If you’re not yet aware, potatoes are toxic things that pets may not take well if eaten. These crops belong to the nightshade family, a group of plants containing solanine, known to be lethal for many animals. Thus, it will make you wonder if it’s safe for worms to eat.
So, you may ask: Can worms and earthworms eat potatoes and potato peels? Worms and earthworms can’t eat potatoes and potato peels, and they would avoid it as much as they can. Potatoes are high in solanine, which is toxic. Still, like other organic matter, potatoes will also decompose. Thus, it would eventually be edible for worms.
Worms don’t have any specific preference when it comes to food. However, you may find them avoiding potato peels in the bin. While it’s not surprising, they would eventually eat it as it starts to decay.
If you want to know more about this matter, read on. In this article, we’ll tackle everything you need to know about worms and how they deal with toxic food like potatoes.
Without further ado, let’s get into it!
Contents
Do worms and earthworms eat potatoes?
Worms and earthworms may avoid potatoes, but it doesn’t mean they can’t eat them.
Potatoes belong to the nightshade family, which means they are high in solanine. Such a compound is toxic for many animals.
For this reason, it’s not surprising to see worms ignore or avoid potatoes and potato peels if they encounter one.
Still, potatoes remain an organic matter, which means they are subject to decomposition.
In short, potatoes will also break down and decay. Thus, they’ll eventually be edible for worms and recycle them.
Moreover, worms eat the soil since all the nutrition they need comes from it. Among these are decaying roots, leaves, and sometimes even animal carcasses.
For this reason, it’s best to bury the potatoes and allow them to decay beneath the soil.
Moreover, worms also eat other living organisms. They can eat things in the soil, such as nematodes, protozoans, rotifers, fungi, and bacteria.
For this reason, they somewhat do many benefits for the soil as they eat. Worms get rid of decomposing matter as they create spaces in the ground they burrow.
As a result, the soil gets tilled, allowing water and air to pass through. Further, worms secrete castings, which are soil rich in many nutrients.
Castings work as an organic fertilizer that improves the growth of plants.
Related Worms Nutrition Articles:
- Do Worms and Earthworms Eat Grass?
- Do Worms and Earthworms Eat Ants?
- Do Worms and Earthworms Eat Leaves?
- Do Worms and Earthworms Eat Dirt?
- Can Worms And Earthworms Eat Onions?
- Can Worms And Earthworms Eat Bread?
Do worms and earthworms eat potato peels?
As I said earlier, potatoes belong to the nightshade family, which means it has solanine.
Most of the solanine in potatoes are in the peels, which is why it’s not surprising to see worms avoiding the potato peels.
Still, potatoes remain an organic matter, which means they are subject to decomposition.
In short, potatoes will also break down and decay. Thus, they’ll eventually be edible for worms and recycle them.
In a nutshell, worms and earthworms eat potato peels, but only once it starts breaking down and decomposing.
Can worms eat mashed potatoes?
Worms aren’t precisely picky with the food they eat. Thus, you can give it a mashed potato if you have leftovers, and it won’t be a problem.
Mashed potatoes have less risk since they went under a thorough cooking process.
For this reason, this kind of food isn’t as threatening as the potato peels, which are rich in solanine.
Aside from mashed potatoes, you can give other leftover food and scraps to worms in your bin.
Worms can also eat squash, string beans, Brussels sprouts, and all other food safe for consumption.
These animals have no specific preference when it comes to food. Still, they would need soil with many components to survive.
For instance, worms would get loads of nutrients from leaves, roots, and even food scraps.
If you have compost worms, putting typical fruits and scraps would suffice. However, you should avoid large quantities of meat, citrus, onions, and dairy foods.
If it’s a typical earthworm, you don’t have to worry much about what they can eat since they can pretty much take anything available.
Can worms eat sweet potatoes?
Sweet potatoes are great food options you can offer for worms. In fact, worms in compost can consume 4 to 6 pounds of sweet potato and other food scraps in a week.
In four to six months, the worms can consume all the scraps and shredded paper into “castings.” It’s nutrient-rich compost that you can use for plant food.
Sweet potatoes don’t contain solanine, which means the worms would eat such without problems.
Can worms eat sweet potato peels?
As I said, sweet potatoes don’t contain solanine, which means it’s safe for consumption even if you include the peels.
In general, compost worms can consume 4 to 6 pounds of sweet potato and other food scraps in a week.
In four to six months, the worms can consume all the scraps and shredded paper into “castings.” It’s nutrient-rich compost that you can use for plant food.
Sweet potatoes don’t contain solanine, which means the worms would eat such without problems.
Summary
In a nutshell, we can say that worms and earthworms can’t eat potatoes and potato peels. Thus, they would avoid it as much as they can.
The thing about potatoes is that they are high in solanine, which is toxic. Still, like other organic matter, potatoes will also decompose. Thus, it would eventually be edible for worms.
Worms don’t have any specific preference when it comes to food. However, you may find them avoiding potato peels in the bin. While it’s not surprising, they would eventually eat it as it starts to decay.
On the other hand, you can offer sweet potatoes, as these crops don’t have solanine, unlike regular potatoes.
Resources
Image credits – Canva
