Worm Composting » worm castings

Beneficial Growth Using Organic Worm Castings Fertilizer

Bruce — Wed, 02 Jun 2010 14:39:38 +0000

I originally wanted to run a test and had posted the three planters I started with using different soil makeup’s, one being worm castings however due to a hail storm most of the plants were destroyed. Hence I decided to grow new seed eventually, sowing some of them in organic worm castings while others directly in the soil in my garden.

I also needed a way to grow some barley grain quickly each week for one of the worms we raise. I tried using soil which did alright however I went to plan “B” shortly thereafter realizing I needed a quick turnaround growing the barley to 6 inches tall. I did some reading on hydroponics however the startup costs were a bit high, especially for the amount of space which would be required for the tanks, pump equipment… for the amount of grain I needed to grow. I then decided to try growing the barley grain directly in well watered worm castings. The results were staggering to say the least.

I used the granular type of worm castings which are produced on the Organic Worm Farm. This enabled a type of blend between traditional planting and hydroponics since there was some water held between the worm casting granular. I use some starter trays with clear lids to help maintain the moisture until they grow tall enough in approximately 4 days time.

The seeds began to germinate in two days. After just three days most all the seed had germinated. Within the next four days, the barley grain had grown to about six inches tall.

The pictures below show the grain just 7 days after planting the seeds.

The next shows the extensive root growth taking place in the seedlings, something worm castings are known for.

Now back to the tomato experiment.

As for the tomato plants, these results are also amazing as they were all planted in the same soil with the exception of the addition of worm castings to some. They all receive the same amount of sunlight, water… in the garden.

To date not only are the tomato plants in the worm castings taller as well as bushier but they are also producing more tomatoes than the plants without the worm castings.

Measurement	Without Worm Castings	With Worm Castings

Height (inches)	17.5	23.5
Width (inches)	8	15.75
# Of Tomatoes	1	14

The benefits of worm castings are clearly noted here as well as how to produce more vegetables, flowers… per each plant.

The pictures below display the actual differences. Notice the wire tie for the plants and how the one without worm castings (first picture) only rises to the third wire while the one with worm castings rises to the fourth wire, 6 inches higher.

To produce these type of worm castings we use, be sure to visit 14 Day Worm Castings for more information and take advantage of the Father’s Day Special Promotion!

Worm Castings In Just 14 Days!

Bruce — Sat, 22 May 2010 13:03:08 +0000

After uploading one video I have been receiving too many emails each week on how I can completely turn a worm bin setup over every two weeks into worm castings.

After much trial and error, I had come up with a solution that had to be followed meticulously otherwise it would not work. Changing just one variable will void the system and not work.

I tried using five different types of worms, six types of bedding materials for each and numerous food sources.

The result is the same system I have been using on our own worm farm with huge success. In fact, I have a local nursery which informed me the other day they would take as much as I can deliver after they had purchased some from me the first time and then followed up two weeks later buying all available stock.

They stated they were purchasing there worm castings from another company which were the same as all the others they had seen. When they had seen the ones we produced, their jaws literally dropped. They informed me that they had never seen such beautiful looking worm castings.

They were not like others since mine were of a granular type and black, not dark brown.

So now I decided to show others how to do this with the release of my first eBook on the subject.

The title, 14 Day Worm Castings says it all.

You can see a video on this from the page I uploaded on how I did not even turn on my casting harvester machine but rather simply dropped the castings through the 1/8” castings screen.

Directions For Using Worm Castings

Bruce — Tue, 23 Mar 2010 01:55:09 +0000

Worm castings benefit all types of plants and cannot harm them even if overloading the amount applied. They will not burn the roots and can be applied directly around the roots or sprayed via a worm tea.

Worm castings do not have an odor; hence they are excellent for both indoor and outdoor plants. If purchasing worm castings, be sure they do not come in an airtight sealed container as this will kill off the aerobic microbes which are one of the main reasons to use them.

For many the questions arise on what rate to apply worm castings. In order to assist you on this I have written down some spread rates and how often to apply based on successful experiences.

