How are Worms Harvested?

[krissy]

When can you say that the vermicompost is ready for harvest? and can I immediately use it for my garden and potted plants?

[wrigglerman]

I dump and sort.

You may dump the entire contents of your bin on a table or plastic sheet. Make several piles or mounds of the vermicompost and you can observe the worms moving down away from the light. Be sure that you have a light on top of the table or plastic sheet. When you feel that the worms have settled in the bottom most layer then you can remove the vermicast on top. Do this repeatedly until what's left are the small piles of worms which you can use for another pile.

[Edward12]

Worms just kind of sort themselves out.

You place the contents of the bin (vermicompost) to one side and add fresh bedding to another side of the bin.

Then sit back and wait for the worms to finish all the food in the vermicompost and let them travel to the fresh bedding. Then you will have your vermicompost free of the wigglies.

But this method takes time. and it's not a drastic process for the worms and of course less work for you---no sorting or something.

[wrigglerman]

This method of harvesting is quite ok but if you got smaller bin space then you cannot maximize the space of the entire bin.

[beezybody]

I read in another site about "dividing and dumping"

you just remove 2/3 of the upper contents of the bin and leave the 1/3 for the next composting. Then you can add some more materials.

[mistermaster]

I read in another site about "dividing and dumping"

you just remove 2/3 of the upper contents of the bin and leave the 1/3 for the next composting. Then you can add some more materials.

This method is good if you have lots of worms because you will be also removing the worms which are in the upper 2/3 of the castings when you dump the upper 2/3.

[farmerpiper]

There are two sides to this "divide and dump" situation.

#1. When you apply the upper 2/3 to the plants, the worms present with the compost will eventually be beneficial to the plants and the soil.

#2. Left with little amount of worms inside the bin, it would take a much longer time for the worms to process the materials.

[ladybug]

I like the idea of getting the upper 2/3 of the vermicast inside the bin to fertilize the plants. But if that would result in a smaller worm population, then perhaps it would be better if you have worms bins maintained solely to increase worm population so that you will have reinforcement troops ready to repopulate the bin where the upper 2/3 of the vermicast was removed.

[dumbledorf17]

there's this person i know who harvests his worms by lowering the moisture content of the pile until it is dry enough to pass through a sieve.

Then he sieves the compost and removes the worms which are left on the sieve. the worms are tossed back to a new pile.

the compost is then left to air-dry for a day or two and packed in bags if not to be used yet.

[John S.]

As a guide, good vermicompost is usually produced between two to three months. But if you have the luxury of time and can wait longer, say 4-6 months, the vermicompost will look more like soil and have more plant-ready nutrients

[garden ann]

Do you know that after several months of composting your pile, wormcastings must be harvested for at higher concentrations they create an unhealthy environment for the worms?

[rosiethumb]

If you plan for to harvest, stop adding food to your bin for at least two weeks.

The best way to harvest is to use a passive approach to prevent subjecting the worms to stress/trauma:

1. push all of the old bin contents to one half of the bin, then on the other half, put a fresh new bedding and food scraps.

2. within 2-3 weeks, the worms will migrate over to the new side where the food is. Give them time to move over to the new pile.

3. Then if they have all migrated to the new pile, you can now remove the compost.

4. remember to cover only the side of the bin where you have your new pile so that the old pile will be air dried while you are waiting for your worms to transfer to the new pile.

[beezybody]

This method is quite a drastic approach because you will dumping the entire contents of the bin on a sheet of plastic or paper. After dumping, you make several individual cone-shaped piles. When the piles are exposed to light, the worms will go to the bottom of the pile so you can remove the top layer of the compost. Repeat this process until the worms have reached the bottom part of the layer. Then remove the worms and put them in their bin where fresh bedding and food is found.

[vermigiant]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qj2Zmr-a8sQ

Click this link for a video on how to harvest worms. I followed this method when I first harvested my worms.

[farmerbrie]

worm harvesting

Try this method. It is much easier to entice worms away from the vermicompost that is already for harvest with "worm snacks" such as kiwis, apples, and melons.

[wormfan]

Hi Krissy,

I saw this article online that talks about a couple of methods on how to harvest worm composting castings.

Worm Composting: Harvesting Worm Castings

Hope this helps.

[leeza09]

vermicompost can be harvested every 2 months. A good way to harvest the vermicompost without taking out the worms is to shine a light over the pile. This will chase the worms deeper into the pile in about ten minutes. You can then scrape up the top layer of vermicompost. Keep the light on to chase the worms even deeper into the pile, and then take out the next layer of vermicompost, and so on.