The main appeal of purchasing red wigglers for many people is that these worms are the best choice for turning food scraps into valuable worm castings for your garden. Those that are in the know about gardening will testify that these worm castings are the best organic soil amendment that can be used on plants anywhere. Fruit and Vegetable waste is generally the most common household waste that is fed to composting worms. These scraps simply can't be thrown in a worm bed without proper precautions taken to ensure the safety of your worms. The problems presented by these types of food wastes are follows:
1. Excess water from decomposition of plant matter, which can overwhelm your bin with water and create muddy vermicompost, which is not ideal for the health of your worms.
2. Acidic PH caused by this plant matter decomposing in your worm bin, which can kill your worms if the PH gets too low.
3. Excessive nitrogen which is common in most plant matter, which can leaded to your carbon/nitrogen ratio becoming unbalanced in your bin, which is unhealthy for your worms.
How can you rectify the above issues and feed plant waste to your worms? Whenever you feed your worms add a dry carbon source such as shredded cardboard or pine shavings. This will absorb any excess moisture, while at the same time adding a source of carbon to balance out the excess nitrogen that is within your feedstocks. Also, add a small dusting of dolomite garden lime or crushed eggshells at the time of feeding, which counteracts any acidity created by the decomposition of fruits and veggies in your bin. Whenever you feed your worms, don't feed more than the worms can consume in one week. If there is a good amount of food left from a prior feeding, refrain from adding more so you don't overwhelm your system with too much food which can heat up and kill your worms.
I hope you found these tips helpful. Be on the lookout for future posts that will discuss other viable feedstocks for red wigglers.