Vegetables and Annuals – Place 1-2 inches of worm castings in planting holes and seed furrows. Set plants or seeds, cover with soil and lightly water. Side dress during the growing season with ½ a cup of worm castings per plant or 1 cup of castings per linear foot for each row every 2 months.

Perennials – Work a ½ cup of worm castings above the root zone, cover lightly with dirt or mulch and water. Take care not to damage shallow roots while working the castings in. Apply in spring, early summer and again in early fall.

Planting Seeds / Transplanting Potted Plants – Use 1 part worm castings to 3 parts soil.

Established Potted Plants, Hanging Baskets… – Mix in 1-2 inches of worm castings to top of soil taking precaution not to damage shallow roots and water. Repeat every 2 to 3 months.

New or Freshly Transplanted Roses, Trees, Shrubs and Berries – Mix 1 part worm castings to 3 parts soil. Surround newly dug hole as well as drape roots over a mound of the mixture, cover and water thoroughly.

Established Roses – Mix 4 cups of worm castings 2-3 inches below the surface for each plant once a year.

New Lawn Seed – Apply at the rate of 10 pounds per 100 square feet. Work into top of soil, plant seed and water.

Established Lawns – Apply at the rate of 10 pounds per 100 square feet in spring and again in early fall.

Worm Casting Tea – Soak 1lb. castings in 5 gallons of water for 24–48 hours. Use an aquarium air pump to aerate and add 1-2 teaspoons of unsulphured molasses. Casting tea is excellent for fruiting, flowering or difficult to access potted plants, especially indoors. Apply weekly for best results.

Compost Piles – Spread a thin layer of worm castings over each new layer of material to be composted.

For a more elaborate organic soil matter mix which works great for most plants, vegetables, flowers, potted plants, seedlings and more, you can find a previous post for and print out the recipe here.

Using these ratios will ensure your plants thrive during the growing seasons.

If you do not have any worm castings, you can purchase them from the Organic Worm Farm online store.

Bruce Galle

Worm Castings Experiment Part 1

Bruce — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 22:13:18 +0000

Well I had the worm castings experiment up and running until I knocked over the one planter containing the worm castings. I tried to replant the seedlings which had popped up however they began to go through some shock therapy. Hence, in fairness, I decided to restart the experiment.

I plan to carry this experiment a bit further than most should all go well with the first part. Once the plants are established and large enough, I plan to take some of the plants and transplant them in and around the garden area. For example, take the plants grown in clay and transplant some into clay soil while others into my mix of vermiculture, peat moss, worm castings… The idea will be to see if the transplanted plants to the castings soil will take off and flourish or will they remain more stunted…

The below picture is of the three planters used in this worm castings experiment.

The planter on the left contains organic potting soil I purchased at a local nursery. Yes, I really did buy some

The planter in the center contains some clay soil from the yard. I tried not to dig down but rather only grab the top inch of clay soil since this should be the most fertile part of the clay soil.

Lastly, the planter on the right contains a mix of different worm castings I collected last week.

I planted open pollinated beefsteak tomato plants in each planter. I doubled up the seeds in each hole with each planter having four holes for seed, evenly spaced.

Each planter will receive the same amount of sunlight and water during the span of the worm castings experiment.

I planted the seeds on March 9^th of 2010. The listed germination period for the seeds is 7 to 10 days, however would expect this to happen sooner with the current temperatures, especially in the worm castings and organic potting soil containers.

Well that’s all for now on the worm castings experiment. I will post more pictures as the seeds begin to germinate as well as throughout the experiment.

Bruce

Worm Tea From Organic Worm Castings

Bruce — Sun, 05 Jul 2009 13:56:46 +0000

Lately I have been receiving a number of emails as to why we do not offer worm tea made from organic worm castings. In reality we do, however allow me to explain.

From a starting point I wrote another article pertaining to worm castings and the need for oxygen. In short, most are shipping these out in sealed plastic sandwich type baggies. The problem arises when taking into account that the reason worm castings are so beneficial are the number of live beneficial microbes. If you seal off oxygen, you kill off the microbes. If the worm castings are permitted to dry out, you kill off the microbes…

Hence this is why all our 1lb and larger worm castings are shipped priority mail in breathable bags!

