Getting at the worm castings

Short of dumping the worms and castings out in a pile to let it all dry out, how can I separate them efficiently?

My vermicomposting setup is working great. However, my worms like their bin really, really wet -- sopping wet. They quit producing castings quickly as soon as it dries out. (Obviously, the worms didn't read any of the books on this topic.) Unless tea is dripping out the bottom food scraps will not be digested.

Worm separation ideas?

Here's what I do. Shine a bright light on the bin and the critters will dive. Harvest layers of bedding/casts and the worms will keep going deeper until they're all cramped at the bottom. From there it is easy to scoop and pick.

Kelly Slocum on another garden thread suggests using a window screen from the way I understand you can just lay it down then start adding the new food on top after I think a month or 2 they should have all migrated to the new food area and you can tak the casting out from underneath and then use light to get them to dive deep so that the top "exposed" to light section will only have eggs in it have not tried it yet but you get the idea. I think that I will to the screen method 2x so I can harvest the eggs (leaving them enough time to develop and move to the "new" feeding area. And yes the worms can according to Kelly Slocum get through the small holes in the screen. I believe her she knows WAY to much about worms..........

Shoe showed me his worm bed when I went for a visit in NC (Thanks Shoe!).

He keeps a screen (¼ in mesh) devideing the bed - and says the worms go to the side where the food is allowing him to harvest the caseings.

I tried the really bright light. I must have dumb worms, they don't move down very quickly. Plus, when I scrape off the top, I end up with big chunks of mucky goo rather than the nice compost I was anticipating.

Potential problem: My worm bins consist of 5 gallon buckets (with holes in the bottom for drainage) placed within another bucket to catch the wonderful worm juice. There really isn't another area to which they could "migrate".

Other than a new bin design (which doesn't thrill me) can you think of any other options?

Thanks for all the ideas you've offered.

That mucky goo is worm castings. That is the normal consistancy. When they dry out a bit, it is more like compost from a pile.

Jefe, one of the easiest ways is to use something like a "tater bag" or "onion bag"...like you buy potatoes and/or onions in. Flip your bucket of worms/compost into one of those bags, then put new food scraps/bedding in the bottom of your bucket. Then put the tater bag (fulll of worms/compost) on top of the new food/bedding.

When there is no more food in the mesh bag for the worms to feed on they will move downward to the new food you put in the bottom of your bucket. After a week or less your mesh bag should mainly be comprised of only worm castings (and most likely some worm eggs but that is fine.) Voila! Your easy "system of separation"! Ta-dah! ♫♫

Shoe.

Graydawn,
Thanks for the compost goo clarification. I never have seen it dry, so I really didn't know what to look for.

Horeshoe,
That is it! What a sweet system of separation solution! I love it. Bada-bing bada-boom. ♫♫

I'll try to remember to come back and post any more input on this topic.

Thanks to both of you!