Worm Farm / Worm Tea / Show us yours.

[LGHT]

Looks good so far. I would normally advise against those pumps since they usually fail after 200 hours (if your using them in your fish tank), but for your specific application you should be fine.

I have pretty much the same setup. Next time I brew some tea I'll snap pics of my farm and setup.

A few tips. Make sure your using "Unsulphured" molasses. I like to use Grandmas all natural. If not the sulphur will kill off all the microbes and render the enter brew useless.

Also it's a good idea to stir the brew to get the molasses in the water column and not sitting on the bottom and place 1 if not both of your air stones right on the bottom also.

In addition to using molasses I read that a tsp of Alaska fish fertilizer per 5 gallons really gives the microbes more than enough food for a 24 hour brew. You'll know it's ready when it's nice and frothy with a good head and no longer smells like fertilizer or molasses.

 

[Shadowchilli]

Looks good so far. I would normally advise against those pumps since they usually fail after 200 hours (if your using them in your fish tank), but for your specific application you should be fine.

I have pretty much the same setup. Next time I brew some tea I'll snap pics of my farm and setup.

A few tips. Make sure your using "Unsulphured" molasses. I like to use Grandmas all natural. If not the sulphur will kill off all the microbes and render the enter brew useless.

Also it's a good idea to stir the brew to get the molasses in the water column and not sitting on the bottom and place 1 if not both of your air stones right on the bottom also.

In addition to using molasses I read that a tsp of Alaska fish fertilizer per 5 gallons really gives the microbes more than enough food for a 24 hour brew. You'll know it's ready when it's nice and frothy with a good head and no longer smells like fertilizer or molasses.

Please do show some pics
I made sure that the molasses that i got was unsulphured, well at least thats what the lady i bought it from said...so heres hoping.
As for stiring the brew i dont think there is any problem of it not being mixed, every couple of hours i was going and looking at it and checking it and etc etc etc, lol.
with the two airstones, i grabbed a rock from the garden and weighted them both down to make sure the bubbles were going through the entire water column.
I just finished giving all of my plants a good folior feed using my finished brew, plus sprayed a little bit around the base of the plants as well.
The mix smelt kind of sweet, but not offensive and no real smell of the molasses. I had it going for around 36 hours.
Now to sit back and hope i have done it right...

Edit: I diluted the brew at 1 to 4 (using rain water) when i was feeding.

 

[LGHT]

Yeah sounds like you got everything going right. I never dilute mine though. I mean I end up with 4 gallons and only have about 20 or so plants so I foliar feed them good and then pour the rest directly into the soil.

 

[Shadowchilli]

Lght, thanks for that, so i assume since its all organic there isnt really a way to burn the roots or leaves or anything? Obviously you cant make the initial brew to strong...

 

[cthunter01]

I have a worm bin that I've kept for about 6 months. It's time to harvest the worm castings now, but since it's just a big bin that will be more complicated than if I had a stacked setup. I'll most likely move to the stack setup soon.

NOTE: To anyone considering doing this, it's super easy and doesn't smell bad at all. If things get out of hand then it might, but under normal conditions it may only have a hint of dirt smell while closed (if any at all), and smell like dirt when it's open. That's it. So you should do it.

Here's a picture of the worm bin under my seed starting table. It's only Halloween and I've already started my pepper seeds for next summer! lol Plus some other things, but none of that is in this picture which is a little old.

Here's a picture of the inside. It looks pretty gross, but that's the end result of nearly six months of composting. It looks really compacted but it's actually kind of spongy in texture. When I squeeze it it compacts, but then when I let go it expands back out. Cool.

 

[Torno]

I'm sold.. This is something I have got to get going soon. Any certain temperatures the setup needs to be in? Maybe in a garage all year? Also, if any of you guys have some good resources websites on DIY setups and worms, please post. Must.. make... worm...city!


Thanks!

-J

 

[cthunter01]

Hey Torno,

The temperatures that are good are pretty much room temperature or a little cooler. A garage should be just fine. The worms really don't like light, so that's a plus because you can just put the bin away somewhere out of the way (like under your seed starting table haha )

Just make sure you get Red Wiggler worms. Earthworms won't work, since they're not really good for eating food scraps and composting. Red Wigglers are worms that actually live in compost piles so that's what they do best. I ordered mine from a worm farm online, about 1000 worms to start with.

There are a lot of great resources out there, and videos too, for making a worm bin. That's what I did; just do a search for "how to make a worm bin", or something like that. Good luck!

