What do earthworms eat? How to compost food and feed earthworms

What do earthworms eat? What food to feed earthworms to grow quickly and effectively? How to feed earthworms? Those are questions asked by many people who are just starting to learn about the profession of worm farming. Let’s answer all the above questions through the article: What do earthworms eat? What is earthworm food? How to compost and how to feed earthworms.

Earthworms (earthworms) are very sensitive to light, wind and temperature. So in nature they often go underground to live? So, does earthworm farming need land? Not really, in fact, earthworm farming using completely manure, green manure, organic waste… processed, especially cow manure, brings very high efficiency.

1. What do earthworms eat?

What do earthworms eat? It can be said that earthworms can eat all types of organic waste and agricultural by-products. Earthworm food has a very wide spectrum. However, the most favorite type of earthworms is cow dung.

Earthworms are very easy to raise if you know how. Earthworms’ bodies are rich in protein, so their food must be nutritious for them to absorb. Earthworms can eat many types of agricultural waste and animal feces. However, not all types of earthworms grow quickly and lay eggs quickly… So, how to create balanced and nutritious food for earthworms?

⫸ See more: What is the purpose of raising earthworms?

2. Types of food for earthworms

2.1 Pet waste

All types of animal waste containing many nutrients such as pig manure, cow manure, chicken manure, buffalo manure, horse manure… can all be used to prepare food for earthworms. Among them, earthworms like to eat manure the most:

2.2 Straw, leaves, organic waste

Waste sources containing a lot of organic matter are also source ideal food for earthworms. Straw, leaves, organic waste… must be composted and supplemented with protein-rich waste to balance before feeding earthworms.

2.3 Kitchen waste

Organic waste from the kitchen such as eggshells, fruit peels, vegetable rolls, vegetable leaves, leftover rice, leftover soup… can be composted as food for earthworms. However, this amount of food is quite small. If you raise earthworms on an industrial scale, you must find a large source of waste to actively source food for the earthworms.

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2.4 Green manure, water hyacinth, leftover vegetables

Water hyacinth, fresh grass, excess vegetables and fruits that are about to spoil… are also sources of raw materials used to prepare food for earthworms effectively. The easiest source of raw materials to find is water hyacinth. There have been many successful earthworm farms using water hyacinth. The benefits of raising earthworms with water hyacinth are that the raw materials are abundant, cheap, and retain moisture well. The tubular water hyacinth is an ideal shelter for earthworms.

2.5 Agricultural by-products

Rice bran, corn bran, rice husk, peanut shell… can also be used to prepare food for worms with a certain ratio in the formula when composting food for earthworms

2.6 Ready-made industrial food

This type of food is commercially available at a high price compared to making it yourself, but the nutritional content is more balanced and complete, ensuring favorite meals for earthworms. You can find them at stores that sell farming accessories and industrial food for earthworms!

3. Why must food be composted before feeding earthworms?

Incubating earthworm food with biological products is the most effective and economical way to prepare food for earthworms today

The purpose of composting food for earthworms

– Cooking food for earthworms using biological methods

– Eliminates foul odors produced during the process of preparing food for worms

– Nutritional enrichment of earthworm food: microorganisms produce a lot of protein, nutrients, minerals… helping to balance and stabilize the nutrition of earthworm food.

– Kills pathogens in waste and animal feces

– Helps earthworms easily absorb nutrients from food, digest well, grow quickly, get sick less, and lay more eggs

– Provides effective microflora for the worm’s living environment, inhibits and destroys disease-causing microorganisms.

The above are the reasons why manure and organic waste must be treated before feeding earthworms. Using biological products to treat food for earthworms is the most optimal method.

The two best types of biological products used to compost food for earthworms today

– Original liquid EM product (EMGRO): provides effective microorganisms, matures food, enriches food nutrition for earthworms

– Emzeo fermented bran animal feed yeast: supports cooking food for earthworms quickly, decomposes organic waste quickly, kills pathogens, disease-causing microorganisms, eliminates completely bad smell.

