FOR THOSE INVOLVED WITH WORM COMPOSTING, this tip shows you the best way to feed your worms and discusses the best worm food for a mature worm bin. The info comes from the online worm composting class at Wormbincomposting.com.
My worm bin was humming along for a while, but then I ran into some trouble that was caused by my improperly feeding the worms. This method would have avoided my difficulties with worm food. Here’s the process:
1. Tear up some black & white newspaper into very thin strips. Take the strips and clump them together into a shape that looks somewhat like a bird’s nest.
2. Push back the top bedding and dig a hole in a corner of your bin. Take the nest of paper strips and place it in the hole..
3. Grab a handful of pre-composted fruit and vegetable scraps. My worms like chopped up banana peel, strips of carrot, a little bit of coffee grounds and lettuce. If you can pre-compost it for a week or two, they will be able to eat it more easily. Although pre-composting is not necessary, it’s pretty easy to do and makes the food more digestible for the worms.
4. Place the handful of food scraps in the nest in the bin. Cover the scraps with the top bedding.
Below is a video showing you how easy feeding worms is with this process. The feeding process may be easy, but taking pictures and video of worms is a little tougher. For one thing, worms don’t like photo flashes, so you should try to get their picture on the first try. Otherwise, they do a good job hiding. You also should be careful not to drop the video camera into the worm bin or you’ll be explaining to your wife why it has worm castings on it.
Related articles that might interest you:
1. Worm Composting Not So Easy, Part III
2. Worm Composting Not So Easy, Part II
2. Worm Composting Not So Easy, Part I
3. Free 77-page Worm Composting Guide
Hi! Like you, I found that worms like banana peels and lettuce too. I’m not sure if you’ve tried it yet, but see how they react if you feed them melons or watermelons. My worms go absolutely crazy for those!
Chris recently posted..Kitchen Scraps Mulch – Update
Chris — This is a great suggestion. I know that, in the past, my worms have really liked melon rind. I going to feed melon and watermelon to them again when I have it.
Bill Brikiatis recently posted..Product Review- Online Worm Composting Class
(Sorry, I’m adding lots of comments today – I only just discovered your site!)
Worm also seem to love coffee grounds. I collect them from my work kitchen to add to the compost bin and worm farm.
Darren (Green Change) recently posted..How To Store Pumpkins (Winter Squash)
Darren — Coffee grounds are great! You have to careful not to add too much to the worm bin or it will get too wet and acidic.