Redworm food...?

[Louise E. Rothstein]

My new redworms are said to eat "leaves," but I have been unable to find out whether the "leaves" that redworms can eat include houseplant leaves (like philodendron or dracena) that are said to be naturally toxic.

Nor have I been able to find out whether they can safely feed on avocado seeds or avocado peels...or old tomato stems...or such (toxic-to-humans)tomato relatives' stems (like petunias or nightshades.)

Or molted leaves from my Rhoeo ("Moses in the Ark")
-Which human children should not chew.

Does anybody here know whether redworms can eat such things...?

Please tell me.

Thank you.

Yours very truly,

Louise Esther Rothstein
(aka crystalfan2912@yahoo.com)

 

[dtknow]

food waste(watermelon rinds, etc. etc. banapeels) I'd stay away from the stuff you listed just to be safe, but I would be willing to bet nothing bad would happen to the worms. (but maybe for the safety of the animals eating the worms?)

Do a Google man if you haven't. Their are tons of articles on vermicomposting online(including discussion on what not to put into a worm bin). Any more questions ask me I've raised them for a good while.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

Dear Dtknow:

I have already tried "googling" for answers without ever getting them.
All I ever got were reruns of the same information that I already had.

That is why I am asking Arachnoboards for information.

Somebody may have it here.

Yours very truly,

Louise E. Rothstein.

 

[dtknow]

Ok cool. I'm sure then that you've read the stuff such as that written on what kind of paper is ok, and not ok to use due to certain chemicals(for anyone reading, no glossy or photopaper!)


I would err on the side of caution if you are feeding these to your animals. If not, an experiment would be in order! I'd be eager to know your results. :drool:

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

The Internet seems to know what paper(s) to feed or not to feed redworms.
But they do seem to be terribly vague about "leaves," "plant parts," and
"organic debris..." these items are NOT biochemical clones.

 

[Matt K]

Worms can pretty much eat any decaying organic matter.... I am curious why one would want to know how specific thier food items are(n't).....its not like every single one will suddenly die.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

My first redworms DID die off after I fed them the WRONG "organic foods..."
although these might have been the breadcrust,meat and dairy discards there were numerous houseplant leaves that human children should not chew.

None of the above were toxic to the flies,springtails, and sowbugs that infiltrated the colony...they all multiplied without any interference whatsoever while my first redworm colony died out on me.

I still do not know whether sowbugs eat redworm eggs...
or whether the redworms were no longer breeding.

What went wrong?

 

[bhoeschcod]

Number one no dairy or meat in worm bins and thats your proplem/get a lid on it so bugs and kritters don't get in it.

 

[gvfarns]

My first redworms DID die off after I fed them the WRONG "organic foods..."
although these might have been the breadcrust,meat and dairy discards there were numerous houseplant leaves that human children should not chew.

None of the above were toxic to the flies,springtails, and sowbugs that infiltrated the colony...they all multiplied without any interference whatsoever while my first redworm colony died out on me.

I still do not know whether sowbugs eat redworm eggs...
or whether the redworms were no longer breeding.

What went wrong?

Red worms can die from lots of stuff, but I sort of doubt that throwing any organic foods (anything you could eat) would do it. Look to temperature, humidity, aeration. Gotta keep the oxygen down there and keep them wet at the same time. That's where you normally look. A few houseplant leaves don't seem like a likely candidate. If it was that toxic we wouldn't allow it in our homes at all. "Toxic" houseplants are, I should think, just not good for you. Doesn't mean they would house your worm bin the way you have described it.

From what I understand, you avoid feeding meat and milk and stuff not because it hurts the worms, but because it smells real bad to us as it rots.

 

[Matt K]

Red worms can die from lots of stuff, but I sort of doubt that throwing any organic foods (anything you could eat) would do it. Look to temperature, humidity, aeration. Gotta keep the oxygen down there and keep them wet at the same time. That's where you normally look. A few houseplant leaves don't seem like a likely candidate. If it was that toxic we wouldn't allow it in our homes at all. "Toxic" houseplants are, I should think, just not good for you. Doesn't mean they would house your worm bin the way you have described it.

From what I understand, you avoid feeding meat and milk and stuff not because it hurts the worms, but because it smells real bad to us as it rots.

gvfarms is right. The worm death probably had nothing to do with what was fed to them at all and more likely overwatered / underoxygenated / or otherwise had poor environmental conditions.

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

My first redworms might have had too much water.
More than one of my desert cacti died because I left them sitting in too much water until I learned to separate the plants that can't take it.

Most of my present plants have high water tolerance.
But such precautions as shallow containers,shallow water,and oxygenating algae are imperative to keep oxygen levels up.

Redworms turned out to be less aquatic than either Java moss or aquatic algae...although either of the above will thrive under water if reliable lighting permits them to produce oxygen it turned out that redworms tend to bloat-without being able to eat-under water even if they are supplied with oxygen.

 

[Matt K]

If you are goint to post a thread about an issue you are having, it would be extremely beneficial to you if you posted what in the heck you are doing. From reading this thread it is impossible to figure out if you are trying to keep terrestrial plants and worms underwater, or aquatic plants on land, or trying to grow worms in a container, or none of the above....

Please be more specific about what you are trying to do, how you are doing it, and why its not working....

 

[Louise E. Rothstein]

My redworms are in a bin.My desert cacti are in pots.My water lovers are in pots that I set in shallow water...and my cuttings are in clear cups with standing water in each bottom cup (to encourage my cuttings' partially submerged stems to root); and I invert an additional clear cup over each cutting ..I often have to "harden" newly rooted cuttings by increasing the time that they are exposed to drying air until they can take it reliably.

Green algae at LOW concentrations can supply oxygen.

Green algae at HIGH concentration are one of my worms' favorite foods...but they seem to let discarded breadcrust mold...is that a bad sign?

Or will they eat the mold...?