Worm Castings?

What do you guys think of the value of fresh worm castings and how would you use them? Soil amendment ratios and tea ratios in particular.

what do they do?

They are fantastic! As an amendment or an AACT! Im buying a vermicomposter to save some money on my supersoil ingredients.

I love my vermicomposter (or worm tower as I call it) The vermicast that comes out I swear is priceless and has currently taken place of Ancient Forest in my super soil mix. I use about 20% earth worm castings/vermicast right now.

Learn2Grow said:

I love my vermicomposter (or worm tower as I call it) The vermicast that comes out I swear is priceless and has currently taken place of Ancient Forest in my super soil mix. I use about 20% earth worm castings/vermicast right now.

Click to expand...

Cant wait to get mine up and running I will be honest. Not only is it hard to locate decent casts here but I can have a smoke out in the garden watching the little blighter's! Already have chickens for the manure and they make good smoking companions lol.

So did you buy a commercially available one or did you make the "Worm Tower"

TheFink

Learn2Grow said:

What do you guys think of the value of fresh worm castings and how would you use them?

Click to expand...

Castings are essential to an organic grow, IMO. You can use them any way you desire - i've grown plants in a mix of equal parts castings, coco and perlite. I sometimes use a premade mix and top dress castings in as desired. They will be basis of any aerated compost tea you make.

My worm bin is as important in my grow as good genetics. I can't express enough how incredible these humble creatures are...

I have have had great results feeding my worms selected fresh and dried herbs (chamomile, comfrey, netttle etc) fresh clovers, fresh alfalfa and dandelion leaves/flowers.

The resulting castings should theoretically have higher mineral contents and beneficial properties.

How is it you actually make a worm humus tea? Just mix it in with some warmish water and let it sit for a period of time?
And would this act as a boost quicker than say mixing it in your soil to begin with?
I'm always having fan leaf problems when i hit flowering, all the new growth is fine becuase they are getting good N, it's just maintaining those older ones.. Fans will yellow and then work up the plant killing the rest. Grabbing the right ingrediants this time round , prefferably all organic.

Rising Moon said:

My worm bin is as important in my grow as good genetics. I can't express enough how incredible these humble creatures are...

I have have had great results feeding my worms selected fresh and dried herbs (chamomile, comfrey, netttle etc) fresh clovers, fresh alfalfa and dandelion leaves/flowers.

The resulting castings should theoretically have higher mineral contents and beneficial properties.

Click to expand...

This sounds dope rising moon! I need to get my worm been up and running with a feed schedule like that! I've been rocking Wonder Worm Ewc as a soil amendment and my teas @ 1/2c/g

Yup, the quality of inputs = quality of output. The better fed your worms are, especially in terms of quality products we give our plants anways, the better the castings will be! Dust some kelp meal in there too!

I feed my worms my organic coffee grounds each morning but didn't think of fresh herbs like that. Great idea. I have a commercial tower, the top of the line worm factory and it has a spigot that you can extract the liquid castings with. How many ounces per gallon would you guys mix these liquid castings?

blueJ said:

Yup, the quality of inputs = quality of output. The better fed your worms are, especially in terms of quality products we give our plants anways, the better the castings will be! Dust some kelp meal in there too!

Click to expand...

Kelp Meal!

Great idea.

Oddly enough I just bought a worm farm last week. Been up and running since last friday. Been wanting to try some TLO style grows so i figured I'd pick one up. Here is a good recipe for castings I picked up out of the revs new book.

(Per 2 gallons of food)
4 cups perlite
1-2 cups coco coir
1 tblspn greensand
2 tblspn crushed or ground oyster shell
1 tablespoon granular rock phosphate
¼ cup alfalfa pellets
2 tblspn kelp
2 tblspn humate
Cannabis Leaves/roots/stems & Shredded junk mail

To make worm tea, you will need a 5 gal bucket and a decent fish tank air pump (a good 2-hose one made for a big fish tank is good). Add a handful of worm castings (exact quantity is very unimportant) a shot glass or two of molasses, and chlorine-free water. Mix, bubble for 24 hours, then feed to your plants.

You can get more complex than that, but this will give your good brew that your plants will love.

i read to add sand to your worms to help them since they use it to help digestion. would diatomaceous earth help them aswell? i have diatomaceous earth and have no idea what to use it for. could i mix some in with my soil mix?

dank smoker420 said:

i read to add sand to your worms to help them since they use it to help digestion. would diatomaceous earth help them aswell? i have diatomaceous earth and have no idea what to use it for. could i mix some in with my soil mix?

Click to expand...

Diatamatious earth is mixed with your soil to discourage earth dwelling bugs. The sharp edges on it cut and damage the exoskelatons and irritate soft bodied bugs. I'm usually pretty generous with it when I mix up my soil as its reatively cheap.

Ya its very cheap ............ ish

dank smoker420 said:

i read to add sand to your worms to help them since they use it to help digestion. would diatomaceous earth help them aswell? i have diatomaceous earth and have no idea what to use it for. could i mix some in with my soil mix?

Click to expand...

Another benefit of diatomaceous earth is that it is a source of silica for your plants..

I don't add very much in my soil.. I use the rest for keeping ants away from my porch

You don't have to buy the more expensive brands that are sold in hydro or garden supply places. Just get it in bulk at wallmart. They have it for use in swimming pool filters and it is much cheaper. I think its in 20 lb boxes but I may be wrong on that, its been a while.

Years ago someone told me you could grow in 100% worm castings and that the only reason why people don't that is because castings are so expensive. Sounded like BS to me, so I decided to test it out.

I got a dozen seeds, a bunch of plastic cups, and made batches of coir + worm castings with different ratios. I tried coir + perlite + 5% castings, then 10%, 15%, etc. I tried it again with peat moss, perlite, and castings to make sure it wasn't a fluke. The results were that 5%-10% showed improved growth, but adding more seemed to stunt growth. 15% was either no improvement or stunted depending on strain. After 25% none of the seeds would sprout.

I now keep castings at between 5% and 10%. Ten seems to be the magic number. It's safe for seeds, clones, and just about any plant I've toss it at. The NPK of the castings I used was 1-1-1.