The Trouble with Worm Compost

Do you have a moment for a story about worm poop?  Because I need some advice.

This weekend, my husband was in his basement "man cave" watching some sporting event or another and going back and forth from the laundry (because he's good like that).  On one of his trips, he suddenly smelled something that wasn't, let's just say, Downy fresh.  He quickly ID'd it as a stream of worm compost "tea" oozing from the edges of my worm compost bin.

I rushed downstairs, but I didn't panic because this had happened before and I knew what to do. This episode was a bit more complex, though, because when I opened the spigot to drain the "tea" into a glass jar, nothing came out.  So we lifted up the working and processing trays of the bin to see what was going on in the tea collection tray at the bottom.  Rob lifted, and I donned a medical glove to clear a minor clog and in the spigot.  The dark liquid gold drained off beautifully.

But let me tell you, this stuff stank.  I mean it STANK. Which got me thinking about what happens when worm compost goes out into the garden. 

So here's the advice part.  How should I treat my worm compost so I can get it in the garden without gagging?  I admit to not having thought this far ahead--by the time the first compost got processed last year, we were in the midst of our move and not about to give away the fruits of our worms' labors.  So I've just kept adding food and fiber to the bins for 10 months.  I'm on the third and last bin of my stacking composter, and the bottom one in particular is full of real dark, good stuff - that STINKS.

Did I do something wrong?  Does worm compost need to cure?  Is the odor going to dissipate once it's outdoors?  Will my neighbors call the health department on us?

Note: the composter does not smell at all when the lid is closed.  And when you open the lid, you get a kind of woody fibrous smell.  It's when you lift up the top bin or drain the tea that the serious "waste" scent emerges.

Calling all vermicomposters....please advise!

Meanwhile, how's this for a sweet collection of worm tea?  I feel slightly like a vermi-Howard Hughes, but I know my spring garden will thank me...and them.

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Comments

[Louis]

Your tea has gone anearobic (It starts rotting if not aerated. It's not abad thing except for the smell) Don't thow the smelly tea on your plant's leaves but on the soil around your plant.

There should be no smell.

You should drain your sump more often. (I use a 2 litre plastic Coke bottle with a small funnel.)

If you can earate the smelly tea for 24 hours with a fishtank airpump, the smell will disappear.

Check whether you are not giving your bins too much water too. (the soil should have the consistancy of a wrung out sponge)

Good luck

=Louis Arthur
South Africa