March 25, 2014

How Do I Know If Vermicompost Is Ready For Harvesting?

This email came from Ryan P:

Hi Bentley!

I have been a fan of your site for a while (recently joined e-mail list).

I have a question about harvesting the compost from my bins…. I have a feeling that it is time to harvest the compost from one of my bins – I grabbed out a couple big handfuls of material from the bin, placed it in little piles under a light and got the “little guys” (ENCs) back into their bin. The compost I got is wet and sticky — if I squeeze a handful 1-2 drops of water come out, then it is like a mud ball — is this normal? All the pictures I see online look soft and dry/crumbly.. If I let it dry out will it get crumbly, or have I done something wrong? … There is still quite a few pieces of corrugated cardboard throughout the bin (it was a big part of the bedding since I get a lot for free). Should I wait until they eat ALL the bedding materials before harvesting (or just pull it out when I harvest)?

Other than that I feel it is going very well (thanks to your site). I started with about 60 ENCs in a 12″x18″ bin, and now it is LOADED with them (and I have started a 2nd bin).

Hi Ryan,

Thanks for the kind words (I wrote “wormds” on my first try! lol). The good news is that “wet and sticky” vermicompost is very common, especially in any sort of enclosed plastic system. The beautiful, dry, crumbly stuff you see online has likely been: A) produced in a well-ventilated flow-through system, and/or B) allowed to sit (in well ventilated location) and dry/cure (more on this in a minute). It has also likely been screened!

The material I’ve been removing from from my VB48 and Worm Inn Mega systems recently fits that description for exactly those reasons (in the case of the ‘Mega’ vermicompost, I let it sit for a number days in an open tray and then screened it)! But most of the vermicompost I have harvested from plastic bins in the past has had more of a wet, gooey consistency. Now, that’s not to say that gooey is necessarily bad! Not at all.

I can still remember my very first vermicompost (more…)

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