Worm Farms

Good things to feed to worms

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Worm FAQ’s

A

Animal products. OK in compost or wormery in the quantities generated at the kitchen table. In very large quantities animal products may attract rodents and blow flies and stink as they rot down. The fats in some animal products, like butter, cream and roast drippings, actually coat compost particles cutting off the air supply so adding large amounts encourages the smellier anaerobic form of decomposition.

Annuals (spent). e.g., Forget-me-nots. Watch out with these as they may have viable seeds. Check with your nursery as to whether they are likely to self-seed or not. If they are and you don’t want them popping up everywhere (some people might!), treat them like weeds and drown them.

Apple peels and cores. For nitrogen. Great in a wormery or hot or cold heap. Large pieces of fruit (such as whole apples) should be chopped roughly before being added.

Aquatic weeds. For nitrogen. Suitable in a wormery or hot or cold heap.

Ashes. Not carbon or nitrogen. Ashes from chemically treated wood or glossy magazines are not suitable at all for wormeries and should be added very sparingly to compost heaps. Tends to be alkaline so will increase the pH of the heap. Coal-ash should be avoided.

Autumn leaves. For carbon. Suitable in hot or cold heaps. Be careful to make sure they are well mixed in as leaves have a tendency to mat together and in so doing resist decomposition.

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B

Banana skins. For nitrogen. High in calcium, phosphorous and sulphur. OK to compost in hot or cold heap as they decompose rapidly. Great too in a wormery.

Bamboo leaves. Green for nitrogen. Dried for carbon. Shred leaves, whether green or dried. You might have too much at a time to expect the worms to process it but some of it would be a good bedding material. Great in a hot or cold heap.

Bamboo stems/roots. Noxious weeds. Not suitable to compost.

Bark. For carbon. See saw dust.

Beer and brewing wastes. For nitrogen. Suitable for hot or cold heaps. Try it in the wormery if you want to, in small quantities. Could also just throw on the garden, lawn or under a tree.

Bird cage cleanings. For nitrogen. Small amounts will help to activate a compost. Large amounts can get very hot. Not suitable for a worm farm on account of the heat.

Black walnuts. Debatable. These plants have evolved highly aggressive chemical warfare with which to compete with their neighbours. They produce a toxin called juglone, which destroys plants within metres of them. Juglone will break down eventually (it may take 2 years) so if you compost with any part of the Black Walnut you would be wise not to spread it out until weeds start to grow out of the compost (indicating that the juglone has bio-degraded).

Blood and bone. For nitrogen. An alternative to dynamic lifter and an easy way to inject nitrogen into your compost heap.

Bracken ferns. OK in a hot or cold heap. Worms might struggle with these – best not to.

Bread. OK for compost or wormery but may attract rodents if left uncovered.

Butter (rancid). OK in a hot or cold heap or wormery in small quantities, but it is inadvisable to add in large quantities, like whole blocks. See fat.

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C

Cabbage. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Cardboard. For carbon. Absolutely fantastic for wormery bedding providing it’s free of coloured ink. Soak overnight before adding. Also suitable for composting in a hot or cold heap, especially if you have some high nitrogen materials to compost – shred before adding.

Carrot peel. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Cat litter. Suitability for compost bin or wormery varies. See cat poo.

Cat poo. Cats are subject to infestations by Toxoplasma gondii. This microbe has the potential to cause brain damage to the unborn child and it is recommended that pregnant women, small children and those with impaired immune systems not handle cat faeces or litter. Toxoplasmosis produces varying symptoms in other people and is often asymptomatic. Many authors say that while it is unwise to put compost containing decomposed cat poo on vegetable gardens, it is OK on other parts of the garden. This may be good advice, but as anyone who has a cat and a vegie patch can attest, keeping them away from freshly dug earth is nigh on impossible. There is, therefore, a fair chance that if you have a cat which is infectious (and it seems this is by NO means all of them) the soil in the vegie patch will already be infected. None of the authors can be bothered collecting cat poo to compost. If you must compost it, make sure you wear gloves at all times, always thoroughly wash hands after contact with cat poo, compost and soil, even if gloves have been worn, and always wash thoroughly any vegetables harvested from a backyard vegie patch. You could also use a Pooperator (trade mark).

Celery tops. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Chaff. For carbon. If you have access to it it’s a very concentrated source of carbon and so may be excellent for people who want to compost kitchen scraps and need a lot of carbon on a regular basis to do this.

