gmw1, you should probably be able to find a local source of e.fetida in your area without too much trouble. Shipping worms this time of year gets tricky, but here is what I have done in the past.

I fill four of the styrofoam bait containers with red wigglers from my bins and place masking tape around the lid to seal them in. I then place them in a medium flat rate priority mailing box with lots of shredded paper for insulation. It costs about $11 to ship the worms using this method, but I have sent worms to friends in the middle of winter without a problem.

One other tip is to bury a clump of well chopped or blended food in the center of the worm bin and wait a day. Uncover the clump and grab several handfuls of media/food/worms to place in each of the styrofoam bait cups. Four of these bait cups should provide enough worms to start a 30 to 40 gallon plastic worm tub.

Hey gmw1,I live in San Antonio also. If your still looking for some red worm I have a source here locally that you can purchase them from. I purchased some last year and they have been doing great. His name is Kyle Harrell and the company is Texas Red Worms, the web site is texasredworms.com, he's great very knowledgeable he will even deliver them to you.

ocor25, good of you to follow up here. Hope gmw1 lets us know how it goes.

Along these lines, I have been previewing information online about garden swap meets, which Tracy a member here in this forum mentioned in one of here earlier postings. This posting detailed her homemade system of vermicomposting which is quite inventive. Very interesting read.

However, Tracy mentioned a garden swap meet in this posting and taking some worm castings to this meet, which is what got me to thinking about starting a garden swap meet here. One of the ideas which I am considering is to take one or more vermicompost starter bins, complete with worms and an instructional guide.

I use 30 gallon plastic tubs which were purchased at a garage sale. I see a lot of postings about Rubber Made tubs, but I am quite satisfied with the performance of my four cheap bins.

Anyway, when I started gardening here ten years ago there was only one individual in the area who gardened, and each year that number increased. Now about half the area has some type of garden in their back yard.

Garden swap meets seem to be pretty popular in larger metropolitan areas according to my web search. You can even Google your area to discover if any are present. My area came up a complete blank which did not surprise me. So, I am planning on trying to organize one here at a local church.

My point here is this...vermiculturing and gardening go hand in hand, and I think we all owe it to our friends and neighbors to teach them what we know about these subjects. This may sound like a useless crusade, but believe me it is not. Okay, I'm through preaching.....

thanks for those who posted. Do you think the Red Worm farm actually has worms for sale? I went to the website and it had great stuff there, but did not see anything about ordering eisenia fetida.

The gardening groups here in San Antonio DO have swaps and occasionally some one hands out swaps of worms, it's how I got my first start. What kills me is that after two years I had nearly a pound and a quarter from forty some odd worms in that start, and they are the ones who didn't survive last winter and summer's knock out punches. Durnit.
Check out the San Antonio Gardening groups for dates. Usually in the spring and fall. Great groups, too.
gmw1

"April 14, 2012!

It will be at Rogiers Park in Balcones Heights again since that worked out so well last time. That's a popular time for parties so we'll be there early to grab a spot. "

Just checked. This is it for April, 2012. I don't know from worms, though. gmw1

Worm kit instructions. Please make sure to stress how important bedding is. I think the main reason for failure to prosper for worm bins is feeding, feeding, feeding, then problem due to no bedding being added.

So right equinoxequinox...I do fairly detailed instructions for using peat moss as bedding and feeding as well. I would like to go into more detail on other types of bedding, however I don't think novices are ready for that. Choir is a good alternative for peat moss in indoor bins, but not readily available around here. I saw a small package at Home Depot in Bozeman, MT, but it was much too expensive for my tastes.

I still cannot find red wigglers and night crawlers. Please please call 210 316 5806 or email mtaludy137@yahoo.com. thank you.