First Worm Compost Harvest

The big day has arrived and I started harvesting the worm compost from the worm bin.  There was 3 1/2″ of compost and worms in the bin.

I started harvesting using the light harvest method.  It worked very well.  The only problem is the baby worms, which don’t seem to migrate down as well as the adults.

light harvest method

separating compost from worms

harvesting compost worms

How to Harvest Using the Light Method

1. The first thing to do is get a deep tray or tub.  I used a roasting pan.
2. Place several hand fulls of the finished worm compost from the bin in the pan or tub on the end opposite of you.
3. Shine a bright light directly above the tub of worms.  The worms do not like light and will move downward through the vermicompost.
4. Gently scrape the top layer of the vermicompost toward you and make a pile.  There should be no worms in it.
5. Keep repeating the process until you are left with a pile of compost and a pile of worms covered by a thin layer of compost.

I painstakingly removed as many baby worms as I could by getting them to stick to my finger and then rubbing them off on the worms in the bowl I was collecting.  I removed any cocoons I saw as well.

The reason I did this is because I wanted to know how many worms I had in the bin after almost 3 1/2 months.

Results of First Vermicompost Harvest

I harvested 1/3 of the bin before I was tired of it.  I added fresh food and bedding t0 the harvested area and figure most of the worms will migrate over there, making removal of the rest of the compost easier.

From my harvest, I got 2 lbs of worms and 1 gallon of compost.  That’s from 1/3 of the bin.  There was some compost in with the worms, so let’s figure 20% of the weight was compost.  That leaves 1.6 lbs of worms.  Multiply that by 3, and that gives 4.8 lbs in the whole tub.

So the end result is 4.8 lbs of worms and 3 gallons of compost.  I started with 2 lbs of worms and no compost.

Not bad results at all!