Any worm farmers out there?

I just started a worm farm today and would love any advice from those of you that are experts...I added compost from my bin as well as shredded newspaper and veggie scraps and then dampened everything down. I'm particularly concerned about the heat where I live. It was mid 90's today. Any suggestions?

Hi Roz,
There's a good article we published from Sharon's Worms in Ramona here www.themulch.com/index.php?option=com_co...iew&id=377&Itemid=51 - or you can find it by hoving your mouse over the navigation "Fresh Dirt" then click "Gardening Articles" then choose the category "Vermiculture and Compost" and it's in there. There's also another good article in that section about the difference between using synthetic vs. organic fertilizers (which focuses on using worm castings). The worm article has a nice chart for troubleshooting.

I have my own worm bin, and my experience is I don't use the worm castings as much as i should - I just sort of set up the system and feed the critters and they do fine. I started with some dry materials, but since then i've rarely put anything other than fruit and vegetable scraps (except citrus). The instructions say to use a blender and puree the scraps, i've never done that, but i hear it really helps in terms of the amount they can eat and how fast (i just don't want to clean the blender). I think the more they eat, the happier they are - and the faster they multiply.

I've spoken to a couple of people who grow worms for a living and they both ground up the scraps. They both also recommended putting egg shells in too, as it helps the critters with digestion and gives them calcium.

I've been told the two most important things to avoid are heat and too much moisture. So i have my bin in the shade up against my house on the North side - they've been living for about 4 years, so i'm pretty sure it's a good spot. Except in the very beginning, I've never had to give them any extra water, it's always been moist enough (i'm guessing it's the moisture in the scraps).

The worms in my little 2.5 foot by 2 foot box of worms pretty much handles all the scraps from a family of 5, I rarely use my regular old black compost bin anymore for food scraps.

I hope this helps!
Mitch