3 Easy Ways to Sift, Store & Use Compost Worm Castings From Your Worm Bins | Vermicompost Worm Farm

[@tacosforus1688]

Thanks for sharing 🙏

[@Vermicompost]

Thank you for watching!! I appreciate all your support!!🪱🪱🪱

[@sandyjoao4489]

Great video. I always like to watch d sifting part of worm castings he he.

[@Vermicompost]

It is very relaxing both while sifting & watching the work being done! Thanks so much for stopping by to watch & comment!🪱🪱🪱

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

Good morning Patrick Dear, Really nice job 👍 Well explained and informative 👏 🌿💚🌿💚🌿💚🌿 Happy Sunday 🪱

[@Vermicompost]

Thank you! Hope you have a wonderful morning. Great video yesterday processing your Pot O' Worms!🪱🪱🪱

[@peggyhelblingsgardenwhatyo7920]

@@Vermicompost Thanks Patrick, I uploaded a Backyard Tour this morning. I love October. It's still hot, but the nights are overtaking days and one degree at a time it's getting cooler!

[@AJsGreenTopics]

Sifting castings is work but satisfying when it is done. Great video. Take care. 😎

[@Vermicompost]

Thank you! I like to sift in small batches each feeding with this bin because it can get overwhelming even though its relaxing at first. Looking forward to seeing which bin won the melon challenge over on your channel!🪱🪱🪱

[@AJsGreenTopics]

@@Vermicompost I going to check the bins next Thursday. Take care. 😎

[@evergreengarden1M]

Hii Happy Sunday Nice one Thoroughly enjoyed watching your videos

[@Vermicompost]

Thank you so much...Happy Sunday to you as well! I love your channel and I learn so much about care & uses for so many different plants!🪱🪱🪱

[@evergreengarden1M]

@@Vermicompost 💝💞😍

[@gamecamwildlife9158]

If your wife is the executive director, then your mom is your director of supply chain. LOL Getting ready to sift my harvest tray today and getting some last minute tips. Have a happy Sunday.

[@Vermicompost]

She is a logistics expert!! She got us 5 kids to all our practices & school and as you can see she's used to cooking for a big family even though we are all since long moved out!!! I'll never run out of food scraps with her around!! Good Luck with your harvest!! Thanks so much for the good laugh and of course thanks so much for watching!!🪱🪱🪱

[@clivesconundrumgarden]

Excellent Patrick !! This is the goal !! Awesome Cheers Jason and Colleen 🌱🪱🌱

[@Vermicompost]

Thanks!! This bin is a castings machine!! I really appreciate you all stopping by to watch!!🪱🪱🪱

[@clivesconundrumgarden]

Lol Patrick, I watched this video 12 days ago and totally forgot. But I learned a lot watching it again. Thanks for the info , again🤣🤣 and have a great weekend!! Cheers Jason and Colleen 🌱🪱🌱

[@Vermicompost]

😂🤣😂We really appreciate our repeat customers!! I’m glad you enjoyed it the second time around!! Have a great weekend!!🪱🪱🪱

[@lisakruger5289]

Great video and thanks so much for sharing the link! I appreciate you sharing all your casting harvesting techniques since I'm still a little nervous that I'll mess that part up.

[@Vermicompost]

You’re gonna do fine! The best thing is if you store them for a little bit, you’ll have an opportunity to bait out even more worms as the babies & cocoons that stay in the harvest grow up and become bigger mature worms! It is so much fun to have worm farms!!🪱🪱🪱

[@sandywest4299]

thank you i love the way you explain steps and does and donts tyvm

[@Vermicompost]

Thank you!! I appreciate the kind words!!🪱🪱🪱

[@JesseJames83]

Nice work; thanks for sharing!

[@Vermicompost]

Thank you! I really appreciate you taking the time to watch and comment!🪱🪱🪱

[@cookie761]

Patrick, I can't find the list of products that you use. Seems like I've had another update on my phone and everything's different now. I was wondering what brand of bags that you use for your outside bin. Are they like they're made out of felt or what? Thank you again for all that you do and God bless you and your family.

