After reading this and other sites (http://vermicomposters.ning.com/forum/topics/check-your-worms), I donâÂÂt think a pure EF culture exists. I only bought âÂÂred wigglersâ but have 4 different types of worms (and BSFL) happily living together in my garage. Anything that you are able to divert from the landfill- go for it and convince others to join you. Wurmz iz e-z!

I bought EFs, but now mostly have PEs. I have no idea where the PEs came from. I like EFs better, but there really isn't any way to successfully sort them out. Try as you might, I doubt you will keep a herd of pure EFs.

As for getting more worms, if you feed them with lots of horse manure, that will take care of itself in very little time. Worms have a way of doing that.

J: unless your current bin is large (over 3 ftò), I suggest starting a 2nd bin for the additional 2 lbs. of EFs. If you buy from a reputable source, you should get as "pure" a gob of EFs as possible. You may get a mix of E. fetida and E. andrei, which are very difficult to tell apart, but you should be able to avoid more PEs.

There's nothing wrong with PEs. They are great composting worms and breed much faster than EFs, but they do require consistently warmer bin temps. You could take the simple measure of enclosing your tote with cardboard and the temps should stay warm enough so the PEs don't die off. If the bin temps stays in the 60s or lower, the PEs will slow down. If the bin temp stays in the 50s for too long, they'll die off. There'll be tons of PE cocoons (very small), so the PE squirm will return once temps warm up.

Since you have access to horse manure, I suggest you start a pre-composting box. The bigger, the better. Or start 2 if you have space. A ~30 gal. plastic trash can (~$15) works well. Dump a mix of manure (presumably including bedding), grocery scraps & spent grain and let it get through the hot composting phase for 1-3 weeks. Experiment with the mix and pre-composting time. Your worm population will explode with that kind of food stock.

You may also want to consider building a flow-through bin for your 2nd wormery. Here are some ideas:
DIY Flow Through bins: a collection of links

Cheers,
Andrew

sbryce: I started with more PEs than EFs and have thought all along that it stayed that way. I recently tried to sort out EFs and EAs (unsuccessfully) because of the EF/EA debate on vermicomposters.ning.com.

What I found out when digging in my bin is that I had a LOT more reds (EF/EAs) than I thought. Since the PEs stay on top, that's all you see. I have at least as many reds as blues now. Since I went to all the effort to sort out the reds to see if I could separate them in to 2 species, and I realized my bin was full of worms, I decided to try a red only bin. I did NOT add anything but worms from my mixed bin. We'll see if it works or not.

All this to say, you may have more reds than you realize.

J - Andrew and sbryce said this, but maybe not quite so clearly. You don't need to buy any more worms. Give it 4 months with good conditions and you'll have double the number you have now. In a year, you'll have eight times as many as you have now. Especially if you use horse manure that's gone through it's hot phase. However, you'll need to decrease the concentration of worms from what you described when you got them. If they feel too crowded or like there's not enough food, they'll stop reproducing.

I'm with Andrew. FTs are the best way to go. Best at preventing things from getting to wet, best at avoiding anaerobic conditions and best for harvesting later on (not as many worms to take out of the harvested VC.)

Hi

Thank you for the quick advice. Really I try to be patient but with the XX going on I don't manage too well. I realize they multiply like crazy but I want castings for my spring garden and 1 pound in 3 months probably won't do it. With 2 more pounds making 3 bins I think I have a shot at it. Plus if something happens to one bin I have a back up plan.

My current tote is 18 gal. Got 6 more yesterday at Wallyworlds black Friday sale for 2.40$ each. My dream is to have all 7 bins going strong and then using 4-5 of them to start a wooden flowthrough. Then I can feed like crazy and start establishing bins for friends and neighbors that are interested. Woo Hoo! Less in the landfill and at the same time creating wormy friends that won't roll their eyes when I start talking squirm.

I live in a townhome with a decent backyard but have an area 15' by 30' on the north side of the house. Doesn't get enough good sun to grow veggies but seems to be a good area for worming and non food plants. This area currently has my bin and two EarthMachine composters between a few palms and other plants. Composters are about half full of quarter done compost that was leaves, manure, grain, grass, and garden clippings. Got really hot for weeks. Turned it once and am waiting for the heat to stop again before I trust it with the worms.

