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loftin60

Your worm's top 5 favorite foods.

loftin60
14 years ago

Even if someone before you list the same food, list

your top 5 foods so we all can compile the information.

Be sure to include the food, how it is processed, and

how it is fed.

Comments (24)

  • stevesd
    14 years ago

    I'll list the five I think are their fav's, although its really hard to interview them. The microphones don't work very good with the background noise of the bin. My worms like:
    Melons of all kinds(chopped up until I can get them in the bin neatly)
    Leftover cooked rice(as is but not too much)
    Soft or bad tomatoes(just make a cut in the skin)
    bananas or peels(just make some cuts and bury in the bin.
    coffee grounds(I mix with bedding material and other food)
    I dont blend or freeze anything. I do try to add bedding material to each feeding. I think it helps keep everything from smelling and preserves the nutrients in the finished compost. Thats it. really simple. Steve

  • loftin60
    Original Author
    14 years ago

    I forgot to list my top 5.

    1. any kind of pasta (Spaghetti, shells)
    2. cucumbers
    3. cornmeal
    4. melons, pumpkins
    5. bananas

  • sbryce_gw
    14 years ago

    1. Horse manure
    2. Goose droppings
    3. Tomatoes
    4. Bell pepper cores
    5. Anything that has been ground up

  • folly_grows
    14 years ago

    My worms don't get to say much about what they want. They are my workers, not my guests.

    Their basics are:
    1. cucumber peels
    2. fruit peels
    3. lettuce cores
    4. tomato stem ends
    5. wilted or bad looking parts of vegs

  • joe.jr317
    14 years ago

    I freeze most vegetable waste, but grind up the oats.

    1. Horse manure
    2. Oats/corn meal

    They go wild on those two.

    3. Vegetable/fruit scraps. They are never separated so I'll count that for 4, too.
    5. Large clumps of compost left after sifting my outdoor bins.

  • curt_grow
    14 years ago

    Like folly grows my worms are here for me, do you want my top five
    Apple core
    melon peel
    banana peel
    vegetable trims
    corn meal

    Curt:-)

  • fosteem1
    14 years ago

    Also like folly my worms get what i give them.

    1. Horse poop, they don't get it as often as they would like. Just drop it in, i wont do anything else with it.
    2. Any kind of melon, cucumbers are in the family. Just cut into chunks.
    3. Wild Turkey droppings. Picked up from under my bird feeders. And scattered across the top.
    4. The regular household scraps, peals, coffee grounds etc. All mixed together before feeding.
    5. Meal Worm poo. I grow meal worms for the wild birds. I feed the meal worms mostly old oatmeal and bread crusts. With carrots and potato slices for moisture. Their poo is a dry powder I put it in a old Kraft cheese shaker and sprinkle a little on the top now and again. I got interested in growing meal worms when they kept coming up on UTube when i would do a worm search.

  • joe.jr317
    14 years ago

    Are meal worms easy to raise? I would be interested for the same reason. My wife is into birding and loves watching our backyard birds.

  • fosteem1
    14 years ago

    Easter than real worms. And female meal worm beetles lays 500 eggs a week.

    Watch the meal worm videos in this kids series of videos. Takes you through all the steps. You can raise them in just one container but the adult Beetles will eat some of the baby worms.

    BTW; My meal worm start was $3.50 for 50 worms from the pet shop. The price worked out to 7 cents a worm. They are only 3/4 inch long. I figured out at the time i bought them that it comes to $180 a pound. No one would vermicompost if we were paying that kind a money for our worms.

    Here is a link that might be useful: Spail15's Meal Worm videos

  • Katxena
    14 years ago

    Here are mine:

    1. Watermelon, cantaloupe, or squash rinds, just dumped in with the wet side down.

    2. Carrot peels -- sometimes chopped, sometimes not.

    3. Used tea leaves

    4. Pruned roses -- I was astonished, but the worms made quick work of the roses, and they seemed to be preferred to other foods.

