I’ve been experimenting with a worm farm so some time now, and have been putting to the test this idea that worms love coffee grounds. I am pleased to report that my love for coffee grounds continues to grow 🙂

Thousands of worms hiding just below the surface

The worm farm that I’ve started with is one of those smallish green plastic boxes on a stand, and a tray underneath to collect the valuable vermicast. The top of it is a folding plastic lid with air holes and over the organic material I have placed some cardboard and paper sheeting, which keeps out the light, keeps in the warmth, and reduces the number of flies.

The picture below is the result of taking a scoop from the top.

I could feel the whole pile move around in my hand!

What really struck me was the health of the worms. You can see from the photos that they are in great health, and also spotted many of them with the tell-tale signs of getting ready to lay eggs (from those white bulges).

These worms are full of life and in great health

See the two little ones on the left?

These worms are proof that coffee grounds are a winner

A box full of plump and healthy coffee ground reared worms.

Having a worm farm is a great thing to do

As for the amount of coffee grounds used in the compost bin, I’m adding about 20% of the total weight of scraps thrown in. They seem to be thriving on the combination, which is fairly much everything except meat, dairy, limited citrus, garlic and onion.

Have also started to throw in bird seed, with the smaller type grain for canaries and finches.

These little wonders are also going into my compost bins (except the heat induction one), and also into the vegi plots. They seem to have developed a taste for the horse manure resting in plot 1.

So friends, if you do not yet have a worm farm to call your own, go out and get one, or make your own – and if you are already collecting coffee grounds (don’t get me started man! But if you need a refresh my Ground to Ground Primer post should do it), just add some greens, paper, cardboard, egg shells, and seeds. Do a visual check to see if they want more, in Summer they eat more than in Winter, and clean it all out every 6 months or so.

And if there was ever any doubt about how much worms love coffee grounds, check out my video on the subject – and if you have any questions just ask.

Related Articles

• Coffee Grounds for Compost (groundtoground.org)
• Composting with Coffee Grounds – Video (groundtoground.org)
• Have Your Latte and Compost it too! on 40 Mums Club (groundtoground.org)