2013 - Year of Growth

[Alice]

...that's what it feels like for me anyway. 

I am getting back into VC mode and making plans to do all of the things that I didn't have the time to do last year (I started VC'ing in June)  I'm determined not to let the season get away from me this year (I have yet to do any of the landscaping and gardening I have been so eager to do since I joined this site!)

I'm in the process of harvesting now. I say it's a process because I've got a huge RM bin full of compost and a desk lamp set up on a shelf, shining light in there 24-7, and scraping the top layers off a couple of times a day.  I am on Day 4 with the lamp on and still have quite a ways to go.

I wanted to try experimenting with scooting the worm pile over to one end of the bin and starting a new bedding/food pile on the other end to see if the worms would migrate over there and make my job of harvesting the gold easier. So far it's a no-go, but maybe that's because the food hasn't rotted enough? (I always freeze their meals before dumping them into the bin)

I also tried to make some worm tea (apparently, the "wrong" way, as I learned after the fact by watching Youtube videos...Note to self: get a pump and molasses....)  Anyway, I basically took all of the harvested compost I had been storing in an aerted, uncovered bucket and put it in a colander, set the colander on top of another bucket, and flooded it with water....a few times.  Then I'd take the "tea"  I thought I was making and send it back through the gooey, blobby stuff that used to be nice soil-esque compost, back through the colander again...and again. 

Then today I started noticing a smell (soaking wet, soggy castings: Ugh) so I actually took handfuls of the stuff and wrung it out the best I could with my bare hands - meanwhile I'm collecting all of this "juice" (I feel silly calling it "tea" because I don't know if it qualifies as such at this point) in another open container, just in case I'm able to use it like tea (Does anybody know the answer to this?)

I've got questions:

~  What can I / should I do with the soggy compost "mudpie batter" I've still got? Keep playing with it by kneading the juice out of the it best I can? 

~ Is there a way I can dry it out even more once I've wrung the excessive water out of it?  What's the best way to dry it out?

~ Is my "worm hooch" worthless? Should I feed it to a tree or something?

~ Do you guys know about the Illuminati, Agenda 21, project Bluebeam, Operation Northwoods, etc?

(j/k......sorta.)

~  Shouldn't I avoid storing wet gobs of VC because it might to start to mold (or something like that?)

Those are the questions I'm thinking of now. I wish I would have written this on my iPad so that I could upload pics to illustrate the mess I'm making in the garage.... (perhaps there's a way to come back and edit this post and add pics...Hmm...)

As always, any and all feedback is welcomed and appreciated, even if you're having a chuckle at my expense. Just don't be cruel. ;-)   Happy new year to all of you guys, your families, and of course, your wormies.

[Nomar Cuaresma]

You could spread out your VC over a big piece of cardboard (or lots of newspaper) on top of a tarp and have a fan blow air on it. I'm sure you can take your "worm tea" and use it as fertilizer. People actually use Leachate, which is the stuff that drains out of wormbins with drainage holes, and dilute it with water to feed to their plants. I've heard that for worm tea or compost tea you would need an aquarium bubble-thingy so it aerates the liquid and the VC or compost would be in a burlap sack submerged in water. 

[Steve Lambert]

Hey Alice,

I don't know that I can answer each of your questions, but I'll share my opinion and experience as an offering to help.

I made "tea" once, wounded and killed some plants with it, and have not made any since.  I have done a lot of reading on it through the posts on the Yahoo compost_tea group.  It seems that the whole point of making compost tea is to end up with a superior product than what compost alone can provide the soil it's added to. To get that they add certain ingredients and send it through an aeration process that exponentially grows the beneficial bacteria, fungi, and microbes which in fact make the tea superior.  The use of some kind of air pump (aquarium or more heavy duty) for the one to three day period is one of the key steps to providing the bacteria etc. with an environment to grow and reproduce.  The experts say that it is this high concentration that benefits our soil and plants more than just dumping VC and water on it.

I think this process is considered extremely aerobic, and when there are foul smells involved in our compost, tea "waste", food for the worms, etc., it is very likely on the anaerobic side.  I personally have had some success with creating an anaerobic mess out of several things in my composting activities.  :)  However, even a stinking mass of muck can be put back into a compost pile or added to a garden if it is given some air (broken up so air can get to it) and beneficial microbes allowed to transform it into an aerobic soil conditioner. I've read on the compost tea group that many just dump the solid waste from their tea brewing onto their garden soil, into the compost pile, or even on top of their worm bins.  Waste not, want not.

Good luck Alice.