Wormcity Forum

Hi,

I know that tea bags are fine to feed your wormery but I am quite sure that I have read some where that they do not like tea leaves which if true could be a bit of a bummer for me as I drink copious amounts of loose leaf tea and would like to be able to compost it. Can you or should you avoid it?

Used to do it with my old cheap wormery which never really worked that well.

Hi, you will be pleased to know tea leaves are not a problem as such. Like everything else you should not feed one food exclusively but if fed as part of a mixed diet it makes great food.
There is now a question mark re tea bags because many producers are now using a plastic in the bag itself, this won’t harm your worms but is hard to remove from the finished castings. I tear the bag open and empty the contents in then bin the bag with the other rubbish.

Hope that helps.
Enjoy your tea.
Willy

I would recommend giving them a really good squeeze before you put them in though. They can retain a surprising amount of liquid.

I wonder about the value of tea leaves as a food source, it feels a waste putting it in a corner. I was thinking of just sprinkling it on top, was thinking it would give my very white bedding material more of brown compost look

Hi, tea leaves and teabags have a similar food value to worms as used coffee grounds. They are high in nitrogen and in a wormer should be used as a “green” food stuff. There is no reason why you can’t sprinkle them on the surface of the bedding but take care not to over do it.

Happy New Year
Willy