It feels like I will mix the worms and let the strongest survive. Eventually my herd will be mixed but will be uniqely suited to my area.

Thanks again
J

Sounds like a plan! Just make sure you have lots of holes at the bottom of your bins. Without them it gets too wet, but more importantly, you bin lives and dies on the amount of oxygen that can get in to the middle of the bin. Hot air rises, so as any warm air goes up, it pulls in air from the bottom of the bin, aerating the whole thing.

Lots of air (so potentially faster growth of worms) and ease of harvesting are why FTs are so good. Andrew's list has a LOT of good ideas.

ocwormgirl: did you see worms in your composters?
If you don't mind to have mixed worm-species, you could collect the worms from your composters and add them to your bins. That's what I did whenever I turned my pile..

Holes in the bottoms aren't necessary. I used to think they were, too, since it seems everyone (including books on the subject) seem to think this to be the case. So, two of my bins (the first two I started with) have holes at the bottoms. The only thing this does for me is make me have to take care of the leachate. However, nature tells us otherwise. If you ever choose to hunt for redworms rather than buy them you will find that they are almost always in the wettest part of what you find them in whether it be leaves or manure. Worms love it wet. If it's not standing water, they will be fine. As long as you have adequate ventilation a lot of water will evaporate. If you feel your bin is getting overly wet, then you could always add a little cardboard or egg crate and leave the lid off or maybe just cracked. Depends on the humidity levels where your bin is, probably. The advantage to having multiple bins is that you can better control these things by leaving one bin alone for awhile while adding sloppy wet scraps to another. It's possible to drive worms to leave in search of moisture if your bin is lacking it. Especially when it's overly humid and condensation gives them reason/means to look for wetter environments.

Such good information. Thanks again.

My bins have lots of holes in the bottom. Not necessary from what I have read but safer for a new rancher. So far I have had a soggy bin but nothing draining. Almost had a problem with fresh grass clippings when my bin got a little stinky but added some cardboard, eggshells, and fluffed so nipped it in the bud before it got bad. Grass goes in the hot composter now.

The composters were only set up 8 weeks ago. So far the only visitors are ants that want the spent grain. I thought of searching where I get the manure but the woman I get it from is on a 1/2 acre lot with the horses in the back so she does not have an old pile. I called a couple of stables when first searching for manure but they acted like I was a nut for wanting manure. I can only imagine if I asked to dig around in a pile.

I live in the city. Surrounded by other cities. Everything I see is cut, trimmed, or manicured. It does make some things easier but finding worms is not one of them.

J

I wasn't suggesting hunting for your worms. Actually, since I have done it myself, I recommend against it unless you are just really set on it or curious about them in the environment. It's not like worms are as densely populated in a pile of refuse as they are in a controlled bin. It takes a lot of time. Probably costs quite a bit more in time than buying them outright.

Oc...

I am also in the process of collecting as much sifted castings as I can get for Spring planting. But I found I can do it with a relatively small amount of worms. The trick is to make a FT, even a small one.

You do not have to wait until all the vc is completely converted. As the semi-processed falls, you collect it in a tub and then sift it. Put the good quality castings in a bucket and return the bigger, non-digested stuff back to the bin for another pass.

I probably save back only about 30% of what falls thru the FT's. Butt hat adds up fairly quickly and I will have an abundance by the time I will be planting.

I find it much harder to separate that same amount from my tote (RM) bins as the contents are alot more soggy. I know the casting content is as high or higher but it is harder to retrieve. I may wind up just doing a light harvest to remove worms and then throw the whole vermi-compost into the garden and let the bits of paper, etc break down there.

Neither method is a problem. The plants won't mind. But the appearance of alot of paper/cardboard/whatnot in the garden might not be appealing to some.

I agree with pjames. With a bin I could only view the non composted and unexciting stuff on top. With a flow through I can see and get at to harvest the good stuff. I shake and sive and put back on top a widely varying percentage. I feel tossing larger not yet ready vermicompost back on top is good and key for bin health and balance.

When I seperate vermicompost from worms it is much less time consuming because I can do a much quicker 90% job tossing the left over worms and bit o vermicompost back on top of the bin rather than stressing and taking much longer dividing out each vermicompost bit.

I feel a bin is good to start and to learn bin management and skills. Then to increase production a flow through is a new management technique to learn.