Well, how many worms did you start out with? What kind?

What cues are you waiting for to "go to the second bin"?

What kinds of food are you feeding besides oranges? (Not whole oranges, I assume?) How often are you feeding?

And, this is a big red flag - citrus is always prominent on the list of foods you are NOT supposed to put into a worm bin, as it contains some compounds that are hurtful to worms. People vary on how orthodox they are about this - I'm one of many that thinks it is OK to put *some* citrus in there, as long as it is only a small percentage of many other foodstuffs and only an occasional addition. The author of "Worms Eat my Garbage" says they are OK in small quantities. However, If you're adding "lots" of orange, that's something you should probably stop doing right away.

Thank you for responding! I started with a pound of red wigglers. I am waiting for a majority of the first bin to be castings. Right now it is mostly bedding. I haven't used many oranges. Mostly it is vegetables like lettuce, tomatoes, celery, etc. What food would be better for adding moisture? I have been adding food to opposite corners of the tray, and every week I will check to see if they are almost empty. I cut the food up so that it is easier to break down, and once the corners are near empty I add food to the opposite corners.

Personally, I would not add any orange peels... the pulp, though acidic, should be okay if you don't overdo it. The peel contains a goodly amount of d'limonene which is harmful not only to the worms but also to most of the other creatures in the bin. Your worms are only one of the many inhabitants of the bin. The health and balance of all these composting workers are necessary to keep the worms happily eating.

I don't have a worm factory, so I'm not familiar with the particulars of bin size (surface area and bedding volume) but one pound of worms doesn't sound like a lot of worms. For a reference, I started with 8000 worms spread across two bins (each a 27-gallon tote, around 2/3rds filled mostly with coir for bedding) and it took 3 months just to achieve a balanced eco-system and that's when the bins/worms really began to take off. I was able to harvest quite a lot in vermicompost just two months later... that would be 5 months since starting the bins. It takes time. Also I'm learning that bedding temperature can have a significant effect on speed at which the worms process through the foodstuffs. Where is your worm factory located? can you accurately measure or estimate the bedding temperatures? (I say temperatures because it will vary somewhat depending upon where each measurement is taken at). Red wigglers seem to get quite active when the temps remain reliably above 65F... don't go by air temperature as the two can differ quite significantly depending upon a number of factors. Also, what are you using for your bedding?

Oh, and about the tomatoes... others have mentioned it before but its worth repeating as I didn't really listen too well and managed to put a couple tomatoes, seeds and all, into the bins thinking its no big deal... well, I've been pulling young tomato plants up from everything I've spread the vermicompost on thus far... I'm just glad it was only a couple small tomatoes and I ran them through a juicer prior to adding to the bin. Perhaps if you zap the tomatoes in the micro before adding to the bin that would prevent the seeds sprouting from the vermicompost months later, either that or strain the pulp first before putting into the bin.

Yes, tomato seeds are notorious for surviving just about any composting process - including the guts of worms - or even the guts of chickens! - and sending up "volunteers" in great quantity afterward.

One pound/1,000 worms is the standard recommended starting order of worms for most regular-sized commercial worm bins. (I, on the other hand, had a brain spasm at the wrong moment and decided somehow that 500 worms was a better starting order. Hence my slow start this spring.) If you had 1,000 worms three months ago, you should certainly have more than that now.

It doesn't sound like you are doing anything obviously wrong, and if everything smells OK in the bin you're probably not actively killing your worms, but my inclination would be (1) to knock off the citrus entirely, just in case (2) maybe give a wider variety of foods than just vegetables, like adding coffee grounds? and (3) not to wait so long before adding a second tray. It takes a long time for all the bedding to break down; meanwhile I think it is advantageous to start a new tray and give the worms more surface area in which to work. When a new tray is added and the food starts going in there, some of the worms will come up and some will stay in the original tray - they always spread out and work in both places. Perhaps with more space the worm population might expand more readily.

It sounds as if you started out with the coir bedding that the worm factory comes with; I've never used the coir as bedding (I always have more than enough shredded cardboard and paper to use up) so I'm not the best judge of how long it takes to break down. It probably takes longer than paper and cardboard bedding does. If the bedding feels dry, it's probably better to spray it with plain water than to try and add water via food. I also find that if the upper surface of the bedding is dry, that doesn't necessarily mean the lower portions are dry, once the castings start to build up down below they retain water down there. So a spritz of water would moisten the upper part of the bedding, that needs it, without dripping down too much into the lower parts.

Thank you for helping me with this! I keep the farm in my basement, it is about 60-70 degrees, and moist. When I bring it upstairs to add food and check on it, I check the temperature, and it is similar to the air temperature. I started with the coir mix that came with the kit, but I have been using shredded news paper and cardboard since.

That is a good point about the tomato seeds, I will have to keep my eye out for that!

I don't drink coffee, so do not have any coffee grounds. I pretty much just do fruits and vegetables, with egg shells, news paper, and cardboard. Is there anything else you recommend I add? How did you start your second tray without using the coir? Do you pull back all of the bedding on top and spray the soil - I haven't tried that yet. Usually I dampen then bedding and the cover sheets of newspaper and close it up.

I'm not real sure what you're describing. What do you mean when you say "soil"? Do you mean there is a layer of worm castings building up on the bottom of the tray, or did you put actual garden dirt in there? (I have no idea what the Worm Factory instructions say to do.) If it's a layer of worm castings, it would be surprising to me if it felt dry - worm castings retain a lot of moisture.

I'm also surprised you are carrying the worm bin up and down the stairs. Mine is way too heavy to do that! Plus, I'm already scattering enough shreds of bedding around my basement, I would make a terrible mess if I tried carrying the bin anywhere.

If you want to start a second tray, just put a good layer of dampened, shredded bedding in there and plop it on top. If you put some food into the bedding (not too much at first) the worms will climb up and find it. If you stop adding food to the first tray, it will eventually get worked over to the point where it all looks "finished."