Worm farm feeding

Posted by Nicolas Santini on February 7, 2012 at 12:27am

Hi,

I want to start my worm farm to compost our food scraps, but Im not sure if we will be able to produce enough to feed them.

We are two in the house and we produce food scraps to fill a 2L ice cream container per week, maybe a bit more some weeks. Will that be enough for a worm farm? We could also add garden clippings and lawn/leafs.

Thanks

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Replies

  • Matt Moir March 20, 2012 at 12:04pm

     there is a guide of what you should and shouldnt feed your worms

    What worms like
    Most fruit and vegetable scraps
    Coffee grounds and teabags
    Aged horse manure
    Dirty paper
    Crushed eggshells
    Vacuum cleaner dust
    Hair

    What worms don't like 
    Spicy food, chilli, onion, garlic
    Meat and milk products
    Flour products
    Large amounts of cooked food
    Garden waste
    Shiny paper
    Citrus and other very acidic food

  • Nicolas Santini February 17, 2012 at 7:59am

    Finally, I got my worm farm today and assembled it :)

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    • Peter Riches > Nicolas Santini February 17, 2012 at 11:11pm

      Congratulations! You can now count yourself as an official worm-herd. :) May your new charges give you lovely crumbly worm cast and nutritious (for plants) worm tea.

      You might want to raise it up on something while it's still light so you can get a container under the spout.

  • Peter Riches February 8, 2012 at 8:35am

    Hi Nicolas,

    If you're thinking of just a small household worm farm, you won't have to worry about having enough food scraps to feed them. The worms will breed up to whatever numbers are needed to scoff the food you give them. I would get the worm bin going before you buy any worms, though, because the worms rely on microbes to start digesting the food for them. They have no teeth, so they can't tear off chunks of carrot peel, for example. They need it squishy. Too much food can be more of a problem than not enough if it goes all smelly and anaerobic.

    The worms also need a non-foody area to "nest" in - something like organic compost, or even scrunched up newspaper. I used to wrap my food scraps in newspaper* before burying it (shallowly so the air can still get to it!) This absorbs excess moisture, acts as a barrier to fruit flies, and improves the Carbon/Nitrogen balance.

    If you want a good read, I can recommend Mary Applehof's "Worms Eat My Garbage".

    Happy worming!

    Pete

    *That reminds me - I must do a post to ask if newspaper ink here in NZ is non-toxic vegetable ink. They banned the old "engine oil" ink in the UK and I'm hoping it's the same here.

    • Nicolas Santini > Peter Riches February 8, 2012 at 10:34pm

      Thanks Peter, thats very helpful info

  • Matt Moir February 7, 2012 at 2:17am

    hear is a good link to get you started I recomend that you go to worms r us they can get you set up with a worm farm and worms located in papakura their link is at the bottom of the page http://www.aucklandcity.govt.nz/council/services/garden/worms.asp

    • Nicolas Santini > Matt Moir February 8, 2012 at 10:35pm

      I saw that link before, it is a good starting point indeed , thanks

  • Worm Farmer February 7, 2012 at 1:04am

    Hi, You should really work backwards on getting the right size bin. A small amount of lawn clippings can supplement any shortfall in other waste, leaves shouldn't be used as worms cannot digest them...generally they rot, then the worms consume them. Lets call 2 litres of waste 2 kgs. Worms eat roughly half their body weight per day....which indicates you would need about 600 grams of worms. The size bin relates to quantity of worms...@ the recommended 10kgs/m3, you would roughly need a bin about 200mm x 300mm and about 500mm deep. Keep the material damp to the touch, but not dripping wet. Fresh lawn clipping will heat things up, but if used sparingly, can be a useful addition! Try and maintain the temp between 18C - 28C....22C is perfect. Just remember worms have no teeth, so the smaller the particle size the easier the can convert the material...sometimes the addition of "shredders" such as Slaters, can help conversion. There are a heap of myths about worm farming...unfortunately it can be easy to be lead astray! Goodluck...and if you need worms, give me a yell!!

    • Nicolas Santini > Worm Farmer February 7, 2012 at 1:40am

      thanks, thats very useful information. I'm gonna try to build my own farm following you recommended measurements and give you a yell when ready to get some worms :).

      So about lawn clipping, how do you compost it? piling or tumbling?

  • josephal February 7, 2012 at 12:40am

    That will be fine your 2L kitchen scraps in a small farm. Shouldn't add green waste it can heat up and kill your worms. Read up on composting. But brown leaves they love.

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