Sift When You Can Very Moist Castings
Вставка
- Опубліковано 6 чер 2024
- Hello!
Sometimes we have to sift castings that are quite moist. It may not be the ideal action but if the worms need refreshed bedding and food, it needs to be done 👍.
By using a 1/8” mesh sifter I was able to sift out a lot more castings than what would have been guessed - yippee! 🤩. Now there’s room for fresh bedding and food for the worms.
Also, often we have to take a few minutes here and there to work on our worm bins. We can tackle a big task by taking small steps. This is frequently called ‘eating the elephant one bite at a time’. Join me as I start eating the elephant! 🤣🪱🪱
Here is a link to the short Orange Julius playlist as it’s this work tote I’m working on:
Orange Julius
• Orange Julius
Thanks for stopping by!
Yours in the dirt,
Jayne
Remember wringer washers with their double rinse tubs? This method is so much better than the double rinse tubs my dad set up for me back in the 1960's so I could sell worms in my small Montana town. I enjoyed picking nightcrawlers and working with worms. The sales paid for all of my school clothes and recreation throughout high school.
Hi! Welcome! I know what you’re talking about even though we didn’t have. How did you use it for worms?? 🪱
Hi Jayne and camera man, another interesting video. The castings look very nice.
Keep up the great work. Have fun, Mark : )
I’ve learn how to take care of my worms with you and a bunch more of worm people , the best way to deal with a moist bin is to add your previous siftings to that bin and mix it . your going to have them back very fast they’re not lost ,very simple and convenient the worms don’t have to endure dry bending for long 😊 it’s a win win for us and them
Hi Pedro! I’m glad the worm community has helped you along 👍😊.
I’ve done that too! A little differently but same concept. When I’ve dried down castings for sifting but then see that the remaining g castings (under the newspaper and plastic covering are REALLY moist) I’ll sometimes mix the dry castings back into the bin rather than sift them out. This equalizes the moisture and dries down the too moist castings. I do this particularly when I do not need castings or I fed the worms recently and there’s still food in the zone. It’s a game day - or sift day! - decision.
I’ve never added back moist castings into a too dry bin. If a bin is too dry I spritz with water or add in moist pre-compost.
Thanks so much for sharing what you do!! 😍🪱
@@RockinWorms i want fishing chubby worms for trout fishing , I do not care about the castings ,I love to keep them happy ,happy worms get very fat ,I have 3 species , fétidas , European night crawlers and wild Canadian lumbricus rubellos , the last ones are just perfect they get about 5/8 inch thick and around 8 inch long they grow to be monsters ,they look like they’re about to blow up , and the reproduction rate is a lot slower then the others witch for me is good so I don’t end up overwhelmed with crazy amount of worms . Take care keep up with good content
@@pedrohenriques2983 It seems pretty universal, at least among the composting worms, that the larger worms do reproduce at a slower rate. Sandra @NanasWorms reviewed a lab study and that study found that the larger the fetida worms got, the slower they reproduced - to almost the point of stopping totally! You can also keep your worm a bit on the crowded side within your worm bins. The worms will automatically stabilize their population, reducing reproduction to the replacement level. It’s another way to manage worm cores to avoid having more worms than you can handle. I’m actively working on my balance in regard to that! 🙄😝🪱
Thanks for watching Pedro!
Great looking castings 🇳🇿❤️
Thanks! 🙏 ❤️🪱
You almost always inspire me to tend to my worms when I see your video come up in my feed.
Hey Linda! And that a good thing! 🤣🤩. I sometimes need a little push to get me back into the wormery 🙄. Usually when I’m already behind on worm tasks and I’m feeling a bit overwhelmed. Glad I can help inspire you! 🤗🪱
Hi Jayne,
Great video, as always 👍
I'm afraid 😨 90's is in our daily future for the next 5 months 😨
Have a wonderful weekend
❤Peggy❤
Hi Peggy! It is 🥵. It’s 92F with a high of 94F locally. My specific temperatures vary a little bit but hot is hot! Do you think you’ll have to move your screened patio worm bins inside for the summer? 🪱🪱
Exactly what I'm doing at this moment
Great minds……🤣🤩🪱
Me too! I have to get the bulk out of a couple of my bins.
