There's a saying: " garbage in = garbage out." Well, in the gardening world, garbage in = compost out!
and what goes into your compost makes a difference in the quality of the end product. worm castings are no different. What goes into the bin affects the nutrient content of the castings. the worms create nothing, they just process whats given to them into a form that is using to other micro life and plants.
If the food they get is low value, lacking in certain minerals, etc, its no better when the process is complete. And most people running small worm bins get wrong: They don't feed them EVERYTHING!
If bacteria can break it down, it belongs in your bin! meat, dairy, you name it, you can give to your worms. The key is to add these thing in small amounts. Milk and meat in particular break down much faster than plant matter. "spoiled" milk is perfect for your bin! a cup of it in a 15-20 gallon bin every 10 days or so works fine. A few scraps of meat, a few ounces every couple weeks, adds valuable nutrients to the mix.
But even if you don't want to use these things in your worm bins, here's a great way to produce worm castings superior to any you could buy. Add dry, organic nutrients to the bin! Grow More, Jobe's, doctor Earth, etc any brand will do. NPK ratios don't matter at all. A pound of dry nutes added at the rate of a cup every 10 days to a well populated worm bin will produce castings that will put any store bought nutrient to shame!
people also add sand, etc for "grit' to aid the digestive process of the worms. Well lets use useful grit!
The "father of fertilizer", Justus von Liebig, developed the "Law of the Minimum" which is important in understanding what micro nutrients do. The Law states that plant growth is determined by the scarcest "limiting" nutrient; if even one of the many required nutrients is deficient, the plant will not grow and produce at its optimum. Conventional fertilizer programs focus on the macro nutrients like Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). However, if one of the many essential trace elements is deficient in the soil, the plant will not perform at its optimum, affecting yield and immune function.
So we can add Azomite and or similar sources of micro nutrients to our worm castings. Greensand also. and doing so creates a unique situation, these micro nutrients become available much more quickly! Most people don't realize that adding rock phosphate, azomite, greensand ( and my favorite bullshit " nutrient additive ) glacial rock dust. Glacial rock dust will take about 100 year to begin to be available....... and all the others mentioned aren't a lot better. 1-5 years for azomite and greensand.
But when processed thru a worm bin a usable amount of micro nutrients are made available because of the intensely active microlife in the bins!
I've just started adding these items to my bins. in about 90 days I'll be testing a soil mix composed of nothing but a base organic soil and these worm castings. I'll also mix a batch with just recycled soil and do a side by side comparison.
and what goes into your compost makes a difference in the quality of the end product. worm castings are no different. What goes into the bin affects the nutrient content of the castings. the worms create nothing, they just process whats given to them into a form that is using to other micro life and plants.
If the food they get is low value, lacking in certain minerals, etc, its no better when the process is complete. And most people running small worm bins get wrong: They don't feed them EVERYTHING!
If bacteria can break it down, it belongs in your bin! meat, dairy, you name it, you can give to your worms. The key is to add these thing in small amounts. Milk and meat in particular break down much faster than plant matter. "spoiled" milk is perfect for your bin! a cup of it in a 15-20 gallon bin every 10 days or so works fine. A few scraps of meat, a few ounces every couple weeks, adds valuable nutrients to the mix.
But even if you don't want to use these things in your worm bins, here's a great way to produce worm castings superior to any you could buy. Add dry, organic nutrients to the bin! Grow More, Jobe's, doctor Earth, etc any brand will do. NPK ratios don't matter at all. A pound of dry nutes added at the rate of a cup every 10 days to a well populated worm bin will produce castings that will put any store bought nutrient to shame!
people also add sand, etc for "grit' to aid the digestive process of the worms. Well lets use useful grit!
The "father of fertilizer", Justus von Liebig, developed the "Law of the Minimum" which is important in understanding what micro nutrients do. The Law states that plant growth is determined by the scarcest "limiting" nutrient; if even one of the many required nutrients is deficient, the plant will not grow and produce at its optimum. Conventional fertilizer programs focus on the macro nutrients like Nitrogen (N), Phosphorus (P) and Potassium (K). However, if one of the many essential trace elements is deficient in the soil, the plant will not perform at its optimum, affecting yield and immune function.
So we can add Azomite and or similar sources of micro nutrients to our worm castings. Greensand also. and doing so creates a unique situation, these micro nutrients become available much more quickly! Most people don't realize that adding rock phosphate, azomite, greensand ( and my favorite bullshit " nutrient additive ) glacial rock dust. Glacial rock dust will take about 100 year to begin to be available....... and all the others mentioned aren't a lot better. 1-5 years for azomite and greensand.
But when processed thru a worm bin a usable amount of micro nutrients are made available because of the intensely active microlife in the bins!
I've just started adding these items to my bins. in about 90 days I'll be testing a soil mix composed of nothing but a base organic soil and these worm castings. I'll also mix a batch with just recycled soil and do a side by side comparison.
