Ive noticed my worms dont go for banana much either, even if its overripe and mashed up, they love their lettuce though
:)

I've never tried banana, but my worms love apples (generally hacked up for their convenience) & strawberries(generally soft and moldy before they ever get to the bin).

Maybe your worms are just finicky :) :) :)

- Evelyn

PS. What drives me nuts is how they can't seem to get through the surface of an un-smushed grape or cranberry.

My worms have a decided sweet tooth: watermelon rinds and strawberries go especially fast. Green vegetables take forever. I can just hear them whining: "Hey Lady, not celey again! Jeez, lettuce?" It's fun to put in a whole apple and see just the empty shell of the skin left with the label still stuck to it.

Man, there's nothing my worms love better that stinky slimy leafy greens. They disappear almost under my eyes - I doubt if I could find specific evidence of them a day later. No colon cancer for these guys :)

- Evelyn

My little babies love spinach and romaine (on the soft side). Mixed with coffee grounds.
They seem to have a love for carrots to.

Maybe I need to start giving them more variety?

My guess is they love the stuff that breaks down the quickest.

Aloha,

Nathan Lau
San Jose, CA

#include (std.disclaimer)

My guys get mostly banana peels, soft mushy fruit (waaay past its prime) old vegetables and egg shells. they seem to love them all. The biggest party I've seen was when we fed them very old, defrosted, frozen veggies, woo hoo!

This thread is riotously funny! My worms love many of the things yours hate!!!! I think my worms must be the homeless bum-type worms, who gratefully accept anything...must admit they aren't crazy about citrus...but they do eventually eat it. I've pretty well decided just to throw that on the garden as mulch, you know? Their lives aren't that exciting---may as well keep 'em as happy as I can.

On weekends, I let them rent two DVD's, I take them out for brunch on Sunday at a local buffet, and Saturday night they get to stay up late as there's no school the next morning.

Other than that---they pretty much stay in their bins and work for minimum wage and food, and a roof over their head.

None have complained, so I guess they don't know any worms who have it any better.

Miz B

Mine love watermelon and other melons. I buy them a whole one at least once during the summer. Mine also love coffee grounds. They like to nest in the egg shells, when they are stack on one another.

Herb, I'm interested in your "soup" recipe. Is the manure fresh or a little composted? Ground corn- do you mean cornmeal?

this is a great topic, Ive never given my worms apple before (I thought it might be too acidic) but after reading the comments here, theyve had apple for the first time

this discussion could open up a whole new world for them :)

the favorite of any worm is absolutely anything that is moist and microbially active [bacteria or fungus] - citrus 'zest' is most rapidly degraded by fungi, and once that's gone the worms will take care of the rest quickly - mine get lots of carrot pulp from a juice bar and make short work of it - they also seem to love the root mats from the juice bars wheat grass and will 'populate' it the way they do the nested eggshells or melon rinds - they turn coffee grounds to fantastic castings too, as long as you can keep'em moist [carrot pulp mixed in works great!]

Bill

My worms will eat anything I give them. Apples, banana's, cheerios, melons, any thing. I love taking out pepper stems and pulling them apart. I always find 2 or more worms inside all stretched out, happy as can be.

Anita

Does anyone know if cashews, which are old and possibly rancid, are bad for the worms?

Mine seem to enjoy grapefruit skins, possibly because they are moist. They also devoured half a slightly rotten lemon. Regards, Peter.

rainshine cashews are really oily/greasy, and worms don't do well with greasy feed.

I feed all the above foods and I find that by running foods through a garbage disposal mounted on an outside sink that food is mixed and chopped up that worms are dinning in a day or two. I even add small amounts of meats from left overs. MaryKay

Here is a link that might be useful: wonderworms

I, too, have a garbage disposal mounted on a sink outside. Thank you for the post about yours. Now my wife will know that I'm not the only crazy fool in the world.

BTW, I don't disposal all the food. I like to put it in in diferent sizes too.

chuckiebtoo

they probably do not like the nutmeat, but the shells are absolutely their favorite(UNSALTED!)- peanut, walnut, pecan- you name it , they can chew their way through the shell and lay eggs inside- probably a mini honeymoon suite:) Coconut shells are a favorite also!

I have not gotten my worm bed started yet and have been reading here for a while to decide how to get started. Now I have it figured out....its like raising kids all over again. Some are picky some aren't some are sickly some aren't, some behave well some don't. Gee do I want to start this all over again? :)

Not too worry, Elly: worms are nothing like as bad as kids :)

They'll eat just about everything organic in origin eventually: it's just that some stuff goes faster than other stuff. Put in variety of small amounts of stuff, experiment, mess around, see what works. The very worst that can happen is that eventually you decide that you aren't willing to wait for them to eat something like holly leaves, and you pull them back out and use them as mulch somewhere.

- Evelyn, whose nephew would, if given the choice, subsist entirely on cubes of mild cheddar cheese, cut and provided with little toothpick handles by his grandmother :)

Concerning my stinky soup:
Fresh manure from farms/ranches
Ground corn from the feed store $6.00 for 50 pounds
Shredded paper form banks

I just loaded up my bin with about 10 pounds of old veggies. I gave then about 6 green and yellow peppers, 6 avocado, banana peel, onion and I think some apple. I have had no problem with them eating citrus. I put about 6 lemons and limes in about a month ago and they are history. My little rebels are munching everything in sight. MUSH MUSH MUSH! Make Daddy some black gold.

Anybody ever feed azalea blossoms? Soft. Moist. Think I'll see what happens in my experimental bin.

Chuckiebtoo

If you really want to see something, give them canteloupe peelings. I usually have a bunch of worms crawling up the sides and in the lid, but a day after adding some canteloupe peelings, everyone was back down. There is a tremendous, thriving mass of worms of all sizes under each piece.

Chuckiebtoo,

I fed mine amaryllis blossoms a bit past their prime. They are completely gone. :-)

I am trying avocado this week. I removed it from the pit and it is sitting on my counter "aging" with a few other scraps, waiting for their last meal to be finished before it goes in. It should be significantly icky by then.

--Lisa

It is my solemn duty to tell ya'll what worms like most of all...however unprepared you may be for it. Horse manure, horse manure, horse manure. The fresher the better. As un-appealing as it may seem, "indoor" bins deal with it just fine. With proper bedding and feeding techniques, aroma is a mute question.

Put your cantaloupe, lettuce (whatever) on one side and horse youknowwhat on the other, and the other will have the worms.

I do, however, segregate some indoor bins because of the reactions of lots of, well, most people...the main one being my wife.

Bon appetite,

Chuckiebtoo

Mine too love canteloupe, but also anything in the squash family. Like my children, they do not prefer cauliflower, cabbage or broccoli. I would check to see if the horses were recently wormed when obtaining horse manure. I had one very sad experience with this. Live (or not, for some of my worms!) and learn.

Mine love sweet red bell peppers most of all. But they also like most fruits, coffee grounds, and winter squash.

Vicki

There are several methods to ensure horse manure is free of parasite medication:

1. If the manure is collected from a known or familiar source, ascertain the medication schedule.
2. When collected, if worms are active in the manure, it will be safe for your worms.
3. If in doubt, don't introduce the manure to your worms for a couple of weeks.

Chuckiebtoo

OK I have read all the postings on this and my worm's favorites have not been mentioned. Plain cornmeal--they love it and second is the cheapest dog food from Dollar General. We use our worms for fishing and these two foods fatten them up and they multiply rapidly.

Has anyone tried potatoes or sweet potatoes for feeding worms?