I would like to know what other people find to be the worms most popular and distasteful food.

[Woo]

My worms just love banana peels and consume them very rapidly. I would say that is their favorite. On the other hand avacado skins seem to be least popular. I guess the hard skin is sort of like the egg shells a little hard for them to eat. I have both Red
Wigglers and Europeon Night crawlers.

[Woo]

Hi Dan,

Glad to hear you solved your problem. I have never had a anaerobic problem with any of my worm boxes, and I have over 25 currently in operation both inside and out. All my boxes have atleast 50 vent holes. Most do not have drainage holes in the bottom. I find they are not needed. I feed my worms small quantities of food and avoid large quantities of very wet sloppy garbage. Bananas and Avacados remain favorites. Please visit my http://www.WoosWorms.com site for details on how I personally grow my worms. It works for me. ......Woo

[dan morgan]

I have heard that the drainage holes at bottom keep the moisture just right by draining excess and worms can drown if too wet.

More interestingly, I have heard that the drainage acts as a tea that when mixed into watering can can both enrich soil and reduce insects, have you ever heard of this?

Thanks

Dan

PS I will run over to your worm web site now!

[Eve]

.

For directions on how to make worm tea look here.

http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-tea/making-vermicompost-tea/#...

[Anne]

The drippings out of a worm bin are called leachate. Feeding over wet foods, the liquid drains down and creates this stuff that is usually higher in phototoxins and anaerobic bacteria. Not good. (Some claim to have good luck with dilute leachate on plants, but more often the plant noticeably suffers.)

Leachate is not vermicompost tea. VC tea is made by dissolving worm castings into water and used right after making it(best results are when the water is oxygenated). The castings themselves are excellent for amending soil, used as a top dressing and as a fertilizing tea. The VC tea (not leachate) is sprayed on plants. It is in the castings that the beneficial microbes, bacteria, plant hormones (Auxins and Cytokinins), enzymes and nutrients are found. The worms actually adjust the phosphorus in their digestive tract so when it comes out it is in a more easily absorbed state for the plant.

That said.. the quality of castings is also dependant on what they are fed.

[Anna Rich]

My worms (and my mites) have no use for white potatoes, none.

[Eve]

You have to cook or freeze them first. They try to grow in the bin. Even peels will sprout.

[Woo]

I find putting potato pieces in your composting box is a great way to start them for planting in your garden. I agree my worms are not very fond of potatoes...... Woo at Woo's Worms.

[Kristie]

My worms favorite foods seem to be tea leaves and carrot peels. Their least favorite things are bean and pea pods. Those take forever to breakdown.

[Susan Bolman]

Ryan, I've heard that there's a chemical in the orange peels that is irritating to them. I have enough food sitting in the freezer waiting to be used that I don't even put the orange peels in. The general advice I've heard is that 'in moderate quantities' they're fine.

[Cathy Luna]

Will someone please answer a question. I just read on another site where twigs are harmful to my red worms. I have been putting 1 inch twigs in my worm bin and now I am very worried. Cathy

[Susan Bolman]

I've got some bits and pieces of wood too. I regret it now cuz they take so long to break down, but they certainly don't get matted like cardboard and newspaper can. I've even been wondering if the worms are reproducing even faster in the bins that have the wood. It seems like there's more cocoons. I don't know if it's more air or what, but they're doing really really well.

None of it was fresh. I'll bet that it takes even longer and the fresh ones might have irritants in them (if any do, though I haven't heard.) If you find out any other specifics, let us know.

[Susan Bolman]

I've noticed that the bins with lots of twigs (and therefore LOTS of air holes) seems to produce more babies than the ones with shredded newspaper. I may be imagining it, but I'm going to keep watching. The bins with newspaper produce better looking compost.