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Mill Bay, British Columbia

We have a small worm bin we use at home which I will occasionally drain off the juices and add dilute and then spray on plants or use as a drench.

Question is, over the fall and winter when I'm not needing or using the juice, can I bottle it and use it later or does it likely not have a usefull shelf life.

Tad...anyone?

11/18/2012 2:31:43 PM

Seattle, WA

My own experience is that it tends to be high in N but low in organisms (unlike ACT). I've found you need to dilute it in some instances to keep from burning plants.

That being said, I'm guessing you could try storing it as it probably doesn't contain a lot of pathogens. Depending on how aerobic it is, you might not want to seal the container (could explode).

Typically if people are getting worm leachate from a worm bin, it's a sign they're adding to too many food scraps or are overwatering. We get nothing out of the spigot on our worm bin when are moisture levels in the bin are correct.

Hope that helps!

11/18/2012 5:50:30 PM

Torrance, Ca.

Looks like I've been watering mine to much:)

11/18/2012 5:57:52 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

OK, thanks Tad. No water but we do add alot of food scraps layered in with paper shreddings...

11/18/2012 7:23:46 PM

Williamsburg,KY

I dont get any water out of my spigot from my worm bin. I feed them, cornmeal and dryer lint. Food scraps into the compost heap.

11/19/2012 8:15:12 AM

Seattle, WA

We feed our worm bin a small amount of food scraps, but use compost as our medium rather than coco coir or peat (more common). We also add oyster shell flour, rock dust, neem cake, and a few other organic amendments to improve the quality of the castings.

We have also found that large smart pots (we are using a 400 gallon one full of horse manure) work well as worm bins. They allow for good aeration, though it limits the ways your can harvest it.

11/19/2012 3:10:12 PM