Separating worms from castings.

Maybe it's just me, but it seems strange every time I read that comment about removing worms from the castings. I find the benefit of using worms in my germination and potting mixes to be quite helpful. Sure some worms will remove themselves from the media into the the seed flats, but I just rinse them back into their bins. Am I missing something here? Is there a down side to having worms in collected castings???

I see no downside to having worms in the castings.
It would take some magic to get all the worms out.
And if they died in the potting soil, or what ever you added the castings too that also would be OK.

Dwight

Agreed Dwight, I use to heat treat my castings before I used them for my germination mixes and that is the only time I had worm free mixes. Then Twiggybuds turned me on to watering with a diluted hydrogen perxoide mmix, and I stopped heat treating the germination mixes. Although I use only the dried top layer off my indoor vermiculture bins, worms still appear in the mixes weather by egg capsules or transfering young live worms, there are still worms in these mixes. The worms seem to do just fine in both the germination and potting mixes and its doubtfull the conditions in either would cause them to perish, but like you say Dwight no harm done.

mraider3, what % do you mix castings do you use with your and seed flats mix and potting mix ?
Could it be used straight to start seeds ? I have over 5 gals. now.
I spread 1/2" or so of castings on top of my indoor plants twice a year, spring and fall.
Rabbit poo goes in the veg garden.

Dwight

i always find a few worms crawling out of pots i have added castings to as well..
i just pick them up and put back in worm bins..
sad side of vermiculture is talking it up to friends at work.. ive put one gal onto it.. sigh..
now i have to share coffee grounds/banana peels..
LOL not really.. im glad another super gardener is onto this very easy to come by soil ammendment!!!
there are so many uses of castings..not just in starting seeds,addition to transplants,in the soil for full grown plants,
but im sold on the aerated castings tea as well..
stay warm out there everyone..
i know its only 1/2 thru jan..but..im ready for spring !!!!

"i know its only 1/2 thru jan..but..I'm ready for spring !!!!...ready for spring !!!!...ready for spring !!!!
We're on the same page there, Nut.
I have no compost in the winter to make compost tea, so it's a weak solution's of casting tea to keep things going.

This is the bleakest winter I can remember in the last ten years. I have even taken to potting up some indoor tomato plants to ward off the winter blues. I have vowed to hit the raised beds asap and maximize their use next spring if that ever comes. I think garden withdrawals are the pits.

Dwight, yes to 100% worm castings (spent media as I like to call it). I do add fresh soaked and drained peat moss (media of choice here) with each feeding...approximately equivalent to the amount of dried material I remove from the surface of the bins before feeding. Potting mixes usually get an equal portion of spent media and soaked and drained peat moss. Since I pot up most of my pepper plants I go through a lot of this material.

I purchased one of those cube making devices and I am really ancious to give it a try. The manufacturer says to make the media about the consistency of oatmeal before compressing the cubes which should not be difficult with spent media. I plan on doing a lot of transplants using this device which will probably equate to way more spent media than I have accumulated so far. So I have given thought to taking media from the worm bins directly, worms and all, and see how that works.

rentman & mraider3 & all ready for spring--me,too. I can hardly wait to get out and start gardening. One of my solutions is to occasionally go to our one local grocery store and get the vegetable scraps. I pick out what I want for my worms and put it in used plastic bags and put them outside in a garbage can so that they can freeze. Thus, I always have a constant supply of worm food that is broken down from the freezing and any fruit flies are killed. And, best of all, I can pretend that I'm gardening even though there is over 5 ft. of snow at my house! The rest of the vegetables go in bags in another garbage can to put on my compost pile in the spring. Tropicalnut777, don't tell your friends that you're doing this!

Well OffTheGrid I gotta tell you this winter has been too darn long for me too. I hear you on freezing scraps. I have 5-gal buckets in a raised bed full of squash, pumpkin, cukes, potatoes, etc., which was left over when cleaning out the garden. These are ultimately used in the outdoor compost bins which are loaded with worms. By the time they thaw in the spring everything is nice and mushy. Just dump in a hole in the center of the outdoor bins and chop with a shovel.

If you really get tired of waiting to plant something you might try this. Loose leaf lettuce in a refrigerator crisper. I have several I picked up at some garage sale for about two bits. They are easy to find and work pretty well for cut and come again lettuce. I start by gluing a 2-inch diameter piece of PVC pipe into the corner of the crisper. The length of the pipe is just to the top of the crisper. Before gluing this PVC pipe to the bottom of the crisper I drill a number of tiny holes around the base of the pipe. Just big enough to insert the end of a jumbo paper clip in the holes for cleaning. Do not glue the pipe directly to the side corners because you need to slip a piece of old panty hose over the pipe and fasten at the base of the pipe with a rubber band. The purpose of this pipe is to allow removal of excess water using a turkey baster. I will explain the excess water in a minute.

The next step is to line the bottom of the crisper with activated carbon which can be purchased from an aquarium supply store. Personally I like to use the used carbon from my aquarium filters which is loaded with nutrients. About an 1/8th to 1/4th inch would be adequate. Then add an inch or so of spagnum moss (not peat moss). Break up the clumps with your hands before layering. On top of the spagnum moss I place a 1/4th screen for support. On top of that screen I put a permeable layer of cloth and then I add my potting mix.

