63°F
weather icon Clear

First four to six inches include worms in vermicomposting

Question: How do I separate the worms from my compost? I bought 1,000 worms from a worm farm online. They have multiplied into the zillions, but I don’t want to give them to my neighbors when I give away the compost. Is there an easy way to separate worms from compost?

I am not sure how you are vermicomposting, but if your compost with the worms is deep enough, the worms will be mostly in the top 4 to 6 inches of the compost. The casting should be at the bottom.

So, by scraping off the top layer and returning it to new compost for vermicomposting, you should retrieve most of them. Also, if you can screen the compost with a quarter-inch wire mesh, this should get the remainder.

If some of the compost does not fit through the wire mesh, return this also to your vermicomposting bin for further processing. You will give some “starts” away. That is inevitable. You will recover most of them.

Worms like to feed on compost rather than kitchen scraps, so vermicomposting can be a two-step process; first compost and then transfer the compost to the vermicomposting bin for further refining.

Bob Morris is a professor emeritus in horticulture with the University of Nevada and can be reached at extremehort@aol.com. Visit his blog at
xtremehorticulture.blogspot.com. For more advice, see Thursday’s Las Vegas Review-Journal.

THE LATEST
Some petunia varieties can stand up to our summer heat

There are lots of different kinds of petunias. For instance, the Madness Summer Series can take the heat, but petunias typically are not known for that.

Watch out for hornworms lurking in your garden

Anyone who has been gardening for a while has a horror story or two about hornworms, which infest many vegetables in the tomato family.

What can be done about high boron levels in soil?

Boron is one of the salts commonly found in desert soils. It can be present naturally or it can accumulate over the years in such places as horse corrals.

Do honeybees prefer pink flowers over white ones?

All of the so-called temperate fruit trees flower in the spring. The white-flowered types such as almonds, plums and pluots, apples and pears usually flower a bit later.

Is redbud tree a good choice for pool area?

My landscaper is recommending a redbud tree in the planter attached to my pool. I asked him if that’s a good tree to plant so close to the pool.

Can scent tell me what kind of plant this is?

You should smell a big difference between bay laurel and cherry laurel, which come from different plant families despite their similar names.