The most common and most likely answer to this crossword clue is the 3 plus 5 letter word AIR PLANT
I've seen this crossword clue in The Times
A
I
R
P
L
A
N
T
More clues leading to the result AIR PLANT
Buddy explains!
The straight part
We know that "something that needs no feed" is the straight/definition part of the clue. The straight part is often a synonym or definition, in this case something that needs no feed = air plant.The cryptic/wordplay part
In cryptic crossword there's often an wordplay/cryptic part as well.This part involves a more complex hint, such as an anagram, homophone, hidden word, etc.
Sadly, We don't have an explanation for this specific crossword clue yet.