Worms!

[Sylvia Bernstein]

There has been some (much?) chatter on other AP forums about using redworms in your media beds to "process" your solids.  I love this idea!  Not only are the solids removed, but the plants benefit from the vermicompost.  I added about a pound of worms in my six beds a few weeks ago, and I'm hoping that they are happily going to town in there.

So here are my questions...

Do you use worms in your system?  How many to use per square ft of bed?  When do you add?  Do you feed them something (food scraps) besides the delicious fish solids?  

[TCLynx]

You can add the worms any time as long as you are not worried about any pathogens from the compost or worm bins.

[Chris Downs]

Using worms is a great idea!    When you have too many, you can sell them to your local feed store or fishing supply store!  Extra income!

[George]

I've got some worms on order so I went back to read this again - didn't get all the way through it in one sitting.

Question:  With respect to coffee grounds in a worm bin, is there such a thing as too many grounds?  I'm thinking about the free grounds from coffee shops but don't want to OD the worms on grounds if such a thing can be done.  

[TCLynx]

As long as you have bedding and other food in the mix you are probably ok.  I would not go putting worms into a bin with nothing but coffee grounds.  Heck, if all you have is coffee grounds, you might be better off simply spreading those around the garden and skip composting them.