Worm Castings as Orgsnic Fertilizer

Young Lungz

Member
I have purchased some worm castings with the intentions on making worm tea to fertilize my plants. I was wondering if anyone has any experience with making worm tea and could give me a good ratio of castings to water. Im thinking about going with 1 cup of castings, 1 teaspoon of corn syrup, and 2.5 gallons of water. How does this sound:?:
 

Nullis

Moderator
A cup of castings to a gallon of water is a good start. Don't know about corn syrup but possibly a half tablespoon of molasses and/or kelp. These are best aerated with an aquarium air pump and air-stone. I've heard of people just agitating the solution periodically though.
 

R. Duke

Member
i have never made the earthworm castings brew but have always wanted to. i would lightly steep it in a pot on my stove the way i make guano tea. measure out a gallon of water and bring it to a boil. once it has come to a rolling boil i drop in 100 grams of guano, in your case 1 cup earthworm castings, immediately turn off the heat source, and periodically stir the contents of the pot while it cools. once it has cooled i strain it into a gallon jug and use it at a ratio of 1-3 tablespoons per gallon of water.
 

Nullis

Moderator
I really wouldn't recommended boiling the stuff, at all. I've never heard of anybody doing that before but I can think of a few reasons why it seems like a bad idea. The main thing is that fresh earthworm castings are alive; there are active microbial cultures in there which are beneficial to the soil and to the plant. To me and many others the primary notion behind brewing organic compost/vermi/humus/guano teas has much to do with these microbes, and our goal is to allow them to proliferate. Many of the microbes we desire survive or thrive only in aerobic conditions: they need oxygen to survive (like we do).
Boiling water is obviously very hot, enough that it is going to kill a great majority (if not all) of our desired micro-organisms. Usually water will at least have some minute amount of dissolved oxygen in it, and aerobic bacteria will tend to use it up quickly. The act of boiling water actually depletes all of the oxygen that was previously dissolved in it. That is bad news for aerobic bacteria and even plants if they are irrigated with water that was boiled, as plant roots also breath oxygen.

I don't know what boiling fertilizer does to it's chemical characteristics, such as nutrient availability.
 

jbrand

Member
I have been reading about this very subject for the past two weeks, and I have not read anything about boiling. I would not follow that advise at all. I would think boiling would kill off benifical microbs in the tea. I liked a lot of ther youtube videos on teas. Also do a search for guano teas in the RIU search bar. Lots of good in by 3pound
 

Young Lungz

Member
Thanks for the help. After fertilizing I will be sure to post and let everyone know what ratio I used and how effective it was.
 

hillbillybobb

Active Member
good deal. recipe # 3 seems to be good the way it is. i know a few people at a different forum that use it as it reads and claim good results. definitely let us know, im tuned in
 
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