 

[Shadowchilli]

While i spent a little extra to get the worm farm that i got, they are really quite simple to make. You can use buckets, big tubs, some people even use an old bath tub.
Its really quite easy to keep the worms happy.
I found the most expensive thing was the worms themself.
cthunter01, looks like your worm farm is going great, got some nice rich castings there

 

[Torno]

How do you separate the castings from any of the left over "food" that wasn't completely eaten and processed? I'm assuming you just run it through screen mesh to break it up and make more of a useable casting than having the chunks.

-J

 

[Shadowchilli]

How do you separate the castings from any of the left over "food" that wasn't completely eaten and processed? I'm assuming you just run it through screen mesh to break it up and make more of a useable casting than having the chunks.

-J

If your using a multi tier system like i have, you dont need to worry. The worms move up the trays as you add more food.
As for tubs / bins and that type of setup, you can use the technique that you suggested, using an old window screen or something similar. Or you could get a worm / compost harvester.

Sorry, i thought this video was gold

Either way works well, and anything that isnt eaten can go straight back into the worm farm

 

[LGHT]

Lght, thanks for that, so i assume since its all organic there isnt really a way to burn the roots or leaves or anything? Obviously you cant make the initial brew to strong...

Well the stronger the better!! Keep in mind all your doing in growing the beneficial bacteria found in a mature worm farm. When you brew tea by feeding those microbes your allowing them to multiply from a few hundred thousand to a few hundred million. Then the beneficial bacteria when applied to the plant and soil will help fight off disease and help convert nutrients already in the soil into nutrients that the plant can use and feed on.

So no there isn't a chance that the roots will burn even if you ONLY feed your plant worm tea.

 

[El Jardinero]

I am growing indoors right now in a coco coir and perlite mixture.
My current brew recipe is below and I have a couple of questions.

1. Should I dilute it 1:4, 1:2 or use it straight?
2. Can I use this as my only source of nutrient for growing in coco coir?

1/2 Cup Worm Castings
1/2 Cup Bat Guano
1 Cup Organic Compost
1 Tbs Molasses
1 Tbs Liquid Seaweed
5 Gallons of Water
Brewed for minimum of 24 to 48 hrs with air stones.


After 48 hrs brewing


Any input and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Need help brewing a balanced tea to use as my only nutrient and keep it organic if possible.

Pete (El Jardinero)

ps. just found this on a MJ forum ... follow the user named "guano" he has a lot of info and recipes on teas.

http://www.thcfarmer.com/forums/f31/whats-your-favorite-organic-tea-brew-recipe-757/index3.html

 

[LGHT]

El Jardinero you have to understand what worm tea is. Tea isn't "Food" for your plants in the form of fertilizer it's the growing of beneficial microbe colonies and then introducing them to your plant so that the plant is healthier and will intake the food your giving it.

I think you need to go back to the drawing board and first get a good understanding of what you need to grow peppers and what types of fertilizers you should be giving them especially if your growing indoors.

 

[El Jardinero]

[font="arial][size="2"]Thanks for the follow up. After posting, I found several other links and postings with people using teas as their only source of nutrients.

I've grow with Peruvian Bat Guano with an NPK of 10-10-2 ... can I put both together? ... beneficial microbes and nutrients.[/size][/font]

Gonna make this my experiment!
I've grown successfully in soil-less mediums with artificial nutrients ... want to try just using homemade organic nutrients plus the beneficial mibrobes.
I started 8 peppers in coco/perlite with nothing but my guesstimated tea and they are doing quite well.
I've fed the plants every 3 days with a roughly diluted tea.

It's quite confusing ... several sites have recipes for bacterial teas (for grow) and fungal teas for bloom.
They all include worm castings.
Worm tea alone is just a beneficial additive?



10/21/11 - 11/03/11 Almost 2 weeks since planted.


I'll post a 1 month update with pics of my peppers being fed only with the tea.

 

[LGHT]

Not sure what your asking. Bat Guano is a fertilizer and when you "brew" worm tea your simply growing living microbes. In order to grow a microbe colony you need to start with LIVING microbes that exist in a mature worm farm and not just a bunch of random ingredients. None of the items on your list have a living colony of microbes so all your doing is putting a bunch of random items in bucket of water and adding air.

Again you need to do some research and try and understand exactly what worm tea is and how to make it.

 

[El Jardinero]

Fair enough. I will continue to do research.
I just started reading "The Compost Tea Brewing Manual" by Elaine R. Ingham, PhD.
It is great reading on compost teas and all the science behind it.

