""Compost Conditioner""
This is the first time I've heard of it so I googled. Wow, it's not cheap. Same goes for the blanket you bought.
Me, I'm a cheap worm-farmer.
We do not eat pine-apples (never got a sweet one so I stopped buying them) so no problems with that but we do eat lots of oranges. Every now and then, the occasional rotten orange did get tossed in the worm bin and it is fine but the peels went into my backyard composter. What I'm trying to do is turn garbage into black gold without having to spend big bucks. Otherwise, I might just as well buy the finished wormcompost at the nursery. Sorry.

Keep doing exactly what you are doing.......sans the conditioner.

My worms ate citrus peels just fine. They need to get moldy and break down first, but after that, the worms love them. I suspect the same is true for pineapple. By putting them on one side you are giving the worms an out in case they don't like what you are feeding them. That is the best way to introduce any questionable foods.

You are doing good.

Pineapple is not a citrus.

http://wiki.answers.com/Q/Is_a_pineapple_a_citrus_fruit

But it and actual citrus fruits are ok to put in a worm bin. I wouldn't feed worms an exclusive diet of either pineapple or citrus, but my worms are fine with all the orange, lemon, lime and tangerine peels our household produces, with or without pulp attached. Sometimes citrus waste is a big proportion of what I have to feed them. Someone who used to post here had orange trees and said he makes a lot of orange juice and the squeezed out oranges were his worms' main food, and they did just fine.

Worms are pretty tough and they are not picky eaters. I think your assumption about meat tenderizing is a stretch. However, moderation in all things is a good general rule of thumb for worm caretaking. If you aren't sure about a food, try out a small amount, see how they like it, and take it from there.

"Worm Farm and Compost Conditioner"?!? Ok, I did not laugh at the worm blanket but now conditioner? The worms must have long, silky, bouncy hair. My guess is that this product is wee beasties. The same wee beasties that would be in the bin leakage poured over the plants. Or in yougurt that has sat for a bit. Or in a handful of dirt from the forest floor. The worm blanket is probably full of compost conditioner that lands on top of the food waste when the cover is placed on top of it. That is the other job the blanket does.

Citrus and pineapple would need bedding and time to breakdown. The conditioner no doubt shortened that time by getting the pineapple "dirty" with microbes. Blending it with dirt or unfinished vermicompost or letting it sit in a bucket ripening in a hot shed would also work.

Now about that papaya?

Are you sure there is not a bridge in your backyard?

equinoxequinox you are too funny! Yep I admit - I went a tad overboard. I am glad I could add a smile to your face (and I am sure others laughed at/with me also).

I will use up my conditioner and not buy more. :-) But I will use it with those questionable foods and not "waste" it.

karchita and others - I learned something - I always thought pineapple was citrus. Thanks.

It does however break down protein (protease enzyme Bromelain) and thus makes a good meat tenderizer. BUT - when looking around on the link and other sites I also learned that once heated this enzyme no longer works - so canned fruit and juice do not have it - and if I micro the pineapples then no worries (and no need for expense additives).

I appreciate everyone's responses and your willingness to dialog with me - and even admit you smiled at my silly shopping.

The same enzyme is why fresh pineapple makes Jell-O not set, while adding canned, thus cooked pineappe is ok to add to Jell-O

equinoxequinox since papaya has the papian enzyme and kills round worms (so they claim) and is also a meat tenderizer -
It makes one think it should be fed with caution - or not at all. However, the FDA says papian is destroyed by heat.

So zap the pineapples and papaya (instead of buying expensive conditioners)!

I read also that PH changes will destroy the enzymes in pineapple and papaya - since the conditioner is supposed to help with the PH - that must be why it worked.

I always wondered about the jello thing - just memorized the "rule" but never knew why (and never bothered to look it up). Thanks again - you are a wealth of information.

Annelids (which include earthworms) are a different phylum from nematodes (which include roundworms), and more to the point they are not swimming in what you feed them, like a roundworm in your gut -- that's the condition in which papain may be effective. So I really wouldn't worry! Just put it in the bin, and the bacteria, fungi, assorted nematodes and other tiny creatures, plus your earthworms will deal with it. They really are pretty tough creatures. You're way over-worrying this.

Thanks colin3 - you know I think you are right on the over worrying issue - sometimes the more we read the worse it gets! This is afterall garbage composting and not my prize race horse or show dog (not that I have a race horse or show dog). :-) I haven't been zapping my pineapple and have had no issues so . . . . it seems to reason that the papaya may be fine.

I guess I wasn't clear re: the worm "killer" aspects of papaya - I do realize that different things "kill" different things (but it is always good to point it out since we can all learn new things here). I am glad you pointed out that they are "not swimming" in the stuff - that helps put it in perspective.

Most of us are over-anxious at first. But the great thing about worms is they are net problem-solvers: they cope with your piling-up cardboard and smelly food scraps, and help keep your soil fertile. In return they ask little more than enough bedding and a comfortable temperature range.

I have a question similar to this that I have not seen addressed. Can you give poisonous things like rubarb or potato leaves to the worms or will it poison them? I know we put them in regular compost bins and it doesn't seem to kill off the bug life, but I don't have any naturally occuring worms here to know if it would kill them. Just thought someone might know. All info is appreciated.

Great question. I do not know. However I would feed them to the worms. Usually I use rubarb leaves to cover any weeds near the rubarb plants. Potatoe leaves sort of dry on the plants before harvest or due to a freeze. So other than a single rhubarb leave makig a nice cover for a bin I probably would let those do the weed smothering job for me outside. Glad you are enjoying your worms!

I believe worms will eat any plant or animal material. Moderation is key.

This guide: http://oacc.info/docs/vermiculture_farmersmanual_gm.pdf
has a little list on page 10 of what to look out for, which is consistent with what I've seen elsewhere.

See also this thread re rhubarb: http://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/load/verm/msg0718234811693.html

The reason I'm pretty relaxed about this is that, as one commenter on that thread notes, the worms generally do *not* eat what we put in the bin! They lack teeth. Instead they suck the slime resulting from bacterial and whoknowswhatelse decomposition of what we put in the bin. (The main exception I can think of is melon, which they go after directly.) So they are downstream of a complex breaking-down process.

Colin3 - thanks for those links - great info and in the extra detail that I was looking for (farmersmanual).