Should you Blend your Worm Food?? Day 23

[@WorldComposting]

Post a comment and let me know if you think of other ways I should test putting food in the bin!

[@TheChromePoet]

You mentioned the blended food mixing with the bedding. I was thinking placing the blended food on a piece of cardboard with it's corners slightly bent up to prevent spillover. This would also allow you to quickly find all of the food at once, and see how much was eaten.

[@WorldComposting]

I have a timelapse coming that will show the food on top and what gets consumed first

[@TheChromePoet]

@@WorldComposting awesome, I can't wait for that one.

[@Gnolomweb]

searching for what I can blend together. Can I grind up bones/eggshells + greens with meat products? Smell doesnt bother me and rodents dont bother me (they are extra biomass to trap and feed to BSFL)

[@A-V]

The views on this video are climbing nice and quickly... already over 2k views in less than 2 weeks. Good to see a new video perform well. Bravo!

[@WorldComposting]

I think this was a hot topic as a lot of people have done videos on this same subject. Granted I love your timelapse videos and I can tell a lot of other people do too. I think it really shows what worms can do and how well the can compost even large items!

[@noobplayers9448]

Yeah I love the time lapse vedio. Great 👌

[@XaYaZaZa]

I've been blending my food for my worms the past year. They love it and it really does process faster and better imo

[@WorldComposting]

It really does the real key is finding an easy way to blend it when you start using more and more food. I used a food processor for a while but it broke and batch processing is a bit annoying. I built a 3d printed shredder that uses a drill but it really needs some gearing to reduce the speed and is a bit of a pain to setup. I know others have used garbage disposals in a home built system successfully.

[@ImGinaMarie]

Great series, I've just started my compost worm bin! I've been grinding my food too, really no comparison to how much more they can consume! Stunning results! I'm wondering if fruits containing higher amounts of sugar is causing the breakdown and increasing the bacterias needed for their food...hmm

[@WorldComposting]

I'm sure the sugar supports a higher microbial population and helps a lot with the process of breaking down the fruit. Not to mention I think fruits have a higher moisture content as well.

[@khaledatassi3898]

Thanks a lot for all this efforts.. 💐❤💐 It is really beneficial 🙏

[@annwithaplan9766]

I have a very small worm bin going. I freeze my scraps first, so they are soft after they thaw out. Seems to be working pretty well so far. My neighbor gave me some watermelon rinds today and I threw a few small pieces in there to see how they do.

[@WorldComposting]

I know mine love watermelon just be careful as they have a lot of liquid that can saturate the bin.

[@annwithaplan9766]

@@WorldComposting - Ohhh ok thanks!

[@lancerudy9934]

Very good demonstration on worms bin feeding! What kind of worms?

[@snoopylyn9065]

I think he has red wiggles worms

[@AJsGreenTopics]

Thanks for sharing.

[@sudburyrentalz7804]

Is there anything in particular to look for in hardwood pellets? Thks.

[@WorldComposting]

I would get pellets made for animals these should be cheap and not harmful to your worms. I think Tractor Supply Co sells 40 lb bags for less than 10 dollars.

[@lancerudy9934]

Very helpful ! Thanks

[@WorldComposting]

Glad it was helpful!

[@texaspatty4697]

Blending half rotten food sounds like a time consuming mess, hard on an older blender. I prefer breaking or chopping the tougher food before freezing, unless already rotting. When defrosted, the food is ready to go in. The worms get to the banana peels first then take their time on the others. Nobody is rushed or burdened with cleanup. I like keeping it easy! Like your vids, thank you!

[@WorldComposting]

Thanks for watching. I typically freeze all my food and don't blend very often but from everything I can tell blended food is consumed much faster.

[@Ibis117]

I use a blender now, fill it 1/4 full with water, and keep adding scraps until it is the consistency of porridge. My worms go through a quart of "porridge" in three days. That's all kitchen scarps, banana peel, tea bags, veggies, anything. Add the water as soon as you feed, and give it a quick "zizz" and the jug stays clean. It also stays in the shed. :-)

[@WorldComposting]

@@Ibis117 With a blender you need the water and if you keep your bins on the dry side that should work great. I might try that at some point but don't have an extra blender and don't want to risk my the one I use daily for the family!

[@TheTrueabundance]

Could it be that the sugar content in bananas help make more microbial activity and the worms are going more for the microbes because they’re easier to eat?

[@WorldComposting]

Exactly right!!

[@wendysurbanhomestead5011]

Is that all worm castings? Or do you put dirt in the bin?

[@WorldComposting]

I never add dirt to my bins but the material is Coco Coir which is the husk of a coconut. Most of my bins run on corrugated cardboard but I bought Coco Coir specifically for this experiment so I knew the bins would be as close to exactly the same as possible.

[@imperpekto12ify]

Hi, How did youbget your worm bin casting that fluffy?

[@WorldComposting]

It isn't castings but Coco Coir. I started both bins at the same time and wanted to have them to match as much as possible.

[@imperpekto12ify]

Okies.. Thats really nice!! I just started my worm bin and so far my bin and worms are doing good but its so moist.

