I use a heavy duty paper strip shredder for my cardboard additions. if you don't have one, a leaf shredder should work fine, or simple scissors as well. weekly food will certainly add moisture. with food additions, I like to add quite a bit of shredded paper and such to keep the moisture down. cardboard works too and it handles the job quicker.
John

yes you can leave the lid off, light will keep the worms from climbing out - yes, turn it and stir it up, the aeration will help

there really isn't an "easy way" to havest the castings, it'll always be pretty wet if the worms are happy because that's the condition worms prefer and encourage - one of the variety of ways to encourage the worms into one area of the bin so the rest can be scooped out is the best start - mounding the material up so the worms get concentrated in the lower middle area, and gradually taking the surface down works too

Bill

The moisture in the bin could be a build up if the worms have been fed lots of food/items that hold water. For example, if you're putting in lots of tea leaves that are still wet, coffee grounds still went and old fruits/vegetables, you'll be amazed at how much water such holds and can truly throw off the balance of the bins.

If you need the casings now, then the easiest way to harvest is by placing a light on top, waiting 30 minutes to an hour and taking off the casings until you get to worms then wait another time period and take off some more. The worms move away from bright light. If you don't like the texture, then you can add some peat or some of that coconut stuff that looks like peat and mix it up a bit. Don't add too much, just enough to make it slightly more dirt like. You should be fine without but I hear what you're saying. The sludge can sometimes be difficult to spread, etc. Heck, you could just take a little soil from where you're going to use the casings, mix it up like you would peat and there you go. No need for peat and you have a better texture.

After the harvest, if you want to make your worm bins less sludgy, then try to find some dead leaves. I live in the city but my Dad is happy to get rid of some of his so I keep several bags of them for the worm beds. It will take a bit of time, but the leaves will turn into a very rough sawdust that adds some nice texture to the bins as well as controls the moisture a bit. For some reason, I feel better about adding leaves than newspaper. Seems more earthly but I don't think there's one benefit over another. After I've started adding leaves and coffee grounds (another nice texture addition snagged free from Starbucks even in the winter - just call around ask them to save them), I've been able to limit feeding of the worms to once a month. I just fed them yesterday, and they're doing fine.

Here's some advice on harvesting from a former member who is quite knowledgeable on anything worms:

Kelly posted:
* Posted by: Kelly_Slocum on Tue, Feb 17, 04 at 13:01

The window screen harvesting method is a bit of a challenge to try and explain in text only, and I apologize for not having some pictures to help with this.

It is time to separate the worms from the vermicomost/castings in bin-type systems that are fed and managed using the pocket feeding method (the bin is bedded to the top with damp, shredded bedding material and fed by digging holes or 'pockets' in the bedding into which feedstock is deposited) when the original bedding is no longer recognizable and the total volume of material in the bin has decreased by roughly half. At this time the window screen is set in the bin right on top of the ready-to-havest material. The bin is then filled the rest of the way with new, dampened bedding that is set right on top of the window screen. At this point the screen is sandwiched between the ready-to-harvest material in the bottom half of the bin and the new bedding in the top half. The ready-to-harvest material remains in the bottom half of the bin, beneath the screen, until the new material on top of the screen is ready to harvest.

When the material on top of the screen is ready to harvest it is removed from the bin by lifting out the screen on which it is sitting. By this time virutally all of your worms will have typically moved through the screen into the material in the top half of the bin, leaving the vermicompost beneath nearly free of worms. The vermicompost from the bottom of the bin is then dumped out, the new batch of ready-to-harvest material containing all of your worms from on top of the screen is dumped into the bottom of the bin, the screen is set on top of this material, the bin is filled the rest of the way with new bedding set right on top of the screen, and you begin feeding into the new bedding.

This harvesting method gives the worms ample opportunity to thoroughly process the material beneath the screen and to move through the screen to the new bedding above when they are ready. Since the new bedding above the screen is initially less biologically active then is the material beneath, the worms are given the choice of where in the bin they prefer to be, ensuring the population is not stressed, and that there is no population decline. Further, this harvesting method provides time for cocoons that might be in the ready-to-harvest material beneath the screen to hatch and the babies time to move to the material above the screen, resulting in few worms "lost" during harvesting.

Does that answer your question, Idontgrow? Please let me know if you're still confused as I want/need to try to articulate this better.

Kelly S

To keep from being scratched by the screen be sure you are using the soft, pliable fiberglass screen as opposed to the wire screen. The fibergass stuff has no sharp...

Thanks to everyone who responded to my question. Your answers have helped alot. I have now added shredded cardboard to my bin and have been leaving the lid off - so hoping soon it will dry out abit.
The posting from Kelly S. is very interesting and I think I will try that screen method. Thanks again.

Judy

Following up on KelleyS' posting on the window screen harvesting method, many of the worms in my bin are quite large. At first blush, I would guess they might have trouble fitting through the relatively small openings in a window screen. Is this correct?

it works, worms can actually get thru quite a small opening, try it, you'll be suprised

Bill

4 months is a long time - I think you should harvest the bin !

Hi,

Does your worm bin have a valve at the bottom to remove the liquid that is an essential part of producing castings? Mine does but at first I forgot to turn the valve to the correct position and I, too, ended up with a pool of muck at the bottom. However, with the valve in the correct position, the problem got solved in a hurry and now all is well. If your bin does not have a valve, you can install one quite easily with minimal investment and effort. Hope this helps.