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Ok I have had my farm for about 6 months now.. The question is... How do you separate the castings from the bedding? I have them in the rubbermaid system.. I know I put the new bedding in the second container, and let them move into the new system..But how do you do the harvest?
bbbbbbbbb Tonight I am having friends for dinner... Hanibal Lector My Album Posts: 13562 | From: Lawrence,Ma | Registered: Mar 2006
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Okay, not that I'm really one to be giving advise but...
I tried putting the second container on top of the one full of worms but it squished the worms and they all tried to climb out the bottom and a few died. What I did was I picked out all the worms and tossed them in a new container with fresh bedding. I also added all the old uneaten bedding to the new stuff. The only tools I had were my hands and patience. Then I just added my 'black gold' to whatever I needed too.
bbbbbbbbb Sarah - Zone 5b/6 Posts: 662 | From: Ks, USA | Registered: May 2006
| Logged: 71.158.193.48
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Sorry, Rita, I'm sure you won't like my method and this is why I wish I had got a stacking system, but I didn't know about them when I was starting out! What I do to clean my bin is dump the whole thing out on a tarp on the floor of the garage. (I guess you could do this out in the yard also, just curl up the edges of the tarp to keep the lil worms from escaping. Then I make piles with the contents, oh probably about 20 piles. If it's bright enough when you do this , the worms will go to the very bottom of each pile. The pile is like hand size in width and 6" tall. I scoop up an individual pile and pick all the worms from the bottom and toss them in to one pail. After picking through the rest of that pile for anymore worms I toss that into a different pail. I try to get some of the eggs into the worm pail too, but this job is so tedious that I usually just let them go in the compost bucket by the end.
At some point in this procedure (to break up the monotony of worm picking), I go and clean out the bin itself, hose it down, fill it up with fresh bedding, a little soil, water. I don't put any food in for a few hours or overnight to let them get settled.
I don't keep any of the food from the bin, I start the clean bin fresh. If there is anything that has not been broken down all the way left in the bin, I throw it out in the compost pile out back.
Some of the good castings (about 1/2-1 gallon) I put in a separate 5 gallon pail and add water to it for compost tea.
I hope this helps, I'm doing my bin today! One really good thing about this method, is you really get to know your worms and what is going on in the bin. See if you've got alot of reproduction going on, etc. etc.
posted
Sarah Thanks for your advise I would hate to Squish my worms! Soooo I guess this will be the messy way Mel have you tried the move everything to one side? Just curious if it worked I was hoping for an easier way but they need to be in a fresh clean home! Thanks you guys!! Sarah did you ever get your worms to stay in the bin?
bbbbbbbbb Tonight I am having friends for dinner... Hanibal Lector My Album Posts: 13562 | From: Lawrence,Ma | Registered: Mar 2006
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Rita, I just went out and checked on the little guys. Guess what? No new dead ones!! AND there was only 2 crawling around on the sides. Woohoo! Apparently they really like a wet covering over their bedding. That wet newspaper was a godsend.
bbbbbbbbb Sarah - Zone 5b/6 Posts: 662 | From: Ks, USA | Registered: May 2006
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Awsome Sarah!! Great to hear!! You must be happy!
I was going to do the cleaning of the bin today but got distracted with the kids.. There is always tomarrow though right!
bbbbbbbbb Tonight I am having friends for dinner... Hanibal Lector My Album Posts: 13562 | From: Lawrence,Ma | Registered: Mar 2006
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Ok Cleaning my bin out What the heck do the eggs look like?? Are they the clearish amber things??
bbbbbbbbb Tonight I am having friends for dinner... Hanibal Lector My Album Posts: 13562 | From: Lawrence,Ma | Registered: Mar 2006
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It's my understanding that the eggs are inside a lemon-shaped 'cocoon' containing 5-15 baby worms & they look like little pearls. When they hatch, they leave a brown shell behind. I also heard that the eggs don't hatch unless the soil is 55-60*F.
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OK thanks! Good thing I didn't put the compost out on the Frozen back porch then!! There were like a bagillion eggs in there!! Sooo I guess I will be going through that again!!
bbbbbbbbb Tonight I am having friends for dinner... Hanibal Lector My Album Posts: 13562 | From: Lawrence,Ma | Registered: Mar 2006
| Logged: 66.31.21.34
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