They should be eating a lot more than that. It takes a while for a bin to get well-established, and in the mean time, the worms will not process food waste as fast as they will after the bin is established.

An established bin simply means that there is a healthy micro-herd ready to attack whatever is placed in the bin.

We talk about worms eating 1/2 of their weight in kitchen waste per day. (We used to talk about worms eating their full weight per day. I don't know why we made the change.) That does not mean that you can put a pound of food in the bin and expect a pound of worms to eat it all in two days. Worms eat decomposing organic matter and can only eat it as fast as it decomposes. That means that the 1/2 pound of food they are eating today includes food that they were fed last week, and the week before, and is still decomposing.

If the worms ate one apple core in a week, that does not mean that they can only eat one apple core per week. It means that it took a week for the apple core to decompose. They may have been able to eat several apple cores, had there been more in the bin.

Since it takes a few days for new food to decompose enough for the worms to eat it, go ahead and feed more now. The worms will finish off the banana peels as they begin working on the new food.

They key is to determine how much food is too much. You don't want food decomposing in the bin faster than the worms can eat it. That will result in a goopy mess in the bin. Feeding worms is as much an art as a science. In time you will get a good feel for how much your worms can eat.

"An established bin simply means that there is a healthy micro-herd ready to attack whatever is placed in the bin." I so agree with that statement. Many writtings alude to that but do not state it. I like to get my bin additions dirty by putting vermicompost on top of them. Others precompost various ways. This is a subject that needs lots more attention. Does food processing in an unwashed food processer help? This refers back to the add a handful of good soil to the bin. And the Prep 500 and spraying vermicasting tea. I expect soon surgery will not be a sterile area but an area flooded with good beasties.

"(We used to talk about worms eating their full weight per day. I don't know why we made the change.)" And part of that was water weight. They needed to be way more specific.

"Worms eat decomposing organic matter and can only eat it as fast as it decomposes. That means that the 1/2 pound of food they are eating today includes food that they were fed last week, and the week before, and is still decomposing." Agree 100%. The whole wait until the food is eaten before you add more discounts this whole food is getting ready for the worms to eat aspect. It drives me crazy. But I let people do whatever they want with their worms. Wouldn't it be cool to go back in time and chew this stuff over with Charles?

"Feeding worms is as much an art as a science." Nursing a child is called the Womenly art of Breastfeeding. Thus feeding worms should be called...? I so agree on the art part. Sitting and observing the worms is a huge part of it.

So. would you say, then, that breaking down the food first, either by food processing, freezing, or pre-rotting, would help? And which would be the best method??

"So. would you say, then, that breaking down the food first, either by food processing, freezing, or pre-rotting, would help? And which would be the best method??"

I say 100% yes. All of these things will increase the speed of decay because the microorganisms can get to more surface area.

But I don't think it's necessary, it's just an option. And I would be cautious about a big clump of material that is, shall we say, pre-processed. Once it starts to collapse in on itself, you'll lose the extra surface area and get a clump of anaeorbic area. So scattering it around a bit would be safer.

Without trying to hijack Lydia's thread...I have a question about feeding as well. If worm's are deprived food, or are fed minimally, will they go after the bedding or wait for food? My bedding is shredded paper, cardboard and leaves, sprayed with ACT almost weekly. Thanks- Jim

The worms don't know the difference between "bedding" and "food" and will most certainly eat it.

"The worms don't know the difference between "bedding" and "food" and will most certainly eat it."

Good for me to know that! I have lots of bedding and a new bin (1 week with worms in it) I was worried I had too much bedding.

Now I can let them eat the bedding!

I have already begun collecting food to let pre rot! I added some of the drink tray you get a Mc D's It was perfect I figured if any of the rotting food gets too wet it can soak into the cardboard and then the cardboard may have microbes too!

Karen

Comments:

alabamanicole already addressed the pre-processing question very well.

Worms eating their own weight every day: I'll guess the change was for two reasons. 1) Worms eat their own weight when conditions are ideal, and home vermicomposters seldom accomplish ideal conditions. 2) Their own weight eaten includes bedding, so you cannot FEED worms their own weight every day.

Worms eating bedding: Worms will eat whatever organic matter is breaking down in the bin. It has been said that if there is too little food, or the food has not broken down enough, the worms will eat the bedding. Well, yes, but only to the extent that the bedding has broken down enough for the worms to eat it, which isn't likely in a new bin.

I use coffee trays too. They are great. Sometimes I do not even tear them apart but leave them for air at the bottom of the bin.

Somewhere online I read about a guy who was a vermicomposter who died. Eight years later his wife let someone in the cellar to look at the worms. Some were still alive. She did not feed them. Anyone else read something like that?

So I do not think we need to worry about our worms starving unless they are in brand new steril paper.