Being all this gets confusing for many allow me to try and explain in plain English. The earth under our feet is teaming with life, the “richer” the soil, the more beneficial life usually contained within. To give you an idea, in one cup of soil there can be literally billions of live microorganisms contained therein. However, poorer quality soils can also be teaming with life, just not the ones we want or our plants.

Each microbe has a purpose in life which becomes an entangled web by which one benefit another by giving a free ride to another to greener pastures… protects your plants from harmful microbes… or which finds another a delicious treat…

When dealing with soil and worm castings there are two categories of microbes we need be concerned with, aerobic, the good guys and anaerobic, the bad guys. Now some of you know I have written about worm castings as well touched on aerobic versus anaerobic before, however now I am going to explain in more detail as well as back it up by other renowned experts.

The reason this was so important to bring back up and to elaborate on is the fact each year around this time through the fall I have folks contact me stating they have either generated worm castings themselves or moreover purchased worm castings in the past and neither the worm castings nor worm tea showed any benefits. So I figured here was a good time to show why some worm castings are so beneficial while others do not produce results.

First, the definition of aerobic: requires oxygen to survive.

To further this:

“…anaerobic conditions foster pathogenic bacteria and worse, kill off beneficial aerobic bacteria… Some anaerobic bacteria produce alcohols that are toxic to plant life and to other bacteria. These anaerobic bacteria can be avoided when gardening by controlling the conditions that allow them to multiply; poor soil texture, lack of pore space, standing water and compacted soil.” Teaming with Microbes: The Organic Gardener’s Guide to the Soil Food Web By Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis, Forward by Elaine Ingham

Anyone not familiar with the authors who are highly respected adding to the fact that Elaine Ingham is one of the leading authorities on soil and well respected when it comes to earthworms, now you know!

Now being the above statement has to do with soil management the same principles apply to worm castings. After all, worm castings help create not only beneficial soil underground to approximately 6 inches in depth but also are one of the main components to generating the top soil which resides on the surface to a depth of approximately 1/8 of an inch.

For instance, “standing water and compacted soil” is one reason Organic Worm Farm has refused to offer worm farms with the spigot on the bottom. Once you overload your worm bin with water you are in essence compacting your worm bedding material and generating standing water, which in this case is leachate, full of anaerobic microbes which come out of the spigot. The manufacturers and those promoting these types of worm farms state it is worm tea, which could not be further from the truth.

Worm tea on the other hand is a delicate process by which you aerate good “aerobic” worm castings in a mixture of non-chlorinated water along with some other additives over a period of 24 to 48 hours at 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit, hence exploding the beneficial aerobic microbe count exponentially.

To picture another with readymade worm farms offering a spigot you are creating swamp mud which is anaerobic and a known disease causing environment in humans and animals. Step in it and your shoe gets stuck due to the vacuum created since the air cannot penetrate which would allow you to pull your shoe out freely. If your shoe sank in sand at the beach, you could easily pull your shoe back out since it is surrounded by free flowing air. However go towards the water’s edge and get your shoe stuck in the sand and once again it becomes difficult to pull out.

Worm castings when generated and stored correctly retain millions of aerobic microbes. In order for one to generate the best quality worm castings temperature comes into play since certain microbes you want to survive in the worm bin are active at ranges from 70 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit.  A reasonable temperature range to raise worms and produce premium worm castings is 70 to 80 degrees Fahrenheit.

Think about his for a moment. During the main growing seasons throughout a majority of the world the ambient temperature ranges from 70 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit and is when microbes are most active in your garden areas.

Here on our worm farm we maintain a controlled environment throughout the year maintaining a constant temperature of 78 degree.

A worm bin with bedding material which is not packed down should maintain a 30% moisture level at all times throughout the bed. If the same bedding material were packed the reading on a soil moisture meter would read approximately 70%. It is similar to soaking some paper in a bucket of water. Pick it up gently and squeeze and some water will run off. Allow it to lay in the palm of your hand then and it appears to be drier than if you were to squeeze firmly releasing additional water.

Issues also arrive when storing vermicast. When they are generated at 78 degrees Fahrenheit then stored outside during the winter at 20 degrees, many of the beneficial microbes are killed off since they cannot survive at these temperatures. Vermicast needs to be kept aerated, moistened at 30% moisture and stored in the ideal temperature range they were created in order to maintain maximum benefits.

Another issue of worm castings being stored outside is the fact that airborne contaminants come into play, i.e. unwanted seeds which will flourish in your garden.

