Vermicomposting is the process of composting with worms, in my case Red Wigglers. I have a homemade three-tier stacked worm bin that I use mostly as a nutrient supplement for my houseplants and avocado saplings, since it's a small scale. I put leftover food scraps in the bin, though not everything can be composted by worms.
Worms lack teeth, so they need to have grit available in their bedding at all times (you can add dirt, sand, crushed/powdered eggshells, and some people say used coffee grounds make for good grit material though I haven't confirmed this. Worms still like used coffee grounds, so you can definitely add them to your worm bin). Every time you harvest your worm bin, you should add more grit into the new bedding material.
Good bedding material for your worms can include shredded newspaper, shredded cardboard, leaf litter, coconut coir, wood chips, aged horse or cow manure, and straw/hay. You can also add aged grass and weeds that are unseeded and untreated (aged so they don't create heat while in the bin), just be sure there were no chemicals used on these and they haven't gone to seed (vermicomposting is a cold compost process, so it will not kill any unwanted seeds or pathogens). Keep in mind, the smaller the pieces of bedding material, the faster the worms (and helpers) will be able to break them down.
Of course, the worms will need food to help keep them going. This is the exciting part where you get to turn your moldy old food into nutritious black gold for your plants. But of course, you can't feed them just anything. They have a specific diet you have to follow in order to keep them and the environment they live in happy and healthy. Good food choices include: expired fruits and vegetables (with some limitations, listed below), including banana peels, squashes, and pumpkins, used coffee grounds, eggshells, bread, plain pasta, and aged lawn clippings. You can freeze the food before placing them in the worm bin, which can have the benefits of breaking down the cellular structure of the food item, adding moisture into the worm bin, and killing off any fruit fly eggs that may be in the fruit. Burying the food under the bedding material can also help prevent pests, such as fruit flies, from finding your bin.
You always want to be conscientious of the amount of food you're adding at once. Worms can only work through so much at one time, so if you overwhelm them with a large amount of food at once, it may cause a smell and can create an environment your worms don't want to live in. If you notice your worms are crawling out of your bin, they are not happy with their living conditions and they're trying to find a more hospitable environment. See Troubleshooting your Worm Bin for tips on how to make your worms happy if you come across any issues.
What NOT to feed Worms: A good rule of thumb is to avoid spicy, acidic, salty, oily, processed foods, and non-degradable materials like plastics, metals, and glass. This list also includes onions, garlic, meat, dairy, citrus and pineapple (though in a large bin, small amounts of citrus and pineapple may be alright), starchy foods like rice and potatoes (again, large bins can tolerate a small amount), and you may avoid adding hard materials like fruit pits, corn cobs, and sticks or woody material for the simple fact that these will take a very long time to break down. I honestly don't mind if a piece of material doesn't break down quickly, since you can use this as a sort of inoculation for your new bedding material when you harvest your bin (you can achieve the same thing if you keep a handful of finished vermicompost and place it in the new bedding). The inoculation process ensures that the microorganisms in your worm bin remain present, since these are the primary helpers that allow the worms to break down the material.
One thing I love about vermicomposting is that the worms self regulate very well. If they have plenty of food and space, they will reproduce to fulfil that capacity. If they are running low on food or space, they will stop reproducing until their resources become more available to sustain a larger population. You still want to be consistent with your feedings, as you don't want them to expect a meal every week and then die off because they didn't receive a meal for a month.
Weekly feedings are generally a good idea. Depending on your bin, you may feed them more or less often. Check the status of your last feeding before adding more food, so you will know if they still need more time or if you need to make adjustments for future feedings. Mold can be visible in your worm bin, but unless the worms are fleeing the area and avoiding the source, you shouldn't have to worry about the formation of mold - it's just helping to break down the material.
If you have any questions, please let me know :)
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