Are My Worms Alive?

I often would like to know if there is life in the old nursery.

I take a paper egg-carton and tear it up into one-inch squares. Moistening the carton first makes it easier to tear. I soak the pieces in water for five minutes, then place them atop the nursery. Retreat to a safe distance for two days, then lift the cover and inspect the damp shreds.

If you can see worm castings across the top (exposed) surface of the shreds, you know that there's only one way they can have got there.

No castings doesn't mean you have no worms, but castings means you do.

If you see castings you can nurture your nursery on the assumption that worms are active. If you see no castings, you may then consider investigating the contents of the nursery in a suitably gentle manner.

Worms Eat Their Own Weight in 2 Days

You will read variations on this throughout the literature.
My understanding is that Mary Appelhof, in writing her original book, needed a figure and made a good guess with the half-their-weight each day.
Since then everyone quotes it as gospel. I wouldn't be surprised if Mary was a bit embarrassed.
As a starting-point for calculation, it is not bad. As a rigid rule, it can easily be shown to be in error. See the section "Food Weight" for details.
For a novice, I'd suggest under-feeding the worms rather than risk over-feeding.

Start low and raise the bar.

The main failure in vermicomposter bins with new users seems to be in assuming that the entire kitchen scrap load can be stuffed into a small bin. I've heard horror stories of complete cabbages being buried.
Try adding a handful of scraps each day, or every two days, then over a period of a month, increase the addition ever so slightly. If not all the food is being digested, it may be time to start a second bin.

So the Worms Don't Eat Orange Peel or Banana Skin?

Correct.

The bacteria break down the peels, and the worms eat the bacteria.

It might be said that despite the wide variety of food scraps we feed the vermicomposter, the worms have a diet that is limited to the number of different types of bacteria that your vermicomposter supports.

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Large Tub Vermicomposters

I'm now placing worms IN my large plant tubs (15-liter and above). Large tubs, such as those that support small shrubs indoors, seem to benefit greatly from the addition of about one dozen Red Wrigglers and the occasional apple core. One-gallon hanging baskets with creepers seem to benefit.

The worms aerate the soil, provide castings, and generally do what they are designed to do. The population stabilizes to the container, and the plant growth has, as they say, to be seen to be believed.

Some people now shun Vermicomposting Bins, and just bury their food scraps into about 12 to 20 plant tubs in rotation. Makes sense to me.

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How do You Tell If the Newsprint is Safe?

I can't, because I have no tools for chemical analysis.

Common sense tells me that if I wring wetted shredded paper and colored dye runs out, it might not be a good choice.

Regular newsprint is popular with the professionals, and it runs a very pale brown – probably a weak mixture of some color and black.

I've tried soaking stamps from bright red Christmas Envelopes, and that dye runs something horrid. That much dye should be avoided.

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Getting Started – Continuous Feeding

Most people over-feed their bins at the start.

With more food than they can eat, the worms die, because the excess food breaks down into excessive harmful goop.

Once a week add two cupped handfuls of chopped fruit and vegetable scraps.

Don't try to make your squirm cope with all your kitchen scraps – the colony isn't big enough - yet.

Don't try to make your squirm cope with radical foods such as acidic (pickles in vinegar) or two pounds of sheep's heart. Stick to basic vegetable peelings, scraps of boiled vegetables (preferably without ketchup or salt) and the like.

Your objective during this phase is to establish a colony of worms, NOT to end the landfill problem overnight.

Fun with Food - Banana Skins

You peel your banana as do I, the normal way, right?

Three strips.

Lift the damp cardboard, carpet or bedding that you use to cover your composter and place a strip of banana soft side down. The worms will come to dine.

Bacteria

My understanding is that the Red Wriggler worms, also known by their formal name “Eisenia fetida” don't eat the food scraps – that bacteria break down the food scraps and that the worms eat the bacteria.

My understanding is that the Red Wrigglers don’t have teeth; that the common garden worm (the one you see stranded on the footpath after a rain storm) does have teeth, and can chew on the leaves it drags down into its burrow.

Once you think about it, if the bacteria can't break down your food scraps, then the worms can't help at all.

Consider foam plastic trays: bacteria don't eat polystyrene foam, so the worms don't get to help get rid of the polystyrene foam trays.

Consider apple cores: bacteria do break down apple cores, so worms can help.

Think "bacteria", it will explain a great deal.

Bin There, Dung That! - Introduction

If you have never composted before, this blog is for you.

People have different goals in approaching vermicomposting. You may find yourself described here:

You

• Want to reduce amount of garbage being put out at the curb.

• Want to grow better pot plants.

• Want to encourage children to learn about The Environment.

• Want to learn more about Red Wriggler Worms.

• Want to make vast amounts of money by raising and selling worms.

• Want to spread the good word about worm composting.

This book is a record of personal experience and beliefs; this is a record of an amateur who developed an interest in composting and vermicomposting.

Second, the approach is geared directly at "Things you can do at home, in your apartment, in your cold-climate apartment". You don't need acres of land or even six square feet in the backyard. You can use this site to vermicompost in your one-room of the boarding-house. Honest!

Third, I ask for no long-term commitment from you. You can read a self-contained page of this site in about a minute, and you'll have enough to think about for the rest of the day.

Fourth, and perhaps most important, you'll end up feeling good about yourself in a very special way.