How To Harvest Worm Castings

Worm Castings Screen Harvester Link:
www.iowawormcomposting.com/pr...
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Iowa Worm Composting Website:
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We are going to harvest some worm castings. We are going to try out a new product. And we are going to harvest a worm bin in 15 minutes or less. Stick around...it's going to be fun!
Let me kind of set this up for you. Here we have a typical worm bin that is 14" by 18" by 6" deep. It has about 3 to 4 inches of worm bedding.
I'd say it's probably a pretty typical home-size worm bin. Right here, I just have an empty tray and a white sandbag in the bottom of it so you can see what's going on.
We are going to be using our Worm Castings Screen Harvester. This is actually our product and there's kind of a story behind it.
We raise most of our worms outside but we ship a lot of worms from our online website. We have trays indoors to keep worms for shipping to customers.
Worms are harvested outside occasionally and brought in to our trays indoors. Several times a year we have one or two trays to harvest indoors.
We don't want to get the big shaker screener out because it takes longer to clean it up than harvesting a few trays of worm castings.
Something was needed that was quick and easy. We came up with this product, we've been using it for a few years, and we're really happy with it.
The Screener works so well and I thought...let's share it with everybody. So, here it is. The way it comes is in a poly bag with instructions.
You can see that the instructions are pretty short because it is pretty darn easy to use. The main takeaway here is to screen fairly dry castings.
This applies whether it be with a big commercial trommel or large shaker screener. You can not screen wet and muddy castings. It will clog the screens.
When I know that we're going to have to harvest worm castings, I won't feed or water the worm bin for a couple of weeks.
That usually works pretty well for our operation. Of course, if your worm bins are wetter, it might take a little bit longer.
If they are drier, it might take a little shorter time. When we started I said we were going to do this in 15 minutes or less.
Honestly, I've never timed this before. I have done this for quite a while and that seems like a nice round number.
I've got a timer preset right here with 15 minutes and we're going to set it right here and then I'm going to start it.
We're going to get going. What we will have left in this tray is unprocessed material, worms, and cocoons.
We are going to add them to our third tray over here. Then, we just repeat the process. You don't want to put a lot of material in the tray.
A good handful is about right. Actually, if you put too much in, it will slow you down. We will harvest the worm castings with the timer in view.
I will speed up the video so you don't have to watch me harvesting for 15 minutes.
We're getting to the end right here and I have got maybe one more tray over here, As you can see, we've got a pretty nice pile of castings in the tray.
I will stop my timer. There are 7 minutes and 59 seconds left, so it was pretty quick. Around seven minutes to harvest the entire worm bin.
The thing I like about this is that a lot of thought went into the screen size. We use 1/8 inch Diamond mesh.
The eighth-inch diamond mesh catches 100% of the European Nightcrawler cocoon and catches about 80% of the red worm cocoons.
You'll still have a few of the red worm cocoons go through because some of the worms and cocoons are smaller.
If you're really concerned, you can hand pick the few that go through. As you can see, the worm castings have no cocoons in them.
They are pretty solid castings. This is the tray we just harvested. This tray right here is all worms, unprocessed bedding, and cocoons.
The normal operation here would be to split the tray. I would take half the worms, unprocessed material, and cocoons and add back to the tray I just harvested.
I would just leave the other half in this tray and add new bedding to both trays.
We will now have two trays, our worms are split, and everything will go fine.
What did we accomplish? We harvested a tray worm castings. Our worm bin was harvested in about 7 minutes.
That's probably pretty normal for the typical home worm bin.
We really like this new Worm Castings Screen Harvester. It solved a big problem for us when we only had to harvest a worm bin or two.
That is the category that most hobbyist worm farmers fall into. We think it would be a great addition to your worm farming efforts.
If you are interested in purchasing this product, I will put the link in the description below. Until next time, happy worming.

[@jerrylane372]

Love the tray !

[@kinsjsmggoiktaylor5659]

I Enjoyed That 👏👏👏♥️♥️

[@jerrylane372]

Ty Rick for including your channel and biz card with the tray. Julia Lane (this is hubby's channel I'm using )

[@jerrylane372]

I def got to get ours drier ....I will wait a few weeks. The tray works great when it's dry enough ❤

[@vaughanfamily2075]

After trying many other methods out there to harvest my worm castings over the past year, I threw my hands up in exasperation from the wasted time and inefficiency! I decided to ditch the worms, but I made one last check online for any other way to do this when I discovered Iowa Worm Composting and this handy screening tool. I ordered it and am very pleased with the results. I highly recommend this product. BTW I'm keeping my worms thanks to Rick.

