Beach Farmer

by L P
(Oregon)

I harvest the castings all winter long. I'm wondering if I'm storing them properly for spring usage.

How should we store the castings when waiting to use them?

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Jul 16, 2014
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Best Way To Store Worm Castings
by: Paul

Hi LP,

One of the best ways to store the worms castings, I have found is to to store it in some type of tote or dark container.

When I harvest my worm castings I try to collect some worms and cocoons. They will continue to refine the castings as castings are never 100% pure but only 99% and lower.

I store them in a simple 18 gallon Rubbermaid tote. No holes, but you could put them in if you wanted.

The few worms that are in there don't normally mate as there is not enough food to support it. But they do eat and keep refining the castings.

The cocoons will hatch and you'll find worms crawling around the sides of the container. You can decide, at this point, to retrieve them and put them in your worm farming bin.

The worm castings will keep in my containers from end of summer all the way to spring for when I'm ready to use them.

You will also want to lift the lid and aerate or stir the castings once in a while. I usually do this once or twice every two weeks.

The worms will continue to stir and aerate the castings keeping your cast alive. The worms are probably not necessary but I have been doing this for several years and just know that it makes sense and works.

Thanks for posting your question,
~Pauly

Jul 16, 2014
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Storing castings
by: LP

Thanks Pauly...one other question...does the temperature of the storage area matter?
I'm glad you mentioned keeping them in a DARK storage bin......I was not doing that. LP

Jul 16, 2014
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Castings Storage Temperature
by: Pauly

Worms Castings can be stored in quite a wide variety of storage temperatures.

I have never stored castings below freezing but I'm sure some people do this.

To be on the safe side and to keep the worm castings alive and as fresh as possible store them between 42-85*F (5-29*C).

I say this because we discussed having a few worms in the castings to keep refining and aerate it.

Otherwise keep it above freezing and below 90*F (32*C)

~Pauly

Jul 24, 2014
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Storing worm castings
by: Steve

Greetings. We store worm castings outside, covered in 1 ton super sacks. As long as they remain covered and air flows, they are good. Covering should be as much sun block as possible - a lean-to is excellent since it has a solid roof, We are in the north central U.S. in the 'freezer' of America. We leave castings out all winter. Biologically, the result is a drop of 1/3 over-wintering but as spring warm-up occurs, the biology is restored to within 5% of the original numbers. We know this because we do test for it.
You may have heard others talk about life span - we have been at this quite a while, testing the same worm castings for over a year to see how well they hold up - they do.

Jul 24, 2014
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Storing castings
by: Anonymous

Thanks Steve and Paul!!

The production of castings has more than doubled this summer, so I will have a lot more to store this winter.

With your expert storage advice, I am anticipating an increase in improved soils and plant growth next spring!

Thanks again guys.

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