Hi Zach -
Dirt and ashes are not considered good bedding for compost worms. You want to add either shredded paper (like the bags you mentioned), cardboard, or coir to give the worms someplace to live. This is bedding should be damp, so the worms can breathe. It's hard to give worms too much bedding, just keep it damp not wet.

You also want to give them more than just coffee grounds. Give them some actual organics, veggie scraps and the like. .30 worms are not a lot, so you don't want to add much food. Add a little and replace only when it's been eaten.

If you do redo your bin you might want to count the exact number of worms to compare to when you harvest. I once sold worms labeled 100 worms but put in 210 because 100 worms never looks like 100 worms. Compost worms are found in an outdoor compost bin or manure pile. Earthworms are found when digging in the garden. Compost worms eat kitchen scraps. Earthworms eat... er... I don't know what they eat. Ashes are a bit harsh for worms. Lye is made by pouring water through wood ashes. If your worms are compost worms and if you do change their environment see if you can find a paper shredded. You can set up a bin and age it for a week or two. Tasty bits to shred are brown paper bags and paper towel tubes. I, personally :-) do not find junk mail or office paper as tasty. Some egg cartons are formed from soggy paper which can be torn up by hand into small pieces, same with those trays that hold 4 coffee cups. Egg shells can be tossed in who / le or crushed by hand or pulverized. You may enjoy finding worms enjoying the smooth inside of who / le eggs. You may enjoy crushing the by hand as it is satisfying to do. For a while I really enjoyed putting them in a paper bag and rolling over them with a wine bottle, shake and repeat. Crunch, crunch, crunch. Some vermicomposters wash eggs shells others dry them in an oven, I just wait until the stuff inside drys out before processing them. I admire that you just went for it and made a worm bin and now you are gaining hands on experience every day. I read everything to death before I make a single move. I probably loose experiences that way. Your set up sounds fine. I certainly have used the same method. Obviously vermicompost is going to fall out of the holes in the bottom of the bucket into the harvest bucket. Except it does not. I certainly tried enough times. I eventually cut away all but a one inch cross of material left as the bottom of the bucket. And still that vermicompost does not self harvest. So I poke and prod it. Eventually it will harvest... all the way up to the last apple core I put in. A hole from the bottom of the bucket to the top.

The challenge of of doing something that should be so easy but we make it so hard is why we keep at it.

Presently I am wrestling with a Worm-Inn. The netting sounded good to keep in fruit flies. When the fruit flies are gone I add more food and bedding on top. Unfortunately a mouse made holes in the top screen. So I plugged it with cotton from the top of vitamin bottles. It looks ugly but works. There is a hole closed by drawstring at the bottom of a worm inn. Theoretically this should work well. Realistically this area of the bin gets moldy. Also I still have the same issue of no vermicompost falling and then it all falls making a hole right up to the top of the bin. Someday I'll get it right. Hoping that day will be today is why I keep at it.

Enjoy 'dem wormies. We do.

I wasn't suggesting a redo, just a pivot to adding what may help create a more hospitable environment. If your worms are doing ok now, the addition of traditional bedding and food may just provide them an environment more to their liking. .

Thanks everyone for the feedback! This is help in so much! But I still have a few questions.
How do I check on my worms and know they are doing good and even all still alive?
Do I put the shredded paper on top or mix it all in?
I put Orange peels and banana peels in this time. Is that a good choice?

I know some questions.may sound noobish, and well, it's because they are haha! I'm the biggest newbie there is right now when it comes to vermicomposting, but I need to learn about it and get some vermicompost for next spring because I plan on growing tomatoes this year with the help of my home grown vermicompost! :-)

It is OK to poke around in the bin and see what the worms are up to. The worms don't like it, but a little poking around every few days won't hurt them.

Right now I would mix the paper in for a while. Composting worms really don't like living in dirt and ashes, so you want more shredded paper, shredded cardboard, fallen leaves, etc mixed in. After the bin is well established, put the extra shredded paper on top.

Banana peels are a good choice. Orange peels might not be for a while. Orange peels have a chemical in them that is toxic to worms. They will go moldy, and the mold will get rid of that chemical. When the mold dies, the worms will chow down. I would hold off on orange peels until the bin is well established.

I have read that some bananas are sprayed heavily with insecticide. If that is the case, they may not be great to feed the worms either.

Keep feeding the coffee grounds and look for other foods like apple cores of produce that has gone over the hill in your fridge.

30 worms isn't a lot, so don't overdo the food. Most of us start out with around 1000 worms.

Compost won't fall into the lower bucket. The lower bucket will fill with excess water from the upper bucket. You will want to dump that out every few days. Some people throw it in their garden. I flush mine down the toilet.

Ok, I took put most of the ash. I put in dead leaves and shredded paper. I also put in about a dozen worms as well. The bucket is about a fourth of the way full also.

So just keep adding coffee grounds, banana peels, and Apple cores and it should grow?

Yep, just keep adding coffee grounds, banana peels, and apple cores. And torn up toilet paper rolls, shredded newspaper, torn up cardboard. Lots and lots of bedding. You can never have too much bedding. Moisten the bedding so its like a damp sponge, but not dripping wet.

He only has about 50 worms. Adding lots of anything won't be a good idea. Small amounts, however, would be great.

Zach

Thirty worms in a 5gal bucket sounds a bit like overkill on the bucket size. Most people serious about vermicomposting will start with 500-1000 red wigglers. At first I tried the 5gal bucket route but soon found that was not the ticket and moved on to containers with more surface area.

One other thing to keep in mind no matter how many worms you have. If you feed kitchen scraps the smaller material the easier and quicker the worms can eat it. Actually the material has to be broken down by bacteria before the worms can eat. What I end up doing is saving my kitchen scraps mostly fruit and veggie and keeping them in ziplock bags and when I have enough I run it thru a juicer and save that pulp in a canister until needed. For 30 worms you sure dont need much Im guessing maybe a couple tbls to start cut up as small as you can get it would speed things up.

Zach

What I do concerning shredding paper. I will shredd an amount paper thru my micro shredder and mix all that in with whatever else for the bedding. Then I cover that bedding with more shredded paper, but this added paper I shred by hand. I use newsprint for this shredding in 1" full length strips. In this way when I need to move this top covering its easy to move this whole mass than if it was sent thru a shredder.