[@kelliehubler2110]

What a great tool!!! I am going to order one this week! Thank you for sharing it!

[@ihsansari3641]

I like your video clips , as they are simple and up to point

[@elivean]

I'm so happy for having found this video. I was thinking about this for my off-grid home, and I was wondering how could you separate worms from the compost. You're the first one that did this carefully, without being brutally harsh with the poor animals. The system is efficient, easy, and respectful. Thank you so much! I was also wondering... would it be okay to let some of those worms in my garden now and then when using the compost?

[@wieslawj.vonwalawender6763]

very nice explanation. Thank you

[@NMagturo]

Thanks for sharing.

[@StefaniStevensBand]

Hi Rick! Thanks, I love worms! They can save the world…👍🏼😊

[@sandrarichardson2713]

Really nice video. Thanks for the help. Gonna check out the sifter and the pdf. Thanks so much and Jesus bless.

[@j1taveras]

Thanks for sharing nice and simple

[@alexiscraft7877]

This is an excellent video! Straight shooter and very helpful to us

[@jerrylane372]

I need to separate mine out. I have so many cocoons .I made my worm casting bin out of two large rubbermaids..I could literally divide into ten

[@malcolmyoung7866]

Great video with a little bit of straight forward humour. Subscribed..

[@roymarshall3458]

Looks a lot better than what I've been using.

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

The Worm Castings Screen Harvester really works well!

[@cynthiadalessandro4509]

Thanks 😊

[@Intellistan]

Awesome

[@sherrywebster1675]

I've been breeding worms ( well they breed themselves !!) for about a year now... am always too worried about not kinowing how dry they can handle... so I don't dry my castings at all , but am devising ways to make harvesting easier... but I am not a commercial breeder ( yet ) so can take a little time. But I appreciate this video a lot, it will help me , teach me more. Thank you .

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

Thanks for the compliment. The rule of thumb for castings harvest is 90-120 days. After you have some experience...you can pretty well tell by looking at your bedding. Hope this helps and that was a good question.

[@humangoodness]

Will the eggs go through the mesh basket?

[@WasenshiDo]

Looks like a cel phone from the 1960s xD, thx for the vid

[@guitarguyjoefry]

Thank you for the information. I like that screen. I'm new I just moved my bin into the pole barn for the winter. I wrapped it with some Styrofoam best I could hoping it won't freeze here in the Midwest it can get really cold sometimes. My bin is too wet so I put some new bedding to dry it up. A few weeks later it's just as wet or wetter? Seems it's from condensation literally dripping from the lid and sides of the bin. What can I do? I drilled holes all the way around it along the top but maybe too small? They were like 3/8"? I'm thinking of removing the lid and put a screen over the top. But cold below freezing temps coming this weekend. I haven't seen anyone talk about the bin creating so much moister out of thin air? What would be a better absorbent bedding option? Peat moss better than card board? This is a blast but the last thing I want to do is kill the worms

[@jerrylane372]

Mine are a lil too moist to go thru the screen well. What is the best thing to dry out the castings some without hurting the worms. Just more coco coir?

[@juliecho-polizzi7984]

Great, straight forward instructions! I ordered your screen tray and am eagerly awaiting it. I started a huge red wiggler worm ranch several months ago in a 3' x 3' x 3' Greene's slatted cedar composting bin out in shady corner of my garden. I'm a beginner. It's hard to find info on how to manage it, since everyone seems to vermicompost in small bins. I'm going to start drying out a corner of it to harvest, now that I have your advice! Do you have links where I can find tips specifically geared towards large bin operations?

[@karimali3635]

How do I get rid of Larvae from my worm bin ?

[@courtneyblock6795]

I cannot get your sight to open.

[@wadewilson5296]

Just found your channel. Signed up to you emails. I look forward to becoming a hobby wormaholic!

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

Welcome aboard. Worming is fun!

[@suecode7]

Is mold normal in my bin .

[@starcatcher3691]

That was really helpful Rick. I just purchased your screen, I haven't used it yet. But soon! But only for outdoors. I just wonder, how do the worms deal with all that shaking? I hope they aren't traumatized!

