the liquid that leaches out the bottom of the bin is leachate, is not necessarily a beneficial product for 'fertilizing' your plants and may even be harmful for some things - in my view/experience leachate is a sign of poor bin moisture management

the liquid that results from 'steeping' finished worm castings in water [usually mechanically aerated] is 'vermicompost tea' - vermicompost tea may or may not be useful, but for me is a waste of time, I use the real thing, vermicompost

"worm tea" would drown the worms :)

Bill

I have had some poor moisture management, and recently drained the liquid from my bin. As the contents have become a bit foul-smelling (like a backed up septic).

I have also harvested the compost material (also moist and foul smelling), to create a tea/slurry.

My question is this: Since the castings have essentially rotted, will there be any adverse effects on using the liquid as fertilizer for my garden?

Also, if I'm using a batch of tea, healthy or otherwise, is there a time limit as to how long it lasts? I have it in plastic bottles at the moment...

Thanks in advance for any input!
Tim

hi Tim....
just my 2 cents...I would use the liquid right away. Keeping it in a closed bottle, more anaerobic stink will grow!
As for maintaining a drier worm bin. I have propped a block of wood under one corner of my bin, which causes the liquid to collect in the opposite corner inside the bin. Every couple days there is enough to turkey baster about 1/2- 1 cup of liquid out, which goes straight on my house plnts. The plants seem to like it, and it keeps the overall moisture of the bin better. I have also been trying to add more paper and dry to the bedding, this helps too.

There are worm beds designed to drain the liquid so it doesn't become anarobic in the bottom of the bin. The worm tea is going to contain some of the microbes that are so necessary in the worm bin and they can be helpful to your plants as well. Remember that UV light can kill off these microbes so if you are spraying the tea on your plants, you might want to do it in the evening. You also probably shouldn't keep it sealed in a container for long since that could also kill the beneficial microbes too. Places that sell the stuff don't use clear containers.

If you are collecting a huge amount of the stuff it is probably a sign of too much water going through the bin and the result will probably not be very beneficial. Some is probably inevitable and it will probably contain some of the nutrients that are also present in the castings.

Why not do an experiment, take two similar plants, water one normally, water the other with the worm tea and see if there is a difference good or bad.