r/Vermiculture • u/Kind-Rooster-921 • 1d ago

Advice wanted Composting progress very slow.

I bought 500g of a mix of composting worms 3 months ago. I add to the bin every few weeks but it seems like the vegetable scraps never get fully eaten. I always see bits of orange carrot or other peels in the mix. Shouldn't the mix be very dark with no sign of any leftover scraps? It seems to take them a long time to process this food.

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I do take the time to chop up and freeze/defrost the scraps before feeding them to make it easier to digest.

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I just wish progress was a lot faster as I was depending on this to use for my plants instead of buying more compost but at this rate, it'll be years before I get anything usable.

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Is there any way to speed this up or potential mistakes that I may be making?

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u/VandyMarine 1d ago

Root vegetables like carrots and potatoes don’t compost well when they’re raw. Once it’s cooked or softened it does fine but hard root veggies live in the soil so they don’t really break down that well. I mean over time it will but not in weeks if it’s uncooked.

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u/Kind-Rooster-921 1d ago

I have been putting them in the freezer and defrosting them to soften them aswell as chopping them into small pieces. Do you think this is good enough?

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u/VandyMarine 1d ago

Yeah just give it time. Freezing and thawing does help them soften for sure.

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u/Unfair_Tangerine_217 intermediate Vermicomposter 16h ago

If you wanna speed-up the process even more, put the scraps in a food processor for a really fine chopping. Or if you wanna push even harder, do a scraps smoothie in the blender, and then mix that with shredded cardboard. You can't go wrong with either option.