The Cross Road Crawlers

Vermicompost (also called worm , vermicast, worm castings, worm humus or worm manure) is the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter by some species of earthworms.

 Vermicompost is a nutrient-rich, natural fertilizer and soil conditioner. The process of producing vermicompost is called vermicomposting . ~courtesy of Wikipedia- Vermicompost~

Vermicomposting is an extremely easy and inexpensive way to minimize your carbon footprint. We use our worms to compost  fruit and vegetable waste, coffee grounds, houseplant cuttings, newspaper, and egg shells. We live in Maine, so composting outside in the winter is possible...but COLD!  The Cross Road Crawlers live year round in a bin in our mud room. There is virtually no odor from vermicomposting (except maybe an earthy/dirt smell when you open the bin). No one has ever been able to tell that we vermicompost inside without us telling them first.

We made our worm bin from a regular 18 gallon storage tote. It has 4 holes cut in it which have been covered with screen, attached with duct tape,  for ventilation. It took about 15 minutes to make.

The earthworm species we use, and that is  most often used are called Red Wigglers ( Eisenia fetida)  or Red Earthworms.

This is a handful of the castings with some worms in it.

CASTING HARVEST:

I harvested the worm castings this past week. It was a slow going, but well worth the effort. I believe that next time I will be able to accomplish the same task in much less time.

Here is the pile of castings and worms that I dumped out onto a table covered with a trash bag. I turned both lights on and let it sit for several hours to allow the worms to burrow to the bottom of the pile.

Next, I sat at the table and  I sorted through the castings one handful at a time. This step, as I have read, isn't totally necessary as the general belief seems to be that some baby worms are bound to end up in the harvested castings. I just wanted to make sure to separate as many out as I could.

Squirming clusters of worms were at the bottom of the pile. They had multiplied so well that I was able to separate out a whole batch of worms for my brother-in-law, Joe, and his family. I included all sizes/ages.

I had TONS of worms to put back into our bin. What I have started doing now, is implementing the harvesting of the remainder of the castings by feeding only one side of the bin. This takes a while, but the worms migrate to the side with the food, and then I will be able to simply remove the remainder of the castings.

Above are the castings that I harvested. The light particles you see are brown egg shells. From this point on, any egg shells that we add to the bin will be crushed fine...to me, they just look kind of funky when they are in big pieces.

We left many of the egg shells in the half shell pieces as I had read that the worms sometimes use them for depositing their cocoons, which was true for some, but overall it didn't seem to make much difference. There were plenty of cocoons all through the castings.

 Red Wigglers reproduce biparentally by exchanging genetic material with another Red Wiggler. This means that both male and female organs occur in each worm and are cross fertilized by one another  simultaneously. Both worms will then produce cocoons (capsules).

WHAT TO DO WITH THE CASTINGS:

Make " casting tea" by placing some of the castings on the center of a square of cheesecloth and then twist and secure the corners together with a bread tie. Then drop it in a watering can, add water, let it sit for a bit, and then water the plants. One "teabag" can be used 5 or 6 times and still be quite potent. Casting tea can also be made in a spray bottle used to spray the leaves. This is most beneficial to plants in the morning as this is when they are most receptive to  such  feeding. Castings not only provide nutrients, but the active microbes also help to prevent  plant and soil disease.

Worm castings are one of the best organic fertilizers with a neutral pH and a high nutrient content of nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium. Unlike other fertilizers, worm castings will NEVER burn your plants!

It is also possible to simply top dress your house plants with worm castings.  

I will be planting 2 batches of seeds starts for my garden, from the same packages, very soon...one group with castings, one without...I can't wait to see the results!