Pests from homemade castings?

I am just harvesting my first batch of my own castings. I notice other little critters in them. Is there cause for concern of importing pests to my Grow? How are they best stored. Any special cautions?

I have never noticed anything bad from mine. Lots of those little white springy fellas lol can never remember their name.
I am much more paranoid of what is in a punctured bale of soil. Goddamn fungus gnats haha
The main reason I am working towards a no till living soil grow.

hillbill said:

I am just harvesting my first batch of my own castings. I notice other little critters in them. Is there cause for concern of importing pests to my Grow? How are they best stored. Any special cautions?

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Most of the critters you see in a worm bin or box are eating decomposing matter, the pests on your plants tend to prefer living matter. The ones living in the bin don't typically harm your plant and they actually help break down larger food particles so the worms can actually digest them.

They become a problem when they start competing with your worms for the available food or start attacking the worms.

There are a few pests that will come to your bins with the sole purpose of attacking your worms.

I found some good info here http://working-worms.com/handling-vermiculture-pests-and-other-problems/

GreenHighlander said:

white springy fellas lol can never remember their name.

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Spring tails....man, did they give me a scare the first time I saw them.

Spring tails!!!!! I knew it was spring something lol
First time I saw them was in my pots while I was watering one day. I immediately had to find out what they were. Was relieved to learn they are a sign that things are good in your soil and beneficial.
Thanks for the link . Great info
Cheers

No prob! That site was a huge help to me when I was convinced the mites that were in the bins were the same infecting my plant. They're not.
Also, it's 4:20 where I'm at, that's the best time of day to help.

This is a whole new adventure, thanks for the link also. Well, I pulled off my first harvest and was surprised how quickly worms fled from light. Now I have some very damp casting with very small pieces of paper and some fibers and I am sure some cocoons and tiniest of worms. How can I dry and store? How much and what type of grit are folks using?

We leave the lights on 24/7. When the power goes out we have aprx 40 mins to get light on the bins or we lose all the worms. Found that out the hard way.

I found this thread to be the best for answering your questions. https://www.rollitup.org/t/vermicomposters-unite-official-worm-farmers-thread.637587/
It's long, but you get quite a few perspectives on how to be a worm farmer. I think it's good to get pointers from a few people and make them work for you. GL!

Added MY castings to my mix and already using it at transplant. Thanks all, looking forward to farming worms!