How to Fatten Up Your Fishing and Composting Worms with 5 Simple Ingredients

Nobody Wants a Skinny Worm!

Not the gardener. Not the fisherman. And surely not the fish!  A big, fat, juicy worm or nightcrawler will simply eat more waste, produce more nutrient-rich castings, and look way better wiggling on the line than one that looks dehydrated and half dead.

 Even though the list of organic matter that you can feed to your worms is seemingly endless, the answer to producing plump, healthy-looking worms and nightcrawlers isn't simply just to feed them more. Studies and accounts of home and commercial worm farmers alike almost all fall in line with composting worms only being able to eat their own body weight in organic materials a day at best. Feeding them more than that can actually make them sick, make their bedding sour, and even kill them!

Since feeding worms and nightcrawlers more to fatten them up isn't really a healthy option, that only leaves the questions of what to feed them, when to feed them, and how to feed them. This 5 ingredient recipe and feeding schedule will answer those questions and turned my European Nightcrawlers from looking like wiggling pine straw into absolute Titans in about a month: (That's not to mention that they are producing cocoons like crazy now too!)

Ingredients:

1/2 cup of plain oatmeal

1/2 cup of used coffee grounds

1 teaspoon of crushed oyster shells or eggshells

10 to 12 spinach leaves ( Any leafy green will do.)

1 Whole banana ( This one has been frozen to help it break down faster.)

Instructions:

NOTE: Worms have very tiny mouths, and anything that can be done to help them break their food down faster will speed up the process of producing healthier worms. I freeze and thaw all of my coffee grounds, spinach, and bananas before I make this recipe to speed up decomposition.

• Combine all ingredients in a blender or food processor and blend them into a paste.
• Feed the worms on top of the worm bed instead of burying the food in the bedding.
• Cover the worm food up with a handful of dry bedding to keep pests at bay. 

WARNING: Oyster shells are hard and have the potential to damage the blades of a blender or food processor. I haven't had a problem with them and I've been making this recipe for about 3 months now. If you want to try this recipe, the oyster shells can be stirred in by hand at the end of the blending process if this is a concern of yours.

Feeding Schedule:

When I feed my nightcrawlers and worms I make sure that the previous feeding has been eaten before I feed again. This recipe will feed 1/2 pound of worms for 3 to 5 days and have them plump, juicy, healthy, and ready for the garden or hook in about 2 weeks!