worm castings

Purchasing Worm Castings

I decided to search online the other week, like I had nothing better to do :-) I found numerous folks selling worm castings… or supposedly worm castings.

I figured I would go ahead and order some from different websites. To my amazement I found numerous problems. In fact only one order of six placed were truly worm castings.

Basically only five of the six shipments received were vermicompost, or simply put worm castings mixed with composted products. Do not get me wrong, vermicompost by itself is a good product for fertilizing your plants. However there are a few problems with this and the way every order was shipped.

If you intend to make worm tea from the castings, I do not recommend you use vermicompost as this can create an acid based solution. As you make your brew, the compost material mixed within, can further break down releasing acids.

True worm castings should be right in the neighborhood of 6.5 on a PH scale and able to maintain this ph level. Worm castings themselves are what make worm tea, period!

To separate worm castings from the vermicompost mix, use a 1/8″ screen. I have posted an original worm harvester which uses several screen sizes for the average worm composting fan on another post.

OK, really need to get rid of some pictures in my cell phone, as I was looking for the one below and it took a little time :-) This is a 5 gallon bucket of worm castings. Notice the PH level.

Worm castings are loaded living creatures, micro-organisms. You have to ponder why anyone would then ship me worm castings in sealed Ziploc type storage baggies, cutting of air, hence oxygen to the castings. On top of this, they were shipped flat rate, taking an average of five days according to the postage stamps. That’s five days if not more (do not know when they were actually sealed in the bag) that the worm castings were cut off from oxygen and exposed to summer heat in the back of a USPS or UPS truck for 5 days.

I know I personally would not survive the trip :-)

Now I do not always offer worm castings, as I use them up as quickly as I get them in my own garden (yes I know it is greedy of me :) but we treat the worm castings the same as live worm orders. After all, they are loaded with living organisms… You can check here for worm castings availability.

The proper method to store worm castings is the same as you would for a worm bin except with less moisture. Ours are stored in large bins with a constant moisture content of 30% to 40% at a temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

We do not bag up our product until we are preparing each order. Next, we use breathable bags that retain moisture, the same ones we ship our worms in.

Lastly, since these are living organisms, all our worm castings are shipped priority mail, to insure the best quality worm castings by eliminating extra time exposed to heat or extreme cold in the winter time.

Have fun composting,

Bruce

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