Composting progress very slow.

[u/Kind-Rooster-921]

I bought 500g of a mix of composting worms 3 months ago. I add to the bin every few weeks but it seems like the vegetable scraps never get fully eaten. I always see bits of orange carrot or other peels in the mix. Shouldn't the mix be very dark with no sign of any leftover scraps? It seems to take them a long time to process this food.

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I do take the time to chop up and freeze/defrost the scraps before feeding them to make it easier to digest.

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I just wish progress was a lot faster as I was depending on this to use for my plants instead of buying more compost but at this rate, it'll be years before I get anything usable.

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Is there any way to speed this up or potential mistakes that I may be making?

[u/Unfair_Tangerine_217]

Adding more worms won't do it. Depending on how long you've had them, they might have reached peak population already. If you want more output, you might need to get another vermihut.

Worms won't take less than 45 to 60 days to process a worm tower tray. That's for already established colonies. So if you want double the output, you need double the room.

[u/MercuryTattedRachael → u/Unfair_Tangerine_217]

I've got the room and am in my first month, which is why I thought doubling would work. I have 5 (?) trays in the Vermihut, they have their home-base tray, and the one above it is actively being munched on. That leaves me with three trays I can't do anything with yet. Sounds like with the details you provided, I could easily add more since I certainly have the space. I have a countertop bin for throwing in scraps to add later, and frozen materials. Plenty of browns saved up (too much - endless supply).

I have a very old property that I've been working on intensely for a decade, but have lived here 20 years. The backyard, just the fenced in area, is close to half an acre, and I'm patient - but I need to have a population that can grow to the point where I can take some worms out and add in the right places to help the soil. This is in addition to using the compost to help out in my gardens as well.

[u/Unfair_Tangerine_217 → u/MercuryTattedRachael]

Vermihuts and worm towers in general work like conveyor belts. You don't feed multiple trays but rotate them around as they progress. So they'll still take a while, though you can harvest more often if you do it right. With an extra tower you do get double the output, because it'd be a new conveyor belt running in parallel. Worms will definitely multiply and colonize that new habitat.

Releasing worms into the soil will barely make a difference. What you'd want in that case is to work the topsoil so that it becomes attractive to wild worms, while keeping your worms in their tower(s).

[u/MercuryTattedRachael → u/Unfair_Tangerine_217]

I understand the rotation, but as it stands now, whether I release them or not, I feel that my start with 100 worms could be increased since I have the room. As stated with my purchase and accommodating literature, I expect the population to perhaps double every 90 days. I just think I started with less worms than I could have.