The potting mix consists of about 2 parts of MG potting soil, 1 part grated spent worm media, 1 part well aged grated cow manure, 1 part soaked and drained peat moss, some coffee grounds, and a couple of table spoons of complete fertilizer (10-10-10). Everything is mixed up well and dampened before adding to the crisper. I fill the crisper to within an inch of the top of the lettuce crisper with this potting mix.

I then sprinkle some lettuce seed over the surface of the potting mix. A very thin layer of finely ground vermiculite is what many people use to cover the seed. I use the fines from soaked peat moss which is my worm media. These fine come from the bottom of the bucket after I have soaked the peat moss for 24 hours in hot water from the bottom of my water heater. I drain the excess water from the peat moss using a six inch aquarium net and when I have removed nearly all of the soaked peat moss with the aquarium net I pour the remaining water through the net. There is usually a couple of handsful of very fine peat moss in the net. I squeeze out all the water I can an leave this material in a pan to dry before storing in a plastic coffee container. These fines work great for starting fine seeds like lettuce or celery indoors. I place my crispers on top of a 4-bulb, four foot florscent light fixture for germination heat, but a sunny south window, hot water heater, top of a refrigerator will all work well if you don't have one of those heat mats.



I read somewhere in an article on container gardening that you can make up a base solution of complete fertilizer (10-10-10) by adding a cup of fertilizer to a gallon of water. Then you add two tablespoons of this base solution to a gallon of water for your daily watering with a fine sprayer. I purchase these plastic spray bottles at Dollar General. I prefer to use the mist sprayers until the leaves are sturdy enough to use a sprinkling can. This article recommeded that once a week the entire container should be flushed well with straight tap water to flush out any excess fertilizer and imputities (what ever impurities are). The excess water can then be removed from the bottom of the crisper thought the PVC pipe using the turkey baster.

OffTheGrid -

I get a newsletter from Worm Composting and he is working on different types of Homemade Worm Harvester.
A video link http://wormcompostingblog.com/worm-harvesters/homemade-worm-harvester/

Interesting, Dwight

Well guess I'm lucky...Sunday, after church we are leaving for south Florida ^_^

mraider3: I liked your crisper planter. My only problem is we're "off the grid" so no fluorescent bulbs on all day to suck down our batteries. I have toyed with the idea, though, of using one compact fluorescent to see if it'd grow anything. I have nothing to lose but a few seeds. We live in a steep narrow valley so not much sun yet either. Oh, well, I'll have to go cross country skiing.

rentman: enjoy sunny Florida.

Even Florida is not warm and sunny this winter. My sister in Gainesville has been freezing for about a month! At times when I check the MSN weather, Fl is much colder than we are here in WA- But tonight the winds are back- will be gusting to 60MPH-

My baby sister in Jacksonville and I have been talking about potted lemon trees. She has had some consecutive days of freeezing and didn't wnat to plant a lemon directly in the yard. She comes here in August for a taste of 'winter'. I take her fishing at 4 am and she wears a parka. She tells me she is going to bring me a lemon tree when she comes. Bet that plant won't see too many days on the deck!!!

OffTheGrid...How come you haven't built yourself a solar greenhouse???

mraider3: You have to have sun for a solar greenhouse! Since we live in a very narrow forested creek bottom, we lose our sun from Thanksgiving through the middle of Jan. We're getting about 10 min. of sun now --when it shines! It's not like being in Great Falls! We do have solar for our house (but again you need to actually have the sun shine), but by the time the greenhouse has enough sun, I can plant outside under plastic. I may still try the compact fluorescent bulb to see if it gives enough light.

mraider3: sorry about saying you live in Great Falls. But Helena has more sun than we do, too.

OffTheGrid, sounds like you may even have difficulty with summer sun as well. Fortunately I guess you have some wind protection which allows you to use row covers. My cages require three rebar attachments to stabilize them in the Chanook winds which commonly exceed 50-60 mph from all four directions. But your right, being in the center of the valley affords me much longer days in the summer. In fact, it is almost like a desert in the summer time. Very little moisture makes it to my place. It's generally diminished as it passes over the various mountain ranges. It has created a number of challenges for me but that's what keeps me going. Always looking for ways to beat Mother N.

mraider3: We all have our challenges when it comes to gardening! You're right, we don't get that much wind so I can put plastic over all of my summer vegie beds at night. We get lots of sun in the summer, so my stuff grows great. But it's nice to have a creek next to the garden so that I have lots of free water. Which causes another problem. ... SLUGS. I lived in Washington state until 1998 and was really tired of dealing with the huge banana slugs along with the 2-3 inchers. Here they are tiny and easily overlooked. I finally started counting the slugs I took off my broccoli plants last fall--over 400!! I had them mulched with leaves--which the slugs, of course, just loved. My garden is far better than it was in Washington, but it's because I cover my plants every night since our summer night-time temps are between 50 and 55. But--I had no blight like so many in Montana had last year and I had lots of red tomatoes--unlike so many in Montana didn't have.

