Hello,

I have been experimenting with population density of worm bins. The most common belief is one pound of worms per square foot is ideal (at least on the forums and some books I have read). Over the last year, I have experiemented with different sizes and have found 3-4 pounds per 1 sq ft to work nicely for me.

If you are going to be a passive worm holder, then this is not for you.

To make this work, you will need to harvest every 10 - 14 days to insure the worms do not run out of food and bedding.

I shred newspaper, cardboard, add some previous worm castings, a little peat and soak it all in AVCT.

The worms attack it and go on a feeding frenzy for a few days. I then add other food scraps- melons, fuits, veggies, etc. to keep them going full tilt while the bedding is digested.

After about 2 weeks (look at every other day, just to be sure) I then sift the worms from the compost and start over.

I have no accuarte measurement on the compost that is being produced- compared to my old method- but I am getting much more than when I left the one pound per square foot to its own devices for a month or so. I would guess about double the amount for the same amount of worms.

I do work more to keep them eating at max efficiency though.

This has worked for me well over 3 months now and I am actually seeing a higher conentration working out as well, but still a little too early yet.

If you want to be more passive, than it is best to stay with a pound per square foot.

That is interesting.
How does this seem to affect bredding? Just curious.

It sounds like you are staying busy.

mikel wrote:

QUOTE:
That is interesting.
How does this seem to affect bredding? Just curious.

It sounds like you are staying busy.

Breeding is going well. Lots of eggs in most cases. I have had some recent containers with noticeably fewer eggs, but still producing....

will be interesting to see how much they slow during the winter....

Sounds good.
Keep us posted.

How deep do you fill the bins if you have this density of worms?

cathd wrote:

QUOTE:
How deep do you fill the bins if you have this density of worms?

Still 6-8 inches in depth but just with more worms....