Can you put meat in a worm bin?
The answer is ‘yes, but.’ I’ve put a variety of meat in my bin a number of times. The type of meats I’ve put in include raw fat I’ve cut from pork chops, uncooked off ribs, cooked chicken skin, gristle and bones, and an entire set of turkey bones from Thanksgiving (after I’d made soup from them, of course).
There are a number of items to consider when putting meat in your worm bin.
- Is your bin secure from animals (fox/rats/raccoons/bears) that might be attracted to rotting meat?
- Do you have enough volume in your bin that the meat can rest undisturbed for weeks?
- Will bones in vermicompost be OK?
- Are you willing to take some risk of pathogen transmission if you place vermicompost or castings on food crops?
If the answer to all of the above is ‘yes’, then you can definitely bury meat in your bin. I like to dig it in at least twice as deep as I bury vegetable wastes. This way I’m less likely to encounter it when adding other waste. If I’m digging in my bin and start to smell something foul, I just cover it with some bedding and try someplace else. I’m not sure about the pathogen transmission (I probably should submit some castings to a microbiology lab for more information). If I was using this vermicompost for a lot of food production, I would also be concerned about possible pathogen transmission (I do use my vermicompost directly on food plants, but not all that often).
I asked the question of the_worm_bin and got back much the same information as I’d discovered through trial and error. One response cautioned against putting meat in an indoor bin due to the smell, and another cautioned against putting too much meat (or any uncooked meat). I did some searching on protein poisoning (which applies in general to too much protein, whether or not that protein comes from meat) and found this information:
This “disease” is actually the result of too much protein in the bedding. This happens when the worms are overfed. Protein builds up in the bedding and produces acids and gases as it decays (Gaddie, op. cit.). According to Ruth Myers (1969): “when you see a worm with a swollen clitellum or see one crawling aimlessly around on top of the bedding, you can just bet on sour crop and act accordingly, but fast”. Her recommended solution is a “massive dose of one of the mycins, such as farmers give to chicken or cattle”. Farmers wishing to avoid these or similar antibiotics should work to prevent sour crop by not overfeeding and by monitoring and adjusting pH on a regular basis. Keeping the pH at neutral or above will preclude the need for these measures.
To sum up, meat can be added to worm bins, but it is not a no brainer like most vegetable waste is. You need to consider how much meat you’ve added and what protections the worms have from outside predators, as well as smells and bones in vermicompost.
Add comment November 22nd, 2008
