Worm Farming Question

Debbie,


My worms are needing harvested, so I'm anxious to get everything put together. What fun it has been watching these creatures do their magic.

Do I need to do anything with the castings to insure they are clear of
 insects that would be harmful to plants? The worms seem really healthy
 and have procreated beyond my wildest dreams the last 6-8 weeks, so I think
 the community is relatively healthy.

However, I've seen what I believe to be a mite once in a while. This has me terrified
and I'm not sure how to safely and hopefully organically deal with the issue if it's a problem.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated if you have time to respond.
I don't want to introduce something to my garden that would necessarily need to be eliminated.

Much thanks for everything,

 Jill


Hi Jill,


 The worms' material will have nothing in it harmful to plants unless man
has put it there. Castings are Nature's Design. Adding anything would possibly
take away from the positive microbial life throughout the castings Which
gives your soil and plants incredible strength and resilliance.

Anytime you see an overabundance of one particular composting critter, the best way of
control is to change out their bedding or add another material into their
bedding. It's amazing how easily the ecology of the worm composting material
changes.

Usually there is nothing to panic about since the solution is simple. Just know
that all of the creatures play a role in the composting.Trying to X out the bad
guys is taking away from a balanced system and, consequently,
your plant's defenses.

Sorry for the long-winded response. Hope this helps.

Debbie