How to Feed Compost Worms

When you first set up a worm composting bin, or if you have restocked an old bin with new worms, feed them every 2 weeks.

Pull apart the bedding in your worm bin, deposit the food, cover with an inch or two of bedding.  Try to bury the food in a different spot every time.  For instance, if you leave food in the upper right-hand corner this feeding, use the lower left-hand corner next time.  This encourages worms to move around the bin, depositing worm castings and eating bedding equally throughout.

Some people divide the bin into 9 sections by mentally drawing lines like a tic-tac-toe board.  They start at the top left corner and methodically feed using each section in order from left to right, top to bottom.  That’s too much tracking for me, so I just try to pick a new spot each time.

Don’t skim over the “cover with bedding” instructions above.  After you deposit scraps, you must cover the food completely with bedding.  Burying reduces odor so flies are not attracted to your bin, and renders the food unavailable as a natural place for flies to lay eggs.

Schedule for First-Time Bin Owners & When New Worms Arrive

When you first set up a worm composting bin, or if you have restocked an old bin with new worms, feed them every  2 weeks.  Write down:

• the date,
• what you fed them,
• how much you fed them, and
• in which quadrant of the bin it was deposited.

You might also want to make notes on:

• what food was left from last time,
• if the bedding was too wet or too dry, or
• if you saw worms congregating near a particular type of food.

The purpose of this fixed schedule with note-taking is for you to get familiar with your worms.  You will gain a sense of how much they eat over a 2-week period, how fast the population grows, whether a bin in your climate has a tendency to be too wet or too dry, and what foods they like vs. those they don’t.

The 2-week schedule also allows your worm population to remain relatively undisturbed while it establishes itself.  If you started with a few worms, they will multiply rapidly until they reach the number of inhabitants that can be supported by this residence.

Feeding Schedule for an Established Bin: Experienced Owners

By the time you have a sense of what is “normal” for your compost worms, and their feeding has become part of your routine, they will be settled in.  When you feel comfortable doing so, you can feed them at your convenience, rather than on a schedule.  You should have a feel for how much they can consume, so just keep an eye on it and don’t overfeed them.

I add food whenever I have it, which may be as often as every day or only once a week.  I have a large worm bin and a small household, so they receive relatively small amounts of food at any given time.  If you have a large family and a small bin, you may have to compost some of your scraps another way or start another bin.

Mary Tynes, Master Composter, www.mastercomposter.com

Image Credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/goosmurf/3828755105/