Feeding a Worm Farm

Feeding worms is simple once you learn what they love, what they hate, and the golden rule that underpins both: feed little and often, and never more than the worms can work through. Overfeeding is behind almost every worm farm problem.

What worms love

Worms thrive on soft, rotting plant matter. Fruit and vegetable scraps, crushed eggshells, tea leaves, coffee grounds and small amounts of soaked paper or cardboard all break down well. Chopping scraps smaller speeds everything up, since worms eat the microbes on decaying food rather than the food directly, and more surface area means faster rotting.

• Yes: fruit and vege scraps, crushed eggshell, tea leaves, coffee grounds, soft greens
• In moderation: bread, cooked plain foods, citrus and onion in small amounts
• No: meat, fish, dairy, fat, and large amounts of citrus, onion or garlic

What to keep out

Meat, fish, dairy and oily food rot foully and draw rats and flies, so leave them for the compost or the bin. Heaps of citrus, onion and garlic make the bin too acidic and irritate the worms. Anything salty, sugary or heavily processed is best avoided too. When in doubt, keep the inputs to plain plant scraps and the farm stays sweet.

Feeding rhythm

Add food in one corner at a time and wait until it is being worked before adding more, moving around the farm as you go. If food is sitting untouched and starting to smell, you are feeding too fast, so stop until the worms catch up. A small household farm settles into a steady rhythm where the worms keep pace with the daily scraps, and a sprinkle of bedding now and then keeps the balance right.