One thing they may not have told you about flow throughs...

I don't know anything about your design, but the composting chamber in a flow through bin needs to be about 24 inches deep, or you will have worms in the VC that you harvest.

Other than that, you seem to be off to a good start. How deep is your bedding?

It sounds like you have prepared the bed well! I am sure any worm would be proud and happy to live in your bin. Avacado peels take a LONG time to break down and could plug up a flow-thru? Happy Wormin'.

Pete

I think I have about 2 inches of shredded paper then maybe 10 inches of a mix of paper and the food scraps, dirt, leaves etc. then a cardboard topper.

I thought avocado may take a while so I just put a few peelings. The rest I threw in the garden.

I have the room for 24+ inches but don't have 24 inches of stuff in the bin now.

I also have some old seed starting soil I need to dispose of and may add that to the bin instead of the trash.

Thanks for the advice and encouragement. I was worried to buy worms!

I think I am getting one pound from these people plus some vermicompost bedding (it costs a couple extra $ for the vc)
http://www.greenmountainsoil.com/buyworms.html

Karen

Here is a link that might be useful: http://www.greenmountainsoil.com/buyworms.html

I also ordered worms from www.triplegwormfarm.com

I did not make the shipping cut off deadline so they may not ship till next monday. This is ok with me because it will give my worm materials time to rot some more.

YEAH, I have new pets! :)

I plan to put the flow through in the basement because the home owners association does not allow any trash cans outside visible :(

Karen

Looks like the worms will ship Tues. SO I will have them by friday.

I sure hope my bin is ready enough! I have lots and lots of paper and cardboard so I think they will be happy.

I also made a mushy banana, egg shell and apple puree. I dumped that in the middle and covered with paper.

I am still nervous about the worms surviving though

Relax. You'll do fine. What I do is put them in a corner of the bin with all of their compost (don't spread them out), cover with bedding and turn a light on and walk away. You've created home base for them until they figure out that the bin is now home. Check the outside and basin whenever the urge strikes but no peeking for at least a couple of days. After a couple of days start peeking, poking and inevitably over feeding -- it happens :-) When the fruit flies come, stop feeding, add more bedding and wait a week. Rinse and repeat.

Keith

Thanks Keith! I will add the guys in the corner. I have lots of paper on top and might just pull some of it back them lay them under in the corner.

Thanks Keith! I will add the guys in the corner. I have lots of paper on top and might just pull some of it back them lay them under in the corner.