    5. Fall leaves.

  • lefeavers
    10 years ago

    Just started. After giving me free worms, sunrise farm owner said, pig poop rabbit/ lota grains. ShowingMT Corn kernal! So I take Powder at bottom of Cherrios bags, chex cereal etc.expresso coffee grounds, tea leaves. Anything I can In the City. ALSO I crush eggshells, January 2014 started. I have turned my garden to compost & hope the free horse manure (mix) holds them till spring.this is small bin I. My room, 1 cup bed run (No idea Yet on total # of worms) just letting the one Baby (I spotted) get bigger, as I Gently start this bin.(65* most time) Cold rain water spray bottle for slight, home y feeel. (My idea)

  • PRO
    equinoxequinox
    10 years ago

    That is what we are doing scrounging around for good things for our worm bins. Around about now we all really enjoyed peeking in on the worm progress every day. If they were not right on top some of us poked around the bedding just to see what the worms were up to. Others of us were more reserved. If you get eggs in the paper cardboard cartons as opposed to the plastic or foam cartons they can be torn up into nice bedding. Being able to watch a fast forward film of our bins would be cool. But nature is much slower. It is difficult for me to be patient.

  • barbararose21101
    10 years ago

    1. horse manure. This is insurance for erratic feeding because it is both bedding and food & leads to worms distributing themselves widely rather than aggregating under food. (In my experience)

    2. Any fruit or vegetable pureed and as rotted as possible.
    (Put it in a covered jar in the sun when/where there is.)
    I broke parts of my 30 y o processor yesterday.
    Since the worms need it more than I do, I ordered more parts.

  • chuckiebtoo
    10 years ago

    Horse manure, pumpkin, cantaloupe, veggie scraps, coffee grounds.
    (You can go to Starbucks & get garbage bags full of them every day) Can't have enough because they are great on lawns/flowerbeds.

    Really, I use anything except what makes fast food restaurants so popular to humans.

    Chuckiebtoo

  • Gerris2 (Joseph Delaware Zone 7a)
    10 years ago

    Melons (especially watermelon)

  • 11otis
    10 years ago

    Microwaved Zucchini
    Oatmeal/cornmeal gruel
    Melons and the like
    Juice pulp

    All pre-rotten except #1.

  • Jasdip
    10 years ago

    Oh, I just remembered that I put some cooked spaghetti in there once. They loved it! Now I freeze it to heat for a quick meal.

  • hummersteve
    10 years ago

    I eat a lot of baked potatoes which I had been saving the leavings from that but I find that doesnt exactly light their fire. Im wondering how others feel about that.

    Most fruit and veggies- not acidic
    Most melons especially watermelon
    Corn meal also works good for me

  • 11otis
    10 years ago

    hummersteve: I can imagine the worms won't take to baked potatoes leavings right away. I don't bake my potatoes but may I suggest you "age" your baked potato leavings in a container with some liquid. Once it's mushy, I'm sure the worms will be all over it.
    I micro-waved potato peels (I know, waste of energy) for a few minutes and then let them sit for about a week or so before adding to the worm bin.

  • triniworms1220
    9 years ago

    My worms love pig poop!!!!!! Also melon rind, oats and cornmeal.

  • hummersteve
    9 years ago

    Otis

    Guess you dont read many of my clippings. Ha Ha. All my fruits and veggie scraps , banana peels , potato peeps go in a zip bag until Im ready to run all of it thru my juicer. Then the pulp is all saved in another container until I feed em. By that time everything is rotten , moldy and ready for the worms. Its not to the puree stage but close enough the worms go thru it quickly.

  • Shaul
    9 years ago

    My worms will only eat baked potatoes with butter and sour cream. If I try to serve it up without the extras, they just turn up their noses and walk away.

    Shaul

  • Jasdip
    9 years ago

    LOL Shaul!

  • 11otis
    9 years ago

    That's one way to make them poop, LOL.

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