E. Fetida with no P. excavatus and will be starting a new bin to experiment which does better. I think the results will be that PE's outpace E. Fetida in summer probably by a good margin, but come winter will come to a screeching halt as they try to just stay alive. I think E. Fetida's will be chugging along at a faster pace in winter, I'll be able to see who does better in the end or if PE's can survive the winter here.

Thanks for all the replies! Just a follow-up. My worms have settled down nicely. I still see them climb the sides of the bin sometimes, but in most cases they seem to like that area to **get to know** the other worms, if you know what I mean. ;) Thanks for the info about the breads and grain products, I never though about the salt content. I'll limit the amount of bread added. I'm definitely thinking about a second bigger worm bin at this point, I had no idea we were producing so much waste until I had to keep it.

Thanks again.

Mike

Piedmont...I learned about PE's much the same way you are now. I grow worms and am now marketing the PE's. I give people the choice of what worm they want for their systems, (EF's, PE's or ENC's). Most of the folks putting worms in an on-ground bin opt for the PE's. Granted when the temperatures drop the adults will most likely die off, but the 1000's of cocoons they laid will hatch out as soon as the weather warms. That is what has been happening in my outdoor bins for 2 years now.
I do grow the PE's indoors and no longer have a crawl issue. I think the worms born into your bin will be better off than their ancestors. Just be sure you do not mix any compost from your bins (EF/PE) and that they do not contact each other. I even have to check my hands for tiny baby PE's before going into my EF/ENC bins.
I think the grower you purchased the redworms from, that were mixed with the PE's, should be made well aware that they are not selling what the customer is trying to purchase.