I've gone to storing my castings in grow bags with a paper top. Insures adequate air flow and easy to keep moist. A lot of people don't realize that soil amendments like compost, worm castings and leaf mold are living substrates and need to be kept moist and aerated. Stay Well !!!
Great idea to add newspaper on the bottom! I get free heavy duty food grade buckets from a local restaurant. I would just caution not to get buckets that previously contained pickles. The worms try to vacate the bucket no matter how much I cleaned it beforehand. ~ Sandra
Hi am really enjoying watching your very informative videos. Just one comment regarding the paper used. I thought that it was better to use newspaper rather than flyers due to coloured ink being a better choice. Or isn't this the case?
Hi June, thank you for watching my channel and the kind words. Today both flyers and newspapers are fine for worms and bedding as they are both printed with soy ink that is all natural ink and will not hurt your worms in anyway. I have been using it for years now and haven't had any issues with it. I like to mix it with coco coir as well and I find the worms really seem to like this mix for worm bedding! :)
Hi Manda thank you that's a great question! If your worm castings dry out completely they are still fine to use in your garden. They will still contain all the nutrients in them for your plants. What will happen if they dry out completely is that the microlife needs moisture to live in the casting and will die off if they dry out. This microlife is breaking down the castings and soils to keep providing nutrients to your plant life, so once they are gone the nutrients they left behind are still there for the plants but they will not be there to keep working in the soil. On a side note you can re-wet them and add new fresh castings to them and the life will repopulate in a few weeks, from the fresh castings that were added back to them.
@@TheWormWhisperer hi. I'm new to worm farming. I was wondering if watering the castings that have been sitting for over 6 months with worm tea, would that be the best way to get microbial life back into the castings?
What I would do If they dry out, is to re-introduce them back into an already active casting bin(if you have one), or, re-introduce the castings back into the worm colony. If you put them into an active casting bin...it should only take a few days to 'recharge' the dry castings with the microbes the dry castings lost.
Check out my making money from worms video. You can advertise just about anywhere, such as online market places, like Facebook, Kijiji etc. if you are commercial, Adsense, or any other online and platforms. Thanks for the question and watching my channel!😀
Do you have your castings checked just to see what in them? I am so curious if mine are actually containing a good number of protozoa or beneficial nematodes and how they get there. 😊
Hey JD thank you for watching and your comment welcome to the channel! I have never checked them personally to see what is in them. If you want to have lots of microbiology in the castings and your worm bin it is advised when you first start to add a bit of your own outdoor local soil to your new bin. You only need a handful to add everything that the plants will need in protozoa and beneficial fungi. Your local soil already contains all these things, so adding it to the bin will inoculate the new bin with everything it will need for the plants and the worms, and breaking things down. Once they are in there your worm bin and worm castings provide everything it needs to keep growing and expending. Hope this helps you with your comment! :)
I look at my castings under the microscope and it is amazing. I have a video coming out comparing paper bedding vs shredded leaves. The natural bedding holds a lot more beneficial microbes than the paper. I also feed my worms a lot of materials straight from the garden that adds a lot of microbes. Here is a link to one of my videos th-cam.com/video/YpH16ktXrFs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=v_Ng9eiJLUXF4XmZ Stay Well !!!
This is a great question but a complicated one! It has so many answers I really can't get into them all. But some of the main ones, are how the soil was stored with the castings in it. If it was very dry then they could have become too dry and most of the microbes could have died out. Also is heat, and cold, while some can survive in these conditions it may kill many of the beneficial ones in the soil. Personally I think you are better off creating your own castings and making soil on your own. You could even buy cheaper soil and add the castings this way you know everything is in good order for your plants. Hope this is a big subject and there is a whole very good book on it here if you're interested! www.amazon.ca/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131/
Don't drill. Cover the surface with larger bubble wrap; and cover the tote with a piece of old fabric held in place with a loop of elastic. I do that with tote bins and no condensation and no crawling.
Cool man! I have heard those work really well for storage as well. If I was harvesting on a large scale and not just for hobby, I am sure that is the way I would go as well. Thanks for watching man and your suggestion appreciate it!
Hi Karen, this video is in relation to storage of you worm castings after the worms have been removed from them. If you're interested in learning about how to get bigger healthier worms you can watch my Signs of a healthy worm bin video and also How to feed your worms video. You can find both on my channel! Thanks for watching my video!👍
I've gone to storing my castings in grow bags with a paper top. Insures adequate air flow and easy to keep moist.
A lot of people don't realize that soil amendments like compost, worm castings and leaf mold are living substrates and need to be kept moist and aerated.
Stay Well !!!
Hi Brian thank you for watching and you great tips for us worm farmers! Your right on the money!
Great job. Thank you
Great idea to add newspaper on the bottom! I get free heavy duty food grade buckets from a local restaurant. I would just caution not to get buckets that previously contained pickles. The worms try to vacate the bucket no matter how much I cleaned it beforehand.
~ Sandra
Great advice Sandra! I had no idea you shouldn't use pickle buckets, thank you for letting me know this info. Thank you for stopping by!🎊
wanted to throw a comment in before I even watched the video... saw the Kent bucket and had to say Hi from Newfoundland.
Ha ha hi from Nova Scotia and thanks for watching my channel!
Information was very useful.
Hey Charles thank you for watching, and I am happy the information was helpful for you!
Very good information. Thanks.
Thank you for watching!
Great tutorial & explanation, thank you
Hey Mek, thank you for watching the channel and your kind words!
