Bill, I am sure that good answers depend on good questions, and I sure appreciate your questions, just as I tend to look for your name in PondBoss discussions because I rely on your ability to give information, in turn. To address a few:
1. I assume that I am raising the common garden worm, maybe Helodrilus caliginosus. I think this because the biggest generally run about 2-3 inches long, tend to be shades of brown without much, if any, red, live in soil rather than bedding, tend to be plumper and �squishier� than red worms, and seem happiest in the deepest soil in the bucket.
2: It is true that I have recently (pre-Starbucks) been supplementing the coffee grounds with organic material high in cellulose and/or lignin, i.e., newspaper scraps, ripped up tea bags, peels and husks (briefly microwaved to kill fruitfly eggs, stale bread crumbled in my hand, etc. But, now that I can get enough grounds at no cost, I probably will forgo fooling with the other stuff, except the egg shells. I never use meat or other products which might putrefy.
3. I cannot recall where I got the idea that the worms mostly digested fungi and bacteria growing on the organic material rather than getting most of their nutrients from the decomposing higher life directly. As I mentioned earlier, it may be wrong, but it just feels right, I suppose.
4. I also think that an occasional dumping is a good idea. I break up clods which form when I do so, and the soil is always several inches deeper when returned to the container. I assume that air spaces account for this, and it feels right to have loose soil for them to crawl around in. Also, food and water are more evenly distributed. On the other hand, I wonder if egg cases and the smallest worms aren�t disturbed and damaged by this. I keep handling them to a minimum.
5. I want to throw in that keeping common cheap cotton or other garden gloves next to the bucket is a great idea. When I forget them, I have to keep my hands in my pockets for a few days, as even the most careful cleaning won�t get out all the dirt deep under nails. Also, I have had an occasional subungual (under the nail) infection from driving foreign particles deep into the nail bed when I try to use my bare hands as shovels.
I have learned a great deal from these questions. Some of it was stuff I knew but didn�t know I knew and some I looked up. Thanks, again, Bill, and I look forward to your article on worm-fishing as a q.c. method.
Lou
