Worm Farm: Harvesting, Likes & Dislikes, Links

Harvesting

There are three things you'll want to harvest: worms, castings (that's worm poo to use for compost) and liquid fertiliser.

Worms
To harvest your worms, about ten days before you harvest, move their food over to one side of the worm farm. Don't give them any new food and wait until they've eaten everything that's there. Starve them for a day or so. You can then root around in the castings - wearing your rubber or latex gloves please ;-) - and take out your worms. You can sell them, give them to friends, or make another worm farm. Don't forget to leave some behind!

Another way of harvesting the worms, if you have a small worm farm, is to turn the contents out onto some sheets of damp newspaper, spread the contents and pick out the worms. (That is, if you have the space.)

Castings
Once the worms are removed, take out the castings to use on your garden, as potting mix, for sale, or for giving away. You can keep a little as bedding for a new worm farm, mixed with wet newspaper and crushed eggshells. The castings can be spread around the bottom of vegetables in your garden, and covered with a small amount of mulch. Your veggies will love it and it will improve your soil tremendously.

Liquid Fertiliser - Worm Juice
Make a liquid fertiliser which is fantastic for watering your veggie garden, pot plants or flowers, by pouring water over the castings and collecting it. (If you're watering tomatoes, which love worm juice, don't forget to water from the bottom of the plant and avoid the leaves.)

If you have your worm farm in an old fridge, drill a hole and put a bucket or bowl underneath to catch the liquid.

If your worm farm is a poly box, make a couple of holes, about 2 inches (4-5 cms) apart in one corner of the bottom and hold the poly box over a receptacle for the liquid to drain into.

Commercial, ready-made worm farms sometimes have taps for releasing the liquid, or a bottom layer where the liquid collects. I recommend you check this out before you buy as the liquid is a very useful resource. As far as plastic bins are concerned, unless you want to make a small hole or two in the bottom, use them as a last resort.

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What Worms Like and Dislike

Worms like moist, soft food and a moist, warm environment.

Worms dislike excessive cold or heat, dry bedding, vibrations, light and rats (although the rats love worms and will eat them).

Keep your worm farm away from direct sunlight or put it in a place with as little direct sunlight as possible. I keep my worm farm on the back porch which gets morning sun but is shady for most of the day and my worms do really well there. If you need to take the lid off, such as when harvesting, do it when the worm farm is in shade.

Worms need to live in a moist environment because their bodies are moist, so keep an eye on your worm farm. If the bedding gets dry, sprinkle with a little water and mix it up a bit, then cover with newspaper soaked in water. I sometimes use moistened bread slices if I have some stale bread around and then put an extra sheet of wet newspaper on top. Flat breads such as lavash or pitta are fantastic. The worms will eat the bread and the bread will help keep the worm farm moist and block too much light from the open lid.

To avoid losing your worms to rats, make sure the lid is only open about half to one inch (1-2 cms). Mice may still visit the worms, but they are more interested in the food scraps than the worms.

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Setting Up & Equipment	Preparing the Bed	Feeding
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