I decided to try something different in a simple fodder growing system I use for my rabbit feed to see if the worm castings themselves will act as plant food directly. I used the fodder since I normally grow it for approximately nine days from the sow date to finished product. This would enable me to see if plants can benefit immediately from worm castings or if they would have to sit a while to encourage growth of bacteria and fungi before being very useful.

Normally when growing the fodder, which is simply a hydroponic way to grow feed (I grow barley) to approximately six inches tall, the seeds and sprouts are watered three times daily. Both trays received the same amount of water (collected rainwater), 2 cups of barley seed and lighting. In this experiment there were only two variables.

The tray on the left side was grown as normal with just water while the tray on the right side had a thin layer of worm castings produced by the 14 Day Worm Castings process, added to the bottom of the tray prior to sowing the barley seed.

You can notice in the photo below that the individual blades have opened on the left tray while they are just beginning to open up on the right.

Also illustrated, the barley on the right with the worm castings is almost as tall as the one on the left however this is where the major difference comes into play since the barley on the left has been growing almost twice as long as the tray with the added worm castings on the right side.

The barley on the left had been sowed 9 days earlier while the barley with the worm castings was only 5 days ago hence showing that the plants in this experiment with the worm castings are growing almost twice as fast as those without!

In conclusion, this illustrates the benefits of worm castings not just as a soil conditioner helping to revitalize the surrounding soil but as a direct food source the plants can process immediately.

The same worm castings used in this experiment are available from the Organic Worm Farm online store.

For others that would like to generate their own continuous supply of worm castings just like the ones used in the above experiment, the 14 Day Worm Castings eBook offers step by step directions using the same process used on Organic Worm Farm.

For anyone that has missed the prior posts concerning the making and update of the flow through worm composting bin, here are the links which will open in a new window.

How to build a flow through worm composting bin for under $40.00

Homemade Flow Through Worm Compost Bin Update 1

The first picture illustrates a layer of brown material and mostly gone through green material underneath. You can see the cantaloupe seeds have been growing as I added one last week which is all about gone already. The worms can barely be seen in this picture; however they are doing well with a massive amount of juvenile red wiggler worms now surviving in the worm bin as well.

The next picture shows the underside of the flow through worm composting bin exposing the weed whacker line I used to support the bedding material and food scraps I have been adding. There is a little remainder of the layers of newspaper I used originally to support the base material I was adding. This is what you still see hanging on the left side of the picture below.

You can also see the vermicompost being supported by the weed whacker line. I originally did the scraping of vermicompost last week. When I checked the bottom of the flow through worm bin today, there was approximately two cups of vermicompost which had fallen to the bottom by itself.

This goes along with my theory that the weed whacker line is sufficient to support the material above as well as the weight. You will notice the bow in the weed whacker line, however figuring it is supporting well over fifty pounds of material at present, this is to be expected.

I will post further updates on this system down the road.

Bruce

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

Hence I went to the drawing board to come up with a solution for my own needs. It is actually a simple device that fits and spins manually in an 18 gallon size Rubbermaid bin. The main unit is built from a five gallon plastic kerosene can.

Keep in mind this worm harvester is for the small worm farmer. It works effectively for one to a number of bins, however once you begin to raise worms on a larger scale, you will want to replace this unit.

I used a stainless steel rod however one could use a short ½” copper pipe. I do recommend sliding end caps on the ends of the pipe so as not to cut oneself when working with the worm harvester. I slid the rod or copper pipe through ¾” PVC fittings on both sides of the bin as well as the five gallon can.

The neat part about this worm harvester is that I use a number of bungee cords to hold the screen in place, enabling myself to start with a 1/8″ screen, then a ¼” screen and finally a ½” screen. This enabled me to separate the worm castings, cocoons and small vermicompost particles effectively.

