Unsure if the material in the f&m hamper are wood shavings or something else? Can I add it to my worm bin?

Just got my free catalog from Territorial Seed Co. I always check out their red wiggler prices, because I have like 20 pounds of worms in my back yard, this is the highest I’ve ever seen them go for! I remember a few years back they were like $15 a pound. Is anyone really paying $130 for 2 pounds? If so I’m rich! 🤣

Tomorrow is 50 degrees in Zone 7a, so I’m looking to possibly worm at a local park.

I started with 100 worms about 4 months ago. I used half soil and the other half coco mix. Was wondering if these castings are done? Works are in a 15 gallon pot with about 4 gallons of bedding in it. Thank you.

Anyone using in your bins? Or have thoughts about using?

Cut all of the cardboard boxes and wrapping from Christmas gifts in a 20x30x24 inch tub. A lot of cutting! Lol. Soaked it. It soaked up all the water. Added 2 cups of powdered eggshells, 1 cup of cornmeal, 1 cup of grits, 1 cup of coffee grounds which was moldy. Going to take a little soil from my established bin to mix in. Between my friends here and youtube I should do better next year. Happy New Years!!

I have a pre-composter in my garden and these guys shown up and have been living there for a while. They look way bigger than the red wigglers I have in my composer.

1. Does anyone know what type they are?
2. Would I benefit from taking them and moving them to my composter bin with the red wigglers?

Thank you

Found in my home, I’ve got a dog and was wondering if it’s a parasite or an earthworm.

Hey people!

So i started 3 bins about a month ago with half a pound of mixed african nightcrawlers and red wigglers, my main bin is a 7 gallon foam cooler and i have a 2 gallon plastic tote with about 50 reds in it and a 5 gallon bucket with about 20-50 ANCs. The winter where i live might be rough for the normal winters here and might get to about 4 c at the lowest. Unfortunately keeping my worms indoors is not an option for me as i live in a studio apartment, but i am keeping them in an outdoor wooden closet with a loose closing door, they've been there for a month so ventilation is not an issue. I'm not sure if my worms will be able to survive the cold and what can i do to keep them warm through the winter, i'm more worried about the ANC bucket. I've overfed them intentionally(dry worm chow) so that i don't have to check on them as much and maybe the additional food might heat the bin up a bit(never happened so far), i've also added a bunch of dry newspaper shreds to the top of each bin in hopes that they might provide some insulation by filling the air space without compromising the ventilation of the bins. Is this enough. What else can i do to ensure the worms are warm and comfortable.

Edit: please let me know if anyone has any experience with africsn nightcrawlers.

Thanks

Tons of cardboard and paper from Christmas. About 4 dozen crushed eggshells. Can i make a bin with this?

Will probably do a 50/50 mix with my garden soil and add banana peels and egg shells weekly and layer more soil on top. Planning to grow potatoes in the same 5 gallon bucket.

I bought worms for an indoor garden. Left of the remaining worms in this thing typically used to show kids worms for school. The worms are thriving.

I have these little white bugs that never move from decaying material unless forced to and when they move, they are pretty quick. One photo is no zoom, the other has zoom.

I want to take some of these remaining worms and stick them in the garden. Are they okay to put in there? If not, can I rinse the worms or something to ensure no contamination?

in the PNW and the bugs came from introducing fallen leaves from the backyard. Maple, cherry, fir type stuff.

I got a lb of ENCs about 2 months ago and mixed them into my 2 year old bin that's always had red wigglers. I've mostly left them alone until feedings (every 2 weeks or so) but every time I've checked on them all of the ENCs are towards the top of the bin and around the edges/corners usually is larger groups. I've always read they like to go deeper so I'm wondering if they don't like the bin conditions? My wiggler seem to be thriving. Should I be worried about the ENCs? Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

Had about 4 dozen eggshells from the holidays for my worms. Put about 2 dozen in the microwave to dry before I crushed them. Some came out black!! Are they still good?

I feel like this is a silly question but I'm still relatively new to all this. I used things like coco coir, local compost and leaves as bedding. I'm finding it hard to decide if I can harvest castings or if this is just the compost, coco coir, castings mixing together and maybe I should let the worms be for a bit longer. Is there a good way to tell when it's ready to harvest or is it a guessing game at the beginning?

I've been breeding red wigglers for three months and wanted to check if I'm on the right track. I started with 1,000 worms in 2x4 concrete mix tubs. After a month of acclimation, the breeder bins are producing lots of cocoons and healthy castings, so I think things are going well.

