Our Vermicompost Process
Our goal at Victory Terra is to produce the highest quality vermicompost containing as many microbes as possible. That is why we keep a close eye on details many others overlook such as air and moisture. We keep the vermicompost from drying out which could cause the microbes to go dormant or possibly die. Also we never ship our vermicompost in sealed bags as it contains living organisms which need oxygen. Now on to the process...
Our vermicompost starts out as several different materials. We can stroll up to the compost buffet table and choose from the following:
- Beef Manure
- Chicken Manure
- Cornstalks
- Straw
- Hay
- Mulch
- Leaves
- Wood Chips
- Cardboard
It's important to note that the diversity of micro-organisms increases as the number of feedstocks increase. Also, we did not start this business simply to get rid of manure. If that was the case, we would use a whole lot more of it. However, we use only enough manure (usually 10%-20% by volume) to help increase and maintain the pile temperatures to kill pathogens and weed seeds.
Once we decide on our "recipe" we will prep the items to get them to the correct moisture level. It takes a large amount of water to achieve that as well as time. Some materials absorb water faster than others. We spread the materials out as evenly as possible and use a sprinkler to water them down. But the best way is to lay out the materials before a large rain storm and let mother nature water them for you.
Next we form a pile and alternate materials while building it. We closely monitor the pile to maintain high temperatures to eliminate weed seeds and turn as needed. Below are 3 pictures showing a typical pile at the start, about mid-way through the process, and at the end of the composting process in the cooling and maturation phase.
Once the compost has stabilized, we then screen it before adding it to our worm beds. We use flow-through vermicompost bins which we built ourselves as we had most of the materials on-hand. It is important to screen out any rocks because they will cause damage to the cutterbar which harvests vermicompost off of the bottom of the bed. Here is our screener that we use.
Here is what rocks do to a cutterbar which should be straight.
After the compost has been screened, we add it to the worm bins as shown below.
Depending on how much material was added to the bed, the worms will be ready for more food in a week or so. You can tell when they are ready for more food as the surface will be very flat, called the "pool table" effect. When adding food, the top surface of the bed will be rather lumpy, but when the worms have eaten it, it will be very smooth like a pool table top as shown below.
To harvest the vermicompost we use a winch to pull a cutterbar along the bottom of the bed which shaves off about an inch of the material which falls through the mesh bottom and onto the floor below. Below is a picture showing the cutterbar and mesh bottom of the bed. This picture was taken after we hit a rock and had to replace the cutterbar - not a fun job!
After the vermicompost falls on the floor, it is too wet to handle and we use a fan to circulate air over it to reduce the moisture content.
Once it is dry enough to be handled, we rake it up and shovel into a one ton fabric bag.
Lastly we do a final screening and then bag the product for sale.