To work the worm harvester, simply place a small amount of worm compost into the bin, close up the screen opening with two bungee cords and spin the harvester one way then the other way. Once completed, open the screen, remove the left over material and place in a holding bucket or bin. Repeat until you have harvested everything from your bin and proceed to the next screen size and so on…

The other nice feature is when I was done using the harvester; I simply pulled the rod out and wrapped all three screens around the five gallon can, placed back into the bin and placed my lid on top.  Everything but the rod can be stored within the worm harvesting bin

Bruce

In the below experiment photo, I used worm castings. These were obtained from my worm bins using a 1/8″ screen to sort the castings form the vermicompost mix. The difference between worm castings and vermicompost is that vermicompost is a composition of decomposed material mixed with worm castings. Either is super beneficial for plants which I plan to prove with my worm casting garden experiment.

I took five different types of seeds, Black Beauty Egg Plant, Cantaloupe, Cherry Tomatoes, Big Boy Tomatoes and Roma Tomatoes and planted each in a variation from 0%, 10%, 50% and 100% worm castings mixed with plain composted humus made from yard waste. The photo below displays my method of madness As the experiment continues over the following weeks I will update here on the site. Be sure to bookmark this site so as you can keep abreast of the latest updates.

Keep in mind this is not a controlled experiment which would separate each of the plants to prevent cross contamination from one another. However, for my needs this will be accurate enough to show the difference not only in the plant growth, but we will display root growth once the plants have evolved enough to be transplanted directly to the garden.

Stay Tuned….

Worm composting is a process by which red worms, usually red wriggler worms, also known as Eisenia foetida are added to organic matter to assist in the breakdown of bacteria growth, hence assisting in the decomposition of such matter. The result is broken down into two categories, worm compost or vermicompost and worm castings (worm droppings).

Worm compost is what remains after organic matter is broken down into a mix of compost and worm castings which smells like virgin black soil. This is even a better by product than regular compost for your gardening needs.

Worm castings are the remains left over in your worm composting bin after about one year, which are also known as “black gold”. This product is as good as it gets for your garden! Again this does not smell bad, but rather like fresh top soil.

Worms have been around for over 120 million years. Aristotle called them “the intestines of the Earth”.

Darwin who studied worms for 39 years stated “The plow is one of the most ancient and most valuable of man’s inventions; but long before he existed the land was in fact regularly plowed, and still continues to be thus plowed by earthworms. It may be doubted whether there are many other animals which have played so important a part in the history of the world, as have these lowly organized creatures”.

Worm composting can be done on a small or large scale as well as indoors or outdoors.

If your worm composting bin is maintained correctly, it does not produce an odor. In fact when I first became more serious about my vermiculture I ended up with over 15 bins in my home. I got away with this even though my wife freaks out over just the site of a single worm

Worm compost and worm castings are by far the best organic fertilizer for your plants with added benefits as well. With tests conducted at Universities, results were astonishing not only in growth difference by simply adding 5% or more of worm composting to the soil but also disease resistant plants! Test showed that plants without vermicompost exposed to over 150 plant diseases and carcinogens did not fare well for the most part as most died. The plants with five percent or more of worm compost added did survive and appeared not to be affected by the diseases and carcinogens.

Worm composting offers other benefits as well. Vermicompost retains moisture better than regular soil. Simply mix in your soil or apply on top of the soil around your garden plants. Worm tea a byproduct made by adding worm castings or worm compost to water can be used to fertilize plants by spraying and help in prevention of dry fungus on plants.

Releasing some worms from your worm composting bin into your garden not only helps to convert organic material in the garden, but also aerates your soil as they borough through and around the roots of plants.

As a fisherman, there is another benefit to worm composting by which you have a never ending supply of red worms for your adventures! The best for fishing are the red wriggler worm which is a smaller worm with a tougher skin, hence staying on the hook longer and the African nightcrawler. The African nightcrawler has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid and hence my first worm composting bin was established.

Worm Composting Blog offers an array of red worms for sale in smaller quantities if you are just getting started to larger quantities for those who are already established.

Bruce