-
If you need help identifying a pepper, disease, or plant issue, please post in Identification.
Cayenne's Guide to Vermicompost a.k.a. WORMS!!!
- Thread starter Cayennemist
- Start date
- Status
Yes,
The more air the better, but you can get by with just 1 air stone and line.
Here are a few things to start you out with:
10.52$
http://www.walmart.c...indingMethod=rr
Hear is the air stone I have but it is garbage.
3.88
http://www.walmart.c...e-1-ct/10532630
And the line was about 5$ If I remember correctly.
You can sometimes get totes from wal-mart cheaper than 5gal buckets, so keep that in mind.
This is not the best stuff out there but it is a good start. I say get a dual line pump, its only like 3$ more and totally worth it.
If you want to get serious, go to a hydro shop and see what is out there. Like any hobby the sky's the limit.
If you have chlorine in your water, you will need to bubble it out first. I feel like over night is adequate time to do so. This is something you will need to do regardless of making tea or not. You don't want to build a nice soil food web just to kill it later with chlorine water.
It may seem like more work but it really isn't that hard at all. Just full up your bucket when you are done with it and let it do its thing. Always try to have it full and bubbling.
For me the hard thing isn't keeping the water full, but fighting the temptation to not throw stuff in and make more tea
If you haven't watched the vid in the "using your castings" section I would recommend doing so.
here it is.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JTMdBOGJcEY&feature=player_embedded
I have a question, I'm pretty interested in trying some worm tea out, but I have been feeding with inorganic ferts for a few months now. If I was trying to get a nice little Eco system started in my pots, would the residual inorganic chemicals screw things up? I would think it would kill off the myrocozze at the least, hopefully not all the other beneficial things in there.
Sweet topic btw, very well done.
Sweet topic btw, very well done.
I've been vermicomposting for about 8 months now. Castings are great for tea and to add to potting media, but I would caution against having live worms in the mix with very young seedlings. I had been doing so, and for the past month I thought I was losing a lot of plants to damping off. But from reading Darwin's monograph on earthworms I got the idea (and confirmed it with a night-time observation) that it was red wrigglers from the vermicompost that were gnawing off my babies at the base. Grrr. From now on, I'll be careful about isolating my seedling pots from the worms.
That sentence make the work worth it. Glad I could help.
No worries, nature can be forgiving. Let your plants dry out until they start to weep, then flush the soil out well with some chlorine free water. I mean soak the crap out of it untill it is coming out the bottom. Let that dry a few days and bring on the Tea. I would use full strength super rich stuff the first few times just to get it going.
Rich Tea would be like half a gallon of compost/what ever to 5 gal of water.
Normal would be like 2 handfuls.
It would be better to start with good soil, but it is possible to build it up. One thing with soil is variety. You want a complete food web going. so make teas that have a buffet of stuff in there like lawn clippings, fish, kelp, guano, weeds, the neighbor's kid, what ever you can get your hands on. Be sure to add sugars like Molasses to the mix so that the microbes have some food to eat so they can do what they do best... multiply.
Good luck and thanks.
You are right. I am scared to put them in my pots, the little guys can eat there body weight in 24hrs... what happens when they run out of food? Roots?
I have seen them first hand eat card board, I'm sure roots gotta be better than cardboard. As for a raised bed or in ground bed, they can just move on to greener pastures when they eat all they want.
I think that would be one bad thing about putting castings in soil as a dressing or amendment, there are egg every where. I see them all the time. they are a gold color and about 1/8" diameter balls. So putting those in pots is the same as putting worms in pots.
YEAH BRO!
Make sure in a week or so you come back and show us some results! Best of luck.
Make sure in a week or so you come back and show us some results! Best of luck.
I have read different things on different reputable cites. Some say that in order to establish a high soil load of beneficials - dosing every 3 to 6 days for a month and then every 45 days. Other sites state every 30 - 45 days during the growing season. Some state to dilute 1:5, some 1:3. some say don't dilute....
As long as you have the beneficial microbes and haven't added anything that could possibly burn roots or leaves - I don't think it really matters. Obviously a daily dose might be a bit much...but once a week shouldn't be terrible at all.
I have dosed the soil at full strength 3 times....have sprayed foliar 3 times in two weeks...no bad effects, just explosive growth and severe pod production ; )
My teas have varied in ingredients greatly from one batch to another though....
As long as you have the beneficial microbes and haven't added anything that could possibly burn roots or leaves - I don't think it really matters. Obviously a daily dose might be a bit much...but once a week shouldn't be terrible at all.
I have dosed the soil at full strength 3 times....have sprayed foliar 3 times in two weeks...no bad effects, just explosive growth and severe pod production ; )
My teas have varied in ingredients greatly from one batch to another though....
oh, wow!...this is a terrible mix...you're plants will revolt and unpot themselves....haha.
Sounds great!!! - let this stuff brew and they will seriously show you how much they appreciate it.
Where are you guys getting kelp from? Kelp meal...Kelp emulsion? I can find everything else imaginable down here, but when I mention kelp, people kind just go, "ummm, well you could....well..."
Ive just been adding kelp and fish emulsion in small amounts to the batches...plants don't seem finicky with my dining plan.
The beach!
go ahead, just rub it in...looks like im stuck with emulsion, haha.
Just wanna share my Brew
3cups worm casting
1 pound fish
3tbsp humic acid
3tbsp liquid kelp
3tbsp mykos
2tsp bat guano
2tsp peruvian guano
and 3tbsp of my secret stuff
and 1cup molasses its not in the pic i forgot
10 to 12hrs later
the head didnt go bulge that much since i put cover on top
3cups worm casting
1 pound fish
3tbsp humic acid
3tbsp liquid kelp
3tbsp mykos
2tsp bat guano
2tsp peruvian guano
and 3tbsp of my secret stuff
and 1cup molasses its not in the pic i forgot
10 to 12hrs later
the head didnt go bulge that much since i put cover on top
Just wanna share my Brew
3cups worm casting
1 pound fish
3tbsp humic acid
3tbsp liquid kelp
3tbsp mykos
2tsp bat guano
2tsp peruvian guano
and 3tbsp of my secret stuff
and 1cup molasses its not in the pic i forgot
10 to 12hrs later
the head didnt go bulge that much since i put cover on top
Looks like I got a new shopping list! Thanks man. Waiting on my XG care package... I got a response from them on FB saying they sent it about a week ago.
I need to find some guano to try. This will be my check list for real! lol
XG said that i will be getting a care package but its been forever so bought one at amazon.com
- Status