Cheese (mouldy). OK in a compost or wormery in small quantities. See fat.

Chicken carcass. OK in compost or wormery in small amounts. Will take a long time to break down in a wormery, return to compost if necessary. See animal products.

Chilli. OK in a compost bin, not suitable in a wormery.

Citrus peel. For nitrogen. Suitable in hot or cold compost heap. Not suitable for wormery, citrus oil is too strong for worms.

Coffee grounds. For nitrogen. OK in a hot or cold heap. Really good worm food.

Coffee filters (paper). For carbon. Suitable for hot or cold heaps if shredded or for wormery.

Comfrey. For nitrogen, potassium, calcium and phosphates. Because of its high nutrient content it is supposed to act as a starter, helping to get the composting process going.

Compost Starter (commercial). Nitrogen, essential nutrients and compost bacteria. Starters are what they say they are, starters! They get the composting process going. However, if you need to compost down a large quantity of browns, compost starters might be the answer. See dynamic lifter.

Corn cobs. For carbon. Very slow to break down in a compost. Shredding or cutting with a sharp knife will help before throwing it into the kitchen scrap bucket. Can be composted, but might need to be sifted out and returned to next batch when compost is harvested. Worms might struggle.

Corn stalks. For carbon. Suitable for hot or cold heaps. Must be shredded.

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D-E

Dairy foods. OK in a compost or wormery in small quantities, but it is inadvisable to add in large quantities. See animal products.

Diseased plants. Not suitable for composting. Goes for insect-infested plants as well. Home composting is unreliable as a means of sterilising diseased plants. Need to consult your council about the approved methods of disposal for diseased plants.

Dog poo. OK in a compost bin or wormery. There are a lot of specialised products on the market, like the Pooperator and the Tumbleweed pet poo converter, that are designed specifically to handle pet waste. You might like to consider these or simply use your existing bin. Worms would be a helpful addition whatever system you choose. Remember when handling compost (ANY compost) it is important to: wear gloves, wash hands thoroughly after contact (even when gloves were worn) and thoroughly wash any vegetables harvested from your garden.

Dynamic lifter (trade mark). Commercial manure product. For nitrogen. Great if you don’t have enough nitrogen in your compost mix and this may be the case if you only have autumn leaves or dried lawn clippings to use. Will get things heating up nicely. Not suitable in a wormery.

Egg cartons. For carbon. See cardboard.

Envelopes. See office paper waste.

Eucalyptus leaves (dried). For carbon. By the stage of being shed, dry eucalyptus leaves have yielded most of their nitrogen to the tree and therefore are considered to be mostly carbon. Some say that eucalyptus oil is too toxic to be added to compost but there are others who seem to have no problem. One author’s father always includes the gum leaves picked up when mowing the lawn, with no adverse effects. Gum leaves tend to be high in lignin so shredding will definitely facilitate faster break down.

Eggs (yolks and whites). For nitrogen. OK to put in a hot or cold heap or wormery.

Egg shells. Will not really break down when added to compost whole. You can dry and crush them into a fine powder before adding to compost (they will contribute some calcium) or add to a worm farm (the worms take them into their gizzards and use them to macerate their food). If you are lazy add them as they are, who cares if the compost has the odd bit of egg shell in it anyway? One author noticed worms seeking refuge in them.

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F-G

Fabrics. In small amounts can be composted providing it consists of natural fibre from wool, cotton or hemp (not synthetics or blends).

Fat. OK to put in compost or worm farm in small quantities. Fats, oils, roast drippings, butter, ghee, cream and cheese will tend to coat particles in the compost and cut off their supply of air. If you are disposing of table scrapings then a little fat is fine. Larger quantities should be buried in the garden. Choose a site where you are not likely to be digging regularly and bury about 30cm (1 ft) deep. Do not under any circumstances dispose of fats or oils down the sink.

Feathers. For nitrogen. We have never composted with them, however some authors suggest that they should be shredded and put in a cold composting heap.

Fish bones and prawn shells. OK to put in a hot or cold heap or a wormery in small quantities. See meat and bones.

Flowers. For nitrogen. Suitable for hot or cold compost heaps. Good for prettying up the wormery too.

Food wastes. Suitability varies. Meat products, fish, eggs, dairy foods, butter and oils, as already mentioned, are OK in small quantities but you should be careful when adding large amounts. Try leftovers in a worm farm and see if your worms go for them (they might like your cooking!). For vegetable matter like peelings and other fresh vegetable and fruit wastes, a wormery or a hot or cold compost heap are all OK. If you compost in a backyard heap be careful to add enough carbon to balance the high nitrogen and water content of the food scraps or else things could get pretty slimy and smelly.

