Linda G, yah, that's the book I read.

Question:
I am a vegetable juicer, I'm thinking the pulp would be an excellent 'food' for the worms, and would make the composting process go faster??
Also, it is a tad wet (not a great juicer), so I add more leaves and newspaper?? [funny, I can't imagaine newspaper having any 'nutrients' to add to soil - or worms]
Red

The vegetable pulp would be excellent--and since it's already pulped, your worms would probably grow and multiply even faster than usually. You need to not put a lot of citrus into it for the worms but other than that it shouldn't be a problem--not sure about tomato pulp since it might be heavily acid so you might want to limit that some too. The newspaper serves for bedding, correct moisture control, and acts as "brown" material would in regular compost. Leaves and newspaper help with the mass of the castings and helps the digestive process as fiber does in our diet. (Maybe not a direct corollary but useful for description.)

I agree w/ Wiley - they should love the pulp. (No citrus and no onion/garlic.)

The paper is for their nest, but it serves to absorb some moisture. The paper should have the wetness of a wrung-out sponge. I got a $20 paper shredder at one of the office supply stores and it makes the perfect worm bedding.

hm, ok...
working up the gumption to get this started:
yikes!
I have a bin around here too, and newspaper, and leaves.
I dont use onion, garlic, tomato or citrus in my juicer...

I've used a shredder on my newspaper and it works really well that way--establishing the original "nest" especially. Don't forget to drill holes for air to get in.

With my worm beds, I have found that leaves mixed with the shredded paper works better than just straight shredded paper.

okay, what about moldy bread?
"bread" in this case being the Ezekiel "flourless" kind (ground up germinated grains).
Can that go in there?

what about cooked foods?

what about saw dust??

O.K. I’ve ordered my worms got my bin ready and I’m psyched about starting my worm farm. I have done a lot of research both here and other sites and I am confident I will do fine. I know my bin will produce lots of “Black Gold”, but I ‘m not sure of to “Spend” the gold. What do I do with the compost when it is done? Do I till it into the soil? Do I top/side dress my plants? I’m not sure how to best utilize it and am open to your thoughts and suggestions.

Thanks....

can the bin be clear?

how do we manage the temperature, if we have it in the garage?

is the garage an okay place to have it??

It can not freeze, so depends if you can keep them warmer than that.

If your bin is clear, you probably need to wrap it or line it with something like cardboard, or keep it in a dark place. The worms shy away from light--it'll work better like that than if it's in light, since it will give more volume for the worms to work in. They need to be above freezing and below about 80 degrees--I think in the 60 to 70 degree range is ideal, but not totally necessary. I think using it as a side dressing, mixing it with regular compost for potting soil, tilling it into your soil, all are good uses for it--also making "tea" for liquid fertilizer--especially for houseplants that don't need repotting is a good option.

hmmm... ok, so a black bin...and I'll keep it in the basement, which maintains something like 65º and I'll keep it up off the floor.

what about feeding them cooked organics?
baked potato skins and stuff.

what about moldy bread? Coffee grounds? sawdust?

Cooked veggies is fine, as long as they don't have a lot of grease, slightly moldy bread and coffee grounds are fine--as are oatmeal and corn meal. Fresh sawdust I'd be afraid of, just because I don't know--I'd wonder about it being too acidic or too high in nitrogen, and some types of wood (walnut and cedar, along with some exotics) might have other resins etc. that might harm them.

Thank you Wiley!

Okay, this just came up...

My roommate has her living quarters in the basement, she wonders if the little dudes will try to crawl out the holes we drill in for ventalation??

They'll stay quiet and in the bin as long as it's not too wet. If it gets soggy add dry newspaper (shredded or torn into strips) to dry it out and only put dry scraps in until it's damp but not totally soaked and they'll be happy.