They eat the newspaper and leaves when the menu is lacking the good stuff. Try this: Fill a soaked toilet paper cardboard tube with a nice decomposing mess of stuff and place it in the bin with worms eating newspaper and leaf bedding. They will migrate to the preferable foodstuff.

Chuckiebtoo

For me, it is not a matter of the worms NEEDING the kitchen scraps. Part of the reason I set up the bin was to have a place to compost my kitchen scraps. I don't think I would go to the bother of a bin if I couldn't get rid of my kitchen scraps in it.

Actually, worms derive their nutrients not from the paper, or leaves, or even food scraps directly, but from the bodies of the microorganisms decaying the paper, the leaves and the food scraps. The worm ingests these organic materials, but in its gut it selects the microbes as its nutrient source.

The micorbes supporting the worms have specific nutritional requirements also, needing a balance of Carbon (C-carbohydrate) and Nitrogen (N-protein) in their diet in order to function and grow. Paper, leaves, straw and other bulky, fibrous materials generaly used as worm bin bedding contain little N, thus alone they do not maximize microbial growth in terms of both total number and species diversity because they are not "nutritionally complete" from a microbe point of view. Fewer microbies mean these materials are very slowly fragmented to a point that they are available to the earthworm, and low in total worm nutrition due to low microbial activity.

The waste that comes from our kitchen is, by and large, rather high in N, but is also very moist and succulent. When used alone in the worm bin any excess N is off-gassed by the microorganisms as ammonia, which means a loss of the nutrients we hope to capture for use in the garden. Ammonia is also toxic to many of the beneficial organisms associated with breakdown of OM, thus too much N can slow the decomposition process. The high moisture level associated with foods can, when released into the bin, create saturated conditions that restrict Oxygen penetration into the system, setting up anaerobic conditions.

When we balance the bulky, fibrous sources of carbon commonly used as bedding with succulent, high N food scraps we achieve an ideal balance for the growth of microorganisms that support earthworm activity in the bin. Now, this is not to say a worm bin cannot function on paper and leaves alone, because it can. Earthworm activity in the system is not maximized with these materials as the sole feedstock, however.

I am delighted by Carmellia's post, because it is so incredibly practical and demonstrates that she has not lost sight of the purpose for a worm bin, from the perspective of most people; it's a waste management system. She has a given waste stream that she wants to process in the bin, thus, this is what the worms get. The worms are happy and process the OM added to the bin. Carmellia is happy because she has an alternative to the garbage can that ultimately produces a beneficial material from her kitchen waste; everybody wins, and no one has to work too hard to achieve this wonderful balance!

What a cool world we live in!

Kelly S

Kelly, you have certainly explained everything very clearly! What used to be clear as mud is now crystal clear.

I do have one more question though. I had read that you should not feed your worm bin more than 1 lb of scraps a week per lb of worms that you have. One pound of worms, one pound of scraps. Two pounds of worms, two pounds of scraps. We can generate more than a pound a day between banana peels, apple cores, coffee grounds etc. Is what I read correct? Maybe I should get more worms. Is there a maximum number you can have in a certain amount of space?

Also, I've read that you should add "decomposing matter". Does that mean something that is on its way to decomposing as in already really yucky? Or do they mean something that is "decomposable?"

Gee, I thought I had a handle on this worm bin thing and now I see I still have questions. - Robin

Robin - decomposable is the thing, tho already going good ['composting', w/ good bacterial activity] is ok as long as it's not a large mass that may heat too much

it's actually 1/2 pound of feedstock per pound of worms per day [not week], but that's just a general guide - just keep an eye on things and see if stuff is disappearing - not much action will make for messy, so slow down, lots of feeding will make stuff break down in a few days - if you generate a pound per day and have 3 or 4 pounds of worms, they'll gobble it up!

Bill

Many of the suggestions you read on how much a worm can eat and how much the bin can/should be fed are misinterpretations of recommendations that come from Mary Appelhof's book "Worms Eat My Garbage". Many of these recommendations were not based on scientific research, but were generalizations Mary had to make to aid a public demanding answers that science had not yet found or about which could not make general statements. As such, she intended them as guidelines to aid people in beginning a bin, as she recognized better than almost anyone that how much a worm can eat depends on the character of the feedstock, the enviornment, etc, etc. The internet turned Mary's generalized guidelines into "facts" and "rules" for worm behavior and worm bin management, however, and have now become so overstated as to be incorrect.

