Hi I am a worming new-bee and I have a beginner question

I have ordered one of those worm towers and it will be here on Wednesday, When it gets here I will set it up with the coir that comes with it and some shredded newspaper (both of these things I will have dampend.) My question is "Is there a period of time that I should wait before adding the worms? Should I put the food scraps in right away or wait until I go get the worms. (oh that was 2 questions) I am buying the worms from a nearby farm so I can go get them the day I need them. I want them to be comfortable in their new home the day they arrive. I dont want them packin up and movin out right away.. Thank you so much for any help you can give. By the way I live in Central Florida and plan to keep my worms out doors in a shaded area, do you think they will survive outdoors in the Florida heat? Is there something I can do to keep them cooler, like maybe shower the outside with cool water or something? ( oh my gosh I am up to 4 questions) I better quit now... BTW this is a great forum, you guys are so wonderful and smart!

You can add your worms right away, and you can put some food scraps in the second layer right away, just don't put too much in. Leave your food scraps out today so that they start to decompose a little bit.

When your worms get there, put them into the system per the instructions and make sure you read all the instructions (I've killed more than my fair share of worms by not reading instructions!). Make SURE that they are ALWAYS in the shade! If the temp where you are gets above 90 degrees frequently, your system will not work outdoors (above 85 in the bedding and you'll start to kill off your worms). You may consider moving them inside to a pantry or utility closet. A well maintained worm bin should not smell at all.

If you're buying from a local source, they will have a lot of experience keeping worms alive in high temperatures, so you should ask them about the viability of the worms in the system/placement you're talking about. Good luck!

That Spring Hill worm farm looks really interesting and the people are very nice. I'm sure they will tell you what you need to know for your exact area. Please tell us again what their web site is - I lost it when I changed computers. thanks.

lizzibird - how did your bin work outside in Spring Hill? I have a 4-tray system and live in Tampa. I'd like to keep mine outside this summer because I really don't have space for it in my laundry room any more, and we don't have a carport or garage. I thought I'd put it on the north side of the house, which never gets sun, but you know it's still really hot here in the summer, and I'd like to not bake the little fellas.
I got mine from Our Vital Earth in Apopka last year, by the way.

Here at the other side of the country it gets hot, but it's a dry heat:>) I was wondering if you use what we call swamp coolers? I guess if there is a lot of humidity there they don't work as well. ANYWAY, if you have access to those straw filled cooler pads you might be able wet them and use them to cool the bins? If there is enough of a breeze, it ought to help, perhaps. I just pile straw on top of my bin and wet it down, but it is wood, and soaks up water itself, too.
I hope that helps-

I have two "worm bins"; one started as a compost bin; heavy plastic, square thing that I discovered loaded with worms after several years.
Bought a second composting rotary bin and after several months of adding composting material I added some worms from my other bin.
Now I have worms all over the place. I feed then shredded paper, some kitchen scraps and loads of coffee grounds that I get from a local restaurant. I have so many worms I
routinely add them to my garden, now. Don't know if the worms are as happy but my plants sure seem to be happier.
Love to hear of other worm experiences?

You often read to not feed your worms too much. How much is too much and what happens if you overfeed?

I feed my worms about 2 gallons of coffee grounds each week. I get the coffee grounds from a restaurant and I worried at first about how much would be too much.
Who knows......I think that's a whole lot of grounds but they seem to be doing fine!
I add shredded paper & some vegetable scraps each week as well.
But mostly mine get coffee grounds!

What do you do with the worms if you live where the winter temps go into single digits? We are in the Catskills and it is usually colder up at our house than down in town. Would we have to keep them in the cool (50 degree) cellar? Would they be okay there? Thanks loads!

I lived in Charlotte, NC and had red worms in plastic tubs from Lowes. In the Winters, I put them in my garage and hardly fed them anything. I checked for moisture so they didn't dry out. Thee were many nights where the garage was in the 40's at night and when Spring came, the worms came back fine.

If your bin starts to smell and gets like tons of bugs you might be overfeeding. Generally a bad smelling bin means something is wrong. Could be as simple as overfeeding. I wouldn't stress it too much just experiment and you'll get a feel for it. Once you have a nice healthy population going they will tear through scraps so overfeeding becomes less of an issue.