Using potting soil for vermicomposting

Is it ok to use potting soil in my worm container instead of garden soil? I'm just now getting started and haven't finished setting up the box, but I want to make sure that nothing I add kills or hurts the worms. Tina

Be careful that the soil you get doesn't have any fertilizer or water retention stuff in it. Maybe a more experienced person can help more than I can, but you really need very little, if any soil, when starting. I used just shredded newspaper when I started, although the worms I got did come in their own soil/vermicompost. Are you using the soil as the bedding?
Jo-Ann

No, I'm using packing paper. We just recently moved and I have all this packaging paper so I going to put it to good use. Where did you get your worms from?

I've made 2 purchases of worms, both local. The first purchase was from someone who had listed them on Craig's list. The second was from a local organic nursery. You might try http://www.vermicomposters.com/ to see if someone is in your area. They may direct you to a local source.
Jo-Ann

I don't know of any reason to put soil in your worm bin. I only put coffee grounds and fruit/veg scraps in mine, and they've been munching away for about 5 years. I occasionally add a layer of shredded paper in the summer if I see fruit flies, but that's the only non-food thing that ever goes in my worm bin.

The reason it is suggested to add soil to a new bin is to add micro-organism to kick start the decay process. I made a mistake of adding 2 handfull of potting soil (from a bag) to my new bin because my soil was frozen, I haven't read as much posts on vermicomposting forums as I have now (IAW, a Dummy) and the instr. said to be "creative". I didn't realize my mistake until I got leachate in the bottom tray and it smelled bad. That is caused by dead worms. I am sure that potting soil I used contained some fertilizer.

I bought 1.5 lb. of worms; didn't check if there really were 1.5lb of worms. Instead of getting more worms, I was getting less and less.
Now after 3 months, I think the bin settled and I can find some adult worms and baby worms. I read in another vermicomposting forum that baby worms hatched in your bin have a better chance to survive than the worms introduced to your bin. I think that is due to change of environment and they suffered a shock somehow. Didn't imagine worms could be so sensitive.

Worms also need grit for their digestive system. I add finely crushed agg shells and really fine sand whenever I add food. Oh, and don't forget to freeze the scraps for about a week before you feed them to your pets to kill the fruit fly eggs.

Good luck.
Otis.

Thanks everyone.

You're missing an important reason for the soil--not that the previous posters are wrong in saying you can do without it *initially*. You may want to wait until you can get a small trowel of clean uncontaminated soil, but do get one. Here's why: in their mode of digestion, at least, worms are just like birds: no teeth, and rely on a crop to grind their food. A crop is a muscular stomach like pouch that eaten grit will settle into and which will contract and grind the eaten food up against the grit, effectively chewing it to aid digestion. For your worms to have happy tummies they need a bit of grit. Likely they got some at the home or worm farm they came from, but eventually they'll benefit from another source as the available grit in your bin gets shared over a larger and larger population of worms. Stay away from potting soil though. Too likely it'll have weird additives. --M

Can I add the casings for the added grit?

Imapigeon

Coffee grounds. Yes!

Thanks for sharing your 5 years experience with only feeding your worms coffee grounds and fruit/veggies scraps. That is exactly what I plan to do when my red wigglers arrive tomorrow from Uncle Jim's Worms. With addition of a little grit by adding crushed eggshells and an occassiona 1/4 cup of sand mixed in, they should enjoy living in my vermicomposter, and produce nutrient dense compost and the compost tea run-off.

Thanks again for your guidance. Starbucks up the street gives away pounds of coffee grounds daily, for free...so the worms and I have the makings of a very good relationship. I'm planning to "brew" their tea using an air bubbler with a tblsp of molasses added to a 5 gallon bucket. This will be my primary source of watering my plants, flowers, and veggies.