[@Vermicompost]

Here are the 20 gallon grow bags I use amzn.to/3EBYhdr They seem to be made out of a thick felt material. There are a lot of different brands out there and they seem to be all similar so I think if you type 20 gallon grow bag or fabric pot you'll have lots of sizes and brands to choose from. If you are ever wondering about what equipment I use, I include the list in the description of every video and I try to remember to add a pinned comment with the same list. Some of my older videos don't have the comment list. I hope this helps!! Thanks so much for all your support & blessings Cookie!!🪱🪱🪱

[@cookie761]

@@Vermicompost I couldn't find it on the two recent ones so I went to an older one and found it. Thank you so much for responding. I am planning to store castings in them.

[@clivesconundrumgarden]

Hey Repeat customer here!! 3rd time lucky 🤣. Cats are evil but I like em, not sure what that says about me lol. Super smart to bait the worms out. Another great bonus of worm castings is it's PH neutral don't need to worry about balancing your mixes, unless you use a ton of peat which is on the acidic side. I bet if you left worm casts in the peat long enough, it would balance the ph🤔 Worm casts for the win !! Cheers Patrick Jason and Colleen

[@Vermicompost]

Repeat customers are the best kind!! I grew up with cats but Autumn is allergic to them. So amazing that the 2 main domesticated animals have such different personalities...one😈the other👼 I saw a video from London Garden & Worms, I believe, that showed the pH of a huge worm bin before, during and after feeding huge amounts of apples & tomatoes and amazingly enough it remained pH neutral...worms are master chemists!!! I think you are right about the peat and worms processing it to be pH neutral. Undefeated worm cast for the win!!! Thanks for diving into the archives again!!!🪱🪱🪱

[@clivesconundrumgarden]

@@Vermicompost interesting, nature always balances ph for it particular biome. Us humans "f" it up !!

[@Vermicompost]

@@clivesconundrumgarden Yep!

[@NorthernThaiGardenGuy]

Great video! Great techniques and I bet your tea is better than you describe. The cool thing about Aerobic tea is that is brings in the oxygen-rich microbes that do best in the first 2.5cm of your soil and really helps to build up your top soil. Great stuff!

[@Vermicompost]

Thanks so much! I really like using the worm casting tea...I just need to get legit aerators, I have to use 2 small fish tank bubblers that are just not up to my standards. I'm really interested in additional inputs people put use to make it a one stop shop for fertilizer . Thanks for passing on your knowledge; your channel is chock full awesome info!

[@deewormsvermicomposting]

Another excellent video!! Thanks for sharing!

[@Vermicompost]

I really appreciate that! Thanks so much!🪱🪱🪱

[@baboondeity7731]

Can you store the castings in a large clean trash can outside with a lid or will they dry out too much?

[@Vermicompost]

As long as the castings can get air they will be fine. You can put an old wet towel or damp pizza box on the surface to keep in moisture/help add moisture, but if air cannot get in or out you will have a nasty mess on your hands. I’m just imagining the lid being tight or something being place of top it to keep the lid on and the inside of the trash can going anaerobic. The castings at the bottom may become compacted and more wet as you go down form the weight of the castings above & gravity pulling moisture down. But as long as you kinda agitate/rake through the first several inches as you use them it will be fine. I hope this helps! Thanks so much for dropping by to watch & ask a great question!!🪱🪱🪱

[@jaynebirkholz1596]

Hello! New subscriber to your channel. Your videos are extremely well done. Very informative, yet not too long. I believe I am about at the same stage in this endeavor/hobby as you so it will be fun to follow along on your journey. We also have similar set ups, with the exception that I recently acquired an Urban Worm bag (which I have not started yet). I too started w/12 cocoons that turned into 40 worms, in a very small container that is now loaded w/worms. It was a fun & satisfying experience! I am at the crossroad of how to stabilize my populations as not to keep growing into more bins/systems. May I inquire as to what your long term plans are? Thank you your time & efforts to share w/others!

