I’ve put a variety of things in my worm bins over the years – eg coffee cups, dryer lint & pet hair, and bed sheets – but I don’t think I’ve ever tried whole books.
As our good friend, Larry “Garbage Guru” Duke demonstrates, worms seem to love trashy romance novels! Gives a whole new meaning to the term “book worm”.
Written by Bentley on February 27th, 2013 with
10 comments.
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GA
#2.
February 27th, 2013, at 1:54 PM.
I really like his point that while it _helps_ to cut / shred things, it’s really not necessary; it’s mainly just how much extra time it will take if left intact.
I’ve recently decided that apart from some shredded paper, I’m going to worry less about shredding cardboard. It’ll get cut into strips (pretty big) and I won’t worry about it as long as the cardboard is damp.
Carmen
#3.
February 28th, 2013, at 12:17 AM.
The earthworms may be into pulp fiction because of the paper quality. They could’ve liked the glue, too…
John Duffy
#4.
February 28th, 2013, at 10:33 PM.
“Book Worm”…Hats-off to ya for that one
Tom Bergstrand
#5.
March 1st, 2013, at 1:12 AM.
Bentley,
Larry mentions a few times the term “food juice”. I was wondering if he soaks the book in something before placing it in the bin.
The Garbage Guru
#6.
March 1st, 2013, at 4:55 PM.
Food juice is any liquid left over from cooking veggies.Or rotten juice,say from a bag of lettuce for salad out of date.The Pumpkin i put on top soaks the books.I found out just how powerful Pumpkin juice is.Some leaked onto the ground on a tarp with some vc that had self harvested and wet under a mixing tub.When i moved it some of the biggest A. gracilis that live wild here were in the small pile eating the Pumpkin juice.I’ll be making another vid where i put in whole bills and envelopes which will have worms piled up eating the white paper some are scared to put in a bin.Lol!
Teresa Taylor
#7.
March 3rd, 2013, at 8:28 PM.
What are those little white bugs running around in your worm bin? How did they get there? Will they have any effect on the compost?
Tom Bergstrand
#8.
March 4th, 2013, at 12:04 AM.
Bentley,
I had another thought regarding putting paperback books into a bin. I am led to believe that most if not all newspapers now use soy based inks. I would wonder about the inks used in these types of books. Is there a way to tell which type of ink they have been printed with? I’ve been told that the older formulas for ink production “could” pose a bit of a problem for worms. Thank you.
Augie
#9.
March 4th, 2013, at 8:31 AM.
Larry.
So your worms like the trashy books allright.
Did you notice if them reading them first? 
The Garbage Guru
#10.
March 5th, 2013, at 1:59 PM.
Teresa you are probably seeing my isopods.Not sure if anybody else uses them to the extent i do?Not all like isopods. Me,they break the tough stuff down.Hard to explain what all isopods do in a short post.Recommend googling the subject.I just stumbled across them one day when i was checking out a post on how worms can be used in sites to cleanup heavy metals.Isopods have special talents too!
Augie i saw one reading a horoscope once.Think he told me worms outlook in the future is looking bright? Lol!
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#1. February 27th, 2013, at 11:22 AM.
I wonder how long it took for those books to break down?!?!?!