We were so pleased with the donation recently from TexasJumpers. We live in a Senior Residence where several people have started a Community Garden. When I asked them if they could use the best compost in the world, they looked forward to it eagerly . Now after just a week, they are seeing the difference. Thank you Kyle!
You are welcome! We are happy to help.
Need a Christmas gift for the gardener in your life? I just harvested several hundred pounds of casting this weekend just in time for Christmas. A 10 lb bag at $20 can do a world of good for your winter garden or your potted plants. You can also brew a nearly unlimited supply of actively aerated compost tea.
In a quick castings run we were able to render 40 gallons and 200 lbs of sifted castings. Found a bunch of egg sacs. 
I don’t have alot of personal experience with these beauties, but what I do know is they are big eaters. If you can keep your worms out of the cold in the winter and want to produce castings, this may be the species for you.
Spring is here and it is time to plant in Texas. Worm castings are rich in P,N,K but the most valuable component are the beneficial microbes that will add life to soil and plants. We have a ton of worm castings at our two Texas farms. You can pick up a 10 lb bag for $20. Add a handful of castings to seedlings or brew up your own compost tea to really get the most out of just a few lbs of worm castings. You will be surprised just how far a small amount worm castings can go.
Here’s a video from a few years back where we brewed up 500 gallons with a combination of worm castings and compost.
A few weeks ago I had noticed a few brown patches from my neighbors yards creeping close to mine. Within a few days affected areas were well into my grass. Upon further inspection of the pattern and damage it appeared to be the dreaded chinch bug. The little critters love dry conditions and love to eat away at the healthy roots of grass. I quickly brewed up some worm tea and made a liberal application to my yard. Within a couple of days, my neighbor and I noticed a difference and are happy to see the grass is on it’s way to recovering.
Worm tea is an all natural inexpensive way to beat back garden and lawn pests, and has saved me loads of money and headaches. The beneficial micro organisms in your actively aerated tea will add life back to the soil and are predacious to many pests attacking lawns and vegetables.
I have spent the last couple of weekends harvesting castings from my red worm bins and european nightcrawler bins. I had tried to hold out until after Labor Day, when it’s only 95 outside. The heat can add stress to harvesting castings for you and the worms. Exposed worms can dry out and die quickly.
Loaded down with finished worm castings I was left with little choice. The girls pitched in and really helped speed things. My harvester that was built last winter, really came in handy. We were able to crank through 100+ pounds in no time. The girls picked worms stuck in the harvester screen. On a side note: Use cooking spray on the wire mesh to help keep the worms from sticking.
In picking egg capsules and smaller worms from two separate harvest runs (red worms/ european nightcrawlers), I was surprised at the performance of the nightcrawlers. The cocoon or egg capsule production has definitely slowed down for the red worms compared to other times of the year. Compared to the red worms, the nightcrawlers had about triple the amount of eggs. That’s right, from what I have seen this Summer, the European Nightcrawlers have outperformed red wigglers in reproduction.
This past Winter and Summer have been the most extreme temperatures I have seen since beginning worm farming. The good news is that with a little planning and preparation worms can flourish in just about any part of the country.
Benefits of Worms and their castings have long been known, and here is one example from Thomas J. Barrett”s Harnessing The Earthworm.
In a full-column article entitled “Earthworms in Role of
Great Benefactors of the Human Race,” Mr. W. A. Anderson,
Editor of the South Pasadena Review, reported a number of
growth experiments by the author.* One of the experiments reported
on was this: We planted three boxes of lawn grass (poa
trivialis}. One box of good native soil as control; one box of
identical soil, but with earthworms added ; one box of pure earth worm
castings. After germination and sixty days’ growth, the
grass was harvested and the results carefully compared. All
boxes produced good crops of grass. The box of native soil, with
earthworms added, yielded 271 percent more than the control box
without worms. The box of earthworm castings yielded 463 percent
more than the control box without earthworms.
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.
Texas Jumpers 