4. Some notes when feeding earthworms

To ensure health and productivity when raising earthworms, farmers need to pay attention to the following issues:

– Do not feed worms untreated pet waste

– Organic waste has a foul smell and many flies

– Citrus fruits, toxic leaves…

– Eliminate pet urine because it contains a lot of uric acid which is harmful to earthworms

– Do not feed the worms tightly packed foods (must be loosened), because the worms have difficulty working and cannot eat the food.

5. A simple way to compost food for earthworms

Composting organic waste with biological products can be used as food for earthworms. However, the best food for earthworms must ensure:

– Rich in nutrients, rich in protein, clean of pathogens

– Highly porous

– Balanced nutrients

– No more stench

Use composted food to feed directly into earthworm farming used as a worm farming substrate.

5.1 The best formula for composting food for earthworms

– Cow manure: 1 ton (can use pig manure, chicken manure, buffalo manure, horse manure… instead) accounts for about 50%

– Straw, bagasse, sawdust…: 300 – 400kg, about 20 – 25%

– Green vegetables, water hyacinth, leaves: 500 – 700kg, about 25 – 30%

– Rice bran, corn bran: 30kg

– EMGRO product – original EM probiotic: 1 liter

– Emzeo fermented bran animal feed yeast: 2 packs of 200gr

– Molasses: 5 liters

5.2 Prepare the incubation site

If brew with in small quantities, you can use pots, brass, etc. For incubation in large quantities, the best advice is to build a separate tank or lake for spaciousness. Note, people should choose an incubation place with sufficient sunlight and humidity. Dry and airy, avoid rain and wind, use tarpaulin to cover

5.3 How to compost food for earthworms

Step 1: Original EM biomass (EMGRO) produces secondary EM products

Step 2: Incubate

– Mix rice bran and corn bran well with 2 packs of Emzeo Fermented Bran 200gr

– Spread a layer of straw, green vegetables, water hyacinth, leaves… with a thickness of 7 – 10 cm

– Water the probiotics that created biomass in step 1, sprinkle rice bran powder mixed with yeast on the surface

– Sprinkle cow dung on the surface with a thickness of 5 – 7cm. Water with probiotics and rice bran powder mixed with EMZEO

product

– Continue making sequentially until you run out of ingredients

– Stir the compost pile well and add clean water to reach 50% compost humidity (lightly grasp when water leaks through your fingers)

– Beat the compost pile and use a tarpaulin to cover the pile

– Stir every 7 – 10 days (if you don’t have time, leave it for longer)

Step 3: Incubation time

– For cow manure, it can be used after 3 – 4 weeks

– Pig and goat manure composting time 4 – 5 weeks

– Chicken and duck manure… longer composting time: 5 – 6 weeks

6. How to feed earthworms

Currently, the most commonly used ways to feed earthworms are: floating and sinking feeding techniques. So, what are the advantages and disadvantages of each feeding method and which method should be chosen most effectively? Choosing how to feed earthworms depends on two factors: the type of worm breed and what is the purpose of raising earthworms? The food that earthworms like the most is cow dung.

Experience from long-time worm farmers says: After releasing worms for 1 to 2 days, people should feed them. The amount of food/time is about 5cm/bed surface. When you observe that the surface of the bed is porous, it means that the old food no longer needs to be fed to the worms.

Note, you should not feed the worms if there is still a lot of old food left. The reason is: When there is a lot of food remaining under the beds, they will only hide under the beds to eat, not coming to the surface. This will affect the worm’s ability to develop and reproduce. 

The favorite foods of earthworms are many and not difficult to find. They like fresh manure from cattle, pigs, rabbits, goats, horses or other types of composted organic waste. Food should be soaked in the tank, watered with clean water for 1 to 2 days until it becomes a thick liquid, then scooped out for the worms to eat. 

The amount of food for worms depends on their quantity and stage of development. In the summer, people feed worms 2 to 3 times, the amount of food on each bed is 2 to 3cm thick. In winter, worms will eat more, so the bed lip is filled with about 5cm of food. Food for worms needs to be fertilized in piles or long rows so that if the food contains shocking substances or the temperature in the bed increases, they will still have space to crawl up. 

