I've had an indoor worm set up for 20+ years, but I just did something without thinking and now I'm not sure if I've messed it all up.

I had a dead plant in some potting mix with perlite in it, and I tossed it in the bin, thinking the worms would eat the plant and the soil mix would just get mixed with the castings and I would then recycle it into the next growing medium later.

But then it occurred to me that maybe perlite is bad for the worms. They won't eat it, will they? I mean, is it the sort of thing that could do them harm if they try?

What about vermiculite? I sometimes add some of that to my containers, too, to keep the mix from being too heavy. I'd like to be able to add defunct container plants to my worm bins without worrying about adding the potting mix along with them.