ThaNK YOU . tHAT'S GREAT
Thank you for watching my channel!
How do you differentiate between casting's and the other medium?
Hi Jack thanks for watching. Check out this video it will help you out.
th-cam.com/video/qVfyP5K7rV4/w-d-xo.html
I have no idea how i ended here or why i watched the whole video when i have absolutely no interest in anything worm related haha, good job
Well I guess it's a mystery only TH-cam will ever know lol. Thanks for watching anyway :)
@@TheWormWhisperer ofc man, good content deserves to be watched 👍
Great video. 😎
Thanks AJ looking forward to doing a video soon once things are not so busy getting the gardens going. Thanks for stopping in!👍
@@TheWormWhisperer Just let me know. take care.
Hi am really enjoying watching your very informative videos. Just one comment regarding the paper used. I thought that it was better to use newspaper rather than flyers due to coloured ink being a better choice. Or isn't this the case?
Hi June, thank you for watching my channel and the kind words. Today both flyers and newspapers are fine for worms and bedding as they are both printed with soy ink that is all natural ink and will not hurt your worms in anyway. I have been using it for years now and haven't had any issues with it. I like to mix it with coco coir as well and I find the worms really seem to like this mix for worm bedding! :)
If castings dry out, are they no longer viable?
I’ll know what to do for future, thank you
Hi Manda thank you that's a great question!
If your worm castings dry out completely they are still fine to use in your garden.
They will still contain all the nutrients in them for your plants. What will happen if they dry out completely is that the microlife needs moisture to live in the casting and will die off if they dry out.
This microlife is breaking down the castings and soils to keep providing nutrients to your plant life, so once they are gone the nutrients they left behind are still there for the plants but they will not be there to keep working in the soil.
On a side note you can re-wet them and add new fresh castings to them and the life will repopulate in a few weeks, from the fresh castings that were added back to them.
@@TheWormWhisperer hi. I'm new to worm farming. I was wondering if watering the castings that have been sitting for over 6 months with worm tea, would that be the best way to get microbial life back into the castings?
What I would do If they dry out, is to re-introduce them back into an already active casting bin(if you have one), or, re-introduce the castings back into the worm colony. If you put them into an active casting bin...it should only take a few days to 'recharge' the dry castings with the microbes the dry castings lost.
It is best to use it right away but we don't always have this option. I generally keep an unused bin for this purpose.
Hey Bob thank you for the great advise, mine don't seem to last long either especially this time of the year!
How do you advertize them.
Check out my making money from worms video. You can advertise just about anywhere, such as online market places, like Facebook, Kijiji etc. if you are commercial, Adsense, or any other online and platforms. Thanks for the question and watching my channel!😀
Sorry meant to say is coloured ink harmful?
Do you have your castings checked just to see what in them? I am so curious if mine are actually containing a good number of protozoa or beneficial nematodes and how they get there. 😊
Hey JD thank you for watching and your comment welcome to the channel! I have never checked them personally to see what is in them. If you want to have lots of microbiology in the castings and your worm bin it is advised when you first start to add a bit of your own outdoor local soil to your new bin. You only need a handful to add everything that the plants will need in protozoa and beneficial fungi. Your local soil already contains all these things, so adding it to the bin will inoculate the new bin with everything it will need for the plants and the worms, and breaking things down. Once they are in there your worm bin and worm castings provide everything it needs to keep growing and expending. Hope this helps you with your comment! :)
I look at my castings under the microscope and it is amazing. I have a video coming out comparing paper bedding vs shredded leaves. The natural bedding holds a lot more beneficial microbes than the paper.
I also feed my worms a lot of materials straight from the garden that adds a lot of microbes.
Here is a link to one of my videos th-cam.com/video/YpH16ktXrFs/w-d-xo.htmlsi=v_Ng9eiJLUXF4XmZ
Stay Well !!!
Do microbes and worm castings stay alive and healthy in expensive soil media like happy frog?
This is a great question but a complicated one! It has so many answers I really can't get into them all. But some of the main ones, are how the soil was stored with the castings in it. If it was very dry then they could have become too dry and most of the microbes could have died out. Also is heat, and cold, while some can survive in these conditions it may kill many of the beneficial ones in the soil.
Personally I think you are better off creating your own castings and making soil on your own. You could even buy cheaper soil and add the castings this way you know everything is in good order for your plants. Hope this is a big subject and there is a whole very good book on it here if you're interested!
www.amazon.ca/Teaming-Microbes-Organic-Gardeners-Revised/dp/1604691131/
Don't drill. Cover the surface with larger bubble wrap; and cover the tote with a piece of old fabric held in place with a loop of elastic. I do that with tote bins and no condensation and no crawling.
Thanks for watching and the advise! :)
I use woven plastic bags
Cool man! I have heard those work really well for storage as well. If I was harvesting on a large scale and not just for hobby, I am sure that is the way I would go as well. Thanks for watching man and your suggestion appreciate it!
These do work great! Good oxygen exchange with the woven ones!
@@TheWormWhisperer Thanx your videos are very informative
@@theunskoch4256 Thank you, I really appreciate the support!
Does this mean I'm going to get fat juicy worms? Or you're talking about something else.
Hi Karen, this video is in relation to storage of you worm castings after the worms have been removed from them.
If you're interested in learning about how to get bigger healthier worms you can watch my Signs of a healthy worm bin video and also How to feed your worms video. You can find both on my channel! Thanks for watching my video!👍
@@TheWormWhisperer Thank you. They would be good for fishing.