What do you need to put in a worm farm?

Answer 1

Worms have small mouths and no teeth. Remember that when feeding. They will eat an apple core, but if you chop it up, or even blend it, they will eat it more quickly. If your dog had no teeth what would you feed him?

The most common problem with worm farms is over-feeding. Just give them small amounts till you see how much they can eat. And if you can blend or chop the food up with a little water so much the better.

Food the worms LIKE:

* Moistened, non-glossy newspaper * Egg cartons * Cardboard like Pizza boxes * Vegetables, raw and cooked * Fruit (non-acidic) including the skins * Vacuum cleaner dust and hair * Tea leaves and tea bags * Coffee grounds (in moderation) * Avocado skins * Egg shells (crush them up first) * Cooked grains like rice and barley * Cooked food and leftovers (but not meat or fish) Food the worms DON'T LIKE:

* High protein foods (tofu)

* Animal products (fish, seafood, beef, chicken, dairy, egg yolk)

* Chilli * Large amounts of tomato * Uncooked onion and garlic * Bread * Uncooked rice and dried food * Any dry food (they like it moist)

* Acid fruits like citrus and pineapple * Rough garden clippings

A feeding tip is:

* Every time you add new food, place it in a new location, moving round the box. This way you can see how much of yesterday's food they have eaten and if you need to give more or less.

Remember, don't feed them too much. Too much food will just rot on the top and become a problem. Cover the food with a thick wet newspaper. The worms will always eat this if they run out of food, and you can see if they need more.
If you have worms in a worm farm, they will eat most household scraps, as well as hair and dust from the vacuum cleaner and pizza boxes that are too dirty to be recycled.

Probably don't give them:

• Onions and orange peel.
• Meat,
• fish and
• dog and cat droppings which can smell and attract other vermin.

Remember worming tablets for your dog and cat will kill your worms if they eat the animal droppings!

Answer 2

You keep a worm farm going by keeping the worms happy:

* give them food, not too much, not too little, chopped or blended soft food is best * vegetarian food only please, and not too much acid, like tomato, onion, garlic

* keep them not too hot, not too cold. 18 - 25 degrees Celsius (65 - 77 Fahrenheit). * keep them moist, but not too wet. * keep them out of the light * keep a lid on to discourage rats and cockroaches * add a sprinkle of garden lime, wood ash or dolomite every few weeks to stop your farm getting too acidic. Other questions below:

What is a worm farm?

What food should you put in a worm farm?

Answer 3

* Keep it cool and dark (24 degrees Celsius, 36 F), in garden, balcony, garage, kitchen. * A good worm farm doesn't smell.

* Keep it moist but not too wet (open the bottom tap and pour a liter of water through every week). * Feed the worms with small soft food scraps (use a blender or mincer). * Don't feed them citrus, onion, chilli, meat or fish. * Don't overfeed them (a common problem). Place the first feed in one quadrant of the feeding tray, the second feed in another quadrant, etc. Then you can see if they've eaten all the previous feed.

* Dog manure from a dewormed dog will kill them.

* Keep a lid or hessian or underfelt cover over the food scraps to deter pests.

Read "What food should you put in a worm farm" below.

Answer 4

From the top, in layers:

* On the top, some wet sacking, hessian, or even a thick wet newspaper, as worms don't like the light.

* Under that, food scraps from the kitchen, chopped up and soft. See the Related Question: "What food should I put in the worm farm?"

* Under that, compost worms, that's tiger, red and blue worms, available from nurseries and internet suppliers. Start with 1000 or 2000. * Below that, bedding for the worms. This can be coconut fiber, or coir, or peat moss, or wet shredded newspaper. Soak it all in water before using. * At the bottom, a layer of wet newspaper so the worms don't fall down into the liquid tray (put something in the liquid tray so any fallen worms can climb up into the bedding area).

Answer 5

Worms will eat just about everything, including wet pizza boxes and newspaper. They don't like acidic or spicy food like onion, garlic, chilli etc. They will eat meat and dog and cat droppings but these can cause odor problems as well as attracting flies so it is often recommended that you don't feed these to your worms.

You can feed them from most kitchen leftovers, just remember that you cannot give them any cooked food, only raw food and also avoid potato and onion, even if it is raw. Thus you can feed them with raw vegetable or fruit peels, egg shells and newspapers. Also make sure they are kept wet by adding water once a week.