Now comes the fun part: Separating the worms from their compost. You can use any method that takes advantage of your worms' dislike of light and extremes in moisture and temperature or encourages your worms to move from the compost to new kitchen scraps.
Things You'll Need
- 4-by-6-foot sheet of heavy plastic
- Rubber gloves
- 5-gallon bucket
- Smaller plastic tub or bucket
- Bedding
Instructions
Dump and Sort
Dump your bin contents out on the large sheet of plastic in a brightly lighted area.
Put on rubber gloves. Shape the vermicompost into nine or so conical piles. Leave the piles alone for about 15 minutes to give the worms time to migrate toward the bottom of the piles.
Scoop the peaks of the cones a handful at a time into your 5-gallon bucket, collecting the worm compost. Scoop the sides of the cones as well. Look for straggler worms and put them into your small plastic tub or bucket.
Work farther down the piles, placing the compost into the large bucket and continuing to check for occasional red wigglers.
Check the bottom of the piles for masses of worms. Place them into the small plastic tub.
Add fresh bedding to your worm bin and return the worms to it.
Divide and Harvest
Shift your used bedding and vermicompost to one side of your worm bin. Add fresh bedding to the other side. Begin adding kitchen scraps only to the new bedding.
Wait about 2 weeks.
Remove the vermicompost from the older side of the bin, placing it in a bucket or other container. Check carefully for worms and return them to the bin.
Replace the emptied side with fresh bedding.