what is everyones method of separating castings/worms?
i dont have a big project here..just 4 - 37 gal rubbermaid bins..
im guessing morgan has a huge system.. im jealous as all %$((&
:)
i put mix from bin under bright lights(summer time outside on a bright day) then heap up..
let them sit for a bit (10 min)..then start the process of separating.. takes a couple hrs..
then i just throw the left castings+worms back into bin i have fresh bedding..
ive seen these tumblers.. id have to do it outside.. and in winter couldnt do..to cold..
ive even seen on U TUBE alot of "homemade" versions of commercial tumblers..
thought id ask..
still dreaming of spring.. we had snow this morning..and its barely over 30F.. sigh

tropicalnut777: I tried Bentley's (redwormcomposting.com) idea of making holes in the bottom of a plastic bag, laying the bag on top of the bin you want the worms in (the bedding should be all ready to go for the new worms), and then dumping the worms and castings in this holey bag. I screened the contents of one of my 18 gal. bins and put the large pieces into the new bin; then put the screened castings (with many worms and cocoons) into that holey bag. After 3 days most of my worms had gone into the bin. Bentley says to wait I week. Obviously, I didn't. It was a snowy, frigid boring day (couldn't go skiing) so I thought playing with worms would be fun. I was even picking out cocoons. Finally decided to put the castings in a container along with a melon rind to attract the worms. There were some small ones (probably had hatched) but I decided to leave them. Within a week the rind was gone, so put another one in. I would use this method again.

Dave, I'm curious...if you keep a light on top of your bins doesn't the surface layer dry out??? I have about a half inch of surface material on each bin which is dry enough to be removed with a kitty liter scoop at each feeding. I simply scoop this material off into a 7 gallon plastic bucket and then dig a trench on one side of the bin for feeding a blender full of food. I repeat the process on the other side, recover the trench and done. Doesn't take long to get a bucket full of material which is perfect as a germination mix. I run the material through a quarter inch screen just before using it. I learned from Twiggybuds that adding water with hydrogen peroxide mixed in does a good job of preventing dampening off, so you don't really need to heat sterilize this material. Even if a few worms or egg capsules are in the germination mix I don't worry about it. They don't have any negative effect on seed germination.

another cold..snowy day here too..sigh..no planting lettuce today..or tomorrow as i understand.. :( bummer..
i only keep the light over the castings while im harvesting..but ya..it does dry some..more so when i do outside in summer..
yea..the harvestable castings are on top.. i usually dig the food into the bedding.. im going to try your system with liter scoop..
its not alot of work..but if i can come up with an easier way to harvest castings..id probably harvest more often..and end result id
have more castings..for garden use.. :) thanks...
off the grid..i was thinking of going xcountry skiing today too..but ended up doing other stuff..LOL
mts here have a ton of snow..
dreaming of spring....

My outdoor vermiculture media is typically horse or cow manure/straw. I add some leaves as well when I can get my hands on them. The largest bin is a 4' x 8' raised bed which has been dug down another four feet. It’s filled with well aged cow manure/ straw and covered with three old window panes. I add garden refuse to this bin (rotten tomatoes, squash, cucumbers, ground up corn cobs and stalk, that sort of thing.) I have another deep dug raised bed which holds this material, mostly in five gallon buckets. When weather warms I dig a hole in the worm bedding and add a bucket of material, chop a little, and cover it back up before watering with warm water. I plan to use this bed for growing some sweet potatoes this year. Not sure how that will work, but it's worth a try.

OffTheGrid & TropicalNut777, I've used Bentley's holes-in-black-plastic method of urging worms out of what I think is finished VC also. But what I find is that the worms leave, yes, but they lay a gazillion cocoons first. I hate to leave those in my VC because I'll eventually plant everything outdoors, and in Iowa, outdoors means cold winters and death to redworms. Any solutions?

Also, just so everyone knows, if you do the black plastic trick (which does work well generally), don't cover the entire bin surface! I did, and put a thick layer of fairly damp VC on top--and my worms in the bin below were clumped up in gasping heaps at the edges. Apparently, you can cut off their oxygen supply just overnight in a wet RM bin.

Lee: I did get a bunch of cocoons the first time but not the next four times. I have noticed, though, that my worm castings do have some baby worms (and a very few larger worms) in it. I've just put a cantaloupe wedge (with most of the meat removed) near the top of the castings (and cover it--otherwise--fruit flies galore) and as soon as the worms have decimated the cataloupe, I put the rind and the worms in one of my bins. I also figure that if there are worms in the castings, they are finishing off anything left in the castings as well as leaving more castings.

Good addition on not covering the whole top of the bin with the plastic.

During the week (I don't think I've left the bag in there a week yet, though!!) I just can't keep out of the castings to see how many worms are left. I turn on a light while I take some of the castings off the top and the worms start diving. This is why I can't seem to leave it for a week. I see that there aren't that many worms left and I might as well pick out the last few.

As to what to do about the worms in the castings you've put outside that will probably die: that's a tough one. If you use the cantaloups trick you may not have any worms.