Now when you make worm tea from organic worm castings what you are basically doing is exponentially exploding the number of beneficial microbes. Once again these are live organisms which require oxygen and a food supply to stay alive. In fact, brewing worm tea is nothing like brewing tea you and I would drink. It does not require heat for the brewing process but rather loads of oxygen and food which is readably eatable by the beneficial microbes.

After brewing for 24 hours, you end up with super charged plant food which is loaded with millions of microbes, all needing to maintain an oxygen and food supply.

Imagine taking an aquarium pump and turning it off, the over time the fish will begin dying off. Now imagine millions of fish crowded in the same fish tank with no room to swim and turning the aerator off. The fish would begin to die almost immediately and soon you will have an aquarium with nothing left but dead fish and a rotten stench.

The same holds true for the microbes within worm tea.

So in short, if we bottled the worm tea and sold it as others do, by the time it arrived and was used, it would be useless and most likely and full of malicious bacteria and fungus that can actually harm your plants.

This is why we do brew worm tea but sell it locally for pickup orders only on the same day the brew is finished.

Organic Worm Farm does offer a solution for anyone looking to brew their own worm tea, worm casting tea bags, shipped in breathable bags via priority mail. These are the same worm castings used by Organic Worm Farm to make worm tea for use on our own gardens as well as sold locally.

If you happen to be looking for readymade worm tea in the Pickens, Greenville area of South Carolina, simply contact us and we will tell you how to get some! Otherwise, try brewing your own tea as it is not difficult and will not smell!

Bruce

Purchasing Worm Castings

Bruce — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 23:23:47 +0000

I decided to search online the other week, like I had nothing better to do I found numerous folks selling worm castings… or supposedly worm castings.

I figured I would go ahead and order some from different websites. To my amazement I found numerous problems. In fact only one order of six placed were truly worm castings.

Basically only five of the six shipments received were vermicompost, or simply put worm castings mixed with composted products. Do not get me wrong, vermicompost by itself is a good product for fertilizing your plants. However there are a few problems with this and the way every order was shipped.

If you intend to make worm tea from the castings, I do not recommend you use vermicompost as this can create an acid based solution. As you make your brew, the compost material mixed within, can further break down releasing acids.

True worm castings should be right in the neighborhood of 6.5 on a PH scale and able to maintain this ph level. Worm castings themselves are what make worm tea, period!

To separate worm castings from the vermicompost mix, use a 1/8″ screen. I have posted an original worm harvester which uses several screen sizes for the average worm composting fan on another post.

OK, really need to get rid of some pictures in my cell phone, as I was looking for the one below and it took a little time This is a 5 gallon bucket of worm castings. Notice the PH level.

Worm castings are loaded living creatures, micro-organisms. You have to ponder why anyone would then ship me worm castings in sealed Ziploc type storage baggies, cutting of air, hence oxygen to the castings. On top of this, they were shipped flat rate, taking an average of five days according to the postage stamps. That’s five days if not more (do not know when they were actually sealed in the bag) that the worm castings were cut off from oxygen and exposed to summer heat in the back of a USPS or UPS truck for 5 days.

I know I personally would not survive the trip

Now I do not always offer worm castings, as I use them up as quickly as I get them in my own garden (yes I know it is greedy of me but we treat the worm castings the same as live worm orders. After all, they are loaded with living organisms… You can check here for worm castings availability.

The proper method to store worm castings is the same as you would for a worm bin except with less moisture. Ours are stored in large bins with a constant moisture content of 30% to 40% at a temperature of 75 degrees Fahrenheit.

We do not bag up our product until we are preparing each order. Next, we use breathable bags that retain moisture, the same ones we ship our worms in.

Lastly, since these are living organisms, all our worm castings are shipped priority mail, to insure the best quality worm castings by eliminating extra time exposed to heat or extreme cold in the winter time.

Have fun composting,

Bruce