One question actually in follow up to Frank’s comment above about letting the castings sit for a couple months. I’ve been wondering about this very thing in regards to effectiveness and potency of castings for use in the garden. A big part of the benefit of the worm castings is the bacterial ecosystem that it contains and you can infuse into your garden soil on first planting, and then top-dress over the season. The nutrients are great, but as proven with some NPK studies on worm compost they’re not like mindblowing. Additionally, worm compost can be quite “dense” and moisture-holding, which is the opposite of ideal in most root systems for garden vegetables. But the variety of elements provided by varied scrap breakdown, and beneficial ecosystem you’re introducing are what make vermicompost the black gold we know it is.

SO, if you leave the compost sitting out without a worm population, does the efficacy of the vermicompost degrade? Does the bacterial ecosystem diminish and less become less beneficial to the garden? I would think that the sooner after harvesting that you infuse it into your garden base, the better, no?

Do you have any insights on this?

Side question – how do you properly dry out vermicompost without it turning into a hard black rock? Every time I try to do it I end up with this impermeable ridiculously sturdy black mass.

Thanks! Incoming spray of comments onto all your blog posts from April on 😛

Don’t be too impressed by my “specialized” systems – makes them sound fancier than they are. I am just referring to all my various systems that have worm zones below soil level (eg vermicomposting trenches, vermi-planter, backyard composters with pits underneath them etc). Great for both cold and hot weather!
😎

I am also interested in your other ” specialized outdoor systems (adapted for climate extremes)” since my climate is similar to yours as I am just down the road from you in Windsor. If you could please explain and comment on some of those systems as well, it would be appreciated.

Thanks