Feeding Your Little Waste Managers!

Redworms will happily consume just about any decomposing food and other organic waste. They are big eaters, and will surprise you at their speed in turning last month's pizza into fertilizer.

What Not To Feed Your Worms

There are several types of food waste that should not be fed to redworms. These include:

• meat
• dairy products and
• very fatty foods.

It's not so much that the worms won't appreciate them, rather that these foods tend to produce a stink while decomposing. So, until you're a seasoned vermicomposter, avoid feeding these foods.

A Menu For Your Worms

Nearly all other food scraps are fine to feed your worms. Here are just some of "what's on the menu":

• fruit peels
• plate scrapings
• moldy bread
• pizza crust
• a bit of cake and ice cream
• refrigerator leftovers
• watermelon rinds
• popcorn
• ... and just about anything else you don't eat

Tip #1 - avoid feeding more than a few citrus fruit peels at one time. Citrus peels contain a very harsh chemical (remember the last time you accidentally got a squirt in the eye?) Worms will leave these peels alone until they have softened via bacterial action, and are more tasty.

Tip #2 - Very salty foods should be added in small amounts, spread out. In a concentrated form, they could burn the worms' skin.

Did You Know??

Worms get their nutrition from the microorganisms they eat, and not particularly from the food waste. It's true. Worms won't even begin to nibble on fresh organic matter. Instead they'll wait until lots of tasty microbes have begun to grow on its surface.

Worms & New Bedding: Hungry And Waiting For Dinner

Since worms need microbes in their diet, what happens when we introduce worms into a new bin, one that's full of damp, shredded newspaper? Well, the worms have to wait a while, until the microbial populations slowly build up. It's important that we feed rather lightly for the first few weeks, for this reason.

We can help things to get going by inoculating the worm bin with good, fresh compost, vermicompost or castings that has plenty of microbial life in it. Simply mix the inoculate in with the bedding or place it on the bottom of the bin. Your worms and their friends will be find more to eat, and much sooner.

For the largest benefit, provide several inches of this inoculant on the bottom of the bin or mixed in with the new bedding. Try to use at least a gallon of this inoculant per square foot of surface area.

Getting inoculant. If you know someone who has a worm bin or other active compost pile, ask for some of their material. Aged manure will also be full of good organisms, whether or not someone has actively tried to compost it.

An even better solution is when worm sellers provide their worms in plenty of vermicompost. That's ideal, because there will be plenty to eat when the worms arrive and because the worms will go through less adaptation stress in the new bin. Many of the familiar critters and food will be there right from the start.

Pocket-Feeding Method

In our last class, we had you fill the worm bin with fresh bedding. This setup was in preparation to use the "pocket-feeding method". No, worms don't have pockets! The pockets are in the bedding, and you'll be digging them yourself.

Feeding in a Pattern

The method goes like this. Imagine the surface of the worm bin divided into sections. It doesn't matter how many; let's say seven sections. Call them section one, section two, and so on. On day one, you'll bury food in section one at least 4-6" down, and cover it again with bedding. The next day, you feed in section two, and so on. With seven sections, you can also name the sections for the days of the week. If the bin only has four sections, no problem, just rotate feeding in those four areas. You may want to place some kind of a marker in the bedding to show where you last fed.

______________________
| | | | | | | | --------------------------
| | | | | | | | | 1 | 2 |
| | | | | | | | | | |
| 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | |------------------------|
| | | | | | | | | 3 | 4 |
| | | | | | | | | | |
| | | | | | | | |------------------------|
--------------------------------------------

A long, rectangular bin A square bin example

Top-Feeding Method

Just so you know about it, there is another popular method of worm feeding. In top-feeding, less bedding is put in the bin initially, perhaps one-third as much. Then, each time you feed, you add a thin layer of food on top of the previous bedding, then add an inch of new bedding.

Neither Over- or Underfeed Your Worms

Your worms, and the worm bin ecosystem, will remain healthiest when you provide enough food for redworms to keep consuming, but not too much food. How do you tell? Here's a simple guide:

If food waste that was buried one week ago does not appeal to a moderate number of worms, you are probably overfeeding.

That's it. It's completely natural that worms avoid the food waste you've just added. Again, it takes some days before microorganisms begin to sof tenthatwaste.

We sometimes underfeed our worms, too. It's harder to tell if we're underfeeding, though. I suggest you experiment with feeding a bit more and seeing if the worms & critters keep up.

Also, if the worms are decreasing in number, even though all other factors are within the right range (temperature between 45°F-80°F (9°-27°C), moisture above 50-60%, and plenty of air getting in), then you may be underfeeding.

Amendments: Is There Anything Else I Should Add?

Many worm composters have been told that lime is an important amendment to the worm bin. Others hear this about garden soil, oyster shell, rock powder, or eggshells.

The agricultural lime that's sometimes added to "sweeten" soil (meaning, raise the pH), is a powerful chemical. It is no longer recommended by us for use in the worm bin. It's like using a sledgehammer to put in a tiny nail.

The other materials are recommended as aids to earthworms' digestion. All earthworms, redworms included, have a gizzard (just like birds) for grinding up food particles. Tiny rock particles aid in the grinding process. Yet enough of those particles are already available in the food waste we feed the worms. No need to add more. That is, unless you want more of a particular mineral to be there in the finished worm castings. If you do, then, by all means, go ahead and add these materials.

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What is Vermicomposting | Worm Bin Location
Building your Worm Bin | Set up | Feeding
Basic Worm Bin Care | Troubleshooting
Harvesting Worms and Castings | Food and Organic Compost Tea
Advanced Topics | Earthworm Biology and Production