I often see posts in various forums and groups that indicate that what the worm composter is trying to do is get more “worm tea” from the composting system.
For many years at my local farmers’ market, I would process and sell gallon jugs of my own “worm tea”. I sold this tea for $1.50/gallon and many of my customers swore by it. I even had an organic farmer who would buy all my excess that I didn’t sell each market.
I worked hard to produce a quality “tea”, putting it through no less than three filters before I filled recycled milk jugs for market. My “tea” had no smell and was often mistaken for cider or apple juice at market.
At some point my bins quit producing so much tea as I figured out the proper balance of moisture for my bins and worms. The effort taken to produce the “tea” soon had me making the decision to not process the “tea” anymore.
My bins were healthier.
The tea off a worm bin is nothing more than leachate. This is just excess moisture that has perculated through the bedding, admittedly picking up a certain amount of nutrients, depending on how long the bin has been working.
In my opinion “worm tea” is not the primary by-product a worm bin composter should be trying to produce. Excess moisture in the worm bin can adversely affect the quality of any castings (worm poop) the bin will produce. Too much moisture can create an anaerobic condition in the bin building up toxic conditions that essentially poison the castings and eventually the worms if the condition goes unchecked.
It is more important to keep a healthy balance of moisture and air in the bin to produce the highest quality castings possible.
If someone wants a true “worm tea”, “compost tea”, “vermicompost tea”, then you need to brew it using a high quality compost/vermicompost/castings. The experts call this kind of tea AACT – Actively Aerated Compost Tea.
You make AACT using a brewer like this one:
High quality tea is an incredible product.
When you are brewing compost tea you are growing a huge colony of beneficial bactera, fungi, and/or protozoa. These are soil microbes that help build a healthy soil that help support healthy plant growth.
These soil microbes need food and air to reproduce. As soon as the food and air are depleted the population starts to die off.
Do some homework on your own and learn more about AACT or “worm tea”. I will have more information on this subject in future posts.
Christy
Handle your organic waste the way Nature intended.
http://www.vermiculturenorthwest.com/