You need Red Wiggler Worms to vermicompost
Today's question is: Can you start an inside worm bin using red worms you catch after a rainstorm?
The short answer is no, and here is why:
Worms you catch after a rainstorm are not actually red wiggler worms, but instead they are dew worms. Dew worms are great for your garden so it is a great idea to pick them up and throw them in your garden beds, however, they would not make good indoor composting worms. Dew worms “eat” soil and leave behind castings. They generally live deep in the ground where it is not as hot. If you were to put them in an indoor compost bin (or outdoor compost bin for that matter) they would more than likely overheat because they cannot escape into deeper soil. If that did not happen, they would have a hard time finding material to eat and they would die from starvation. Your compost bin would become a worm death trap.
Red wiggler worms eat decaying matter (like your kitchen scraps) and they live near the surface (they can handle much higher temperatures). You can get red wiggler worms online, at a local nursery, or bait shop. I have purchased them from pet stores before, but they have always been low quality and do not live very long so I would stick with one of the other three options. If you get them from a nursery or bait shop make sure they are actually red wiggler worms and not earth or dew worms.
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Submitted to Green Thumb Thursday
Thanks for this post. I’m so glad I linked up next to you at Homegrown on the Hill.