I do vermicomposting - Composting with worms. I have been doing this for about 13 years and I love it. I get incredible compost in a very short amount of time and it is easy-peasy. No turning, no balancing carbon/nitrogen ratios. Just feed the worms kitchen scraps and walk away. (I also do regular composting in bins)
When I first started out, I made my own worm bin out of a big plastic tub. Then I created a larger one on the ground. I eventually graduated to a deluxe model called "Can-O-Worms" and have never looked back. (By the way, you do NOT keep a can-o-worms in the middle of the kitchen like it shows in some of the marketing photos. I keep mine outside. Although there is no smell, you do get fruit flies.)
As I went out to feed my worms the other day, I took note of what they were eating and what they were avoiding. See...my worms are picky eaters! I don't know if other worm composters have this problem. But apparently, my worms are spoiled. They will avoid certain foods for as long as possible.
For the most part, they enjoy the usual trimmings such as apple cores, potato peels, banana peels. But they absolutely HATE onions. If I put an onion in the bin, they will move away from it and eat everything else first. Just like a five-year-old, they will only tackle the foods they dislike when there is nothing else to eat. And just like a mom, I will leave that onion on their plate until they do! It will remain on their plate until they grow up and EAT IT!
Yes, an onion will take forever to compost while a strawberry will only last a day or two. My worms have a sweet-tooth. Just like other little kids, my worms will devour a bowl of strawberries, cherries or grapes like they are starving. But what I find funny is that they also have an affection for COFFEE grounds.They love their coffee - French roast, espresso, house blend. You name it - They love it. If they had legs, they would probably have the new Starbucks Gold Membership Card.
So, at any time you can open my worm bin and see worms racing around hopped up on sugar and caffeine! No wonder they work so fast! If I fed my children like that, I would get a visit from Child Protective Services. I just hope there is not a worm equivalent to that! Perhaps Amy Stewart from GardenRant will hear of this and write me up a citation for worm abuse!! I hope not. I want to keep her on my side so I can ask her chicken questions from time to time.
Other composting posts:
Clever Ingredients for Your Compost Pile
Amazing. Me too: Can't stand onions (raw), but love my strawberries, and coffee too.
Posted by: Yvonne Cunnington | February 16, 2009 at 11:10 AM
Ahh...So it's not just MY worms! Must be a universal worm thing. Funny.
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | February 16, 2009 at 02:09 PM
There has been an onion skin in the same spot in my worm bin for at least two weeks now. I was starting to worry that I was over feeding them, since they haven't touched it. I don't feed them every day - or even every other day - so I guess mine are just picky, too. Maybe they'd like more fruit...
Posted by: Anneliese | February 16, 2009 at 07:32 PM
Don't worry. They will eat the onion eventually. They just will nibble it for awhile until they have no choice. As the onion rots, it becomes more appealing to them I think. Even though my worms hate onions, I throw them in there. They always disappear...it just takes a LONG time.
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | February 16, 2009 at 09:04 PM
I just started a worm bin, ( 3 tiered) 4 weeks ago.
I have to admit the first two weeks, I generally flunked out of vermicomposting.
I am now trying to learn FROM them. I realize that they
aren't fond of show and tell and they don't like my Vegas style
all day food buffets.
It is my resolution not to look at them for a week.
Posted by: suzanne St Pierre | February 17, 2009 at 08:58 PM
Suzanne-
Funny! I guess they don't like you spying on them so much! They hate bright lights and will run to hide.
We have been having cooler weather here and I noticed my worms are slowing down on their eating. I usually feed them twice a week. But I think I may have to put some of their scraps in my regular composter because they can't keep up this week. Guess I am switching to once a week too!
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | February 18, 2009 at 11:02 AM
My worms are picky eaters too. I don't care how hungry they are, they won't touch carrots. Pineapple, berries or corn gets devoured instantly. I do love my little wigglers and feed them their favorite foods as much as possible. I have to stop myself from picking up fruits just from them when I'm shopping.
Posted by: susan c | February 21, 2009 at 10:25 AM
Hmmm. Now that I think about it, my worms are a little slow on the carrots. But they eat them. I put a beet in there once and I half expected the worms to turn red from eating it. But they waited a long time to touch it. Never noticed any color change. LOL
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | February 22, 2009 at 06:27 AM
A wormery to eat what the kids leave - I like it. From Ilkley Moor where 't worms will come an eat thee up'
Posted by: Hortoris | February 24, 2009 at 08:12 AM
A wormery to eat what the kids leave - I like it. From Ilkley Moor where 't worms will come an eat thee up'
Posted by: Hortoris | February 24, 2009 at 08:13 AM
What a great story! We haven't really noticed our worms' aversion to onions as we usually don't dump our kitchen scraps immediately into the worm bin. Scraps first go into the regular compost bin mixed with "browns" that we turn about once a day. After a few days of decomposition, we then dump some of the pre-composted stuff into the worm bin (BTW, we got both Smith & Hawken bins at a huge discount from the county). They sure love it and breed worse than rabbits ;)
So I guess our worms are spoiled, too, LOL!
Posted by: Plangardengal | February 26, 2009 at 12:48 PM
Your worms ARE spoiled! (Just kidding) Your methods sounds perfect. Bet they break everything down quickly.
Have you ever frozen the scraps first? I read somewhere that freezing the worm food first makes everything go faster, but I just don't want to bother with that extra step. What I like about worms is that it is all so easy.
Wish I got in on the S & H discount bins!
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | February 27, 2009 at 01:05 PM
Thanks for the great post - I raised worms for several years, just now getting back into it. The worms multiply quickly - do you sell yours? If you have a large operation, many espresso stands are happy to give away their huge volume of coffee grounds and the worms love coffee. Wishing you the best.
Posted by: Marlene Affeld | April 04, 2009 at 07:19 AM
Hi Marlene-
Thanks for stopping by!
No, I don't sell my worms. They are just for my own use. I do collect coffee grounds sometimes from my local coffee house. I also use the grounds around seedlings to keep the snails and slugs away. It helps until they get washed away from the watering.
Glad you are doing worms again too!
Posted by: Theresa Loe/LivingHomegrown | April 05, 2009 at 06:29 AM