Garlic. Not suitable for a wormery. OK in a hot or cold compost heap.

Grape stalks. Carbon. See apple peels and cores.

Grape vine canes. Carbon. Best put through mulch maker first. Suitable in a hot or cold heap. Leave plenty of time to break down.

Grass clippings (fresh). For nitrogen. Great in a hot or cold heap. Composed of fine particles that compost down quickly. Note: a lawn that is well watered and well fed will have higher nitrogen than lawn which is dry and straw coloured. It is suggested that leaving the clippings on the lawn returns valuable nutrients to the grass and acts as a mulch. However do what you like, if you value compost on your garden more, then make compost!

Grass clippings (dried). For carbon. OK to compost in a hot or cold heap.

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H-L

Hair. For nitrogen. Use sparingly in hot or cold heaps and mix well with the other ingredients. Pet hair can also be spread out on the grass (make sure the cat is inside) for birds to use (they LOVE it).

Ivy. Absolutely, positively must not be put in the compost. All you need is for one node to survive. Don’t trust that the temperature of even a hot heap will rise enough to kill all the plant tissue, not with ivy in any case, it just isn’t worth the risk.

Kitchen scraps. Mostly suitable for hot or cold heap or wormery. See food wastes.

Leaves. For Carbon. Suitable in a hot or cold heap. You will probably have too many to deal with at one time to put in a wormery. If you want to compost leaves quickly, combine 5 parts leaves to 1 part manure.

Lettuce. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Lucerne hay. Probably too valuable as a mulch to waste putting in your compost. But it is fine if you do. Even when dry, lucerne is high in nitrogen.

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M-Q

Magazine paper. Probably not suitable to compost. Inks used during printing tend to be of metallic origin. OK if printed with vegetable based inks. Check with the publisher if in doubt.

Manures. For nitrogen. Highest in nitrogen when fresh. Suitable to compost in hot and cold heaps where it helps to activate a compost. The heat given off by many bird manures during decay tends to be too high for a wormery.

Mayonnaise. Only likely to be available for composting in small amounts so no need to worry about the fat or vinegar. Chuck it in.!

Meat and bones. Bones won’t break down in a hurry and will probably still be intact when you go to use the compost. Meat will break down but it may stink and attract flies and possibly rodents. It is up to you really, we don’t waste much meat but have found that the occasional meat trimmings or leftovers compost down fine. Remember to cover the compost or wormery with plenty of dry stuff to repel the flies.

Milk. OK in a compost bin in the proportions that an ordinary household will generate.

Newspaper. For carbon. Suitable for hot or cold heaps and wormeries. Very high carbon so needs plenty of nitrogen to compensate. Shred to facilitate mixing and avoid matting.

Nut shells. For carbon. Depending on the nut, shells will break down to varying degrees. Macadamia nut shells will finish breaking down sometime during the next geological period and coconut shells several eons after that.. Peanut shells will break down the quickest. Even though they take a long time to break down there is no reason really why you can’t put them in the compost, so what if there are a few nut shells in your compost when you spread it out on the garden! Worms might struggle!

Office paper waste. For carbon. Suitable for hot and cold compost heaps or as wormery bedding. Great if you can access a source of it as it comes pre-shredded. Try your local school, if they can off load this waste for free you will be doing them, as well as yourself, a favour.

Oil. Oil has a tendency to coat compost particles, blocking out the air in the process. This may lead to the compost turning sour or anaerobic and smelling bad. Small amounts of oil, however, shouldn’t present a problem. If disposing of deep frying oil or more than a few tablespoons at one time, it is a better idea to bury it. See fat.

Onion peel. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Pasta. For carbon. OK in a hot or cold compost or wormery but may attract rodents.

Peanut butter. Mainly fat but OK for a hot or cold heap or wormery in the small amounts likely to be generated at home.

Pear peelings. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Pea shells. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Pea straw. For carbon. OK in a hot or cold heap or wormery. Adds nitrogen if green.

Pet food. See meat and bones.

Pigeon droppings. For nitrogen. Small amounts will help to activate a compost, if you can be bothered to scrape it off some public sculpture. Large amounts can get very hot. Not suitable in a wormery.