When beginning a new bin, following the guideline that the system will process a weight of feedsock roughly equal to the weight of worms for the first week or two is a reasonable expectation. As the system matures, however, it will be able to process more and more, dependant, of course on the chararcter of the feedstock and the environment. The wise vermicomposter will feed their bin not based on the suggested feeding rates found in a book, but on their own observations of how quickly their system is managing new feedstock additions. Each time the worms move into a new addition of feedstock this should be an indication that more feedstock can be added. The first feedstock does not have to be fully processed, it simply has to have worms actively working in it, indicating that it is sufficiently biologically active to be available to them. Adding new feedstock at this point gives the new stuff sufficient time to become biologically active while the previous addition of feedstock is being processed.

the average healthy home worm bin supports about 1.5 pounds of worms per square foot of bin surface area on the average. The most populous vermicomposting system every documented supported roughly 4 pounds of worms per square foot of bin surface area, but that population density could not be sustained indefinitely. Don't get too caught up in the question of "how many worms are possible in the bin?" or "how many worms should my bin hold?" as the worms will populate based on the amount of available food and space. Put some worms in the bin (hell, you could begin with just two, or, believe it or not, even ONE, and end up with a maxed out population in several months), keep it moist, add some feedstock and they will make more worms for you at just the right speed and to just the right population level for the system as you are managing it.

As to recommenations to add "decomposing material", that is exactly what you are adding when you put feedstock in the bin. Some folks suggest "pre-composting" the feedstock before adding it to the system, but I have to wonder what they perceive is the advantage to pre-composting it in a bucket separate from the bin over simply allowing it "pre-compost" IN the bin where there is massive biology to aid in the process.

Sometimes the suggestion to add "decomposting material" refers to the use of compost or worm castings as a part of the bedding in a new bin to ensure the system has a relatively high level of biology at the outset, and this is actually good advice, though is certainly not a requirement. Compost in the bedding often helps the worms settle into the new environment more quickly than they would in a bin full of shredded paper and kitchen scraps alone.

I know, I know, this is another of my long-winded posts, but the answers require some explanation if what we want is a truly educated vermicomposting public! I am working on brevity (you should have seen this post before I edited it!), so please be patient with me; brevity is not a general part of my nature and at 43 changing takes some time!

Let me know if you have more question, Robin, or if any of this needs further explanation!

Kelly S

I love the long explanations! Keep'em coming! I see that I can probably feed my worms more than I have been. And I was briefly considering getting more worms, but now I think I will just let them do their own thing and populate the bin.

My bin is about a month old now. I know that it is not even close to time for the "vermipost"(vermicompost? vermicupost? whatever the correct term is) to be done and I vaguely remember reading somewhere that it is never "done", but is there a timeframe when you say, "Ok, it's done. Time to harvest." 3 months? 6 months? When you can no longer recognize even the bedding? I've been reading so much my head is literally swimming with information. I've had to take to copying whole threads to a word doc so I can digest it later. Did that with your explanation of the three "types" of worms. - Robin

How to determine when the bin is ready to "harvest" depends on whether you are pocket feeding or top feeding. If you are pocket feeding then it's time to harvest when essentially all of the bedding has been converted to castings and is no longer recognizable, and the bin volume has decreased by roughly half. Top-fed bins are harvested when the bin is filled all the way to the top.

Time to harvest is usually shorter in pocket-fed bins than in top-fed systems, and (surprise!) is widely variable, dependant on bin size, how much the system is fed, environmental conditions, feedstock, blah, blah, blah, blah.

You've got a better grasp of this than you credit yourself with, Robin, if your questions are any indication. You are asking the right ones, have clearly not bought in to everything you read on the internet, and are thinking critically. Fascination and common sense are the only real prerequisites for effective vermicomposting on the part of the human involved, and you appear to have these in fine measure!

Kelly S

Kelly, I'm practially beaming like the kid in the first row whose teacher just handed him an "A" paper! - Robin
P.S. I'm definitely going with the pocket feeding. I cannot wait for my first harvest!

Kelly, do you (or anyone else reading this forum) have any experience/info on feeding worms food-grade seaweed (freshly harvested and washed)? I have access to lots of it, so as an experiment last week, I chopped up a few cups of four seaweed varieties and put them in four separate pockets in one of my bins. The worms seem to love two of the four varieties...especially the babies, which are all over in those two pockets. I am wondering if the castings that result might be too high in sodium / other mineral concentrations, or if there are any other problems that might be associated with feeding too much seaweed. Any info would be much appreciated!

Alyss

Kelly, do you (or anyone else reading this forum) have any experience/info on feeding worms food-grade seaweed (freshly harvested and washed)? I have access to lots of it, so as an experiment last week, I chopped up a few cups of four seaweed varieties and put them in four separate pockets in one of my bins. The worms seem to love two of the four varieties...especially the babies, which are all over in those two pockets. I am wondering if the castings that result might be too high in sodium / other mineral concentrations, or if there are any other problems that might be associated with feeding too much seaweed. Any info would be much appreciated!
Alyss

Sorry guys, I'm a techno-spaz! I posted the above message twice, but was actually trying to create a new spool...