~ Sandra
@@NanasWorms it’s amazing how fast castings can pile up on a worm bin! Sometimes it seems like I’m sifting gallons of castings every week! Probably because I am! 🤣🤣.
Are you going to take castings with you when you move? Or mainly just the worms as much as you can? 🪱🪱
I’m going to make worm tea for the first time today!
That’s excellent Julie! What’s your method going to be?
I prefer to simply add castings around the base of my trees and plants. It’s faster for me and uses up more castings! I have A LOT of castings right now 😳😎🪱
@@RockinWorms I don’t have a ton of castings yet. I’m adding castings to a 5 gallon bucket of water (that has been sitting so chlorine gasses off) adding a splash of molasses and some Azomite. I am using a bubbler for 24 hours and then I’ll (dilute? Have to look that up still) and spray my tomatoes and pepper plants and spray the soil. I did add castings to my planting holes so hopefully that made my plants happy.
@@juliepoolie5494 Sounds like you’ve got it under control 👍😎. You can dilute the 5 gallons into another 20 gallon amount of water.
I have had some trouble with the castings clogging sprayers - even when run thru cheesecloth 😡. It’s one reason I switched over to using castings just at the base of plants. But I do miss out on the benefits of foliar spray 😩. Trade offs.
I also put castings into my planting holes. Castings along with frass has made such a HUGE difference in my garden yield. I hope you see the same fantastic results! 👍🪱🪱
So Ive just gotten into this video, but already my little pea brain came up with questions. Is it effective to put castings out in the garden when its so hot? My garden is winding down now and Im going to let it rest until September when Ill start again. Should I put castings out now, or wait until the weather breaks. And what is the best way to store castings until you use them, and how long are they effective? Back to the video....
Edited to add: as far as refreshing O.J. or doing a few smaller bins, I guess its about whats easier and more useful to you. Would you rather work out of a couple of smaller bins, or a single O.J. Let us know what you decide.
Pea brain?! As if! You’ve always had great questions and ideas 🤗.
It’s ok to put castings in the garden/under plants at any time IF you water them in thoroughly.
The biota benefits from being soaked into the ground and removed from the chance of baking dry and dying off. Also any tiny worms or cocoons in the castings (it’s virtually impossible to get every single one out of castings) will get layered onto the ground and have a better chance of surviving. Then these worms will grow and contribute to enriching your garden soil during its down time.
If you have an ‘excess’ amount of castings you can store them in any container that will breathe (biota need air!) and retain some small amount of moisture - aka not dry out to sand. You can accomplish this by aerating once in a while (perhaps every month - you have to figure that out on your own given your own set of conditions). Here is a video link to some of the ways I store lots of castings for extended periods of time:
New Ways to Store Castings! Reuse Those Pet Food Bags!
ua-cam.com/video/-T95yCgfAjI/v-deo.html
Castings will last a very long time and be perfectly good IF you keep that air and moisture in their storage space.
As an aside, but a good one, one reason I’m not to fussy about waiting until my siftings are 100% pure castings (virtually impossible anyway) is that micro amount of food in the castings feed the biota! So the biota keep working too, to break down any scraps of food, carbon, nitrogen, grit, other amendments, etc while in storage. Even the annoying mites or springtails or whatever that get into a castings container during a sift out can be beneficial at this point. Ok? 🪱😎🤩
@@RockinWorms You are so awesome. Full of great info here, thank you!
I’ll let you guys know for sure. 👍. I’ve decided to wait until I sift all of OJ out, backfill current bins and see what I have for worms left to find a home for. And where OJ is going to live. That’s a big question too I didn’t think about right away 🙄.
