The weather is starting to warm up around here so I took the opportunity to play with my worms and see how they were doing. Here is a pile of European Nightcrawlers that I pulled out of one of my bins so I could take some pictures.
Ball of European Nightcrawlers
This being a new blog and all. I figured it would be a good time to go over some of the basics, like what to feed your worms. Their are too categories of food for your worms, the bedding and the feedstock.
Bedding
Their are a few things good bedding should do. It should not be compact, so air can get through and the worms can breath. It should retain moisture so you don’t have to constantly water it (otherwise your worms could dry out and die). It should be edible to your worm, well I guess it doesn’t have to be, but that would make harvesting castings a real pain in the butt if you had to sort through the bedding and castings.
So with that said here are some good beddings: Shredded cardboard, shredded paper, coconut coir, and peat moss. I would recommend using what you have readily available, no need to spend big money buying things for your worms when they will do just fine composting your waste(plus it is better for the environment).
Feedstock
As a general rule, worms can eat anything that ever lived (eventually)! With that being said there are some things that you should probably avoid.
Avoid: Acidic foods, Greasy foods, Meats, and Dairy.
Worms can tolerate some acidic food as long as you do it in moderation. Meats and dairy should be avoided since it can attract maggots or wild animals! I have heard that greasy foods can clog the worms pores in their skin (which they use to breath) so they should be avoided too, but I am not sure on that. I just stay away from them as a precaution.
Good idea: Fruits and vegetables, grass clippings, leaves, manure.
One thing to note on the manure is that you need to make sure the animal it came from was not recently wormed, or this could kill all of your worms FAST! I have read of many people who had to learn this the hard way, don’t be one of them.