When you go to buy worm castings and they are sold in sealed plastic bags or containers, no oxygen can penetrate. This renders the worm castings either useless or harmful allowing malicious anaerobic microbes to take over.

For example let’s assume you go to a local county fair and one of your kids wins a goldfish, which by the way is aerobic. You take your prize home in a sealed plastic bag half filled with water and the other half filled with air, place it on a shelf and forget about it. The goldfish will be fine for several days, however by the end of the week it will be belly up and you will have some explaining to do to the kids!

This is why Organic Worm Farm offers worm castings which have been stored correctly and shipped in breathable bags.

Another issue with buying worm castings is the fact that many are produced from waste such as vegetable scraps which include seeds. Being the worm bins cannot be heated as ordinary compost bin without frying the worms, these seeds can sprout within and around your potted plants, vegetable and flower gardens… This is why we have worked and tried to perfect the 14 Day Worm Castings process where one does not use vegetable scraps, manure or any other items which could end up contaminating the worm castings, hence eliminating sprouting of unwanted seeds around your prized possession.

Bruce

Composting is actually trying to stabilize unstable organic matter and storing the nutrients for immediate or future use.

Usually in nature, organic matter is decomposed in thin layers such as leaves in the woods or the grass clippings in your lawn. Being the layer is thin, the organic matter is penetrable by oxygen and aerobic organisms come to play. These are the good guys hence usually a balanced compost for the environment.

When we compost, with or without worms, we tend to pile up the organic matter which makes it difficult for oxygen to penetrate hence anaerobic organisms take over. Yes these are the bad guys. Anaerobic organisms are what take over a landfill, hence why they must be lined to prevent harmful runoff to protect surrounding soil and water sources!

When we manage decomposition, such as a worm bin or worm farm, decomposition takes place in three stages for the most active microorganisms.

Phsychrophilic bacteria begins to process at temperatures below 70 degrees Fahrenheit

Mesophilic bacteria, the fastest decomposers process between 70 to 100 degrees Fahrenheit

Thermophilic bacteria come into play at temperatures above 100 degrees Fahrenheit

When managing decomposition, we pay attention to the carbon (newspaper, cardboard…) to nitrogen (vegetable scraps, grass clippings…) ratio as well as moisture and oxygen.

Composting with worms is a more controlled method of basic composting as well as speeds up the process. You maintain a constant temperature which enables the most active bacteria, Mesophilic to take over. Worms move through the organic matter helping to aerate the decaying matter as well as making smaller particles of the decaying matter, hence leaving more surface area for beneficial microbes to work on.

If the moisture content gets to high, usually above 80%, the decaying matter becomes compacted, the same way the landfill does. This is when the worm bin can begin to change over to those nasty anaerobic organisms which can be harmful to your worms and even begin killing them off.

Once the moisture content begins to rise even more, the decaying matter releases a liquid called leachate. You will see many websites refer to this as worm tea, which it is not!

Worm tea is derived by brewing worm castings which are full of aerobic microorganisms. This process is done by aerating the worm castings, water and unsulphured molasses for approximately 48 hours in order to explode the aerobic microbe population.

Leachate is usually the opposite, full of anaerobic organisms.

If you are getting a little leachate from your worm farm or worm bin, try adding several inches of dry shredded newspaper on top and place the lid on it. This will absorb a little of the moisture. If you are getting a lot of leachate, it might be time to remake the bedding for your friends!

Now that you understand the process you can probably understand why I have an issue with a few things.

First, all the websites selling worm farms with the little spigot on the bottom which they advertise as a worm tea dispenser, when in reality it is leachate which can be harmful to your worms and plants. Put it this way, it is not doing your worms or plants any good if you are getting leachate from your worm farm.

Secondly, there are many websites as well as listings on EBay offering bottled worm tea and bagged worm castings in resealable plastic bags. As you might realize by now, cutting off the oxygen in either of these two sealed products kills off the aerobic microbes and produces anaerobic microbes. So in reality, you are spending your hard earned money on something which can be detrimental to your plants.

So to answer a number of emails I receive every week, this is why Organic Worm Farm does not sell the worm farms with the little spigot on the bottom, bottled worm tea or worm castings in resealable bags. They only offer worm castings and worm tea bags which are shipped in breathable bags via Priority Mail since you are dealing with live microbes.

Hope this helps you understand the basics a little better and why it is important to avoid leachate from draining out of your bin.

Bruce Galle

Also known as “The Worm Expert“ writes informative articles to assist others raising worms. For information regarding ordering an array of red worms, worm castings and worm food visit Organic Worm Farm.