To feed or not to feed??

I just started my worm bin yesterday. I bought 1 lb of worms, so I can theoretically feed them 1/2 lb of kitchen scraps per day. For their first "meal" I fed them carrot and zucchini peels equaling 1/2 lb. Today I have pulverized green beans to feed them, but when I looked in the bin I can still see a lot of carrot peelings from the day before. Should I skip feeding them today until they eat what they already have? Should I continue to feed them 1/2 lb of food? Or should I feed them a different amount?

Further info...I have them in the "wormtopia" compost bin (series of stacked bins). For bedding they have a mixture of shredded newspaper, peat moss, spaghnum moss, vermiculite, old compost, and coconut fiber. The bin is outside in the screen porch, completely shaded, and it is hot and humid here in central Florida.

(Picture I posted is just of the worms when I first put them in the bin...hadn't added the food yet!)

Hi there, I have two bins about 31/2' x 2 ' and 2' deep. I would estimate I have 20 to 30 lbs of worms in those 2 boxes. Since they eat the bedding (newspaper soaked in fermented juice and peatmoss) I count that as part of what they eat everyday. Since they won't eat anything till it begins to rot (which is reasonable, small mouths no teeth) I take all my kitchen scraps and turn them into mush in my vitamix food processor, then let the food ferment in an ice cream bucket. Take some of that mush and place it one corner, then in a clockwise pattern bury some more 1/4 way around the box after 4 or 5 days. Continue clockwise around the box till you get back to the first position if they have done well do it again. Remember if you throw a carrot peel in there you have to wait for it to breakdown before they can eat it. That's what I like about vermicomposting, if you help them along they make great soil quickly and multiply fast.

Make it easy for the worms. By most peoples standards I overcrowd my boxes, I actually do it to increase my stock. It is a lot of work to separate them because at this point I separate the eggs and baby worms - so I leave them to breed and eat as long as possible. The worms get smaller as they crowd the box but 5 lbs of small worms won't eat anymore than 5 lbs of big worms even if the small consiste of many times more worms, but that large number of small worms are laying that many more eggs and there size can be increased for market. Much more than you asked about. Congratulations on your new composting project and I hope I have been of some assistance.

Hi Passiflora

That's the great thing about worms almost anything works if you stick to the basics. I bought the worm factory bin. So far the compost is great. I don't break my scraps down. Just don't have the time. I put some food in one section and when I see the worms working that area I add more to another section. They don't get too much that way. I freeze the extra scraps to use to start a new layer. That breaks the stuff down pretty well. I'd say 1/2 lb per day is probably about right for my bin. They go through it pretty quickly. I keep it in the garage and the door stays open all day. It's cooler. I do have the soldier fly larvae in my bin. They break down the big stuff very quickly and don't interfere with the worms. They don't carry disease. OK worm companions by me. Wear gloves if you're squeamish. LOL I do. :)

Passiflora,

You might want to cut back on the feeding for a few days. Worms take about 14 days to settle into new soil and will not eat as much as they normally would. If you keep them the 1/2 pounds of food day after day they will not keep up and you'll have a problem with pests, as well as food decaying which will create a heat issue.


jim