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

They seem to do fine. Don't find dead ones after.

[@06bravo68]

What size holes are in your shaker? Excellent video. Thank you sir.

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

They are about 1/8 inch diamond shaped.

[@romanticwarrior97]

Got the screener. Does not feeding or watering them for 2 weeks as you dry the castings the bother them much?

[@newbiegardener3980]

I appreciate the time you took to make this video- my question is- how do you end up with castings that are dry like that?I have purchased castings in various stages of wetness- yours seems kinda dry for sure. thank you Sir.

[@blacklabel130]

he must put his tray somewhere hot and dry for a while... not sure worms like that for too long

[@thejuan62]

You can open up your lid and leave the centre or around 1/3 of the container covered with a worm blanket or cardboard that keeps some moisture in. The outside air will begin to dry out the exposed 2/3 of the bin while retaining moisture where the worms will naturally migrate, you will find less worms in the dry uncovered area and more in the covered section.

[@johnhubbard6262]

Bought your screen, with very fast shipping thank you. It's nice, but judging by the four little stick-on pads on the bottom these are just import office desk trays, am I incorrect?

[@s367172cp]

I just saw your video on harvesting worm castings my original intent was to raise night-crawlers for fishing I am hoping that raising crawlers and harvesting castings can be a combined effort on of the things I have seen on other videos that put holes in the bottom of the trays to remove excess water I also wanted to ask about tissues as they cannot be recycled in out area but I am not sure about the lotion in them

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

Sure, you can combine growing European nightcrawlers for fishing, and also harvest the castings. I do not drill holes in my trays. I prefer to just control the moisture. This is easily done with single trays. I do not use tissues with lotion for bedding material. There are many other better choices. Thanks for the questions and hopefully this helps you out.

[@Jaqob76]

Did you ever try a canadian night crawler bin?Everything I saw was saying it wouldn't work. I had one for over a year. They never did great, but they did live and reproduce a small amount.

[@katipohl2431]

Hi from Northern Germany. Am already breeding my own worms Eisenia fetida here. Is that small harvester available in Germany?

[@lispottable]

Does it hurt the worms to let the bin dry out for two weeks? I was thinking they had to stay moist??

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

Worms can live in a pretty dry environment for reasonably short times. We have never lost any worms by drying out a bin to harvest.

[@harrylandrum5912]

Where do you buy your screen. And what's it called. Thanks You

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

iowawormcomposting.com It is called a Worm Castings Screen Harvester.

[@michelewhite1150]

Do you ship to Western Australia and cost please? Thank you

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

Please email me [e-mail]

[@suchetagw]

Do you ship this product to Australia

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

Please email me. [e-mail]

[@smittysmith38]

your vermicompost is a lit dryer than mine

[@NMagturo]

Approximatley how many worms (weight or count) do you usually have in those sized bins? I'm growing African Nightcrawlers.

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

That depends. If I am growing out ENC bait worms...no more that half pound per sq ft. For composting 1# per sq ft and the worms will fill it up.

[@NMagturo]

Thanks. How many square feet are your compost bins?

[@tomleonard1589]

Nevermind ))) 1/8In

[@mfjtf]

My worm casting are black but not as dry as yours.

[@sampathgamage16]

Sir how many days stay without feeding worms for casting ❤️❤️❤️❤️🇱🇰

[@Schallerotto]

Hi! Very instructive vídeos! Thank youbfirvsharongbuourvrcoerience! My question is: boa long does it take beteeen harvests?

[@aimanzeidan]

Where is the worms how do you take them out

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

The worms stay in the screener with the cocoons and unprocessed material. You can pick them out if you want.

[@wayneandrade5765]

Can I buy a large number of worms

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

contact me through my website...iowawormcomposting.com

[@davidgore8104]

Where are the worms

[@iowawormcomposting2565]

They are in the tray with the cocoons and unprocessed material.

[@dstrbd223]

That’s a $3 stationary bin from the office supply store. Please don’t rip people off. Plus your castings are much dryer than they would be in a real world application.

[@LucKerklaan]

IKEA 3 dollar

[@drutter]

Yeah it looks very similar to some baskets I've seen for sale at the dollar store here. They might be adequate for this job.

[@ReefMimic]

$6 on Amazon