I do need to follow my own advice for every worm wrangler - do what’s best for you and your worms! That’s the only thing that matters at the end of the day 👍😎🪱. Thanks for your support 🥰
Thanks, Jayne, for another great video! Would you please remind us where you got your sifting pans?
Hi Kelly! Unfortunately the online site of the store I bought from no longer is offering them 😩. It’s called CAL Ranch. I check every few weeks hoping but no luck yet.
Here’s the best price I can currently find:
www.amazon.com/DRAGONXT-Stackable-Classifier-Sifting-Prospecting/dp/B0CFCQCHPP?source=ps-sl-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&psc=1&smid=A9P2ZH7M4QP54
It’s not an affiliate link. I did find a different company selling the pans for $20 each. The Amazon comes out the same for the 3 sizes I use most and may be easier to buy 👍. 🪱🪱
Due to your time issues- I know from previous experience- you be better off using o.j as usual, the more smaller bins you have the more work you have. You have said this before. Xxxx just reminding ya xx
Yes you’re absolutely right on that 👍. Thanks for the reminder!! I’m going to see how many worms I end up with, how many will fit into other already existing bins (no extra work to add to a bin) and then make the call from there. Where Orange Julius would live is also a consideration. The daughter’s unused bathroom still works but he’s a little ‘out of sight, out of mind’ there. Hmm. Gotta give this some good thought. Thanks for watching Cheryl! 🥰🪱
@@RockinWorms I enjoy watching all you all day hun xx
@@cherylhowker1792 😍🙏🤗❤️🪱. You’re sweet.
I need to shift myself!
Hey there! It’s a regular worm wrangling task for sure. I’m always so happy for the few days I’m caught up on sifting and refreshing bedding 😍❤️.
I was pleasantly surprised by just how much castings sifted out even with them being as damp as they were. Yippee! The worms are now much happier I think - well, the ones already sifted and in a new bin. I’m making decent progress though. Not as fast as I’d like but that elephant is getting smaller 🤣🤩🪱
Omg I hate sifting tiny worms….
I’ve been sifting a lot today that I’ve been drying down this week.
And got about 6gallons out…. Which is a lot lol but had to do a tray from the stacking house as I call it.
Hi Cheryl! How have you been?
I dislike sitting small worms too and try to avoid it as much as possible. But sometimes ya gotta do what’s gotta be done. 😩. 🪱
Can you use wet castings when making tea?
Hi Theresa! I don’t see why not. To make worm tea the castings have to be soaked anyway. It seems silly to dry castings down for making worm tea to just turn around and make them wet again 🙄. You have a good point! If you can use damp castings right away for tea then that’s a great idea! You’re so smart!! 👍😎🪱
I use overdried castings that have turned to rocks for worm tea. I can recover the nutrients faster, and my paper bedding tends to float for easy separation of unfinished material
@@lindaspellman2108 Hi Linda! That’s a great use for dried out castings! Not all of the biota will still be alive but I bet a lot of it will 👍. I tend to mix over-dried castings in with very moist castings, like the ones in this video. The moisture tends to equalize over a bit of time and biota will recolonize the dried out/rehydrated castings too. 👍😎🪱
Hi Jayne! My question has nothing to do with sifting. I did a refrigerator clean out this morning. I found a long forgotten container of hummus that’s turned into something resembling a horrific science experiment. 🦠🤢. It has white mold - and a little black mold too. Would you feed this to the worms or toss it into the trash? Is there too much protein in hummus for the worms? Thanks!
Hi! I’m a big fan of feeding everything go can to one animal or the other 🤩.
I’d definitely feed the hummus to the worms IF it’s not super oily. If the oil has separated out I’d pour that off. Sometimes - not often because I simply don’t have to - I’ll mix some bedding (especially pre-compost) INTO the liquidy/loose food so it’s not too soupy or dense. Then I hose out the mixing tub into the yard or garden. As always with a new food I’d give a modest amount with plenty of regular bedding in the bin so the worms can move in at their own pace. Ok? 🪱🪱😎
Thank you! 🪱🪱🪱. 💕