[@snoopylyn9065]

What kind of dirt you are using for your worms? I bought organic soils but there’s some wood chips in it 😓

[@WorldComposting]

These worms don't live in dirt they live in the leaf litter on the floor typically so my bedding is typically made of shredded cardboard/paper, coco coir, or hardwood pellets (aka saw dust). The bedding material is consumed as food and turns into castings as well.

[@snoopylyn9065]

World Composting oh okay thanks 🙏

[@pinkcharms]

Do you put the worms on the sides/lid of the bin back inside? Why or why not? Thanks!

[@WorldComposting]

Typically I would just leave them where they are. I will take them out of areas on the lid where they could get crushed but I probably don't even need to do that.

[@LivingRedefined]

My worms seem to love bananas and cucumbers more than anything.

[@lancerudy9934]

Banana peels?

[@Karistonschannel]

i use Stalkers as worm food

[@Ryin88]

is there a time lapse of the days of this experiment?

[@WorldComposting]

Time lapse videos take a long time to setup and I wasn't doing it around that time. Maybe I'll set one up in the future.

[@JahRasta01]

In your experience, what are the top 3 foods worms absolutely love?

[@WorldComposting]

Hmm top three foods 1) Watermelon - They love the extra moisture and the sugar it breaks down quickly 2) Bananas - Mainly the insides and the hard stem part can last a while 3) This is up in the air as it will depend more on the form the food is in at this point since they really like ground up food more than whole food that takes a while. Great Question and thanks for watching!

[@JahRasta01]

@@WorldComposting Awesome, we are going to freeze our scraps and then blend them. Would you suggest we use non-citrus pulp from the juicer? How about ginger pulp? Thanks for the help and the channel.

[@WorldComposting]

@@JahRasta01 I have found you can use citrus as well but mix it up with some crushed egg shells to balance the pH. Not sure I've never put ginger in my bins, this might be something I need to try at some point. Thanks for watching and if you have any other questions let me know!

[@ImGinaMarie]

@@WorldComposting Please take a look at "Gardener Scott" youtube channel, he explains why worms seem to eat certain foods more than other(worms don't have brains so therefore they can't "like")..I also believe he has some scientific background..everyone can benefit from some of his posts..He also did a post testing foods...look for his worm videos, I think it was a 3 part series. Enjoy :-)

[@crt9082]

Great info. Yes i blend when i have a over abundance of food in the freezer and usually when i was getting ready to harvest a bin cuz it would be gone faster but also get all the worms to migrate. Just got to be careful about it adding too much moisture if you run it on the wetter side and then add blended food.

[@WorldComposting]

Very true about the moisture content. I think the Coco coir bedding dries out a bit better than cardboard.

[@scooterg3192]

I’ve been searching your channel and AV (a YT worm guy too) suggested I ask you about getting rid of gnats & preventing them in the future. Can you direct me to a video you address this in?

[@scooterg3192]

Found it!

[@WorldComposting]

I have found that the bug light I bought works really well which shocked the bugs and me (literally one time 😂). I highly recommend having one just in case you get gnats in the house.

[@scooterg3192]

World Composting Thanks for the insight & reply.

[@WickedProxy]

@@WorldComposting I have seen a lot of greenhouse gardeners use bright yellow pads that are sticky. The bugs are attracted to the bright color and get stuck to the pad when they try to land on them. A trick I learned from mhpgardener that shows how to make one here. kzbin.info/www/bejne/b3iXlH6Ln7Jrmpo

[@DouglasSoaresVicente]

i've been looking for a video about this for so long! KZbin shows me "how to draw a [keyword] in Blender software" no matter what keyword i put on the search.

[@WorldComposting]

Hmm never thought about it before but maybe I should check some of the words I use in my titles to see if the correct subject comes up. I know my son is learning blender I wonder if he has ever come across this video.

[@noobplayers9448]

May be our Indian earth worms are intolerant to cold.

[@noobplayers9448]

Why you use frozen food. Could you tell me . I am from India and our climate is hot type . Should we use frozen food? Help me

[@WorldComposting]

You don't have to freeze the food I freeze mine for two reasons. First I have the space and second it should kill any bugs that could be on the skins. However it is not required Also for this experiment I needed to make sure I had the same food for both bins and I don't normally eat 5+ bananas a day. 😁

[@noobplayers9448]

@@WorldComposting 😇😁👌 thank you. And I am big fan of you cannel. Don't stop making vedios. We are with you.. and wishes.....

[@WorldComposting]

Thank you glad to have fans such as you! Thank you for watching!

[@ForgivenBob]

Freezing helps soften the food so they can consume it easier.. The water in the food "explodes" the matter when it freezes.. Makes it mushy.

[@thegreatest3651]

it looks like u add too much coconut coir/peat

[@WorldComposting]

Why do you say that? I only had 2-3 inches of coco coir in the bin. Yes it was fresh but that was to control for other variables as much as possible.

[@thegreatest3651]

@@WorldComposting It doesnt look like worm castings you would get from say just adding food scraps, it would be a look clumpier, damp and full of nutrients, in a worm bin if you put coconut coir, you will end up with coconut coir, a dry, loose material with no nutrients.