Worm Food
What makes for a good worm buffet?
In general, any plant based waste with the noted exceptions:
* Pineapple (it has an enzyme that can dissolve your friendly worms…ouch!)
* Citrus and high acid veggies such as onions (worms aren’t too acid friendly. You can use small amounts of acidic scraps.Worms prefer their environment pH to be between 7 and 8).
* Green grass clippings (grass produces ammonia which can kill off the worms and also generates a lot of heat).
You also never want to feed them:
* Salt or salty foods
* Hot spices
* Meat
* Poultry
* Dairy
Worms will do well with vegetable and fruit scraps.
They can also eat tea bags & leaves and coffee grounds & filters in moderation as these are generally acidic.
Torn up and soaked newspaper, egg cartons and cardboard.
Cooked and crushed egg shells – these add calcium which worms love. They’re also alkaline helping to offset acidity of other materials.
An easy way to turn raw egg shells into cooked egg shells is to set them on a tray and pop them in a 300F oven. Won’t take but 10-15 minutes until they’re crispy. To crush them you can run a rolling pin over them or any number of things such as a coffee mug, bowl…
You only want to add new food when the worms are nearly done their last portion. Either, spread it over the entire top 1-2 inches at a time or you can just alternate between each half of the bin.
Unfold wet newspaper.
On one side of the bin, dig down about an inch or so.
Add food then cover back up with the bedding to discourage flies.
Not mandatory but…Worms can eat more if its cut into 1/2 inch strips or better yet – ground up in a food processor. Since worms have very small mouths and don’t have teeth – think baby food. The smaller size also allows air through making it easier for them to move through the pile.
You can also mix food scraps with higher carbon materials such as hydrated coconut coir, shredded newspaper, brown leaves, napkins, coffee filters or straw. These materials will add aeration and speed up decomposition.
Note: faster decomposition does create more heat, so be mindful of overheating.
Maintenance
Worm farms shouldn’t smell bad. In fact we have friends that keep their worm farm in a closet in their house. And yes, they are clean people.
If the farm does smell, it’s likely due to bacteria build up from uneaten food. You can stir the food around a bit with a garden fork to aerate it. You can also add a little garden lime which is alkaline and aerates.
To avoid odors, only add about a 1-2″ layer of food at a time. And don’t add new food until the prior portion is mostly eaten.
Worm farms generally don’t attract insects. If a farm is too acidic and dry or in an area with a lot of ants, it may get infested. In this case, you’ll need to clean the ants out. If it’s too dry and acidic, add more water and shredded newspaper or crushed up cooked egg shells.
If it’s near an ant horde, either relocate the bin or use some ant evasion measures such as smearing petroleum jelly around the entry points or surrounding the worm bin with a “moat”. If the bin is on legs, you can sit each leg in a container of water.
Keeping the bin moist keeps their appetite strong. Add water when necessary, though not so much at one time to flood the bin. Also be sure that any excess water can drain out. Our worm wranch has a handy spigot. High water food scraps such as lettuce and many fruits can be as much as 80% water content. Having a lot of that in your food mix will decrease any need to add extra water. It’s also best to use non-chlorinated water.
With the proper care, you will be turning kitchen scraps into black gold that your garden will cash in to bushels of veggies for your table!
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