TWO ISSUES:

1) I have been vermicomposting since last fall. It seems that I'm getting a lot of nice dark coloring in what I'm harvesting lately, but it seems like it's quite heavy material. It almost feels like a putty. There's nothing resembling what I hear castings look like. Is something wrong?

2) I bought one of those soil testing kits and tested the compost the other day. Ph was 6.5 - Phosphorous and Potassium were abundant - Nitrogen was deficient. I suppose there's a chance I did the test wrong, but it's pretty straightforward. I assumed that, if anything, it would have a high nitrogen content. Did that part of it leak out the tiny drainage holes in the bottom of my bin?

Just some extra info: I usually apply fruit and vegetable scraps, chopped up relatively fine, spent coffee grounds, a little bit of grass or yard waste. And if I add bedding it's usually wet shredded newspaper.

nothing wrong, sounds like you've got the right stuff, fresh from the bin it'll always be dense unless you haven't fed for months, and the nitrogen went into growing bacteria and then into humus ... be aware that worm castings are a soil conditioner, not a fertilizer, and like other composts will be low on the scale for all the major nutrients, but have a wide range of all the micro-nutrients, just like the food that supplied the feedstock

Bill

It sounds like you have good compost there! I wouldn't worry too much, given what you've fed the worms--everything sounds very nice.

in el cerrito