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Here are a few simple worm farming feeding steps to follow if you’re jetting out of town for a little while.

Fundamentally there are 3 key factors in worm farming, which are: Aeration, Diversity and Moisture. So, if we were to break these down even further it would look like this:

Aeration

When adding new food to your worm farm, it’s important to combine food in well with what is already in your worm farm. Why? Well by connecting castings and worms with the new food, this will help microbes and worms attach themselves to the newer food that you’ve just added. This mixing action will also create air pockets in and around the working tray. Oxygen is how aerobic microbes multiply, who also assist food to break down in your worm farm.

Diversity

This means adding a variety of foods to your worm farm, if you are emptying your fridge of all the food that will spoil as well as any odd fruits laying in fruit bowl this is considered diversity. And that’s simply because fruits and vegetables contain different sugars/ water concentration. Some foods may also break down more quickly than others, whereas the firmer veggies like broccoli/ potatoes will take longer therefore sustaining your worm farm for longer. This diversity also creates a lovely balance of micro and macro nutrients in the worm casting, you can ready more about this here

Diversity can also be chopping the scraps in 1cmx1cm or ½” cubes. This will allow you to fit more in your worm farm, but also make it easier to aerate and mix.

Moisture – generally the sheer volume of food that is added will provide enough moisture to the worm farm, so nothing more is really needed. However, evaporation over a period of time can really dry out a worm farm. As worms wriggle their way around a  worm farm, they needed moisture to assist them. Adding a worm farm blanket to the very top of your worm farm will help stop moisture escaping your worm farm.

In summary the best way to add a lot of food all at once to a worm farm is to dice up scraps/ vegetables/ fruits before adding to the worm farm. Always aerate and combine both new and old food scraps – it can be best described as mixing wet and dry ingredients of a cake until both have combined well. Cover with a blanket to lock in moisture, the blanket will also make the worm feels more comfortable to move to the top of the worm farm. And lastly, sprinkling Worm Farm and Compost Conditioner this will help balance any acidity as well as make the macro and micro nutrients more available to your plants once castings are harvested.

Happy Composting and Happy Holidaying!

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