WormWatcher Tip of the Week: Harvesting Worms and Worm Castings

Fellow WormWatchers,

If you have been composting over 30 days, dig around in the soil once in a while to see how your worm population is doing.  Is it increasing or decreasing? Many of the bins we have been visiting are showing signs of reproduction.  Opening up the soil adds a little extra aeration and helps you get a better sense of what is happening and how happy the worms are.  Just check out the moisture, add paper if too wet or water if too dry (use the squeeze test if you are not sure – a few drops when you squeeze a handful of dirt.)   If you see lots of worms, consider harvesting them for the garden.  Don't be shy about adding paper, worms need fiber in the bedding.

Side note: if your hinges squeak, add a dab of olive oil and turn the hinge.  It goes away.

Many of you wondered how to harvest your worms – it’s simple.  Do not feed the bin for a few days.  Add a very ripe melon or any juicy treat to the top and leave overnight.  The worms will gradually move towards the food and make a “ball.”  Several of you asked what a worm “ball” looks like.  Here is one we harvested for a teacher:

Use a similar method to harvest the worm castings.

1. Move the content of the bin to one side.
2. Put in fresh, moist bedding (I recommend shredded newspaper)  and food in the other half of the bin.  Worms will gradually migrate to side of bin with new food and bedding.
3. Harvest your vermicompost (worm castings or worm compost.)  Don’t worry if you have a few stray worms left in the compost.


Remember that worm castings are very high in nutrients.  Numerous ways to use worm castings include:

· Potting soil (10-15% castings recommended by VA Extension Service, 50% by WormWoman)
· Fertilizer for starting seeds - sprinkle lightly in seed beds or seed pots/trays.
· Fertilizer for transplanting plants - put small amounts in planting hole
· Top dressing in garden (1/4 inch layer)

Happy Spring to you all! Next week, we discuss fun classroom activities.

Best,

Gina

WormWatcher Tip of the Week: Air Flow

Fellow Wormwatchers,

As we all experience the wild weather patterns of snow, wind and rain, I would love to hear how your worms are reacting.  For blind creatures, they are quite amazing and seem to react to the weather. I just heard a national speaker talk about soil food web at a gardening symposium.   After listening to his presentation, the evidence for the benefits of worm composting, worm tea and organic gardening were striking.  Many of you may not know my academic background in addition to teaching middle school science.   I began teaching after completing a bachelors in biology, a masters in marine policy, and a doctorate program all but dissertation in environmental science and public policy.   The speaker uses a detailed food web of microbes in the soil and relates it to soil ecology and chemical changes we make to the soil when we add man-made fertilizers and pesticides.  I really appreciated how revolutionary this information is and  I will attempt to share more, including his name and book information, in later WormWatcher tips.   This week let’s just focus on air flow.  As you know air flow and the worms are what makes the WormWatcher so successful.

Worm movement  is an indicator – of what?  Our guesses include relative humidity, barometric air pressure, oxygen levels in the soil, or ions in the air (a suggested hypothesis by a well-known local  meteorologist). What do you see?  We have been observing a lot this past week.  It’s fascinating to see how moisture levels vary in the worm bins and how it affects observations.  Depending on the amount of food,  the water in the soil and air varies.   We sometimes see:

Cloudy bins:  These bins are very wet when opened and you will see worms on the lid.  If so, try leaving the latch open to decrease the air humidity.  If you see this developing, try opening the latch overnight. So far, no worms have escaped and it makes the them return to their home for food.

Wet bins: I see more worms along the sides when the bins are wet – which is fun for students, but make sure the soil is not too wet and air pockets (paper/fiber) are present to keep oxygen levels high in the soil.    We want to keep the worm home healthy and avoid anaerobic (no oxygen) conditions!  The worms are working hard processing your waste.  Let’s keep them happy.   If you see the soil becoming mucky, add paper.   The worms often travel around the bin when it’s wet as well.  Sometimes, the bin is dry and they take a “bath”.  My educated guess on this move is to help them breathe since their skin needs to be moist  to breathe.  Aren’t they fun to watch? 

We very rarely hear of worm escapes – usually during major storms.  Strangely enough, our wormologist will see worm in one of his 200 bins usually when it happens too.  We always want to know when this happens so please let us know.   If you try reducing the humidity in your worm bin by leaving the latch open overnight, we doubt that worms will escape.    The worms prefer to stay in the soil when they have a happy home.

Next week, I want to share some great tips and information about worm castings.

Best composting wishes!  Gina