[@Vermicompost]

Wow, thanks so much for your kind words and for subscribing!!! Worm farming has definitely taught me patience. I really want to get an urban worm bag when I can figure out where to put it so I'll be interested in your experience with it. Having an outdoor bin for almost a year in FL gives me the confidence that I could probably keep it truly outdoors and not in my garage etc. I plan to have no more than 3-4 bins at a time. That seems to be the number that feeds my garden and consumes my waste. I have some neighbors that also have worm bins so I will give them some of my population if I feel like I have too many. I think the populations will grow to the carrying capacity of the individual bins and then probably maintain from there, I'm not too worried about having too many in a bin or having a stinky die off as I think the colonies self regulate. Long term I want to be able to perfect my worm casting teas and worm casting soil mixes so I can be completely free of purchasing any fertilizer (I make other natural fertilizers to add to the mix) for my garden. I really like experimenting & tweaking the efficiency of the bins so another long term goal is to learn as much from actual experience and documenting that journey to pass on. A little long winded but I hope this helps! Thanks again for watching, commenting, & subscribing!🪱🪱🪱

[@jaynebirkholz1596]

@@Vermicompost thank you for your reply...I started my journey w/a (gifted)Worm Factory 360 but that system has turned in to 6 tray systems( too, too many!) My ideal would be 2 Urban Worm Bags (1 each w/ENC's & 1 w/Red Wrigglers) and of course my original WF360. But I was not prepared for the size of the UWB, it is quite large and moving/handling it could be taxing when it is full. My husband is thinking to perhaps put it on wheels? I will keep you posted if you are truly interested? Again, thank you

[@Vermicompost]

I am definitely interested! I learn by doing but that's after I come up with an 80% guess on what will happen after doing extensive research, so any honest opinion I can get is truly welcomed. I don't have a lot of room & I would need to move it throughout the year as the shade changes with the seasons. Wheels sounds like a good solution!🪱🪱🪱

[@WormsvsTHEWORLD]

Where did the green tray come from? Where did you buy it?

[@Vermicompost]

It is one of the trays of my vermihut worm bin system. It comes with 5 of them for a potential 5 level worm tower. I definitely should have mentioned that in the video…thanks for asking the question a lot of people probably have. I bought the Vermihut on Amazon and it is one of the 3 worm bins on my channel. Thanks for watching & commenting! Loving your worm bin time lapses on your channel!🪱🪱🪱

[@-ChrisD]

Urban Worm Company elaborates a little more and has some additional information like feeding the microbiology, providing, moisture and protecting from UV light (a microbiology killer indeed). You might like his video. kzbin.info/www/bejne/nKqaq55-jdd7iLc

[@Vermicompost]

Thanks Chris I just went back and watched it!! Steve is great (we both went to Air Force Pilot training in the late 90's) and has so much good info on his channel!! I'm hoping to get a Urban Worm Bag for Christmas🤞Thanks so much for watching and for passing along his video about how to keep the microbiota alive while storing your castings!!🪱🪱🪱

[@-ChrisD]

@@Vermicompost Thank you as well, not only for your videos but for your service also. God bless🙂

[@Vermicompost]

Thank you!!🇺🇸

[@granddeluxe123]

Can you help why my casting is so mushy? And still have other hard food in there? Also have you ever put quails manure inside your worm bin?

[@Vermicompost]

The castings most likely are mushy due to excess moisture. Castings hold moisture really well so if you have already gotten all the worms out of it, you may want to let it dry and mix it up every couple of days for a week so it dries all throughout. If you haven't taken the worms out yet and there is still food in the bin, maybe add some bedding and no more food until things dry out more. I have never put quail manure in my bins however I know bird manure can be very salty and have excess ammonia in it. Some vermicomposters I know use chicken manure, but they let it age for a while and add water and carbon type bedding to help with the excess salts and ammonia. It can be tricky so you may want to do some more research on chicken or bird manure for vermicomposting which will probably also apply to quail manure. Hope this helped! Thanks for watching and commenting! 🪱🪱🪱

[@granddeluxe123]

@@Vermicompost I haven't told you the full story. I added quail manure. And boy it stank my worm bin. I had to chuck it. Another question, for bedding, do I need to put it on top or at the bottom layer?

