It's definitely safe for your worms to eat (if humans can, why can't they, right?). You can even compost paper coffee filters, too, as they are biodegradable! So, don't be afraid to feed some to your worms and enrich your soil with coffee grounds. It will definitely be a good addition to their diet.
Pre-compost your coffee grounds to promote microbial activity. Limit the amount of coffee grounds added to 25% – 50% of a worms diet. It's a good idea to add small amounts first to see if your worms like it or not. And to use pocket feeding so that your worms can choose to feed on it as they please.
Coffee grounds, as an organic material, can be added to your compost pile. Worms like coffee grounds, so you may want to put a layer of coffee on the bottom of your pile to attract worms.
Coffee grounds have about the same amount of nitrogen as grass clippings – 2% or so, meaning they heat up quickly when added to compost and help turn the entire pile into a beautiful dark rich soil. They are also very suitable for the worm farm, with those little guys loving used coffee grounds.
Yes, caffeine can be toxic to small animals (like worms) if the dosage is high enough.
For example, peanuts, soy, milk, and eggs. These contain deadly toxins for some, while others safely consume them daily. Compost worms, however, seem able to stomach nearly anything grown from the ground.
She recommends that grounds make up no more than 15 to 20% of the total compost volume. Because they are acidic, coffee grounds make good acid mulch. Of course, too much of anything is just too much, so apply coffee grounds in limited amounts.
Items you cannot compost in a worm bin:
Lemon, lime, orange or other citrus peels and juice (in excess this will make the soil too acidic) Onions and garlic (a good rule of thumb is if it makes you smell, it makes your worm bin smell) Meat, fats, grease, bones or oils (no butter, lard, stocks, soups, etc)
Banana peels are an excellent worm food.
Worms will swallow eggshell powder to add grit. Since Red Wigglers don't have teeth, they need a bit of grit to help break down the food scraps. Eggshells are perfect for this.
Worms hate: meat or fish, cheese, butter, greasy food, animal waste, spicy and salty foods, citrus.” The food-to-worm ratio is not precise, nor is the amount of castings they will produce. The rule of thumb is that a pound of worms will eat one to two pounds of food in a week.
Over-Feeding Causes Odors
The worms' job is to eat the food before it gets super-rotten and stinky. If you add too much food at a time, they cannot keep up. Too much food can also push the air out of the bin, leading to foul-smelling anaerobic decomposition.
How to reuse your Ola coffee capsules in the garden. Our preferred method: Add your used Ola capsules plus all the packaging including the outer wrap to your compost bin or worm farm. Coffee grounds are green compost material, the packaging is brown compost material.
Worms need some gritty foods to help their gizzards with digestion, which is where coffee grounds really shine in the vermicomposting bin.
Worms love lettuce, kale, Swiss chard, to name a few of these vegetables. Be sure to cut these scraps down into small pieces or even food process them. Remember to thoroughly rinse off all hot spices, sauces, oils, dressings, and cheeses because they can harm your vermicomposting project.
The rolled oats, cornmeal, and alfalfa work together to plump up your worms quickly. The finer this mix is powdered, the quicker your worms will eat it up and fatten up. Moisten your worm bedding and then sprinkle it over the bedding surface.
They will eat some of their bedding, but they really love scraps of fruit and vegetables. Worms will eat the parts you won't, like cores and peels. Don't feed them too much or too often at first. A yogurt container full of scraps once a week will be enough.
Coffee grounds are highly acidic, they note, so they should be reserved for acid-loving plants like azaleas and blueberries. And if your soil is already high in nitrogen, the extra boost from coffee grounds could stunt the growth of fruits and flowers.
In most cases, the grounds are too acidic to be used directly on soil, even for acid-loving plants like blueberries, azaleas and hollies. Coffee grounds inhibit the growth of some plants, including geranium, asparagus fern, Chinese mustard and Italian ryegrass.
If you don't use enough coffee, it will result in a weak, thin, flat, and watery cup. On the other hand, if you use too much of the good stuff, this will make the coffee feel muddy, heavy, and off-balance, without any real depth. You can experiment with the amounts but don't depart too far from the recommended ratio.
Just like people, composting worms have an ideal temperature range. The worm bin and bedding help regulate the temperature. When the air temperature is below 54 degrees Fahrenheit, worms slow down. Below freezing, they can die.
Worms will eat anything that was once living, Leftover vegetable scraps, fruit and vegetable peelings. Tea leaves / bags and coffee grounds.
Grass clippings are a great addition to a traditional compost pile and worms will eat these as well in their natural setting, but in your vermicomposting system, they will heat up the soil and can kill all of your worms.