What to feed worms

What waste can be used?

Worms love the waste we produce and all we have to do is feed them when the waste becomes available.  Say today you have prepared a meal that is a traditional meat and three vegetables. The vegetables are potatoes, cauliflower and carrots. The worms will love the potato peelings, the cauliflower leaves and stalk and the carrot peelings and tops. Also, you have made an apple pie and during the day you and the family eat some bananas. Well, the worms go mad about the apple peel, cores and banana skins.

All you have to do is chop up the bigger items like the cauliflower stalk and the leaves into small bits mix it all together and when you go out in the garden put the waste which is now worm food into the worm tray.

 A kitchen roll and a toilet roll were also used up so instead of throwing away the cardboard, just tear up the cardboard into small 2” squares and mix with the other waste.

 Kitchen  waste

• Vegetable peelings and waste
• Cooked vegetable leftovers
• Fruit peel and cores but limit the citrus fruit to 1/6
• Eggshells crushed
• Tea bags & coffee grinds
• Bread
• Cardboard reels from toilet rolls and kitchen rolls, egg boxes
• Paper napkins and paper towels
• paper coffee filters

What not to feed worms

Worms do not like

• Dairy products,
• Meat, meat pies, pastry
• Oil or pickles
• No domestic animal faeces

Worms do not have teeth, they swallow the food after bacteria has started the process of decay. Some food when given to them is not soft enough for them to consume but once it has started to decay they will eat it.

Limit the amount of citrus fruits that you add to the bin to prevent it from becoming too acidic. Orange and lemon peel can be added but limit it to a maximum of 1/6 of the feed at any time.

If you do feed the tray with a lot of cooked vegetable leftovers it is useful if, once a month, you sprinkle a teaspoonful of limestone flour onto the tray. This helps to sweeten the compost so that the castings are PH neutral. 

When to Feed?

You do not have to feed the worms daily – you do it as and when food becomes available.  We feed our worms about three times a week as we put all the waste into a small bucket and then spend about 3 minutes every couple of days putting the waste into the worm hive. 

Worms in the right conditions will eat half their own weight in food per day.

Going on Holiday?

Not a problem at all. Give them a good feed before you go. To minimise any loss of worms stock up the trays with well chopped waste as this way you can get more food in and enable the worms to move from one tray to another. This should then keep them happily munching away. Don’t forget to check them as soon as you get back and start feeding them again. If the worms run low on food whilst you are away they will stop multiplying, but a good feed on your return will start them off again.