Does corn meal encourage breeding?

21 years ago

I remember reading on one of the posts that cornmeal encourages worms to breed. Is this true, and if so, how do you apply it in the bin?

Thanks!

Featured Answer

Kelly_Slocum

21 years ago

Corn meal and other grain meals have long been suggested to increase worm breeding rates and activity, but this is actually something of a misconception. Corn meal, due to its high nitrogen content and small particle size, supports tremendous microbial activity as it is decomposed, thus worms are often drawn to it because other OM nutrition sources in the bin, like produce waste, do not support as much microbiology. When a worm bin is routinely fed feedstocks with very high levels of microbiology, like rotted manure or even partially composted kitchen waste, the addition of grains have little or no measurable impact on worm activity or reproduction.

If one is vermicomposting for the purpose of managing household waste then adding grain to the system is working counter to that goal to some degree. Corn meal, unless it is stale or meal moth infested, is not a "waste" material, but a usable resource. Home worm bins that are given "grain supplements" are not shown to process more kitchen waste than are those that recieve kitchen waste material alone.

Still, many swear by the addition of corn meal and other grain meals to their bins, and it certainly harms nothing to include them in the system in small volumes.

Kelly S

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Comments (9)

Priswell
21 years ago
I think it does. My worms get fatter and population doubles very fast when I give them cornmeal. Just sprinkle it in the bin, or add it with your other organic material.

Here is a link that might be useful: Our Earthworm Farm
bendback50
21 years ago
I feed my guys a mixture of 5 pts fine sifted corn meal
2 pts dehydrated milk
2 pts finely ground egg shells

They will drop everything to eat this mixture
And-this morning when I sifted out the bin the worm pop. had probably increased 3 fold in 2 & 1/2 months

bruce
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lisak
21 years ago
Whenever I am adding a feeding that is mainly coffee grounds (happens more than it should), I mix in a couple of tablespoons of cornmeal and dampen the mess. The cornmeal goes green and blue in a day or so, and the worms seem to go eat the grounds more quickly this way. YMMV.

--Lisa
bendback50
21 years ago
Kelly

thanks for the feed back - I have long wondered what the attraction was for corn meal-heck, I was afraid I needed to add a more nitrogen rich feed to increase the microbial activity
Anyway, the meal I use is waste from a bakery - they make muffins & the meal is used to keep 'em from sticking on the griddle.

The stuff must be good, just after sprinkling it on, the worms are literally rolling in it.

bruce
Alyss
Original Author
21 years ago
Thanks everyone, for your feedback. Very interesting!

Kelly: Good to have you back in worm-town!

Alyss
mcrean1
21 years ago
I know folks that add "worm fattner" concoctions to their bins thinking that fatter worms means more/faster waste consumption. In reality, one may get bigger worms but the population will decline since worms establish their population via bio-mass. Thus, you can have a bin full of big, fat worms in small numbers, or small worms in big numbers.

My experience has shown that the little guys can consume the waste load faster. No real science applied in making that statement aside from garage experiments measuring the waste applied and observing that one goes faster than the other by several days.

I do keep a bin or two of the fat boys for fishing, though. Fish seem to enjoy dining on fat, steak sized worms rather than spaghetti noodle ones. Again, simple science of a beer and a pondering . . . .
chuckiebtoo
21 years ago
Does cornmeal encourage breeding?

In my case, it depends on how itÂs prepared. Good hush puppies at a fish fry seem to work for me, but it could be the beer.

Chuckiebtoo
Shirley645
21 years ago
Mcrean1, how do you get the big fat worms, that is what I'm after. Fishing worms. My bin is full of skinny worms, lots of them but "SKINNY"!