Feeding and Maintaining Your Worms
Feeding
Worms like to eat many of the same things we eat, only they aren’t as picky. Stale bread, apple cores, lettuce trimmings, coffee grounds, and non-greasy leftovers are just some of the foods we usually discard that worms love.
| Do Feed Worms |
Don’t Feed Worms |
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Vegetable scraps
Fruit scraps and peels (mold/rot is fine)
Bread and grains
Teabags
Non-greasy leftovers
Coffee grounds (and filters)
Crushed egg shells
Napkins, paper towels
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Don't overfeed citrus—
should be no more than 1/5 of worm food
Meats, fish
Greasy foods
Dairy products
Twigs and branches
Dog/cat feces, cat litter
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Begin feeding your worms only a little at a time. As they multiply, you can add larger quantities of food scraps. After a few months you can feed about a quart of food scraps per square foot of surface area each week. To avoid fruit flies and odors, bury food under top layer of the bedding. Don't dump and run!
Worms prefer smaller-sized scraps and will eat through them more quickly than large or whole pieces of food.
If your worm bin starts to smell bad, it could be a sign that you are adding more food than the worms can process. If too much food is added, it can even heat up and kill the worms! Quit feeding for awhile and when most of the food has been eaten, start feeding again.
| Add fresh bedding every 1-3 months |
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Always keep a one-inch layer of fresh bedding over the worms and food in your bin. Shredded newspaper works great!
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| Keep bedding as moist as a wrung out sponge |
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In a plastic bin, add dry bedding to absorb excess moisture. You may need to sprinkle the contents of wooden bins to moisten them occasionally.
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