Vermicoast

The red wigglers I have here have over the years become accustomed to how much I fed them and how often.  I have found ways to be away on holiday for up to a month and still have the worms doing well when I have returned.  For all 90+ bins this is not always easy, but it can be done.  It is helpful to recall if you began with either one or two lbs of worms, as that will dictate the amount of wastes you can give them.  If you challenge them with too much your worms and bin are in for some nasty surprises and so are you. Dead worms are not happy ones.

As I mentioned in other blog posts your should always error on the side of feeding your worms too little rather than overwhelm them with too much food. That can and does lead to the food wastes heating up and since the worms have no where else to go they perish.

I recommend you feed them in the beginning of your learning about them about  one cup of food waste from your kitchen every three days.  If you rotate the feeding sites in the manner of looking at a clock face.  Using 12:00 at the top and on the right side you can feed there the first time, in spot to the side or under that first one  of 1:00 in three days, in spot 2:00 in another three days, until you are at the spot of 6:00.   Once you have reached the 6:00 area pull back the bedding at 12:00 into which you have buried the food well down into it.  If all the food wastes have been consumed you can safely continue with this feeding schedule.  You may even find that the worms are doing better than you thought and are consuming the wastes at a faster rate.  At this time you can safely step up the feeding to more than  a cup at a time to two cups.

Over time I have found one way to speed up the consumption by the worms.  This will require you getting over the initial ‘ick’ factor of the process I use.  I place all the wastes into a large covered pail.  I make sure the pail has a rock on it to keep the vermin out.  I place it in the sun for at least one week.  At the end of the week the wastes have all become a type of soupy mass.  It is not easy to determine if the  apple core is really that or if the banana peel is a peel, it is that well degraded.  Do recall this: the goal of your worms eating and preforming well in your bin is to have a balanced diet for them and on which they can readily eat.  Because the worm’s mouth is microscopic in size, the smaller the particle size is the faster the worms can eat it and make castings for you.

How to feed the worms this soupy mixture?  Good question.  I use long gloves, which are called Bluettes.  They are durable and will last you for at least five or more years.   I use a long handled scoop to ladle the mixture into the bedding, cover it well, add more bedding only  if the level has dropped below how much I need to have cover the food wastes well.   Do recall this: the bedding is an insulator for the worms, as well as a place for them to mate, rest and eat.  Without adequate bedding they will not do well for you.  I add more food to the soupy pail contents as I have it or the worms need more food, leaving it in the sun as before.

How much bedding is needed in the start of your bin or the first 2two months?  That is dependent on how quickly the worms are consuming it along with the food wastes you are giving them.  For the first two months I suggest that you keep the bedding to within one inch of the top of the bin. This gives the worms that added cushion of both insulation and an organic food source, should they need or require it.  Do recall also that the bedding is always shredded and soaked paper.  I found in one bin that I had unfortunately left unfed, except for cardboard, which had been shredded that the worms survived on just that and no food for over a month. Of course the casts were all of a yellowish tinge. The worms were all smaller than normal.  These two things told me that the worms have to have a balanced diet of both bedding and food wastes. I also told me they would make it on bedding alone, not well, but they did survive.  I remedied the situation as quickly as I could and the worms became large and happy once more.

To recap:

>  How much, how often your feed your worms is vital to their well-being.

> Getting over the ‘ick factor’ in a soupy mixture  of the food wastes is a good idea.

>  Limiting the worms diet to just one food source is not the best idea.

>  Making sure the worms have enough bedding is key to their well being and moderating the temperature in their environment.

Until next time when I write about the do’s and don’t's of what you can feed you worms, I hope you are learning from your worms, as they can teach you a great deal.

Enjoy your worm bin!

~Shel