Breeder Bin Setup:

• Bedding: shredded paper, coffee grounds, pulverized dry leaves.
• Moisture: like a wrung-out sponge, no pooling water.
• Feeding: a homemade worm chow (eggshells, oats, grains).

At the 21-day mark, I separate adults from cocoons using the light method, gradually pushing material aside and collecting worms and castings. However, I notice a lot of unprocessed organic material still mixed in, which makes separation tricky.

Nursery Bin Observations:

• Many cocoons hatch, but a significant number remain unhatched even after 6-7 weeks.
• The nursery bins are becoming clumpy due to moisture and accumulating organic material.
• I'm adding shredded paper to help with texture.

Questions:

1. Is it normal for cocoon hatch rates to lag behind cocoon production rates?
2. Should I just be more patient, or am I missing something?

Additional Notes:

• Temperature: steady 68-70°F in the basement.
• I don't aerate the bins during the 3-week period, and the bottom soil gets slightly compacted.

Am I overlooking any key factors? Should I aerate more frequently? Any advice on improving hatch rates or managing nursery bin buildup would be greatly appreciated. Thanks in advance, and I'll include some photos for reference!

Nursery Bin Consistency. Moisture level sightly under breeder bin. mixture of organics and castings. Culumpty, but doesn't smell bad.

Breeder Bin Consistency. Looks good to me.

Used 1/4” sifter. Started with population of 100 worms roughly a year ago and estimate population to be maybe 4,000 or 5,000. Bottom bin is pre compost wood chips and crushed walnut used reptile substrate. Middle three have wood charcoal, used mulch, grinded egg shells, kitchen scraps, and used reptile coco coir. It’s not a complete compost but will be adding it to an outdoor compost pile in need.

I've recently found these clear very hard segments in my apartment. One of my cats has had tapeworms before (bleh), so I know these aren't tapeworm segments because they're so clear/cream and a bit bigger. I haven't found these anywhere else in my apartment- I looked where the cats hang out and on my other counters/flat surfaces, but definitely didn't want to just write it off. It's so hard to get a picture since they're clear, but here's to trying

The beacons are lit! Gondor calls for aid!!

Like most of us here, nothing says the Boxing Day like shredding boxes😆

Well comrades, my shredder has given up the ghost. I got it a while ago, second hand, for $10, and I'm truly happy with the amount of mileage I got outta this trooper.

I am reaching out to the vermicompost community to ask if any of y'all could help me out with a new shredder. Everyone seems to have good things to say about the Amazon basics 12 sheet one for modest cardboard (like single layer thin corrugated or pizza box type material) which is my primary source of carbon.

This is obviously not an urgent issue for me, naturally I'm doing less in terms of my bins due to it being winter here, but I figured it couldn't hurt to ask 😊. Maybe some of you who are more Amazon savvy have Boxing Day mojo you can work for a deal or somesuch?

(Again, just want to reiterate this is not urgent, just a worm-enthusiast putting something out to the community, goodness knows a lot of people are dealing with some lean times, so there's no worry if this isn't realistic for you)

In any case, I wanted to send everyone a hearty Happy Holidays to you and yours, however you spend the festive season. I love this little community of worm-friends 😁🎄🪱💖✨❄️

Hope you all have a safe, happy entry to the new year. 2025 baybeeeeee ✨🪱✨

Edit: just to clarify, I have checked out the usual spots for second hand things (kijiji etc) with no luck 🤷🏼

I was a USDA LICENSED ANIMAL BREEDER. All animals had to be taken care of every day. To find out my red wigglers only need to be checked once every 3 weeks is mind blowing to me. This is a whole new world.

So I have a few plants growing in worm castings at the moment. Was just wondering, when the plants eventually shrivel up and die, what do I do with the castings? Should I put them back in the bin and 'recycle' them, so to speak?

Watched a YouTube video. They said worms didn’t care if food was Orexic or inorexic. InOrecxic has methane gas which people smell and doesn’t like because it stinks. If the bin gets too inOrexic it depletes oxygen in the bin. What to do if you smell your bin? Take the food out? Fluff your bin and try again. And add moisture so they can breathe?

I did a little digging and uncovered the material depicted. The worms seem fine.

I did give them cornmeal for the first time about 2 months ago. Could this be related to that? Did they not eat it?

I also feed them partially composted food from my hot compost bin which introduces a lot of critters. Something related to that?