Newbie Worm Farmer

I have purchased a 4 bin, stacking composter. I have been reading about worm composting for a bit. Total newbie otherwise. The vermi condo is what I have ordered. Seems like a small system that I will keep in the garage until my wife says otherwise:). Has basic coconut coir and cardboard and food I believe. I am waiting for the unit and setup before I order my worms ans a few basics like a blanket and sift.
My choice by reading and gaining knowledge would be ENC,s do to the size and simple caring techniques that I believe I am upto. I was thinking 1lb of ENCs to get started. I am a hard-core fisherman so I have alternative reasons to maintain a healthy farm. Although I am salmon fisherman as opposed to a trout fisherman but have worked in the past worms on salmon.
I am a budding gardener at the ripe old age of 60 and have been very impressed with worm tea from castings, I have never tried  leachate but my father inlaw used it religiously from regular compost juice , he called it his Poocapoou juice and it was a very good product.
My  final goal from worm farming is the compost which is so expensive when you have to buy it. And then you have to enrich it to your likings with castings and egg shells all thought good things that I can put through the compost all in one. I guess there is always a chance a successful farmer can barter castings and worms for other useful things.
Questions I am unsure of would be can I use cardboard boxes with writing and coloring on them like Pepsi and coke boxes ,pizza containers  I understand the shiny plasticity cardboard should not be used with tapes attached.
Also when starting up a first drawer or bin you put cardboard and coconut coir to a learned consistency being a baker for years Consistency is very important and achieved for best results. Then you put you put dry cardboard shavings  and then worms and inoculated bedding down then top with more cardboard and coir. Maintain moisture for a week then add food slowly till your farm is happy. Does all sound semi right so far. Put blanket or wet paper on top.
Main question now do I start a second drawer or bin then or wait till compost is made approx 6 month's.  So many Questions but any help will be greatly accepted.
Bill

Bill,  

Congrats on getting started with gardening and now - worms.  I'm rather good at worm composting but have only fleeting experience with the stacking systems.  I would set up the bin as soon as you can - some call it seasoning.  The thought are that it will be more hospitable to the worms than a new bin.  I don't buy stuff to rot, so I would use coir if I had it or it was on my property but I'm not buying it.  Worms will do just fine on plants, fruit/veggie waste, coffee grounds/filters, cardboard, paper and leaves.  I don't do shiny paper or cardboard but other paper and cardboard I use.  I don't have ENC's as I started with EF's and didn't have a reason to change.  ENC's are voracious but have a tighter temperature band and are slower breeders from what I've read.  I think that you can start the second tray any time.  I would probably wait until the first tray was about half worked over.  1lb should be plenty of worms to start and I always suggest to my customers that they pull some out and put in a bucket or other smaller container as either a insurance policy or a colony for another bin.  Sorry about being all-over the place but I think you'll be in good shape with your plan.  Holler if you have questions and I'll try to get you a good answer.

Good luck!

Thankyou for all the info Keith. I am 2 weeks on have not harmed them . The number of small hatchling that are present are all through the box, and night crawlers they are lots of activity. I have a 2nd bin ready to put on top to give more room to flourish.

For worm composting, what temperature band can they tolerate? I’ve been trying to figure out what our options might be to start one up.  

The temp for optimum worm production is 10' to 25' I have mine in the garage and it is quite protected. We save our geraniums in there over winter. I might have to bring upstairs in the coldest weather but here on the west coast of Canada it is quite mild

I've only been keeping worms for a few months.  I used three materials in the storage tote/bin, unfinished compost from the outside pile, shredded leaves from last fall and shredded paper.  Sprayed lightly with water then added worms.  Only ordered 100 from one of those online places.  I let the worms decide which of the three materials they liked best. (compost side, old leaves next, none in the paper.  I still have at least 100+ worms now, so I guess I'm doing everything right.

I've used peelings from cucumber, squash, tomato, sometimes a little onion, banana seems to be a big hit but not the stem, potato peels seems to be the longest lasting food item to be eaten.  I found a small dish of applesauce in the fridge, my worms really loved that.  I also used coffee and tea leaves plus a homemade worm chow from You Tube, corn meal, oats whole wheat flower and some grit, I use crushed egg shells.

The hardest thing for me was not check on them twice a day, every day.  Once a week now, add more food from the compost pail, remove the lid if it seems too damp.  I have my setup in the basement, the temps are in the low 60's.

Peace

Thanks, Bill! Well, that means I’ll have to wait until the house is built. No room in the trailer and it’ll get far too cold in the outbuildings. Rats.

Well how's everyone doing in the bin.I believe I have made it safely too the end of my heatwave hear in Vancouver Area.Bin got to 30 ' and I sprung into action. I separated the 3tray and  let them cool off. Little over 1 month and I have given them 3 trays. I just gave them the 3rd tray so I basically put it on top of the 2nd. after I aerated all 3 bins  I left the unfinished food in the 2nd and we'll that just heated up the top and the bottom.  As I was told feed the top tray , we live and learn and hopefully they live as well. May I asked how many of you use dolomite lime, I have used eggshells and coffee with the food weekly. Alot of video's use it as a sprinkle (lime) as they feed . Do you ?