Pineapple tops and peel. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Pine needles. For carbon. Quite high in carbon and tend to be acidic so will take time to compost down and will need to be teamed up with a good nitrogen source. Might be a good ingredient to team with a little wood ash which is alkaline.

Pita crusts. See bread

Pizza crusts. See bread.

Potato peelings. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Prunings. For nitrogen. Suitable for hot or cold compost heaps. Needs to be shredded and shouldn’t include ivy or other nuisance plants that propagate freely from nodes, unless you really like them!

Pumpkin skins and seeds. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

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R-T

Rice hulls. For carbon. Suitable for hot or cold compost heaps. Make sure that hulls are fully composted before adding to garden. Unevenly composted hulls behave like a barrier to water and it becomes impossible to water the garden.

Rice (boiled). For carbon. OK in hot or cold heap or wormery, but may attract rodents.

Saw dust. For carbon. Suitable for hot or cold compost heap. Ensure wood is not treated with chemicals. Apply sparingly in very thin layers and use a lot of nitrogen. Avoid sawdust from conifers (soft woods).

Seaweed. For nitrogen. Suitable for hot or cold compost heaps. It is better to collect seaweed fresh and wash in freshwater. As it dries it absorbs salt. Harvesting it after a storm is a good idea. The large kelps, like bull kelp, will take longer to break down than the smaller leafy varieties and you would need to shred the former. Packed with plant minerals.

Soil. It’s good to add some soil at first as a means of innoculating the compost with microbes. Some soil on the surface of the pile after you have added kitchen scraps and especially meat, might lessen the problem of insect infestation.

Squash. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Straw. For carbon. Suitable for hot or cold compost heaps. Breaks down easily, so if you can get hold of it, it’s an excellent source of carbon for home composting. Try local stables.

Table scraps. OK to put in a hot or cold heap or a wormery in the proportions that are generated at home. See food wastes.

Tea bags. For nitrogen. Suitable for hot or cold compost heaps and wormery.

Tea leaves. For nitrogen. See tea bags.

Toilet roll cardboard. For carbon. See cardboard. Tear them up in the toilet as they become available.

Tomatoes skins and seeds. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

Turnip tops. For nitrogen. See apple peels and cores.

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U-X

Urine. Good for nitrogen and potash. Can be added to compost. With respect to methods of application, use your imagination. Some authors suggest diluting it….the mind boggles!

Vacuum cleaner dust. Worms love it and it’s suitable for hot or cold compost heaps as well.

Weeds (prior to flowering). For nitrogen. Suitable for a hot or cold heap, as long as they are pulled before going to seed. Weeds that propogate by way of rhizomes or stolons should not be composted after pulling. Even if you have a hot heap, you cannot be sure that all nodes (propogules) will spend enough time in the centre of the pile (where it is hottest) to be killed. Furthermore chopping up fresh plants like these often leads to more vigorous growth (as is the case with couch grass). You must kill these types of weeds before adding to heap. Drown your weeds by leaving in water for 4 weeks to rot, then add drained weeds to compost and use the liquid as a fertiliser. Alternatively you can compost them down anaerobically by sealing in a plastic bag for a few months. Plants to be very careful of include: Ivy, Couch Grass, Tradescantia (Wandering Jew) etc.

Weeds (post flowering -with seeds). Not suitable to compost as they are. You cannot be sure that all seeds will spend enough time in the middle where it is hot enough to kill them. Can be drowned see weeds prior to flowering.

Yoghurt. OK in a hot or cold heap in the proportions you are likely to generate at home. See animal products.

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Worm FAQ’s

Info, tips & troubleshooting for worm farmers

What do I do with the excess worms?

 If a wormery becomes overpopulated, the worms will stop breeding until some worms are removed. Worms will improve the health of your soil so try to arrange it so that excess composting worms can survive in your garden. Do this by providing enough food for them in the form of mulch. A good reference book on Mulch is Sandra Clayton’s “The Reverse Garbage Mulch Book”. She says that worms that come to the surface appreciate the camouflage against marauding birds that mulch provides and the increased surface humidity. But Clayton says not all mulches are suitable as food for worms. The type of mulches preferred by worms are those high in nitrogen such as lucence or grass clippings and a product known as Worm Mulch which is a mixture of pea and wheaten straws and poultry manure. If you do not have a garden you can start another worm farm, give the worms to someone else to start a worm farm or go fishing!

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How do worms help my garden?