6.1 Technique for floating earthworms

Treat cow manure before feeding

– Choose fresh cow manure for earthworms to eat

– 3-4 days before feeding earthworms, treat cow manure before feeding to increase efficiency

– 1kg of cow manure + 2 liters of clean water + 20gr of EMZEO fermented bran, stir well, cover and incubate for 3-4 days to let the earthworms eat.

Purpose:

– How to feed floating worms suitable for fertilizing worms (worm biomass, raising worms to get worms), helping worms have the ability to grow quickly and reproduce strongly

– Using this feeding method is suitable when you want to harvest adult worms

– Very suitable for earthworm varieties in Vietnam. Therefore, if you use earthworm varieties originating in Vietnam, you should use the floating earthworm feeding method.

Feed periodically

– Earthworms like to eat soft, moist organic foods. Suitable for floating feeding

– For floating feeding, you must feed the worms regularly, periodically every 2 – 3 days, you must feed the worms once

Advantages

– Suitable for earthworm varieties in Vietnam

– Earthworms grow quickly, are healthy, and mature soon

– This way of feeding worms is easy to eat, can eat a lot and easily lay eggs

– Suitable when just raising earthworms (should not multiply beds yet)

Disadvantages

– Takes a lot of effort to care for because of frequent feeding

– Food must be watered evenly on the surface of the bed

How to feed

– Spread the prepared earthworm food evenly into rows, about 15 – 20cm wide

– Each bed is 20cm apart

– Watering in rows alternating between the old bed and the next feeding

– Only water a thin layer

 6.2 Techniques for sinking earthworms

Treat cow dung as food for worms

– Choose fresh cow manure for earthworms to eat

– 3-4 days before feeding earthworms, treat cow manure before feeding to increase efficiency

– 1kg of cow dung + 1 – 1.5 liters of clean water + 20gr of EMZEO fermented bran, stir well, cover and incubate for 3 – 4 days to let the earthworms sink.

Purpose

– Used when raising earthworms to get vermicompost

– Applicable when you want to multiply earthworm beds or multiply earthworm biomass

Feeding periodically

– Worms must be fed once every month or when the bed runs out of food

Advantages

– Less time consuming

– Multiplies worm beds effectively, multiplies worm biomass quickly

Disadvantages

– Must control the moisture of the manure for the worms to eat. If worms cannot eat dry food, they will grow very poorly. If the food is too wet, the worms will eat very little, the activity of the worms will be poorer,

– Suitable for experienced, highly technical worm farmers

– Do not let manure and biomass get too dry or too wet during the feeding process

How to feed when multiplying worm beds

– Divide biomass into rows 25 cm wide, leaving grooves about 15 – 17 cm wide to pour food

– Pour processed manure into the grooves to equal the thickness of the biomass

How to feed worms when raising them to get vermicompost

If you raise worms for fertilizer and don’t care about the worm biomass, just keep the bed well moist and feed once a month. Water the food on the surface, the worms eat it all and then water more. After 6 months to 1 year, vermicompost is harvested.

7. Some common diseases in earthworms

Basically, earthworms rarely get diseases. However, during the farming process, especially in the summer, they can still encounter some of the following diseases:

• Gas disease: If people feed worms too much protein-rich food such as cow manure or pig manure, they will have the phenomenon of gas. At that time, the worms will rise to the surface of the bed and crawl, their bodies gradually turn purple and die. The solution when encountering that situation is: Take out all the manure you are feeding and then water the beds.
• Poisonous gas disease: The cause of this disease is rotting of the bottom of the substrate, leading to lack of oxygen for a long time, and abundant CO2 gas covering every gap in the substrate. Therefore, the worms will find a way to get up on the surface of the bed and try to crawl somewhere else. The solution is: Cultivate the entire bed surface and water immediately.

See more: What is earthworm fluid? How to produce and use earthworm solution to fertilize plants effectively

Through the above article, Microbial products hope to provide people many useful knowledge about earthworms. If still have questions about how to raise earthworms, you can refer to details at chephamvisinh.vn or contact phone number/Zalo: 0934.214.579 for detailed advice. Wishing everyone good health and success in worm farming cinnamon!