Worm Farming Food

Worm farming food is pretty much like a buffet. I'm sure you know how it feels when you can't wait to get to a buffet. You're miserable because you're so hungry, then when you've stuffed yourself you're miserable again. You feel like you've ate your entire weight in food. Well, now you know how a worm feels. Yes! You heard me correctly. Under optimum conditions a worm will eat its entire weight in compost every day. If you have 1 pound of worms then that's 1 pound of poop. That is why red wigglers are called composting worms.

 When it comes to being picky about eating, just about anything that grows from the ground is fair game for worms. After all that is what they were created for, to eat the decaying matter and turn it into food for the next generation of plant life. The most common and practical way of feeding your worms is to give them kitchen scraps along with some kind of carbon rich food. This is what most people start off doing who are just getting in to vermicomposting.

 Worm Farming Food  With Greens

 Greens, like Kitchen scraps, is a great source for worm farming food and should always be something that grows from the ground. These are usually foods like lettuce, corn, broccoli, grains, coffee with the bags, and so on. Keep in mind these foods are high in nitrogen and will need to be balanced with some carbon based material so be sure to put plenty of paper or wood products into the bin. Foods that you put in will sometimes get warm or even hot so it is a good idea to let it set for a week before introducing it to the worms. The last thing you  need is for all your worms to crawl out searching for a new home. When feeding these foods to your worms, do it in moderation. If it's introduced in large amounts too fast then the microbial community will begin to take over faster than what the worms can keep up with. This will cause it to smell and be too wet and it will throw the bin into a thermophilic process. You may also get some unwanted friends called fruit flies. They will not hurt your worms but can be a nuisance in your house when when they come flying out of the bin. Natural kitchen scraps contain a lot of moister already so be cautious. When in doubt, keep it out!

Worms are very resilient. they can go a long time without food. When food is scarce they'll begin to eat their castings till their is no more nutrition left. It is always better to underfeed than to overfeed. One helpful hint when feeding your worms is to put your kitchen scraps in the freezer. This will help break down the cells of the plant turning it into mush. This makes it much easier for the bacteria to do its job so the worms can do their job and you'll have castings almost twice as fast. Now, there have been some who skip the whole process and just blend it. STOP! Leave this to the professionals. This takes practice. Concentrate on getting good at regular kitchen scraps first. If you poor in a liquid slurry the worms will have no room to wiggle around in and it will go anaerobic too quickly. There must be adequate air space for the compost to breath. Do your research.  Keep in mind when adding carbon based foods like coconut coir, cardboard, newspaper, toilet paper (unused of course) etc... will be broken down faster than things like, saw dust, mulch, sticks, and straw to name a few. I've put some small sticks in before, and after months it looked like I put them in yesterday.

Other kitchen scraps that are NOT good for the worm bin are as follows:

Milk or any dairy products

Meat or fats

Oily substances

Citric, or highly acidic fruits. Tomatoes are ok in moderation

spicy or hot peppers or plants. Mild and sweet peppers are ok (I've heard onions in moderation, but this will impede the process)

A good rule of thumb to remember is: If it comes from the ground you can make it brown other than the ones listed above.

Caution: Be careful when you are considering feeding your worms things like saut?ed mushrooms, leftover salads, twice baked potatoes, etc.. Many people don't realize that they've added butter, oils, spices etc.

Worm Farming Food  With Manure

This substance, in my opinion, is the one of the best food source for worm farming food if you are planning on using it on your household plants, garden, or lawn. To get a good understanding consider this. The more complex the microbial community the more complex the soil. The more frequently matter is broken down the more complex it becomes. Plants thrive on this complexity of microorganisms and that is essentially what the plant is feeding on. Just like you and I eat a complex diet so must the worms and the plants.
So why manure...? Consider this.

Cow plucks grass

Teeth break down grass

Cow regurgitates grass and chews it again

Grass is further broken down 4 more times by its digestive compartments

Cow poops and manure is put into a compost pile where bacteria break it down even further

Compost is now fed to worms which break it down one last time

Vermicastings is now ready to feed to plants

 Now you see the potential manure has as a worm farming food and a worm-to-plant food. If you plan to use manure from any animal then you must be sure to compost it to rid the pile of any harmful bacteria or pathogens. You also kill off the seeds from weeds and grasses that the animal ate, therefore avoiding any way of putting them into your garden. Remember, I said that what comes from the ground is ok to give to the worms. It's ok to feed manure to your worms because that animal only ate of what came from the ground as well. Bovine, goats, sheep, rabbits, poultry, and horses are all good examples of herbivores. I'll make an exception for the poultry. (Caution: Definitely compost poultry a good while as this can be high in ammonia and salts)

But what about pig, dog or even human manure (humanure).

I'm sure without a doubt someone is having good success with it, but like I said avoid dairy, oils, and meats because all three species eats them. Also consider that it's a lot harder to kill off harmful diseases from these smelly poopers. It's just best to be safe. If you're interested in composting these wastes for environmental reasons, then you may be interested in Bakashi composting.

Worm Farming Food  With Outside Sources

You can put any tree, plant, grass or shrub in with your worms as long as it's not poisonous, It will not hurt the bin as long as it is not in large quantities. However, like manure it can contain seeds that you may not want in your garden and also, like manure, if it's composted first it will be more complex. But either way you'll be happy with the outcome for your worm farming food. Now, If you would like to feed the worms your lawn, leaves, trees, or plants from your garden then you need to be cautious. Be aware of any herbicides or pesticides that was sprayed on your lawn or maybe near your lawn. When it rains, the water from your neighbors lawn (that's been sprayed by chemicals) may run off onto your lawn or garden. Some of these chemicals can harm your composting worms and you don't want them ending up on your plate either. We have enough in our commercial food already. Hopefully, if you're like me, one of the purposes for raising worms is to replace the many harmful and deadly chemicals that is degrading and killing our soil, depleting it of minerals and healthy organisms worm farming food

Other Thoughts

 Always keep in mind that worms are like you and I. They need a variety on their plate. The more they have to choose from, the more nutrition the plants will have to choose from, like a buffet. There may be some plants that are higher in protozoa than others. If you keep feeding your worms these high protozoan foods then that's all you'll have to put in your garden. Some plants need more bacteria than protozoa and some need more fungi than bacteria. Some plants need everything on the menu. You would be quite unhealthy if all you had to eat was protein. you would succumb to protein poisoning. So mix your worm farming food up a little bit like a good salad.
worm farming food

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