Immediate Care of Living Products

If you have recently ordered any PC Living Products (Living Material, EM, or Johnson-Su) please make sure to read all the information on this page carefully so you are clear on how our shipping process works, what is required of you, and how to take the best care of these products once they reach you.

Important Shipping Info

All orders ship out Monday-Friday, but they can require as much as 2-3 days of prep time - so an order placed late in the week may not ship until early the following week.

Because these products contain living organisms it is very important that you closely monitor your tracking (provided shortly after order was placed) and that you are able to intercept the package very soon after its arrival.

Please also refer to our living product guarantee so you are clear on customer responsibilities relating to these types of shipments and how to make a claim in the event of any serious issues.

Choose your product(s) to learn how best to care and store them: 

Effective Microorganisms (EM)

Prior to opening, the bottle can be stored at room temperature, out of direct sunlight,  for up to 18 months. 

Once you start using it, we recommend trying to squeeze out as much air as you can between uses and keeping the lid tightly secured.

 

Johnson-Su

We recommend using this product as soon as you can for maximum biological benefit. Make sure the bag remains tightly closed at all times to avoid drying out (there are small air holes for oxygenation). Store at room temperature out of direct sunlight.

For more information: Johnson-Su Product Guide

 

Living Material (LM) 

What to Expect & How to Help

We take great care to ensure that your Living Material arrives in the healthiest state possible, but don't be alarmed if it doesn’t seem like there is much going on in the mix when you first open it up!

If your aim is to grow a population of Red Wiggler worms…

Keep in Mind:

  • The worms and cocoons in our regular Living Material tend to be very small, and well-hidden (as are the other organisms it contains).

  • Even the larger adult worms (likely more in LM+) can lose 10-20% of their water weight, making them potentially challenging to find early on as well.

The good news is that with the proper care, your Living Material should spring “back to life” very quickly once it is in your system!

Temporary Storage of Your Living Material

We highly recommend getting your bag of Living Material added to your system as quickly as you can, but if you aren’t quite ready to do so, you should be ok to store your bag in a location with moderate temperatures (16-26°C), out of direct sunlight for up to a week without any issues. In this case, you should partially open the top so as to allow a bit more oxygen in (but definitely not all the way, since you don’t want the material to dry out).

Adding a small piece of water-rich food like a cucumber or melon slice can give your worms something to feed on, but is not critical since there is also nutrition in the mix itself.

DO NOT place your bag of Living Material in a refrigerator since this can impact the ecosystem and cause your worms to become much more restless.

NOTE: If you have a small plastic tub (should be opaque), you can also empty your bag into that, and add a few water-rich scraps. This type of set up can provide you with an even longer-duration temporary storage solution.


Preparing a System with Living Material

There are two main approaches for starting up a system with Living Material:

  1. Growing your own population of Red Wiggler Worms (using LM as your starter culture).
  2. Using Living Material along with bulk composting worms (worms sold by weight) purchased from someone else.

To learn more about growing your own population of Red Worms using LM, be sure to refer to our “Using Living Material as a Starter Culture” page.

If you have purchased (or plan to purchase) worms from someone else, you can refer to our Worm Care Guide (you should receive a physical copy with your LM purchase as well) and/or the other resources we have listed near the bottom of this page.

Blog Posts Your May Find Helpful

DIY Plastic Worm Composting Bins
Setting up and Managing Your Urbalive for Worm Composting Success
Setting up Your Urban Worm Bag for Worm Composting Success
Bedding - The Most Important Material in Your Worm Bin?
Worm Composting FAQs

Living Material Related Resources

What Is “Living Material”? (Blog post)
Living Material Resource Page
Living Material Product Guide
Using Living Material as a Starter Culture


 

Have Any Questions or Concerns?

Thank you so much for your order! Always remember that we are here to support you on your composting journey. Don’t ever hesitate to get in touch with us if you have any questions or concerns that come up along the way!