These days when adding material mentioned in previous post [coffee grounds, leaf debris, old soil] – I also lightly spray the top layer w/water but very very little and after a week burrow holes show up all over as well as [yes they talk to me LOL 😉 ]
“we don’t eat the sticks on leaves, here have this rock too ya…take this out while you’re at it too” material pushed to the top of the bin.

so I pluck all that out first and as I go through the motions, one corner at a time – flip….pick up the disturbed worms and put them to a side either finished or last to flip then make sure to fluff the paper and push it back down to the bottom.

My big original members the 6-8 inchers? I forgot to mention how bloody FAT they are now… I mean plump as my pinky! They know me and even though they don’t really like to be disturbed they do get rather curious; sometimes it’s “oh hell is she coming to flip my area today and making me move or what…?” general nosey-ness. Seems my system is decent enough for them to breed in. [my hair falls in they usually ball up all the strands and push it to the top too]

Just be mindful of too many worms in one bin. I think it stresses them when starting with 1000+ worms. Be mindful of balling worms – they’re NOT HAPPY if they do that…. and enjoy them… the big ones I call “berthas” and ya know? Though they’re perfect for fishing, it would be difficult for me to do that to them. What am I gonna do with too many worms? Clear more leaf debris! bulk more soil and waste products in house. It’s easy to expect them to eat a lot but it takes time. Also? avoid egg shells. Takes forever to break down [unless you crush it very finely before adding it to your soil worm bin….]

Have fun! Good luck!

What I have is pet supply store large lidded styrofoam containers. [my system is very small these are about a foot deep and 2.5 foot diameter. Holes in bottom, set into another container and lid with a few holes. I USE SOIL! Well very degraded soil which was why I plucked some earthworms and red wigglers from my yard. which has an excessive sandy consistency due to location.

Now sure I didn’t put 1000 worms in there. I was just testing the waters to see if I could breed them.

Added 6 large [6-8 inch] earthworms and all the red wigglers I could find [no more than 10] to start.
Today, 5 months later – You cannot shift the bin’s soil around without seeing baby worms of both types. Lots of earthworms/red wiggler babies. They look just like the large version only tiny!

I ‘use a garden fork to lighting aerate the bottom usually weekly when they get their ‘Sunday coffee’ [once a week added and mixed into SOIL! Which is very rich, I remove and replace soil for planting. Old soil that was useless in old potting containers added, fresh removed and worms sifted out 😉 ]

But I have gone away for a month and done nothing to the bin. Just prepped as mentioned before leaving. Oh I also crush leaves and add them often at top, middle, bottom layers of my bin. Material from the location I dug them out of [which was soil in a plastic container that had bulbs in it] is added once a month too.

BTW to those seeing thin white string like worms? You are using too much *WHITE* paper products and/or paper products – remove about half of what you have and those lil guys will go away pretty quickly. It is most definitely sign that your PH is off if you have a LOT of those guys.

Corrugated cardboard makes for the best bedding – shredded. Remember no **glossed paper products.**

If I have too much paper – as I will use some over the top to help keep fruit flies down you’ll get those white wormy things. [no fruit flies either and done outside!]

A few won’t hurt! Too many is off balance [my system is kept on covered back porch the styrofoam + shady/concrete area seems to keep the soil at a stable temp]

I think there are so many ways to do worms and what works for one isn’t going to work for another. I have nearly 500 worms now once those babies get bigger. The small worms that look like actual earthworms! And will split the farm in half as I can get more of these containers.

In NE Florida so we do get freezing days and that concrete may get too cold requiring an old towel or two under it and one to cover it over night [temps usually go back to 65 by noon even if hard freeze overnight]

I’m so excited about worms. Read a lot from this forum.
I ordered some worms but i received the package with a very bad smell and no worms at all. The poorly made packacing was a plastic bottle with just 2 small holes, and the bottle was full of damp soily stuff and I think the air couyldn’t get inside.
There are no worms, but there are some very small whitey(not very fat) wormies.
*Are they baby worms or some worms(whatever) that we don’t want in the bin?
*Should I keep/use this material(bad smelly soil+small worms)? Should I add new worms into that? Or should I start over with everything nice and clean?

Thank you in advance.

THEO – heat wave + grass clippings + manure sounds like an invitation for disaster unfortunately. Manure and grass can release ammonia which is deadly toxic for worms. Heat speeds up the decomposition process (which can mean faster release of ammonia) – and it also affects the worms negatively if over 90 F or so (keep in mind, temps in system likely hotter than ambient).
————————
GARY – Interesting set up. If everything is working out that”s great. My only suggestion might be to use those foods in moderation. They could both have the potential to get pretty foul if you add too much at once. Also make sure you are including bedding materials, and eventually refreshing the entire system (maybe splitting off to create new systems) so they are not living in a waste-laden habitat.
————————-
LAURA – Hard to say for sure what might have happened with the worms. Just sitting in a plastic container at the market could have done it – but it also could have been the temperature shock going from cold to extremely hot. I’d recommend keeping them someplace with moderate temps and leaving them alone to see if any of them bounce back.

I found “inch long whitish worms” in my bin too and i think that they are meal worms. I made the guess that the meal worm eggs came to my bin from corn husks that I threw in there. I’ve seen plenty of meal worms on the summer corn at the farmers markets here in the northeast.