Yes, worms do eat bananas.
Bananas are a great fruit to have in. One of their big bonuses is that you can eat them anywhere and not have to worry about washing it.
They do, on the other hand, have their disadvantages. For example, as opposed to other types of fruits bananas tend to go bad quite quickly.
With that being the case, sometimes we find ourselves with a bunch of bananas we just didn’t have time to eat and there’s not much we can think to do with them.
Thankfully, worms, red wigglers and others like to eat bananas. Bananas are full of nutrients such as potassium that your worms would do well to feast upon!
Can worms eat bananas and is it good for them?
Worms can eat bananas and they are in fact very good for them.
Worms will happily eat their way through any organic decaying matter that you have for them. One of the main reasons that owning your own worm bin is that they make good use of almost all of your natural kitchen food scraps, such as:
- coffee grounds
- apple cores
- vegetables
- fallen leaves from herb plants ( rosemary, basil, etc )
Bananas are full of calcium, magnesium, sulfur, phosphates, potassium and sodium.
As you can imagine, all of these are very important to our health and to that of the worms.
Not to mention how good they are for worm composting!
All of these nutrients will make their way from the compost into whatever vegetation you are growing.
One of the many wonderful things about bananas is that they break down quickly and easily.
The decaying process is swift and so does not linger too long before being ripe for the worms to consume.
That being said, it is always wise to promote easy air-flow within the worm bin and/or pile.
So, given the average size of a banana, it would be wise to treat it before disposing of it in the worm bin / outdoor pile. For example, you could:
- Slice it into smaller pieces
- Blend it, to make it into a puree
- Turn over the contents of your bin over the course of a few days, making sure that the banana has blended in enough to the compost
None of these are necessarily essential, but they could help your worms to make their way through the banana easier, and help you to be sure that the air flow within the bin is as ideal as possible.
Always remember to keep an eye on the dampness of the worm bin. The environment needs to be damp in order for the worms to thrive and survive. Worms like damp conditions, not waterlogged.
Bananas tend to be absorbed relatively quickly and easily by whatever bedding you have chosen, so you shouldn’t have a problem with the compost becoming too damp.
Can worms eat banana peels?
Yes, worms can eat banana peels.
Compost worms love the banana peel as much as they do the banana. Should you be wanting to put a banana peel into your worm bin, do try to make sure that the peel isn’t too young.
A healthy banana for us to consume is one that is already yellow, but some of us do prefer when the skin is still a bit green.
A younger banana peel won’t necessarily cause any damage to your composting worms, nor to the compost itself, but the decomposition stage will naturally take longer.
Worms in compost bins consume decaying matter in large quantities. They will consume any organic decaying matter as food, and peels are just as full of wonderful vitamins and nutrients that will help nourish your worms and your soil.
That being said, putting a greener banana peel onto the pile will need a bit more time to decompose and be available for your worms to consume.
It will not take centuries of course – as bananas are still among the fruits that ripen the quickest.
It would just be easier for your worms and the compost pile if the bananas are father along the ageing process.
Either way, within a short span of time you will notice that all that remains of the banana peel is a reducing, hardened, brown skin, that will eventually itself decompose into the soil.
Want to know more about other kitchen waste and food your worm farm is likely to enjoy? Take a look at our guide on avocado skins.
