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Last Updated on March 8 , 2020

dirt ball casting , also make love as “ black gold ” , are a starring natural fertilizer for your garden ! They allow for full-bodied , readily - available nutrients for your plant life , and ameliorate your soil social organisation too . Maybe you hump this already … Possibly , you already have a worm bin – and have been divert your intellectual nourishment waste into it . Good for you ! Now you just need to recognize how to harvest the insect cast , so you could put them to honorable use . lease me show you how !

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When the time is correct , harvest home insect castings from a basic insect bin is really , really simple ! And I have a few tips to make it even easy ! The dirt ball casting can be sifted with a DIY screen arrangement , as I will show you in thedemonstration videoat the end of this post . Or , they can just be reap by hand .

This place is geared for folk using a simpletote - stylus , undivided - compartment insect bin like we use . The fancier layered worm bin have their own harvesting methods .

If you do n’t yet have a worm binful at rest home and are interested in get one set up , or need some pointers to aid substantially maintain yours , check out this Emily Price Post to teach just howeasyit is!Vermicomposting 101 : How to Create & Maintain a Simple Worm Bin .

A close up two hands cupping a large handful of red compost worms, hovering over a worm bin of shredded paper and food waste in the background.

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Preparing your Worm Bin for Harvest

If you just created a worm compost bin , do n’t have a bun in the oven cast to be quick for harvest straightaway . The insect bin needs to get ground , and be routinely feed and fluffed for a few months first . This gives the worms sentence to eat , turn things over , and break down food and bedding into louse casting – their turd .

Once you start out to see the worm bin transforming from raw materials into finished insect casting , you may think about harvesting them . Finished insect castings look similar to good , plenteous soil . They’re dark brown , tiny , circular bits of textile that have passed through their system .

When harvest louse cast , the goal is to collect as much castings as potential , but leave the worms behind in the bin . It is okay if a few worms derive along for the drive , and some of their egg cocoon and tiny babies will of necessity be harvested . That ’s okay ! On the other hand , you do n’t need to deplete your worm bin population by polish off too many . Therefore , we need the worm to get out of the way !

Four images in one. The first shows a hand pointing to the corner of a worm bin full of brown material that looks like soil. The next is a close up of the worms in the bin. Next, a small shovel is being used to scoop out worm castings from the bin into a smaller bucket. Last is the bucket being held up over the bin, now full of worm castings.

Move Over, Worms!

A calendar week or two before you require to harvest the louse castings , stir and pass around the content of your bank identification number out in the bottom . Next , eat the worms exclusively on one side of the worm binduring that prison term . Bury the solid food ( and if needed , any new browns / bedding ) in one far recession , with plan to glean worm castings from the opposite side . The worms should transmigrate there to eat , leaving the other side of the bin hopefully insect - free . If there is a lot of live food subject and worms spread evenly throughout your worm bin , it may take a little longer to accomplish this .

Once the majority of the worms have migrate , it is sentence to harvest casting !

Harvesting Worm Castings

One extremely simple method acting of harvest home worm castings is byscooping them out . Using a small trowel , scoop out out the finished castings from the “ resting ” side of your worm bin into a bucket . That ’s it !

However , calculate on how well broken - down the material in your worm bin is , or how well the worms migrated to the diametrical side of the bin , you may need to pluck through the material a little by hand . Sift throughthe casting and throw back large pieces of solid food matter , lumps of shredded paper or other bedding , and as many worms as you jolly can . If the worm castings are clumpy , attempt to break up the big chunks .

Another option is to take it one footstep further – to glean and then sift them with the aid of a simple screen .

Four images. They show a small wood frame (about 2x3 feet) made with 2x6 boards, with wire hardware cloth mesh over the frame. The images show the process of dumping clumpy brown worm castings on top of the screen, a hand moving it around to break it up and force it down through the wire screen, and a plastic tote below the screen to catch the finished worm castings.

Screening Worm Castings

We used to just scoop and pick through castings with a trowel , as described above . It took fewer “ cock ” to strain by hand , but candidly , it train a little longer and more effort than the method acting I will identify next .

A couple old age ago , Aaron attach some hardware cloth to scrap wood for another task he was work on . It just so happened that it made an utterly perfect insect casting screen ! It consists of awood frame withhalf - in hardware clothover it , attach using wide level - head cabinet screws . Heavy - duty staple would work as well .

We used 2×6 ” wood pieces because that is what we always have on hand ( scraps frombuilding raised garden beds ! ) , but any size of it timber pieces would make . A bamboo wager stomach our cover on the more open side of it , but you could totally make a four - sided Sir Henry Wood anatomy instead . distinctly , it ’s nothing fancy .

Two large male hands are cupped together, holding as much finished worm castings as possible. The hands are over a plastic tote full of harvested worm castings. They’re rich, dark brown, moist, like good fluffy soil.

Place the sieve frame on top of a plastic tote or other container that will catch the screened louse cast . plunge some on , push it around to sift it , and allow the worm castings fall through . Repeat as needed until all of it is sieve and divide . I use my hand , but you could also use a trowel .

The holes in half inch hardware cloth seem staring for the Book of Job ! The resulting screened worm castings arenice and fluffy , with any large chunks broken up . Large routine of matter are easily get by the blind , and can be put back into the worm bin . Worms may get through the cover , or may appease on top . Either way , you should be able to easy see and sort out them .

Voilà!

Now you have fetch up , fluffy , quick - to - use , perfectly harvested worm poop .

How to Use Worm Castings

If you ’re wondering “ what do I do with insect castings ? ” , the answer is : SO MANY THINGS ! Add the castingsdirectly to your raised garden bedsor other garden grunge as a rich natural plant food . They also aid toimprove soilaeration , drainage , and wet retention . We like to sum a little fistful to every planting cakehole when we aretransplanting new seedlingsoutside . Also , worm castings are a great addition to seedling commencement mixture when you’restarting plants from come . Put a few scoop around the base of fruit trees . Or , give your houseplants a special delicacy !

One of the great things about worm castings is thata little run a long way!By using even a small amount in your garden , you ’ll see the conflict . On the other bridge player , you really ca n’t “ exaggerate it ” ! They are not “ spicy ” like other fertilizers . Meaning , worm poop can not burn or shock your plants . In my lowly opinion , the more the merrier .

One of our absolute favorite ways to habituate dirt ball castings is to makeactively aerated compost Camellia sinensis ( AACT)with them . Check out this station all about how to make AACT !

DeannaCat’s signature, with “keep on growing”

We seek to tot up castings to our garden in every way potential . If you do the same , I promiseyour garden and plants will give thanks you enormously for your effort !

Check out this presentation picture to see just how quick and easy harvesting and shield worm castings can be !

I trust you found this post helpful in your vermicomposting journey ! Please feel free to ask interrogative , and spread the love by sharing this post .