Feeding linseed flour / flaxseed flour to worms (requirements of worm food)

by Stephan
(Cape Town)

feeding powdered egg shells in a worm bin

feeding powdered egg shells in a worm bin

Recently we got an inquiry from a visitor who wanted to know if Linseed flower could be fed to worms?

The short answer would be "Yes absolutely". However whenever you consider feeding any material to worms you should consider the basic requirements of the worms towards their food.

WORM FOOD...

1. needs to be something that has previously been alive and is now beginning to decompose...
2. should not be to acidic if you want to feed it in large quantities. (Worms can not live in an environment that has become to acidic)
3. should either be small enough to fit into a worm's mouth or soft enough that the worms can bite / suck parts of it into their mouth. (Worms don't have teeth)
4. should be wet or at least moist. Worms don't have lungs and do instead breath through their skins. The skin of worms is slightly sticky and while worms can slide without problems through a moist environment, dry particles can and will stick to a worm's skin and can ultimately suffocate and kill it.

So let's have a look at linseed flour as a potential worm food.

1. It is an natural organic material that will eventually decompose.
2. It's pH is slightly alkaline.
3. It will be small enough to fit into a worm's mouth.
4. If either soaked in water or just sprayed or even added in a thin layer onto moist worm bedding will absorb enough moisture so it won't stick to the skin of worms.

Taking all this into account, linseed flour or flaxseed flour should be an excellent worm food that could even counteract the slow acidification of a worm farm bedding.

However as with all untested worm foods I would begin feeding only small amounts of the linseed flour to a worm bin at first (See picture with powdered egg shells as an example) and only after a while slowly increase the quantities fed to the worms.

Kind regards and happy worming

Stephan Kloppert
Editor of www.worm-composting-help.com

Author of "How to start a profitable worm business on a shoestring budget"

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