How-To: Boost Your Red Worm Reproduction Rate

Red worms eat lots of organic material, but these ravenous little eating machines are particularly fond of some naturally sweet food treats.

While the wigglers will do well on a well-balanced diet of moldy vegetable peels, fruit scraps, cardboard, leaves, tea bags and coffee grounds, there are some high-sugar-content items that will really draw their attention in the worm bin.

To appeal to your red wigglers’ sweet-tooth, add the following “delicacies”  to the menu every few days or so. The red wigglers will thank you for it – in more ways than one.

• Watermelon is a great addition, with a high moisture content and lots of sweet, soft “meat.”
• Pumpkin pieces chopped up and left to soften are perfect add-ins later in the growing season.
• Mango skin will attract worms from every corner of the bin.
• Peels from avocados can have the same effect.
• Banana peels and over-ripe bananas are easy additions.
• Cantaloupe, especially the rind, is another sure-fire hit.
• And last but not least, corn cobs (ground up) and the residual remnants of the kernels are the most popular food in my indoor Worm Factory.

The extra bonus to these taste temptations? Worms swarm to these foods like neighborhood kids to the ice cream truck. And when worms gather in close quarters … nature being what it is … one thing leads to another … and you will see a quick rise in your red worm reproduction rate!

A few tips to keep in mind:

• Use citrus fruits sparingly. The acid in oranges and lemons can and will cause trouble for your wigglers if you give them too much.
• A balanced diet is critical to the health and well-being of red wiggler composting worms. These sweet foods are popular and appreciated by the worms, but don’t go overboard.
• Remember, it is always a good practice to cut up food into smaller bits and scraps, and if you can store the foodstuff for a few days in a plastic container or a thick, self-sealing plastic bag, let the scraps sit for a few days and “ripen.” It will make the food easier for the worms to digest, and happy worms are productive worms!
• As your red worms’ favorite foods supply an ever-multiplying workforce, you can expect that soon they’ll need more space.  Consider an additional worm bin to allow your worm herd to spread out.  Without space, worms will maintain their population density by halting reproduction.  

Take your hobby to the next level by serving up a consistent menu of red worms’ favorites to assure a healthy and ever-expanding recycling crew.  Keep them well-fed and reproducing by adding to your worm bin real estate today!