Worms are beneficial in the garden for a number of reasons. First their movement mixes up the soil creating a friable texture with numerous small air pockets that allow plant roots to breathe and ramify easily. When worms eat their gizzards pulverise soil particles improving soil tilth. They make significant contributions to plant nutrition as well. The mucus or ooze left by worms as they move through the soil, contains nitrates. They have, also, the habit of pulling leaves into their burrows within the root zone of plants and when worms bring castings to the surface, subsoil phosphates and potassium are displaced to the upper soil profile.

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Do worm castings increase the frequency of worms in garden soil?

It depends on the kind of worms you are talking about. The worms that munch their way through the scraps and other waste in your compost or worm farm are of a particular type. They generally thrive in an environment containing plenty of rotting organic matter. Correspondingly, because the amount of rotting material in the soil is typically low the chances that the capsules (or worm cocoons) present in worm castings will hatch and give rise to billowing populations of composting worms in your garden are remote. Providing you do keep the level of organic matter in your soil at a high level, however, you will increase the frequency of worms considerably. Do this by adding manure or even compost.

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Can I use ordinary garden worms in my worm farm?

Depends on whether your ordinary garden worms are composting worms or not. If you don’t mulch and your soil is dry and tends to be low in organic matter like manure then the chances are that the worms in your garden are native worms which are adapted to much less forgiving conditions. The problem with native worms is their inability to process large quantities of organic waste at the rate Reds, Blues and Tigers can. You are better advised to make an initial purchase of proper composting worms from a nursery.

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Will my compost worms survive in the garden?

Compost worms will die in the garden if the conditions there are not similar to the worm farm they came from. Compost worms like lots of rotting food, high humidity (that is a moist environment but not drenched), neutral pH and a temperature range of 18-23 degrees C. If you wish to maintain a high number of worms in the garden add an organic mulch such as lucerne, grass clippings or Worm Mulch. In fact, worms will reside under many different types of organic matter placed on the ground. For instance if after weeding a garden you leave the weeds in a pile undisturbed for a few days worms will be visible under the pile on top of the soil.

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How do I recognise a worm capsule?

When you see it in the soil a worm capsule looks a little like a single bead of Osmocote™. If you can get your hands on the book, there is a good picture of one in David Murphy’s “Earthworms in Australia”. On the net try either the site powerup.com .

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How many worms do I need to turn my food scraps into castings?

Worms are often sold by the thousand, and 1000 worms will generally weigh about 250 grams. So, if worms eat from half to their full body weight each day, then1000 worms can eat from 125-250 grams of food waste per day. Just as a guide the authors weighed the vegetable waste produced over 20 days. One family which consisted of 4 adults (2 females and 2 males) were found to produce about 675g of vegetable waste per day. This family therefore would require at least 2500 worms.

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Can my worm farm get too dry or too wet?

Worms readily lose water from the surface of their skin if the conditions are too dry, hot or windy. To avoid dehydration they burrow or shelter underneath litter on the soil surface where the humidity is relatively high. Worms will make every effort to leave the worm farm if it gets too dry so it is up to you to ensure the conditions are monitored and moisture levels adjusted if necessary.

Just as fatal for worms is an environment that becomes too wet. Waterlogging (just as with plant roots) creates an anaerobic environment and worms will suffocate unless they escape or the bedding is adequately drained. Worms can also drown if they fall into the pool of water that forms in the bottom of a commercial worm farm, and can’t escape. To overcome this problem collect the water from your farm on a weekly basis, bottle it and use as a liquid fertiliser. If you can’t remember to empty the container each week then at least put something into the bottom of the worm farm that allows the worms to crawl out of the water. Alternatively, you could add layers of paper to the bottom compartment to absorb much of the water.

Tip: To keep the worm farm damp remove the lid and lay a cover directly over the compost of either carpet, carpet underfelt, hessian or a few layers of newspapers that have been thoroughly soaked with water and then replace the lid.

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My worm farm has developed a foul smell, what can I do?

The worm farm lacks oxygen and the organic waste has become anaerobic and will be releasing rotten egg gas and methane. Think of factors that can exclude oxygen. For instance, the bedding may be too wet. If this is the case, you should either drain the water off or put in some material such as shredded paper to soak up the water. Alternatively, you may have added too much food waste and some of it has compacted or some pockets which the worms haven’t reached yet have rotted so much that the air has run out. Mix some dry matter like shredded paper or cardboard into the existing food waste to get the air circulating or remove some of the putrid food.

