What Is The Best Food For Worms?
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| "THEY SAY THE FOOD IS GREAT HERE!" ©L.J.MONROE ALL RIGHTS RESERVED |
Most folks know by now that any food you feed your earthworms should be:
- Soft, not hard
- Cut into small pieces, with a knife or food processor, not big chunks
- Moist buy not soggy
These foods include:
- Table scraps
- Yard waste
- Commercial worm feeds
- Spent brewer's yeast
- Coffee grounds
And, there are certain foods you should NEVER feed your worms, which include:
- Potatoes
- High acid foods
- Commercial fertilizers or pesticides
- High salt foods
- Oily foods
But the best, most healthy, safest food you can feed your worms is - Tuh-Da!
- Horse manure.
So, why is horse manure the best worm food?
- Horse manure qualifies as soft (unless it's been left out to dry).
- The predigested condition conveniently provided by the horse insures it is small enough for the worms' toothless little mouths.
- The presence of microbes provided by the horse's gut benefits the worms' digestive system.
- It is rich in nutrients (if the horse has been fed correctly) due to the notoriously wasteful process of the horse's digestion. There's plenty left over for the worms.
- Worms absolutely love it.
- It's the safest worm food as far as acid poisoning is concerned.
- Horse manure is invaluable for raising worms commercially.
If you have access to horse manure and intend to use it as worm food, there are a few things you should do to prevent problems and get the most out of your horse manure.
- Never feed your worms manure from horses who have just been wormed. Wait a week after deworming to collect.
- Never mix fresh horse manure into your worm bedding. It will heat up your bed and kill your worms or cause them to crawl out of the bed
- Apply fresh horse manure on the top of your bedding, in a shallow line down the middle. Worms will gather underneath to feed and have room to get away should the manure heat up.
- If you must change out your bedding or turn it (you are turning your beds, right?) remove any uneaten fresh manure before doing so.
- Prevent the manure from drying out by dampening it periodically.
Horse Manure Doubles As Worm Bedding
Horse manure that is aged (i.e. composted) makes excellent worm bedding and contributes to the most excellent vermicompost by-product.
To insure your aged horse manure is safe to use as worm bedding, do the following:
- Collect horse manure and allow it to heat up if it hasn't already.
- Dampen any composted horse manure and allow it to heat up again if it's going to before introducing any earthworms.
- Mix the composted, cooled down manure at a 50/50 ratio with some "brown" material such as shredded paper, shredded cardboard, etc. The best material for this mixture is pure sphagnum peat moss (no fertilizer added). Wet and toss this mixture, allow to sit for about 36 hours, and test the ph before adding your worms. Peat moss is especially acid and requires the dampening and waiting period to neutralize it.
ADDITIONAL WORM GROWING SECRETS
If you're seriously considering starting a worm farm as a business, read the other posts in this blog. But you're all ready to get started? Check out my Worm Farm Manual. It contains pretty much all the information you'll need on raising worms, breeding worms, feeding worms, and making money with you own worm farm.
To save time answering questions and prevent you from going through all the trials and tribulations I had to endure when I first started growing worms, I put everything in this manual. Written in a chronological order, you can easily go from starting your worm farm business to selling your product.
This step-by-step manual will guide you in starting one of the best home-based businesses you'll find.
Thanks for visiting my blog!
Worm Farm Guide
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- how to set up your worm farm,
- what kind of worms beds to use,
- worm bedding mixes, and
- worm food choices....
....as well as harvesting and selling worms.
Whether your trying to grow worms for your own use or want to grow enough to sell commercially, this manual gives you the information I wish I'd had when I first started.
You'll find more worm feeding tips and how-to's, as well as all aspects of worm farming, in my "Worm Farm Manual". Available in both download and hard-copy versions.
