Great thread with what might be the most important organic info. Thanks to everyone for sharing your knowledge and ideas. I'm sick of buying shit. I read people using newspaper, but don't the colors have harmful dyes? Would peat moss as a bedding be too acidic? Do you have to pick out all the worms and eggs to harvest? Rep for answers!!!
What's up RedCarpetMatches? Your name cracks me up! I keep reading it as "RedCarpetMunchers"... Guess my mind is in the gutter this morning...
Anyway, I agree. Producing your own worm castings is the single most beneficial thing you can do for your organic garden. If you get your soil's compost/humus content dialed in, the rest just seems to fall into place effortlessly. Really makes gardening SOOO much easier and more enjoyable.
Back to your questions...
- Most big newspapers these days are printed with vegetable or soy-based inks (both color and black/white); these ones are just fine to use in the bin. Give your local paper quick phone call and see what kind of ink they use.
- Another good free/cheap source of bedding material is brown paper grocery bags. These make up about half of my bedding.
- Peat is OK. I add some now and then. Before I add the peat, I add about 0.5-1 tablespoon dolomite lime per gallon, then soak it in water for an hour or two to hydrate it. Then I squeeze out the excess moisture and lay it in the bin. I wouldn't rrecommend using peat as your only bedding material, but it works well as part of the mix.
- For harvesting the castings, there are lots of ways... I made myself a casting harvester using 1/8" hardware cloth (metal screen/mesh with 1/8" holes). It's basically just a 2'x2' square made of 2x4's with the hardware cloth stapled to it. When I tthink the bin is about ready, I stop feeding it for about 2 weeks to let the worms finish up their meals. Then I screen the material one big handful at a time to separate the worms, majority of the cocoons, and unprocessed bedding from the finished castings. Inevitably some worms and cocoons end up in your finished castings, but that's no problem. If you don't store your castings in a sealed container, the worms will survive, and the cocoons will hatch. If you want, you can screen the finished castings a second time to remove these worms, but I don't worry about it. Many end up in my pots, where they seem happy and healthy.
When I use my castings for making compost tea, I first pour the cup onto a little tray and pick out any worms I see and return them to the bins.