On Sun, 23 May 2004, Annaid wrote:

In my search on compost bins, I found retail sites for red worms. Are these
worms really better than earth worms? I am in zone 4, will the survive our
winters?

I appreciate any advice on these worms.

D~

While I'm not an expert and I am a new person here I have been doing a lot
of reading about this lately. From what I have read, (no pun...) the
reason red worms are "better" is because they will eat material that
regular earthworms won't. Redworms will eat almost any organic material.
You can give them kitchen waste, shredded paper, manure, etc. The
earthworms in your yard basically eat dirt.

I bought some red worms from a "live bait" vending machine. $2.00 for
maybe 10 little worms. Not the best buy, but it's a start. I have them
in a big coffee can now with some shredded newspaper (bedding) and blender
compost. I'm not sure they like it yet, so I haven't added anything yet.
I would like to get a real worm bin at some point.

Just wanted to share this information while it was fresh in my mind
because I've been reading about it so much. Read on the net
anything you can find about vermicomposting (and the google archives
here).

What I'd like somebody to tell me about is if "regular" earthworms still
have a place in vermicomposting. Is there any reason to have both? I
imagine as long as there is suitable material they can still thrive. I am
trying to be frugal and I would really like to not have to buy more worms
right now!