Don't bury the food. Make sure it is soft enough for the wormies to get into. Give them a little time.

chuckiebtoo

I find that the worms usually start eating a stach of food from underneath first and then work their way on top. I usually have 3-5" of bedding then put some food on top of that in a corner, then another 2-3" of shredded paper on top of that to help keep smells down and fruit flies away, seems to work.

Yeah hummersteve, I too cover the pile of food with some shredded paper which makes it easy to pull that away to see how it's going. BUT, after about a day, when I pull back the cover, those wormies are squirming all over the grub. They aren't bashful at all about it. Aggressive.

Wonder what's the diff??

chuckiebtoo

I haven't used shredded paper. I've just been putting more bedding on top of it. The puck thaw really quick. Within 4 hours and the food is blended into chunks about the size or rice.

Have patience greenwater. Your worms are still getting used to their new home. I think the 1st month of vermicomposting is the hardest.

It takes awhile for the food to break down and become 'worm-ready' in a new bin. Keep lots of high-carbon bedding in the bin and they will start eating soon enough.

Good luck
Pete

Pete is right on it as it does take some time for new bins and worms to get settled in.

As for shredded paper use-- for me its two methods. for bedding below I use machine shred,,, but for the top layer covering food I manually shred newsprint in long 1" strips. It is just much easier to maneuver this top layer of paper rather than having to move thosands itsy bitsy shreds.

Awesome. I always love y'all's quick advise. I think I may have has some escapes over night. There are little squiggly mud lines up and down the inside of my bin. There are still worms inside though. Lord have mercy. What a learning experience this has been already. Hahah

If it's a plastic bin, the worms will explore and some will hang out on the lid and sides. They aren't necessarily trying to bail, just exploring.

......as a matter of fact, if my worms DIDN'T explore my plastic bins I would begin wondering what was wrong with 'em.

I also agree with the manually shredded newspaper being preferable to machine-shredded.

The next problem you'll probably have....over-attending them. You'll probably go thru the "too-much" syndrome. Too much water. Too much food. Too much hands-on over-doting.

It's a malady that must be a bacteria passed on from the vermi to the newbie because almost everyone becomes infected with it.

The cure: immunity can be gained thru constant attention to the wisdoms the posters at this place have learned with the same afflictions.

Chuckiebtoo

Moderation, Diversity, Patience

As chuckie says newsprint shredded manually is the best way to go and I just happen to agree with that.

When we first start with bins its only natural to worry/wander why we have those roamers , find some out of the bin, will they ever stop this nonsense , what is wrong with my bin that they want to leave. Of course I dont have these worries now as I know my worms will not leave their home. The one thing I did that helped most was to not close the lid completely , leave even the tiniest of cracks and the bin wont sweat-plastic. On the factory 360 I dont remember ever having that problem. One standing rule I have is to always have a layer of shredded paper covering food and lower bedding.