Otis; Thanks for your input. This is a great start. Actually, I'm looking to rent a property that has a large Fig tree in the garden near the house.

How's the climate there Shaul? Your worms coping OK with it? BTW, where did you originally get your worms from? What are the common landscape shrubs and flowers? I remember you've been in the forum for quite some time but I don't remember your worming set up. I wish this site has a profile page.

Even though Israel (in land mass) is only about the size of New Jersey, yet climate varies between heavy winter snows in the North to High and Low Desert conditions in the South (with the associated plant life). In 2012 I moved from the Jerusalem area to where I am now (warmer). Even though centrally located, Jerusalem sits at a higher elevation and so the temps were a bit cooler and the worms seemed happier (at least I was able to find globs of them). Now I am again at a crossroads. I need to move from my present place (in an apartment with a large patio, but no actual soil), but this time I'm not tied down to any particular location and so I'm looking to rent a house with a garden area (to finally be able to have a compost bin etc) .

I started worming in 2009. Here is part of a long post to one of the Forums at the end of 2009:

" About two months ago I came across an old message
on a community bulletin board about compost worms and was directed to the local chapter of the Nature
Protection Society. I called and was told to bring a plastic container for
taking them home. Although the price they quoted was insanely cheap (like
$5.00)they sounded rather vague about how many worms I was receiving for that
price. I showed up with my plastic container in hand, thinking (naively) that
they had a large bin full of worms and they just scooped them out according to
how much you wanted - all nice and clean - (Ha Ha). I was handed a digging fork
and directed to a large compost pile and told "They're in there somewhere,
Good
Luck". Well, the day before had been raining, the ground was muddy and I
hadn't
come dressed for digging in a compost pile, but what the heck, I'd made an
effort to get down there and I wasn't gonna go home empty-handed. Even though
it
was a huge mess, I did manage to get maybe 30 or 40 worms along with some
compost; enough to start. In the beginning of Dec. I went back for another batch of worms; this time better prepared, rubber gloves & 2 larger plastic containers. I was
able to find maybe 100 worms".

Unfortunately it was necessary to delete a large part of this post because when I tried to send it I got this message from Houzz:

' Your post is 317 characters too long, posts can be up to 21800 characters. Please make it a little shorter and try again '.

I didn't count characters but I couldn't see how it could possibly be 21,800.

Hey, Shaul! You're back!

I had to laugh at your "dig your own" worm supplier.

Worms can eat all kinds of organic matter, even plants that might be "poisonous" to large mammals such as ourselves. There really aren't any plants that you need to keep out of the bin, with the exception of citrus fruits, which do have a chemical that is directly harmful to worms, and even those can be fed in small amounts - the worms will just avoid the harmful chemical until it is decomposed by the micro-organisms in the bin. Sometimes I also see advice not to put onions, garlic, etc. in the bin but I have never had a problem with these getting broken down and eaten.

They can eat leaves and flowers no problem. Bark and twigs wouldn't be harmful, but they would take so much longer to break down than everything around them that it will probably be inconvenient when you have to pick them out of the finished vermicompost. That's why I've decided no more grape stems in my bin! I think cactus and succulents would be no problem, although very spiky cactus might be dangerous for the worm-herder, and cactus spines definitely would take an eternity to break down. If I were feeding a big mass of succulent plant matter, I would probably chop it up very well beforehand, just so that it didn't turn into a big gooey wet mass that air couldn't get into, thus leading to stinky spots in the bin.

I put some bay leaves in my bins, and the worms died. I lost a huge population, and nearly had to start over. So, avoid bay leaves.

If it's dumping the what is said to be "poisonous" stuff into the composter, I don't mind even if that would kill the "volunteer" worms in there. I wouldn't put that in my PET's bin on purpose. They are not multiplying as fast as I hope they would so I really wouldn't want them dying on me.

I read here somewhere, if you spoil them, you'll get spoiled worms. Oh well, people are known to spoil their dogs (I did) and cats (I don't like cats) so why not pet worms? ( :

Otis; I can identify with that. Sometimes I find myself looking for cheap deals on certain fruits and vegetables that I know they like (even though I already have enough for myself).

I like this fig leaf idea, especially since i have a bunch of them. When the leaves turn yellow and fall off the tree they make a very mellow tea which tastes like marshmallows.

How many bay leaves is "some" and in how big a bin?

About 6 oz dried bay leaves interspersed between a very large bathtub, and 2 18"x24" bins. It was not pretty :(

Dried bay leaves (as well as dried hot chili peppers) are usually recommended for putting into containers of dried grains and legumes as a deterrent against insects. It either kills them or drives them away, so I can see how in a worm bin it could do some major damage. Good to stay away from.

Yes, in greek cuisine a single bay leaf is used in dishes to destroy parasites. Very cool, just not with worms ;)

I am not so sure that "hot" peppers would actually bother worms, because the perception of "hotness" in peppers depends on having a certain taste receptor, which mammals have but other animals don't (such as birds). I have been unable to find much information on taste receptors in worms, which is surely a fascinating subject without much research backing at the moment. (I have a close family member who is a biochemist and who has published a bit on taste receptors, as well as having a personal and professional interest in hot peppers.)

...hastening to add, of course, that a lot of foods made with hot peppers are certainly no good for the worm bin, such as hot sauce, which is made with vinegar. But I have put the seeds and guts of fresh hot peppers into my bin with no problems.

I don't have a worm bin but I do pile green matter on the ground and notice that the red worms LOVE rose petals...

to theparsley: don't you get volunteer peppers? You're OK with that? I try to remove seeds of peppers (hot or not) as much as possible before I put pepper flesh in the worm bin. I even freeze tomato's guts to avoid having volunteer tomatoes sprouting from the VC. It could have been any kind of tomatoes which people might not appreciate who're getting my VC. Wonder if freezing would kill seeds?

Freezing does nothing to kill tomato seeds, and I have volunteer tomatoes (and presumably some peppers too), but that doesn't bother me. Tomato seeds laugh at almost everything, including being eaten and crapped out by chickens - or so I'm told. I don't have chickens so I haven't tried that experiment.

In CT I can't get pepper or cucumber seeds to over winter outside. Tomato and lettuce seeds and the occasional squash are another thing.

Tomatoes grow like weeds in my garden, in fact, this season I did not plant one tomato but had more than me and the deer could eat.