The WormFarm Chronicles- Day 49…. Part 2

Once you've allowed them to escape with their lives, you're ready to start collecting the treasure. First, take your small, yellow plastic 3x5 paddle and begin cutting the compressed compost into smaller cubes. Use an up and down cutting action to further reduce the size of the chunks. The material will still be moist and clumpy like clay, but that's not a big deal- use the little yellow rake and continue turning your castings over in an effort to dry. Now it's just a recovery mission. Use the paddle and a small trowel to collect the material in a container for future use. It should be relatively worm-free but there will be some worms remaining in your compost. You can afford to loose some as they have just about doubled to 2000 worms in their short stay with you. Now all that remains, is cleaning up your remaining trays with a hose, especially the collection base of the system which holds most of the water, manure and sediment. It's also a good idea to exercise the tapper and run some water through it as it sometimes will clog with silt.

Now more waiting- I hate all the waiting. I just want to start dumping compost all over my property but I read somewhere it's a good idea to let the compost sit or "cure" for a month or two. This curing time supposedly makes the compost less acidic, making it "bioavailable" to your plants and the waiting makes it more pH neutral. Recapping now, six weeks have elapsed since we began adding our first kitchen scraps to now, where we're taking out our first tray of worm castings. We need to wait another month while it rests, gains nitrogen and cures... sounds like a fine wine on its way to greatness. We're now ready to apply the compost to the flowers and plants. Mix 1 part worm castings to 4 parts potting soil. This combination of "amended" soil will be extremely nutrient rich, about 5 times richer than conventional potting soil I'm told. The leachate or liquid bi-product collected out of the bottom of the system, can also be sprayed on the leaves or added to your amended soil if you prefer. The cycle then continues by essentially repeating itself as we did originally.

Finally, one footnote. If you don't want to wait for the compost to cure for a month or two, that's alright but be careful where you use it. It is very nitrogen-rich and acidic. Acid loving plants like roses love this for fertilizer but most of your other flowers will react negatively to this pH balance and will probably burn.

For more information and a look at the system with, or without worms, go to: http://gottabgreen.com