not sure about your worms, mine are India Blues [Perionyx excavatus] and I can leave them for a couple weeks while the bottom dries out. That sounds really wet - that you can squeeze the water out.

You could try mixing some bedding . . . but then you'd might need to pick that out of your VC.

Have fun!

I've gotten bins of worms that people didn't want anymore. They were just soaking, smelly bogs. Horribly gross.
Any liquid at the bottom can be sucked up with a turkey baster. But I literally hand-picked the worms out and put them into a new bin.

I have my bin sitting inside another tote box on bricks. When my DH pulled the worm bin out of the other bin, there is about 2 inches of water in the second bin. How do I apply that to plants? do I have to mix it with anything 1st? also the worms in my bin seem to be HAPPY, no smells, no escapees, the top layers are just moist and have food and shredded newspapers. the Castings in the bottom are soaked. no standing water, just really wet. SHould I do anything to dry this out to be easier to harvest castings? They are red wrigglers. My bin has never been harvested. I started it Oct 31st last year with about 500 worms. have seen lots of babies over the months, lots more worms now also.

Thanks
Tammy

Yes, Tammy, wet VC will make harvesting harder. The dump-mound-pick worms method will work, but will be yucky.

Try sliding large pieces of cardboard down the sides of the bin. They will wick up some of the moisture from below. You could also leave the lid off during the day to dry it out.

Cardboard will hold its shape and aerate the bin better than newspaper. Try alternating it with the newspaper.

The black liquid at the bottom is called leachate. Some people add it to plants and some don't. They say there's a possibility that the leachate has phytotoxins (plant toxins.) Those who do use the leachate say to dilute it a whole lot (1:10 is what my mind came up with, but I'm really not sure of that.) I figure I've got such good compost, why risk using the leachate?

A perfect worm bin should be as moist as a wrung out sponge. No drips. That's kinda hard to get, but it's what you're aiming for. Can air flow between your working bin and the bin that's catching the leachate? One of the big reasons for the holes in the bottom is so that fresh air can get in as warmer air rises to the top. The more air flow, the better the bin.

Check out http://www.redwormcomposting.com/worm-composting/turbo-light-harvesting-method/ for one idea on separating worms from the compost. I'm thinking it would be a good option for wet VC (as opposed to dumping it out on a tarp, like many people do.)

The bin containing castings is very wet at the bottom, and you would like to remove the liquid, right? If the bin has multiple holes in the bottom and you sit the bin down on something absorbent (like sponges, towels, paper,etc.) in direct contact with these holes much of the water should be absorbed. You might have to wring out the sponges etc. a few times and repeat the absorption process.

Got everything finally sorted and my bin restarted. I noticed I didn't have as many worms as I originally started with in Oct. and most are very young and extremely small, less than a quarter inch in length. is this a good sign?
Thanks
Tammy

It sounds like your original stock all died off and that you have mostly their babies now. Sometimes this happens, but you want to pay a little more attention to the bin now that you're up and running again just in case something else was amiss. Below is a link about how to separate compost from worms.

Here is a link that might be useful: How do I harvest worm compost?