Do we care about the environment?

[The Garbage Guru]

 I've been noticing more and more, a few worm castings sellers putting down people who compost waste to make worm castings.Their weapon of choice is peatmoss,basically fed worm chow on top.Why does one do this?It's a good way to control the market.Can actually get more weight you take out than you put in.Plus there is little work involved.With organics taking off,if we all take the easy route,what have we done? NOTHING! Other than deplete a peat bog.

 It is a known fact that a diverse blend of things fed to worms makes more potent castings,than peatmoss,which contains no benefit at all itself.I just got done looking at a castings ad that advertised they were "Green" using peatmoss and corn only! LMAO!

 It's virtually impossible to make 100% castings.The only way to almost do it is by having an area beside the bedding worms can crawl on and leave some castings behind.Anyone who tells you they have 100% worm castings,also likely sells bridges for a living! Peatmoss is also used to deceive,by looking "great!"

 Best to do your part and teach people how to dispose of garbage with worms.Teaching someone to compost with peatmoss and worms takes 5 minutes.The worst waste of time in the world! Literally!

 The old peatmoss trick comes from what gave worms a black eye in the seventee's.Grow worms in peatmoss in buckets,then when you couldn't sell them,they offered to buy them back at some rock bottom price.Then sell them to the next sucker! You can compost anything in a bucket with worms.Don't think it only works with peatmoss.Best to teach people the best way to rid our planet of a little waste.Peatmoss may or may not be here when humans are all gone! No amount of money is worth teaching people to avoid using waste.If you got a book that teaches the peatmoss technique,shred it! Worms even prefer that over peatmoss!

[Rich Feiller]

no matter what the industry there is the shortcuts and the scam artist. pick a product. the gov mfg green is the biggest scam going.

[Steve Lambert]

Peat is not a sustainable product and should not be included in any vermicomposting process.  There is no need for it with all the paper products, leaves, and now coir widely available for bedding in worm bins.  The folks that want top profit above all else in producing vermicompost choose peat for the reasons Guru stated above.  

I think it's the gardening community and folks entering the green movement that want to start a worm bin are the ones most at risk of being told by retailers that peat is what they need.  We need to do whatever we can in our vermicomposting efforts to inform people that it's a sustainability process and that waste products are overall best, and cheapest, to use in making Black Gold.

[Rich Feiller]

Each individual has their motives and their interpetation of what being green is. If we are concerned about the forest we would not use wood products such as newspaper and cardboard or peat moss. If we were really concerned about polution we would not use fl bulbs or buy electric cars.
Putting the dollar first usually gets in the way.
Composting garbage and manure is the only way to go.

[ProgressivePete]

I agree with the idea that peat is a non-sustainable and therefore not suitable for vermicomposting.  While not as sustainable as cardboard waste, I buy a bag/bale of coconut coir from the nursery about once a year.  It's not free and it's not totally green because it comes from Sri Lanka or somewhere, but it's better than peat. 

[Rich Feiller]

my problem with coir like peat moss is that it tends to go into the bin as coir and comes out of the bin as coir after 3-4mos. don't know if that is your experience.