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F.A.Q.
You most likely will find worms in our Activated Compost.
They are Red Wigglers; Eisenia Fetida.
They are compost worms, usually people buy these for indoor composting. Most of these worms die in the winter if you have them in your garden. They are beneficial to the soil and make vermicast while they are tunneling around. When you find worms in our compost, you can be assured that the compost is very healthy and that your plants will be enthusiastic about our compost as compared to other not so great composts out there.
Compost is organic material that breaks down by biologic action into stable usable soil amendment. The proper making of compost is done by adding water and turning frequently to have an aerobic environment for the breakdown of the materials. We want an aerobic process throughout the whole time the compost is being made. Compost will turn out to be a crumbly, earthy smelling good substance when it is finished that will be added to soil. IT increases the organic content and helps replenish soil and old container mixes for new nutrients in the growing season.
It is recommended that your compost be spread on the surface of the soil and mixing it in shallowly, this mimicks nature's method of dropping leaves and residue on the surface. Earthworms and other soil critters will mix it in but also you can take a rake or 3 tine cultivator and mix it in shallowly.
You really want the compost where the roots will be growing, so adding it to the whole garden may not be necessary, such as putting it in a walkway.
1-2" of compost on the surface is enough, more is not always better! If you are starting with pure sand, like many of us are- adding more will be beneficial- but only up to say, 1/3 compost in the first year or two. Once you get your organic material content up it is no longer necessary to do this much every year.
1 cubic foot of compost will cover a 12 foot square area 1" deep. That would be a 3x4' square. Many garden beds are 3' wide, so if you want your 3x8 bed to have 1" of compost that would be 2 cubic feet of compost needed, and so on. If your row is 12" wide and 8 feet long, 1 cubic foot of compost would give you 1" along the whole row. Measurements do not need to be exact here.
Soil can become depleted over time - meaning that it is only a substance holding up your plant, but it isn't able to provide all the nutrients that are needed for health. Compost is broken down organic materials that blend in with soil to create an suitable environment where the roots grow. Healthy soil needs stable organic matter which gives a home to multitudes of good bacteria, protozoans, organisms, & creatures that should be living in it. Without these soil citizens, plants can't get the nutrition they need to build a great tasting vegetable or fruit, or flower. It might look good, but what does it taste like? What disease does that plant have if you are using chemicals to feed your plants?
By supplementing our soil with stable mature compost, we increase the organic content of the soil which adds places for water to be stored, particles of material whith microbes working to benefit our plants.
SHORT ANSWER -NO!
We are taking precautions to prevent this from happening and so far in our location there are none reported. We are requiring all our drive in waste drop offs to be registered and to have basic education about this problem before they are allowed to drop off their organic materials on our property.
Vermicast, also called worm castings is a mixture of earthworm castings and uneaten bedding and feedstock harvested from worm beds. This means that we started with organic materials for bedding and added feedstocks. The worms consumed most of the food and bedding, leaving behind a mixture of their castings (worm poop) and undigested organic materials.
(Worm Farmer’s Handbook) https://www.chelseagreen.com/2018/how-vermicast-benefits-soil/
We partner with Lush Farms on our OMRI certified worm castings. See test results and analysis here:
Yes and No..... The bags are breathable and can be used for planting in, but they will disintegrate within one season, so by the end of summer they will be fragile and must be discarded. Although they do break down, they will crumble into tiny bits of plastic, and plastic must be dealt with in a different method than normal composting.
I like to use Mother Dirt Activated Compost as is, in the bags to plant my potatoes, and I get a nice amount of potatoes which can be easily tipped over and picked out simply from the compost. I would use this mix in a raised bed next year, or sprinkle on the lawn, or use in a pot for flowers, but it is best to rotate soil so you avoid plant diseases that tend to multiply when the same plants are grown year after year in the same soil.