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.
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.
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.
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.
Worms will eat anything that was once living, Leftover vegetable scraps, fruit and vegetable peelings. Tea leaves / bags and coffee grounds.
Make sure that all food is buried at least 1 inch deep. Cut the food up small or use a food processor so the worms can work through it faster. Remove large chunks of food and any malodorous items. Whittle the scraps down to a couple of manageable pockets of food.
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.
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.
If you find yourself faced with worms being sluggish or not eating, the most likely problems are a low worm population in your bin, hot or cold air temperatures causing the worms to slow down, or feeding practices that need to be adjusted.
There are certain pesticide families that are considered as harmful to earthworms i.e. neonicotinoids, strobilurins, sulfonylureas, triazoles, carbamates and organophosphates (Pelosi et al., 2014).
Mebendazole works by preventing the threadworms absorbing sugar, which means they should die within a few days. This medication is 90-100% effective at killing the threadworms, but it doesn't kill the eggs. This is why the hygiene measures outlined below should also be followed for 6 weeks.
Because earthworms breathe through their skin, it must be kept moist in order to work. Dry skin stops the diffusion process, effectively preventing earthworms from getting oxygen. That is why worms are so commonly spotted above ground when it is rainy and at night, when air is wetter.
Foods that Composting Worms Love
They will happily digest a wide variety of organic plant material into nutrient rich worm castings. I put old lettuce in there, rotten vegetables, potato peels, fruit, grass clipping, and leaves, just to name a few. They especially love the fruit.
Worms can live for 4 weeks without fresh food.
Leaves and other plant waste are the perfect food for composting worms. If you have a yard or garden of any size, you can capture these valuable nutrients by composting. Composting with worms, called “vermicomposting,” is fast and efficient. It's easier than you might think!
Rule #3: Target watering 1-2 times per week. Watering daily or multiple times per week is not normally required. In many cases you can water every week or so - it depends on temperature, humidity, and other factors so monitor the bin and if you see it getting dry give it a good misting or spray.
Bruised portions of bananas, or even whole ones tossed aside for being overripe, are welcome in the worm bin. Avoid putting them in whole as the fruit will likely go sour in the amount of time it takes the worms to get through the skin. To make food easier for the worms to consume it is good to chop or puree it.
When do I add the bedding? When you start your worm bin, and at each harvest time, fill or top off the bin to about three-fourths full with damp- ened bedding. Add a few handfuls of garden soil to provide bacteria and grit to help worm digestion. Maintain a 2- to 3-inch layer of dampened bedding at all times.
There is no need to stir up any composting worm bin IF you have proper drainage and holes in the bottom and sides of the worm bin. composting worms do a great job on their own of stirring up the compost this allows for the autonomous drainage/aeration of the contents in the bin.
When pupae die and turn black, it's usually because the worms weren't given enough moisture with carrots or potatoes at the end of the larval stage. They need to store the moisture to last through pupation and will dehydrate and die if they didn't get enough. They are also very heat sensitive.
All worms have sensitive skin and are affected by pH levels. What is this? Finding white worms in compost indicates a lower pH level and more acidic conditions, which keeps the red wigglers away and interferes with the composting process. It could also mean that your compost is too wet.
“Basically, if immature worms sense stress of any kind they can temporarily halt their normal growth for months and then restart it when the stress passes. This temporary freeze in the growth process is the dauer state,” said Dr. Hobert.