Tip: Lawn clippings, if laid on too thickly, can turn into a sludge which stinks. Lawn clippings can also cause the worm farm to overheat as the grass gives off heat as it breaks down. This information can be useful in winter – if you want to warm up the worm farm put a layer of fresh grass clippings on the top.

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What kinds of food can I feed my worms?

There is a section that lists the ingredients suitable for a compost bin or worm farm so there is no need to go into details here. However, there are a few general points to remember. Some kitchen wastes are probably less suitable as worm food than others. For example, feeding your worms large quantities of chillis, garlic, onions and citrus fruits is a practice that should be approached with caution. In very small amounts, though, these foods are probably fairly harmless. The most important thing here is to observe your worms and note their response to new foods or foods with particularly strong flavours, such as chilli.

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Am I adding too much food?

One kilogram of worms weighs approximately 250 grams and worms can eat from half to their own body weight in food each day. This means that 1000 worms can eat between 125-250 grams of food each day. Worms don’t eat large pieces of waste when it’s first introduced into the farm because they don’t have teeth. They have to wait until the waste starts to decompose and soften. Hasten the process of decomposition for them by cutting up large pieces of food waste before throwing them in the scrap bucket. You will need to be cautious when adding food to your worm farm at first. Try adding a little each day; this will give you a chance to observe the worms at work more closely so you can better gauge the rate at which they work. Be mindful of not adding too much food and creating a situation where there are many layers of uneaten food on the surface. You may need more than one worm farm to manage your entire family’s food waste.

Tip: If you have enough worms to handle the food waste you can consider adding the paper waste from the mail and small bits of paper that accumulate in the household throughout the week

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How can I rid my worm farm of flies?

House flies and what are commonly called Vinegar flies will hover around compost as they breed, feed on the composting matter and lay their eggs in the bedding. The immature stages of the fly (eggs and maggots) require moist conditions to survive. The best way to avoid this situation is to keep the worm farm and food within covered by layers of dried material such as leaves, grass clippings or shredded paper or anything that the flies will not want to breed in. This will mean you have two layers protecting the bedding and food, one which is moist and a dry top layer. Mites and other organisms in the compost keep the number of mature flies down by eating the larvae.

Tip: Don’t use insecticide to kill the flies. It is ineffective and harms beneficial insects as well.

Tip: If you have cut the grass and cannot use all of the waste in the compost spread the grass out on the garden or lawn so that it dries out otherwise it will become a breeding ground for flies.

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What do I do with slugs, slaters, ants and other insects in my worm farm?

All of these insects are attracted to the availability of food in the worm farm or compost bin and they all play a part in the breakdown of the organic waste to compost. Just leave them there. Actually, ants will tend to avoid environments that are moist so if your worm farm is well maintained, they shouldn’t be a problem anyway.

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How do I keep mice and other rodents out of my worm farm?

Mice and other rodents are attracted to open worm farms by the warmth and abundant food. They are usually not a problem in a closed worm system with secure lids. Discouraging mice from breeding in your worm farm really just means keeping them out of it in the first place. If you are operating an open system and you are concerned about rodents, you will need to set it up so that it is surrounded on all sides by mesh of an appropriate gauge. Mice tend to be especially attracted to scraps that are grain based like pasta, rice, bread and pizza crusts. Presumably these foods are valued highly for their energy contents. Unfortunately, our experience with composting of any sort suggests that it is extremely difficult to exclude these animals totally from compost or open farms. If it is any consolation, they are eating the food and turning it into manure like everything else and, well, it all helps!

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Why are my worms crawling on the underside of the worm farm’s lid?

If you see one worm crawling around on the under surface of your worm farm’s lid then it is safe to put it down to a quirk of nature and ignore it. A whole lot of worms gathered so, however, is a different story. You should consider that they are seeking some necessity not provided in the bedding and then think about the basic principles discussed in the worm farm section. Ask yourself if it is too hot or too cold or should you reposition the farm or add water. Is there so much moisture that they are suffocating or are they drying out. Is the pH too low because you’re putting in so much food the system is going rotten and acidic, or are you putting the wrong kinds of foods in, like citrus. There are some horror stories around about people putting their worms into a worm farm and finding none when they return to check on them. Be vigilant when you set up the farm so you can detect problems before they become a disaster.

Tip: Before adding large quantities of food collected from a source outside the home give a small amount of food to a small number of worms. Check that they survived the night. There have been situations where earthworms fed manure from de-wormed horses have died.

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