Well, when you add the beer factor - it could conceivably take years.

Fito :)

depends on what you're doing w/ it, and how picky you wanna be - my big bin gets harvested once a year right into the greenhouse, and I don't even worry about gettin the worms out, just try to feed'em thru the winter so they end up in concentrated areas by harvest time, and leave that area as 'seed' for the refilled bin

if you're going to use the castings in potted stuff, especially indoors, then you might try to get it 'cleaner', but adding organic material to a garden space is a good thing

Bill

"1. Cocoons! There are a gazillion of them in there! I've been catching as many as I can. How thorough are you at sifting them out?"

the first few times I did a harvest I did the same and tried to sift out every egg, it was soooo tedious, but I think it's a good idea in the beginning to try and return as many eggs to the worm farm to get the population going. by the third time I harvested the castings, I figured if it was going to be this hard, it just wasnt going to work, so now I quickly sift through to get the worms out and any eggs I see, and just leave it at that.

"2. Scraps! How much not quite ready stuff is in your finished vermicompost?"

a bit, i get the leaf rake (a plastic one) and gently scrape away any big stuff on top, anything small I just leave in there because I figure it's all good organics for the soil
:)

"Just to give me a data point on how anal I'm being: How long does it take you to harvest a standard Rubbermaid tote? I've got two hours into it, and I figure that I'm halfway done. But I was drinking beer...."

well the beer might slow things down, but it will make the time go quicker LOL (beer! now why didnt I think of that when I was doing it) ;)

I harvest about a gallon at a time, while I'm at it, I put the eggs in a new bin, put the nutshells and worms back in the bin. But you are right, the first time took me about 5 hours for a rubbermaid tote. I waited 3 months before harvesting my 1st batch. Now I just harvest a little at a time until all the material is gone, then start a new bin and add excess worms to the second bin.

"But you are right, the first time took me about 5 hours for a rubbermaid tote."

OK, Rock. I feel better now. That was the data point that I needed in order to know if I was being too anal. I should come in at about 4 hours. Thanks!

Anybody else?

The first time I harvested my bin it took several hours and I didn't really finish. I wanted to rescue every single worm, baby worm, and cocoon in the bin. I mean, I had spent $25 on those worms and I wasn't about to let any of them get away. Now that I've harvested several times and I have plenty of worm bins and plenty of worms, it doesn't take nearly as long. Especially since I'm not trying to pick out all the cocoons anymore. I probably spend about an hour harvesting now. However, I don't look at the clock and I really enjoy playing in the "dirt", so it's fun for me and may be longer than that.

Hope this helps,
Mariann

Thanks, Mariann. I feel like the Merchant of Death if I let a worm or coccoon get past me. I've got to get over it.

At least I haven't named them, yet. That's the kiss of death, according to my Farmer friends.... :)

You know, they say the worms won't live in your garden... HOWEVER, I know lots of them live in mine. I believe if you garden with lots of compost the worms will be quite happy to hatch and thrive among your garden plants. So you may not be sentencing them to death if you miss a few. Don't listen to me, though. I was so cruel I even fed a few babies to our beta fish :).

Take care,
Mariann

I've gardened in my present spot for eight years. About three or four years into this place, I started vermicomposting. Prior to that, I'd never seen red worms around here. Now they are everywhere.

Cher