[@Vermicompost]

@@granddeluxe123 🤢Uh oh! As far as bedding I put it as the first layer each time I feed so it gets moist as the food scraps thaw and gravity pulls their liquid down. When I need to add more unrelated to my weekly feedings, I’ll mix it in and add some on top. Hope this helps!🪱🪱🪱

[@dizzydinonysius]

Mushy is a direct result of too much water/moisture, of course. Add dry food: Limit the amount of water and/or compensate with dry goods, whether C or N to adjust for target 30:1 ratio. I have used rice, legumes, cereal and even spaghetti but even cardboard would suffice. I basically look into the pantry for anything that might be old, stale, low salt, and organic. If adding food/bedding is not an option: Layer 1" between dry cardboard and leave for 24 hours. This may be repeated until desired consistency. For excessively wet conditions: A method I found that worked well is to use a clean, dry, cement brick for a day or two in the worst area. It will sop up a good deal of water. If I needed to repeat, I'd either bake the brick until dry or just use another while that one dried out naturally. Agitating and 'fluffing" muddy/mushy castings aids in drying but more so, provides oxygen and nitrogen to the aerobic microbes you want in the finished castings. Moving air in and around the room, should help too. Mushy castings become anaerobic so leaving them in this state is not conducive to the worm environment plus do not have the correct microbes which carry and provide the vital nutrients for plants. Get in the habit of only providing "just enough" moisture. It is far, far easier to add water than to remove it. Once you have mastered this, it becomes a consistent, natural state and your worms will love you for it.

[@Vermicompost]

@@dizzydinonysius YES, yes, YESSSS!!!! Everything stated here is awesome advice!!! Thanks for posting it!🪱🪱🪱

[@laheart1957]

So what happens in winter? Do they survive the winter?

[@Vermicompost]

We live in Tampa, Florida USA and the temperature only gets below 32℉ or 0℃ maybe twice a year so my worms have no troubles. They have no problem surviving the winter! If I know we are getting a freeze, I sometimes bring the bin in my garage which is about 5-10 degrees warmer. Depending on the worm type, they can withstand low temperatures and their cocoons can withstand even lower temperatures. I hope this helps!!

[@laheart1957]

@@Vermicompost Thank you so much . Someone suggested in a video to have a layer of grass clippings, hay or straw for making compost. I can’t get any of them. All i have is shredded paper, mulch, cardboard, soil, and lots of vegetable waste. Would that be good enough to make compost? Thanks in advance!!

[@Vermicompost]

Absolutely!! You have everything you need!

[@laheart1957]

@@Vermicompost Thank you so much. I started my composting a couple of days back with a healthy mix of “greens” and “browns”. Now when I open the bin, I find that its full of small flies (“aphids”?). Is that normal? Should I be worried about that?

[@Vermicompost]

If you are just doing regular compost (using heat not worms to compost) I wouldn't worry about any small flies in the early days...as the compost heats up the flies and larvae will not be able to stand the heat. If it is tto wet or smelly add more browns. As for a vermicpompost system (no heat worms doing the compost) then I would had more browns and take out any excess greens and feed it very little food scraps until they have consumed what is in there, then give very little food, feeding only what they can consume in a week between checkins. Hopefully that makes sense for your situation!

[@sparkyh62]

Mixed bin???

[@Vermicompost]

2 of my 4 bins have a mix or red wigglers and blue worms, the other 2 have pure red wigglers. When I store my castings I consider any worms I find in there to be a mix since it would be too time consuming to pluck them out individually and determine what kind they are without making a mistake, so they only go back into my mixed bins. I hope that helps answer your question! Thanks so much for taking the time to watch!!🪱🪱🪱