Vermicomposting - Happy Poo Day!

The first of the month! I'm lucky it happened on a Saturday as I've been out and about all week with landscaping work - so I'm happy to devote a day to my own yard and especially to the worm bin clean out.  As I've mentioned, some minor issues set my worm compost production back by a month - heck of a thing to happen at the start of Spring, but we've soldiered on with liquid fertilizer only. So although things aren't back up to 100% production, they're much improved.

What it's all about is to get from this:

To this:

And have that happen every month.  Now as you can see there is still stuff in there that hasn't been finished - some of it is bits of packing tape and thin plastics that were attached to things (which I didn't successfully weed out pre shred) - and some of it will be compacted cardboard and paper.  Usually it's a bit more finished than this - but it's a LOT better than what I had last month (where I skipped harvest altogether as it would be a waste of time).
In your own bin you could leave it till it's completely turned over to castings - this would save yourself a lot of sorting time and the quality would be great - for me, I've set my garden up with this as the engine that's supposed to drive it - I can miss a month here and there but ultimately I need all the castings I can get - This month was in the 10lb range, which is on the low end of what I was getting pre new bin hiccups.  Enough to do what I need to get done this month.

So, how do you harvest a worm bin anyways?

With a tower or tier system it's very easy - we take advantage of the worms natural disposition to avoid light to do a lot of our work for us.  It requires a little setup  - so we'll step by step it.

Setting up the workspace - stuff you need.

I like to get myself all setup organized - I sort my bins by hand, which is a bit of a dirty job - but no dirtier than weeding really.  There are people who've made machines to do this process for them, I think they're very cool and I'd like to eventually build one (and when I do - you bet I'll show it here) but that's a project for Winter, and Winters budget.
One thing I should make note of is that my first bin has 5 trays - if I harvest it every month then the scraps in the new level have 5 month to process, the downside is each tray can end up weighing up to 30lbs -so when I move this outside I have to lift around 150lbs and move it from the workshop to the back porch. When I go to remove that bottom tray, it's another 120lb lift.  Let your level of mobility dictate how high you go - better to have several tubs of a couple of trays than a hernia. For instance I suggested to my Mother to leave her system at 2 trays only. She keeps it outside, so she only needs to lift one tray out.  Mind you I'm now the one with the family of 5 and she's got MUCH less scraps that need disposing, so it works out.

Anyways the equipment list

• 1 container for unprocessed bedding and worms.
• 1 container for 'undigestables' aka plastic trash
• 1 small container for things I might want to put back on top of the new bin (corn cobs, eggshells) once all the worms and unfinished bedding go back in.
• 1 bucket to put my finished castings on
• 1 bucket containing my coconut coir
• a small green trowel I stole off my daughter for scooping up the casting

 First thing to do is swap out the bottom tray and put it on the top. This way we can use the worms natural aversion to light to help us sort out worms from castings - As you take material from the top and sort it, the worms will burrow down, eventually going into the tray below.  It won't sort out 100% of the worms, but it will take care of most of them for you.

Under that bottom tray you see the cloth screen in place to stop worms and castings going into the runoff tray.  Here you'll find some nice fine castings - I take the cloth out and give it a squeeze - all the liquid that comes out will get dumped onto a couple of plants.  The castings then get sorted out for any worms. Worms are put into a small container with damp coir, and the castings are put into the castings bucket.
Simple.

We put the stack back onto the base, the tray that was on the bottom gets put up on the top, and we're ready to sort out our castings.  Usually for me the biggest things to sort are things like plastic backings on cardboard, packing tape, and other undigestables.  I try and sort out a lot of it before it's shredded - but there's always going to be stuff in there - I don't try and sort out every little thing either. A rough sort to get the majority of stuff and as many worms and cocoons as I can find.  Any excess paper goods I can pick out later, or have them finish composting in the garden itself.

Black Gold

You get a handful and start sifting it between your fingers - paper and worms in one tub, castings in the other till the tray is empty. It usually takes me 15 - 20 minutes to clear out a tray - and during high production I can end up with anywhere from 10-15lbs of castings.
If I were to do this with some kind of machine like a trommel, I'd probably have to have a period of drying the castings out beforehand.

The final step, you take all the compacted paper that didn't get eaten and loosen it by tearing it up and fluffing it, then dump it back in the now empty top tray. Get your container of worms that you picked out while you were sorting and put that back in top as well.  Some fresh bedding on top, and I usually put some coconut coir over that - just a light cover. Then put your bin back to where it came from and moisten it down - some people use a spray bottle to mist them, I just use a watering can.  Finally for me, I sprinkle some corn meal down over top a little treat.

What do I do with the castings?

The final product can be used in several ways. I mix in a couple of handfulls into vacant garden squares before replanting them, I mulch the tops of squares with their maximum amount of seedlings.  It can be brewed into a compost tea for a liquid fertilizer that can be used either on the soil around the plants or sprayed onto the foliage (this spray also helps deter some insects, but is also very useful if you're cloning plants that haven't developed a proper root system yet).   So the 10lbs I harvested won't go all that far this month, but as both bins come up to speed I expect to soon be getting a lot more.  Ideally I'm shooting for 20-30lbs a month, which would mean I'd have taken care of 40-60lbs of my own trash every months - for the green minded that adds up to a lot of stuff not in community landfills each year. (about 720lbs).

Anyways - Sunday is now here (as I didn't get this typed up on Saturday) - and a whole lot of yard/garden work remains to be sorted out before Monday!