What They Can Eat?

Every time I read something about vermiculture, the same thing is told to everybody: worms don’t like citric plants, onion, pepper and anything spicy. Although this is true to an extent, it can guide to some misconceptions.

So, what can I feed to my worm bin? Earthworms can eat anything that was once alive. Even yourself. But, since it will take some time and insects for you to be edible to them, it is better to give them some food that will be converted faster.

The food of choice for vermiculture is herbivore manure. Horses, cows, bunnies and anything that eats grass will give your worms a nice meal. This is because manure is already predigested and is a lot. Herbivores have an abundant food supply in plants, but have to eat a lot.

If you are in the city, using manure is out of the question. Not only it will be hard to get, but your popularity among your neighbors will have a serious hit. Don’t worry too much, though; a well cared worm bin will not be smelly at all.

So, if you want to make some urban vermiculture, you have a pretty good supply of food: your kitchen. You probably throw away at least 20% of your food, due to cutting, preparing, cooking and leftovers. All this is great food for your worms. If your worm bin is big enough, you may not throw away anything again.

A good bedding material can be paper. It is cheap, easy to get and worms like it very much. You just have to get it wet for a few hours and cut it to small size pieces. When wet, you can do this with your hands, but, if you have access to a mill, it will be much easier.

Combining paper and kitchen leftovers is good for your worm bin and also is cheap and helpful in your own house. Anyway, you should use any material that is easy to get and is not so acidic. You can use clippings from your backyard, leftovers from a restaurant, and many other sources. Most of these will not charge you for that and will be happy to have you there. With a little luck, you can even charge a fee for cleaning.

So, vermiculture is not that picky. Your worms will be happy with your leftovers and you can turn pure garbage into something of value.

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