worm castings, er howabout worms

so obviously worm castings are the shit.. but they cost dinero. so i thought, why not go straight to the source and dig up a couple worms and throw them in my pots. i managed to hunt down two. as far as i know the one is still alive but i just checked my closet and noticed a dry dead wormy on the surface. poor guy.

anyone have experience with worms? anybody got any ideas for COD. im thinking it was just too hot for the lil feller

Worms need time to work their magic. If you were to just throw some worms in when you mixed your soil, there wouldn't be any castings in the soil to start. The plants would probably be almost finished before the worms could make enough nutrients to have an effect. If you want to use worms, you'll need to let them work the soil awhile before using it. Most people who want worms will probably find it a better use of their time to just buy some rather than find them one by one.

Ya, If you have the space and the time, you can put a bunch in a composting bin with ground up dead leaves and some soil. Give them a few months and you will have some mega rich soil, mix that with some guano and such and you are good. Basically tho, worm casting are expensive because they take a long time, and a lot of worms...

composting worms eat 1\2 to their weight each day under ideal conditions. they need 50-90% humidity while 80% is the ideal, no salts, organic matter to eat and temps around 23°C.
they are surface dwellers that live on the top 15" of soil.

each lb of worms is around 1000 worms.

if its sounds practical to you - go ahead


I just run a small worm bin and use the EWC made when I pot plants or in an AACT.

im not trying to produce castings. i just wanna put four or so worms in each pot and let them live and do their thing. aerate my soil and what not. one of the worms died and i dont know why

wally nutter said:

im not trying to produce castings. i just wanna put four or so worms in each pot and let them live and do their thing. aerate my soil and what not. one of the worms died and i dont know why

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Worms just don't do well in pots as you noticed. They need more space to crawl around in and when you add nutrients, that will kill them.

I've found live worms in my pots, hatched from the egg casings in my castings (I have 2 worm bins), but at the end of the grow, I've never found any live ones.

But, give it a shot. Experience is the best teacher.

No, they don't eat roots. They eat bacteria from decomposing matter.

Wet

roger that. this is all just experimentation. wittle plants just grow to slow and i got bored and thats how this all came about

try growing a clone inside a worm bin

FuZZyBUDz said:

they will probably feed on your roots.

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No worms do not eat living vegetation.

A quick Google will set you up with the gear.

I couldn´t be bothered myself, I can buy worm casts for 1 Euro a kilo.

worms would probably die in your container because "we" let the pots get pretty dry between watering. worms prefer a garden bed (indoor or out) as they can move around more and stay in moist dirt. the almost dry conditions of your container are most likely going to kill the worms. especially if the perlite content is high as that stuff is abrasive.


spanishfly gets it right as usual (okay maybe we disagree about molasses but that is about it ). castings are not that expensive and provide the true benefits of worms. the aeration that the worms provide (which is what you wanted) is much more easily attained by using: perlite, pumice, gold peat, and/or carbonized rice hulls.

post edit: for us stupid american's one euro is like two bucks, and a kilo is like 2 pounds (not exact AT ALL) so he is spending about a dollar a pound on EWC,

Matt Rize said:

worms would probably die in your container because "we" let the pots get pretty dry between watering. worms prefer a garden bed (indoor or out) as they can move around more and stay in moist dirt. the almost dry conditions of your container are most likely going to kill the worms.

post edit: for us stupid american's one euro is like two bucks, and a kilo is like 2 pounds (not exact AT ALL) so he is spending about a dollar a pound on EWC,

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it was def the dryness that killed the poor guy. i found worm castings for pretty cheaper than i expected online. thanks for the info

don't put them in your pots in a small environment they compact the soil and minimize aeration of the soil.

Worms can drown. They don't often do well in captivity.