Worm Castings?

worm castings are too dense for good root developement. By itself it is just a thick mud. I use a 20% worm castings to 80% compost + perlight + blood and bone meal + azomax. + I feed with a worm castings tea.
Good job on testing the different porportions Vindicated. I like it when somebody actually does a side by side test on growing mediums and ferts.
The only reason I don't go less on the worm castings percentage is that its not sold in a 10% mix at my local worm farm.

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.

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What exactly can you throw in for theworms to eat? I have read citrusfruits are no good, but wouldnt coffee be as acidic as citrus? I also am questioning what the inks of the newspaper do compared with other organic materials. Its a great way to recycle newspapers, but wouldnt hayor alfalfa be better?

I live on a farm so i have plenty at my disposal. I was thinking of throwing in grass clippings, leaves, cow manure, all non dairy and non citrus food wastes or meat, used tea leaves without bags, coffee grinds, veggie wastes, and hay or alfalfa. What else can i throw in?

Fantonald said:

What exactly can you throw in for theworms to eat? I have read citrusfruits are no good, but wouldnt coffee be as acidic as citrus? I also am questioning what the inks of the newspaper do compared with other organic materials. Its a great way to recycle newspapers, but wouldnt hayor alfalfa be better?

I live on a farm so i have plenty at my disposal. I was thinking of throwing in grass clippings, leaves, cow manure, all non dairy and non citrus food wastes or meat, used tea leaves without bags, coffee grinds, veggie wastes, and hay or alfalfa. What else can i throw in?

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You'll need a carbon source or that compost will get pretty hot pretty quick and kill of your little wormies.. shredded newspaper is a good carbon source.. I also use egg cartons torn up to little tiny pieces..

ottawaliquid said:

You'll need a carbon source or that compost will get pretty hot pretty quick and kill of your little wormies.. shredded newspaper is a good carbon source.. I also use egg cartons torn up to little tiny pieces..

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Everything i read says to use newspapers, but aren´t the inks harmful? And sorry if this is ignorant, but isn´t everything made of carbon anyway? There has to be a susbtitute for the newspaper, right?

I thought the newspaper was to help with moisture levels

Nope newspaper is your carbon source.. most inks using in newsprint are mineral-oil inks or soy based.. even the laser toners are mostly organic polymers.. and the amount that is used shouldn't be harmful...

http://ohioline.osu.edu/cd-fact/0122.html

http://www.wisegeek.com/what-chemicals-are-used-in-newspaper-ink.htm


regarding plants being a carbon source: Plants have a lot of nitrogen so they cook really hot by nitrogen-fixing..bacteria... the metabolism is so high than they will raise the temperature of your compost.. Plants do have carbon in them but the ratio isn't ideal.

I don't know the exact ratios but with worm composting you want an even higher C:N ratio than you would in regular composting. In regular composing you are actually trying to encourage a spike in temperature and promote thermophillic bacteria.

i'm sure you could google the ideal C:N ratio for your feed.

also you mentioned the acidic nature of the coffee grounds.. this is true also but if you add crushed egg shells or other sources of Ca or Mg they will tend to buffer your compost not unlike dolomitic lime would in soil.

Good luck!

Randm said:

worm castings are too dense for good root developement. By itself it is just a thick mud. I use a 20% worm castings to 80% compost + perlight + blood and bone meal + azomax. + I feed with a worm castings tea.
Good job on testing the different porportions Vindicated. I like it when somebody actually does a side by side test on growing mediums and ferts.
The only reason I don't go less on the worm castings percentage is that its not sold in a 10% mix at my local worm farm.

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This can be EASILY remedied by feeding coco coir and perlite into your bin with every other feeding or so. Making your worm compost plantable right out of the bin. There's a pretty solid composting thread running just a bit lower on the forum where there's a lot of amendment and feeding stuff already. Anyone growing organic that's not composting is short changing themselves in my opinion.

We have African night crawlers at our worm farm...they eat peat moss and a grain mix. They product great high quality worm castings...we advise people to do a 20% casting mix in their plants! http://facebook.com/PositiveOrganicLiving www.positiveorganicliving.com