Harvesting Worm Castings w/ a Homemade Sifter

23 Mar

For large jobs of sifting worms from castings or compost I use my Texas Worm Harvester, but for smaller jobs I have built a small box sifter.  With some scrap materials,  and the left over 1/4 inch wire mesh I had I put together this sifter.  I have also seen where other worm farmers use 1/8 inch screen, for my use I have found the 1/4 inch to do just fine.  Separating worms from castings using this or the harvester method is the first step I take and removes most of the worms are course unprocessed organic matter.  I do spend time picking out tiny worms and eggs, but losing a few is not a big deal.  Here is a picture of a tiny hatchling that I found while harvesting castings.  As you can see, or maybe not, these little guys are hard to find.  This little thread of a worm was wiggling which made him easier to see.

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3 Responses to “Harvesting Worm Castings w/ a Homemade Sifter”

  1. joe williams August 20, 2011 at 2:05 am #

    Kyle,
    Thanks for the tour of your facility today; very informative. I never realized I was almost a worm farmer, considering the fact that for the last 30 years, I’ve had a lot of compost piles. I have the perfect medium for “The Boys,” but I didn’t know that. I have really enjoyed your web site also.

    Thanks again,
    Joe

  2. Travis Howell November 26, 2017 at 8:20 am #

    My son and raise red wiggles in middle Georgia and our operation is about yours but the trays we found at Lowe’s for only $5 for the smaller ones which are about 13×24 and the larger ones are $10 and they are about 24×48 so you may want to check them out they are in the concrete section

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