Rick, I got my starter worms right out of my existing compost bin ( w/ open bottom) that I was using to compost kitchen scraps. Mind you, it was about a year before I started to notice the worms! Do you have a compost bin currently? If so, have a look, you may have already some worms. Although I've never checked them out, aged manure piles are often said to contain red worms.

I noticed you live in zone8a - I'm assuming you are in S.W B.C somewhere. I live in the lower mainland and have lots of worms so if you want I'd be happy to give you some. Craigslist often has some listings also. Good luck,

Harry

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Thank you Harry. I see a lot of worms in areas here, but I was not sure if they where all the same or if it matters?

I am on Vancouver Island. Being new to this. What amounts of worm castings are you getting and how often do you remove them? This is all so new.

Rick

Rick, for worm composting you want red wigglers. Don't know where you are seeing the ones in your area but if they're in a manure or compost pile they are probably the right ones. They looked quite striped especially when extending themselves and often have a yellowish colour at/near the tail.

Re the castings - you probably need about 1 to 2 lbs.of worms working on scraps for a few months to produce a few pounds of castings. Don't have expectations like I did that each lb. of feed scraps will produce a lb. of castings. Let your bin go for at least a few months before trying to harvest the castings.

Good luck with it,

Harry