What Do Worms Eat?

A worm’s diet is based on where they live and if they are surface worms or if they live deep under the ground. Worms that are generally near the surface of the dirt can eat anything from dead leaves to cardboard all the way to melon rinds and sawdust.

For this reason, many people have taken to using worm buckets to process a lot of their garbage instead of having it sit in landfills where it cannot decompose properly.  For instance, are you throwing away a lot of fruit and veggies cores/peelings?  Well, set up a few worm bins and drop all of that waste in there and pretty soon you will have some fabulous compost to use for your plants.

Worms are some of the only creatures that can process all sorts of waste as their diet.  This is one of the main reasons that many people believe that worms will help save the planet one day.  Think about it, if everyone used worm bins instead of throwing out their organic garbage, there would be a lot less waste in the landfills. Plus, we could then use the worm compost to make our plants and crops healthy.

Now, if you are looking to set up your own worm bin, it is super easy!  All you need are worms, a container and some dirt and you got yourself a worm bin!  Just be sure that you keep your worm bin very moist and in a dark place as that is how worms generally live underground.  Now you can throw potato peelings, green peppers, egg shells, coffee grounds, tea bags, wet pizza boxes and even wood ashes in there!

While worms can pretty much eat anything, there are a few things that you want to avoid because it will not only smell up your worm bin, but it will also attract insects and that is definitely not something that you want.  Any dairy products or meat products are a big no-no to throw in there.  Meat products will begin to smell after a while and you definitely do not want that by your house.  Dairy products will not only smell in the long run, but they will also attract flies to your worm bin, so be careful of that. They also don’t care for acidic fruits like pineapple or citrus.

That is all!  Now that you know exactly what worms eat and how to start your own worm bin so you can help the planet by recycling some of your waste.  You may not have to take the garbage out every single week; you could maybe get away with two times a month when you start utilizing worms for all they are worth!