Yeah, just rake them up. Better that they sprout in the bin than later in in your garden and potted plants. I don't remove any seeds from anything, and I definitely have sprouty vermicompost. If the seeds sprout in the bin I just rake them back in or pull them and throw them back in. Seedlings have a lot of water in them and they break down quite fast.

It's true that a drawback of vermicomposting versus hot composting is that vermicomposting doesn't kill seeds, but hot composting does if it gets hot enough. The seedlings do not bother me too much, although I should probably be more careful when I mix vermicompost into the potting mix for my container plants because I have to pick out a lot of seedlings later. Tomatoes are a common culprit but I also get a lot of squash sprouts.

In the bin, you can sprout an avocado seed, but for extra fun, try a mango pit. I have gotten so far as to have the pits swell and split, and then I break them apart and put them back in. I should let one grow a bit more sometime.

Mango sprout: http://ps-garden.s3.amazonaws.com/18576.jpg

Just try dumping the seedy portion from a cantelope in your worm bin, you'll get tons of sprouts. Nothing to worry about though, as mentioned above, because without a decent amount of sunlight they will die off anyway........just more food for the worms.

Harry

Watch-out for potato peels... firstly they will take a really long time to break down but they may also throw up hugely long powerful sprouts that are quite persistent in their search for light. Better to either zap them in the microwave or blender-ize them before putting into the bin.

Or whole baby potatoes that have gone mushy....they have a surprising ability to grow lots of vines. Er, or so I've heard. :-)

Potato peels don't seem to interest the worms in my bins so I just put them in a compost bin. Do you think the worms will show more enthusiasm if peels are blended a bit first?

Harry

Mine love everything blended. Mix the pees with some fruit and I bet they will eat it!

I have had a theory for awhile about raw potatoes and compost piles, it goes something like this....

Potatoes are technically tubers but much like true roots remain underground exposed to the micro-organisms of the soil responsible for the decay of dead organic matter. Potatoes then (like the living roots of all plants) must contain something that discourages or prevents the usual micro-biology found in soil from breaking the root tissue down... otherwise living roots of all plants would decompose and the plant would suffer. Add to this that many true root vegetables will even "store" in the ground for a time after the tops have died away. However potatoes seem to be special in that they will sprout again many months later, unlike say a carrot or radish or turnip, which means the tuber is still living for all those months. Other root vegetables like beets, radishes, carrots, etc will never sprout, they must be planted by seed, thus I will assume those roots must actually be dead tissue and will eventually begin to decay unless pulled up. Therefore in order for potatoes to live long enough to propagate by sprouting at a later time, the potato MUST contain something, some chemical, within the tissues of the living tuber that prevent the normal decay micro-organisms from successfully attacking its tissues. Well, worms actually need those decay micro-organisms to first process any organic matter in the soil before their digestive tract can absorb the nutrients (which the bacteria in their gut make available). THUS, potatoes are not nutrition for worms until whatever it is that prevents tissue decay has dissipated... and I think cooking (heat) denatures this chemical, whatever it is.

I know its just a personal theory of mine but it seems to explain why potatoes last so long in any compost pile... longer than any of the other common root vegetables that I've observed... thus the worms aren't going to be attracted until decay begins. It seems if you destroy a potato's ability to sprout, its truly dead and decay will then be possible. Running it through a blender will do this but I think cooking seems to greatly speed up the decay process.

i would think some thing sprouting would be fine. just pull them and plant them up in pots or your garden. what a good start they had.

Only the best! I ended up digging them out and leaving them in there to see if they will get eaten. We will see.

Which seeds will sprout? All of them! I've had lots of avocado pits sprout and when I get lazy and put in a whole (pie) pumpkin I get dozens of pumpkin sprouts. Cantaloupe is prolific, too.

I now try and keep seeds out not because they'll hurt anything but because it annoys me.

Emily--Sorry but had to smile a bit on your comment of not wanting to bother the worms, over time that wouldnt bother you. For instance I have my factory system in a large closet which I have placed a large old coffee table and and section of plywood on top of the table. Because I had also been using a homemade plastic bin which since has been disbanded, but at the time there a few dead worms on the table and on the floor and wanted to clean it up. So in the process I moved everything out of the closet, all worm bins, plywood , and the coffee table then replaced everything when done. Now if that didnt upset them nothing would. So they continue to do their thing for me 24/7. That was maybe 2-3 yrs ago and presently con find no worms out of the system, but a little trashy in that room, yeah.

I am just not yet past the fascination stage. I love to peek in every other day to see the progress they are making. Total nerd. lol.

Everybody goes thru that stage , it will pass in time.

I feel like such a silly person. My family thinks I am weird for saving and freezing everything. I ask them to save cardboard and newspaper. I steal stuff they throw in the trash, it's rather amusing. They all think this is totally gross.

You have been bitten by the vermi-bug

Emily, have you tried naming them yet? That is another phase that many people go through. You are not considered a true Wormophile until you have tried naming them all, at least once. After that, it becomes too confusing as to who is who.

I think the worst are pumpkin seeds even when they sprout the hard shell seems to remain.

I seem to have bad luck. I try to cut out seeds as much as possible and I do pre-freeze my scraps because I had a fruit fly explosion when I first started. Even after freezing and eliminating most seeds, I swear I have bell-pepper sprouts popping up ALL the time. Can't wait to see what pumpkins will do. Lol.

just in time for halloween

Exactly. I will have tons of volunteer pumpkins cropping up I am sure!

Yes! I don't think it affects seeds because I still get sprouting like crazy!

Freezing also breaks down the fruit/veggie at the cellular level which makes it mushy. Worms love mushy!

This is what I do with pumpkin seeds. I put the seeds in nursery flower pots with holes no bigger than the seeds and place them in the bin(s). I let them sprout, feed the sprouts to the worms and it will be easy to shake off/pick the shells. Not sure how many years it will take for them to break down. Freezing still didn't break down the seed shell, I tried. Not easy to do with smaller bins. My bin is a 2x4ft. x 2ft. deep.