Worm composting question?
I have been worm composting kitchen scraps using tupperware containers for about a year now. Now that I have a good supply of compost, I want to separate the worms from the compost. The compost goes into the garden, the worms go to a new pile (and maybe a few to the fish in the aquarium!).
Anyone have any good and easy methods to effectively and efficiently separate the worms from the compost?
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Hey William,
Harvesting
If you take care of your worms and create a favorable environment for them, they will work tirelessly to eat your “garbage” and produce compost. As time progresses, you will notice less and less bedding and more and more compost in your bin. After 3-5 months, when your bin is filled with compost (and very little bedding), it is time to harvest the bin. Harvesting means removing the finished compost from the bin. After several months, worms need to be separated from their castings which, at high concentrations, create an unhealthy environment for them.
To prepare for harvesting, do not add new food to the bin for two weeks. Then try one of two methods for harvesting:
Push all of the worm bin contents to one half of the bin, removing any large pieces of undecomposed food or newspaper. Put fresh bedding and food scraps in empty side of bin. Continue burying food scraps only in freshly bedded half.
Over the next 2-3 weeks, the worms will move over to the new side (where the food is), conveniently leaving their compost behind in one section. When this has happened, remove the compost and replace it with fresh bedding. To facilitate worm migration, cover only the new side of the bin, causing the old side to dry out and encouraging the worms to leave the old side.
Hands-On Method:
Dump the entire contents of the worm bin onto a sheet of plastic or paper. Make several individual cone-shaped piles. Each pile will contain worms, compost and undecomposed food and bedding. As the piles are exposed to light,, the worms will migrate towards the bottom of the pile. Remove the top layer of compost from the pile, separating out pieces of undecomposed food and newspaper. After removing the top layer, let pile sit under light for 2-3 minutes as the worms migrate down. Then remove the next layer of compost. Repeat this process until all of the worms are left at the bottom of the pile. Collect the worms, weigh them (for your record keeping) and put them back in their bin with fresh bedding.
Regardless of which method you choose, the compost you harvest will most likely contain a worm or two, along with old food scraps and bedding. If you are using the compost outdoors, there is no need to worry–the worms will find a happy home and the food scraps and bedding will eventually decompose. If you are using the compost indoors, you may want to remove old bedding and food scraps for aesthetic purposes and ensure that there are no worms in the compost. Though the worms will not harm your plants, the worms may not like living in a small pot.
For both methods, you may continue to compost your food scraps after harvesting. Just add fresh bedding and food scraps. If, for some reason, you do not want to continue composting, please offer the setup to another teacher or to someone who will take the worm bin home. Anyone with a garden will find the worm compost extremely valuable. As a last resort, if you cannot find anyone who wants good worm compost, you may add the worms to a garden bed.