If you look at my list, I am using worm compost (castings).
Yes, brewing worm tea grows living microbes.
Worm compost also has nutrients. An NPK raging anywhere from 3-2-2 to 0.5-0.1-0.1. It all depends on the quality of worm compost.
It also has micro and macro nutrients, trace elements and humates at varying amounts.
When you water plants with your worm tea, your not only putting brewed microbes but Nitrogen Phosphorus and Potassium.

Is this correct?

Thank you again!

 

[LGHT]

Do you have a worm farm that you managing already. Where are you getting your castings from? I just want to be sure you understand the process.

 

[El Jardinero]

Currently purchase castings from 2 local companies, Gardenville and Rabbit Hill Farms.
Soon I look to making my own worm bin or purchasing a nice one like your 7 tier.
In other news, just figured why I was getting confused! woohoo!

There is worm compost teas and there is also nutrient teas.

Apparently, they both get "brewed" the same way to extract microbes or nutrients into the water.
Most people brew one at a time and use separately.
Some people brew them at the same time. (more links from MJ sites)

This link is from a THP member that is doing what I want to accomplish. Though, he seems to not be posting anymore.
http://www.thehotpepper.com/topic/20613-louiethe8ths-others-lets-go-its-all-coco/

Thank you LGHT for directing me to continue researching.
Any input on your bin or recommendations appreciated.

Pete (el jardinero)

 

[LGHT]

Ok so you are making nutrient teas which is good, but not the same or as good as worm tea.

Are you getting "fresh" castings or bagged castings you get over the counter? If your not getting fresh castings you probably don't have any living microbe colonies so your not growing anything in your tea. It will have a small amount of nutrients, but peppers need a good and constant amount of ferts to thrive and produce good crops so it wouldn't be enough for a mature plant.

As far as a bin they are not hard to make, but I just purchased one already put together for around $100 so I wouldn't have to worry about it and just add my soil and bedding and i'm done!

 

[Melissa77754]

I am growing indoors right now in a coco coir and perlite mixture.
My current brew recipe is below and I have a couple of questions.

1. Should I dilute it 1:4, 1:2 or use it straight?
2. Can I use this as my only source of nutrient for growing in coco coir?

1/2 Cup Worm Castings
1/2 Cup Bat Guano
1 Cup Organic Compost
1 Tbs Molasses
1 Tbs Liquid Seaweed
5 Gallons of Water
Brewed for minimum of 24 to 48 hrs with air stones.


After 48 hrs brewing


Any input and suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Need help brewing a balanced tea to use as my only nutrient and keep it organic if possible.

Pete (El Jardinero)

ps. just found this on a MJ forum ... follow the user named "guano" he has a lot of info and recipes on teas.

http://www.thcfarmer.com/forums/f31/whats-your-favorite-organic-tea-brew-recipe-757/index3.html

I make a tea similar to this. Instead of compost I add Dr Earth potting soil, it says on the bag about using it to brew teas. I also add Alaskan Humus and Dr Earths all purpose or bud and bloom booster fertilizers. My brother gave me the recipe so I can't tell you WHY everything is good. It's not only a worm tea with beneficial microbes but food for the plant as well. Not your typical "worm tea" but I can tell you it works wonders for plants. I also top dress the plants on occasion with Dr Earth's bud and bloom booster, castings & a little soil, just scratch it in to the top soil. My plants only get teas (not often enough), liquid kelp, fish fertilizer and the Dr's earths. I recently found a product called Xtreme Gardening, they have these organic feeder packs that you put under the root ball at time of transplant. So far the plants I have used them on are doing really well. I tried them out for the first time with hibiscus started from seed, they are suppose to take two years to flower, 4 months later I already have flowers. I am now using them for every pepper transplant and I have a Big Jim already starting to flower after only two months. I am a big believer in growing organic, especially with consumable plants.

When my husband and I purchased our home there was this ugly bush in our backyard, it was planted in a large pond type planter. We dug it out, and I use the planter as a compost bin. I recycle my soil in there and add stuff for the worms to eat, just got a few worms out of my brother's compost bin and they have multiplied on their own! I cover it with a tarp so it's dark and every few days turn the soil, it is really dark now, the worms are doing a great job.

Check out the site http://www.xtreme-gardening.com/

But if you want to try out the products I highly recommend buying them on Amazon, wayyyyy cheaper than any site.

Hope this helps Pete!

Melissa