Worm casting for various growth stages
- Thread starter snerval
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Phosphorus Worm Farm
After boiling your bone broth separate the bones, add egg shells, crustaceans shells, sea shells and burn them in a chamber (with less oxygen). They will turn into charcoal and the higher the better the temperature is. Pulverize the bones with a hammer. Resulting dust should be fed to worms for further processing. This will give us the required phosphorus in our worm castings. Larger pieces that don’t go through worms will be home to beneficial bacteria. This worm farm should be slightly more acidic than the other two so needs to be watered with diluted fish fertilizer and a bit of AC vinegar for the phosphate to come out.
Potassium Worm Farm
Citrus peels charred in high temperature are a source of potassium and calcium but also provide other elements like manganese, iron, copper and zinc. I collect citrus peel outside during the winter as we eat a lot of oranges. Once I have a substantial amount of peels, I put them in a tin can which has holes around it and put the can in my meat smoker during a smoking session. While the meat is getting a nice citrus aroma, the peels charred and ready to use in my worm farm. We need to pulverize them as much as we can so that worms can eat them.
Calcium Worm Farm
Put dry egg shells in a blender and pulverize. I recommend getting a second hand blender for this purpose. Egg shells, once broken, are sharp and ruin the blender. Feed the resulting egg shell dust and comfrey leave to worms. Water well with diluted fish fertilizer.
Using the castings out of these 3 worm farms on soil by burying them into trenches is the best method but you can also prepare compost teas for foliar applications. An air source is required to provide oxygen during the tea extraction and to favor good bacteria. You can do a foliar application in the evening while the temperatures are below 14C as the stomata closes above this temp. Application would still be beneficial above 14C but do not apply under direct sun.
After boiling your bone broth separate the bones, add egg shells, crustaceans shells, sea shells and burn them in a chamber (with less oxygen). They will turn into charcoal and the higher the better the temperature is. Pulverize the bones with a hammer. Resulting dust should be fed to worms for further processing. This will give us the required phosphorus in our worm castings. Larger pieces that don’t go through worms will be home to beneficial bacteria. This worm farm should be slightly more acidic than the other two so needs to be watered with diluted fish fertilizer and a bit of AC vinegar for the phosphate to come out.
Potassium Worm Farm
Citrus peels charred in high temperature are a source of potassium and calcium but also provide other elements like manganese, iron, copper and zinc. I collect citrus peel outside during the winter as we eat a lot of oranges. Once I have a substantial amount of peels, I put them in a tin can which has holes around it and put the can in my meat smoker during a smoking session. While the meat is getting a nice citrus aroma, the peels charred and ready to use in my worm farm. We need to pulverize them as much as we can so that worms can eat them.
Calcium Worm Farm
Put dry egg shells in a blender and pulverize. I recommend getting a second hand blender for this purpose. Egg shells, once broken, are sharp and ruin the blender. Feed the resulting egg shell dust and comfrey leave to worms. Water well with diluted fish fertilizer.
Using the castings out of these 3 worm farms on soil by burying them into trenches is the best method but you can also prepare compost teas for foliar applications. An air source is required to provide oxygen during the tea extraction and to favor good bacteria. You can do a foliar application in the evening while the temperatures are below 14C as the stomata closes above this temp. Application would still be beneficial above 14C but do not apply under direct sun.
Thank you !
