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HARVESTING EARTHWORM COMPOST 
by JANE BOGNER
SUNDAY, May 16, 2004

[This is the second part of my Earthworm Composting column continued from May 2] 

Now that all of you have set up your earthworm bins, you can anticipate your finished compost. Harvest the compost every four to six months and add fresh bedding to help keep your worms healthy. Try one of these methods:

1. Pull compost and worms to one side of the bin. Add moist bedding to the vacant side. Bury kitchen waste in new bedding and cover. The worms will migrate to new covered bedding. In 2 months you can harvest compost from the old side and add more new bedding.
2. Remove all but one-third of worms and compost. Mix in new bedding. Put the compost in your garden, worms and all. These red wigglers will not live in the soil but will add nutrients for your plants.
3. If you have children who like to play with worms, consider this afternoon diversion. Dump contents of bin on a tarp outside on a sunny day. Make small cone-shaped piles of compost. The worms will go to the bottom to avoid the light. Harvest compost from the top and sides. Gather worms, set up new bedding and start again. Vermicompost is higher in nutrients than traditional compost and ready for use. You can dig it into your garden, add it when you are transplanting your tomatoes and flowers, or use as mulch. Sprinkle it around the base of house plants and you will fertilize the plants each time you water. Make compost tea: steep a handful of compost in a quart of water for at least 30 minutes, strain and use to water plants.

MORE COMPOSTING NEWS

Starbucks Coffee has free spent coffee grounds for the asking. They are a great nitrogent source for your compost pile.

Many composters have expressed concerns about ‘maggots’ in their outdoor compost bins. If all the food wastes was properly buried in their bins, these are not ordinary housefly maggots but the larvae of the black soldier fly. Their job in life is to hang out in compost bins chewing up all your kitchen scraps.

A graduate student at the University of North Texas set up vats of black soldier fly larvae for the food waste generated at a student cafeteria. The larvae were kept at a cozy 86 degrees Fahrenheit which is perfect fly mating temperature.

Every few days, the larvae (about an inch long and a quarter-inch in diameter) would eat their way through about five gallon buckets of scraps. The fly larvae create an economical, biological and environmentally friendly way of dealing with food waste. This is a great alternative to burying the food waste in a landfill or putting it in down a kitchen disposal which in turn is processed at local sewer facilities.

I am assuming the larvae compost is then added to their landscape as soil amendment. VALCORE’s Composting Hotline, 707 55-EARTH, is always on and waiting for any questions you may have.

WRAP Award Application Available

We challenge Vallejo businesses to step up to the plate and show how they take care of the local environment. If your business reduces, reuses, recycles or buys recycled products, here is your chance to receive public recognition for your good work. WRAP, the Waste Reduction Awards Program, is sponsored by the California Integrated Waste Management Board (CIWMB).

The 2004 WRAP application is available online at www.ciwmb.ca.gov/wrap or by calling the number below. The application period runs from April 1 through June 30, 2004.

If you have questions, do not hesitate to e-mail WRAP@ciwmb.ca.gov or call Piper Miguelgorry, WRAP Coordinator, at 916 341-6604.

VALCORE Recycling Vice President Jane Bogner's "A Sorted Affair" is published every other week in the Times-Herald, Community Outlook Section. For recycling information call Genie Kaggerud, VALCORE Recycling manager at 645-8258 or visit www.VALCORErecycling.org.

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