Worm composting at home — turn kitchen scraps into rich castings
Practical vermicomposting guides — red wigglers, worm bins, feeding, and castings.
Can worms eat avocado? Yes — the flesh is fine, in small amounts. Avocado flesh is soft, mild, and rich, and worms eat it happily. The catch is the fat: avocado is much fattier than most worm food, so a big feeding goes rancid instead of rotting cleanly. Feed a few spoonfuls at a time, […]
Can worms eat citrus? No — keep citrus out of the worm bin. Oranges, lemons, limes, and grapefruit are all too acidic for worms. The acid burns them, slows them down, and can push the whole bin sour. A tiny piece of orange buried deep will not kill the bin, but the worms will avoid […]
Can worms eat onions? No — keep onions out of the worm bin. Worms avoid onions, and with good reason: onions are acidic, they smell strong, and they slow the whole bin down. A small piece of cooked onion buried deep will not kill the worms, but it will sit there uneaten for weeks, and […]
Can worms eat bread? Yes — plain bread is safe for worms, in small amounts. Bread is soft, starchy, and easy to eat, so worms take to it quickly. The limit is the amount: one slice a week for a 1 lb bin of about 1,000 worms is plenty. More than that, and the bread […]
Can worms eat banana peels? Yes — banana peels are one of the worms’ favourite foods. They are soft, sweet, full of potassium, and they break down fast. A 1 lb bin of about 1,000 red wigglers will eat a buried banana peel in about a week. The only problem is fruit flies: peels left […]
Can worms eat eggshells? Yes — eggshells are one of the best things you can add to a worm bin, as long as you crush them to a fine powder first. Eggshells give worms grit to grind their food, add calcium that keeps the bin from turning too acidic, and break down slowly over 2 […]
Do worms need light? No — red wigglers do not need light at all, and they actively avoid it. Worms live in the dark, under the bedding, and move away from light within seconds. Light dries them out, and a worm out of the dark is a worm in danger. This matters for your bin […]
How to split a worm bin is simple: when your bin is full of worms, move about half the worms and half the bedding into a second tote with fresh damp bedding, and you have two bins for the price of one tote. Splitting is the cheapest way to grow your composting. A healthy bin […]
Worm bin mistakes beginners make are almost always feeding mistakes. New owners feed too much, too fast, with too little bedding, and then wonder why the bin smells or the worms are escaping. Every beginner mistake is fixable, most of them in a day, and none of them means the bin is ruined. This guide […]
Worm castings for indoor plants work best in small amounts: 1 to 2 tablespoons per pot as a top dressing, or 1 part castings mixed into 4 parts potting soil when you repot. That is enough for most houseplants. Castings are rich, so more is not better — a heavy hand can hold too much […]