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.
Composting worms will absolutely love eating any members of the cucurbitaceae plant family like pumpkins, squash, cantaloupe, honeydew, watermelon, etc. These fruits break down very quickly, are high in sugar, and lack the sinewy nature of plants like broccoli, so worms are quick to swarm them in your worm bin.
Compost worms benefit from a balanced diet. They will eat most normal kitchen fruit and vegetable scraps. Avoid feeding the worms large quantities of meat, citrus, onions and dairy foods. Some processed food also contains preservatives, which discourage the worms from eating it.
You can purchase a powdered worm food from a bait supply store or make your own worm food by blending fruit and veggie scraps, coffee grounds, or eggshells. To feed the worms, sprinkle a light layer the worm food over the top of the worm box.
Eggshells as food for composting worms
Composting worms can absolutely be fed with crushed shells from eggs. You should know that compost worms will eat just about anything that's organic (all except meat, seafood, poultry, dairy, oily, or spicy stuff).
You should never add meat, animal products, dairy products, or greasy, oily foods to the worm bin. The oils, meat, and milk become rancid as they decompose.
Bananas are a great and inexpensive snack for both us and our worms. Those peels are desirable to compost worms no matter what shape they're in. They'll make short work of what otherwise would have taken up space in your trash.
Yes, in moderation, bread, and in fact, all grain based foods, are worthy of your worms' processing power. Stale bread remains just as full of nutrients and building blocks for worm growth as the fresh stuff. However, these starchy foods can end up a gooey mess.
Dairy products such as milk, cheese, and yogurt should never go into a worm bin. Even non-fat varieties are bad for composting worms. Therefore, dispose of meat, bones, gristle, and dairy products in the trash.
The ideal temperature for worms is between 55 and 77 degrees Fahrenheit. Adding worms to bedding: When bedding is ready for the worms place the worms on top. They will disappear in a short time in the bedding.
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.
Worms can eat these foods in moderation: Coffee grounds, coffee filters, tea leaves, tea bags, pasta (without sauce), rice (no oil), breads (minimal).
Bread, rice, pasta, processed foods - you can add the odd crust or bits of cooked rice off the dinner plate, but don't add lots of starchy foods. Worms don't like them and they may go off or attract pests.
Worms can't digest meat proteins or lactose, so no dairy products either, like milk or cheese. While worms do like egg shells, the egg cannot go in the bin.
Whether you have an abundance of melon rinds, spoiled apples or fruit trimmings, you can feed them to your worms by slicing them up into manageable portions. Think of it this way.
The molds that form on most vegetables are usually OK, but the molds on some fruit and bread can be problematic. If you're in doubt, try a small amount first and see if the worms are bothered by it. If not, then it's probably OK to use it, otherwise, you should put them into your backyard bin instead.
Worms like to eat most vegetable scraps (except raw potatoes and peelings) they love fruit especially melon, pineapple and apple peels (they don't like citrus), they enjoy herbs (but don't like strong flavours like chilli, onion and garlic).
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.
Sugar- Keep sugar to a minimum, especially processed sugars. Your worms actually feed mostly on the bacteria cultures that develop on food that rots and sugar creates a rich environment for the bacteria.
Under ideal conditions, worms can eat their weight in scraps per day. So if you have 1 pound of worms, you can theoretically feed them 1 pounds of scraps. However, we recommend you play it safe by feeding an amount they can handle every 2 or 3 days.
Tea Bags: Yes! The tea bags will start to break down in the worm bin, and the worms will finish off the contents. The string and paper tab might not break down as quickly. You can rip them off before saving a tea bag.
Worms like to eat food wastes like vegetable and fruit peelings, pulp from the juicer, tea bags, crushed egg shells and bread. They also like small amounts of soiled paper and cardboard (such as shredded egg cartons).
So in order to keep a compost bin healthy, you need to mix and turn your compost to aerate it and allow oxygen to reach down the deep unreachable places. The aeration not only provides oxygen for the good bacteria, but it also kills off the anaerobic bacteria since they can't survive with oxygen.