Worm compost tea

Lol! You guys are decoding without the ring

Alright, I'm just gonna ask this now, since this thread has already gone a little wild and I've just always wondered... genes, is there some inside joke or old story associated with you always referring to boffer as boofer?

And thank you all for the education on the codes! I knew what they were all about, had seen the one in Josh's sig for some time, but I don't have a smart phone so I've just let them be. Never occured to me that I could write my own or that I could find a decoder on the web. That's cool Boffer - thanks!

Back on topic, I hadn't wanted to bother with trying compost tea before, but that looked really easy. I was wondering what I would do if faced with a nutrient deficiency in my SFG when the existing compost physically hasn't broken down far enough yet to permit the volume increase of digging in additional compost. The possibility of needing to supplement with a liquid fertilizer has been on my mind.

uh bad gramar, spelling, and hastie proof reading
Sorry boofer boffer

Not a problem, jeans, I've been called a lot worse!

I watched the video with Josh making his compost tea. I also made a plastic worm composting bin. I made it on May 5, 2012. After 5 months I can see I have this grey matter in the bottom of the bin. For one month now, I have been feeding the worms only in one side of the bin to harvest. It does not look black like Josh's video. It's moist, gray, and clay-like. I have been putting fruit and vegetable scraps and shredded newspaper, a torn paper egg carton once, and some crushed eggshells. But it just doesn't look black like every demo I have checked out. Is there a step I'm missing? Should I harvest immediately and use immediately, as in the same day?

If you want to explore redwormcomposting.com there is a detail topic about the color of castings. Bottom line is you will get various colors depending on what you are feeding. More important is feeding a variety of foods for a nutritious result. I'm not concerned terribly with color. Every feeding I put in a source of protein for example like moist oatmeal, even pet hair and noticed they are all over it. I add fruit, veggies, carbs, and protein each feeding.

Another thing -- You can store the castings. But it is not suppose to dry out completely either. I spray it from time to time. I've read different websites that said use it up in 4 months, another said 6 months. Maybe you can find new info and share.

I put castings in a 4 gallon bucket some time ago, and the cocoons are still hatching. I lay food on the surface and collect the youngsters right underneath. Transferred probably at least 50 back to the bins so far.

What about curing? I do have a compost pile and I let that cure, but does worm casting need curing?

Roseinarosecity wrote:What about curing? I do have a compost pile and I let that cure, but does worm casting need curing?

You don't have to wait to use the worm castings, you can put them right on your garden just as soon as you get some.

Originally, Josh mentions that he uses his worm compost tea aerated weekly, especially to grow large carrots. He uses a 20% solution. I'm finally getting accustom to my worms and their vermicompost to make tea. Recently I took 32 ounces of worm poop and mixed it with 7 gallons of rain water. I think it makes it a 3.5% solution.

I read the Ohio State University research article that Josh suggested back on the first posting of this thread (http://growingsolutions.com/shop/images/bc0712_38.pdf) and it said they use their aerated worm compost tea on the tomato plants to prevent aphids, mites, and a nematode, but they don't say how much they use, although they do mention the concentrations. And, it looks like their plants are in small pots (10 cm) for their soil drench treatment experiment. I have raised beds.

The 10% solution worked the best in the Ohio State University research. I have another 32 oz of worm compost, so a 10% solution would require 320 oz of water or 2.5 gals. I have 19 tomato plants which I would like to treat with a compost tea. The two cups would cover all of them but I don't have a new 32 oz of worm poop every week. I'm curious how much did Josh or other people who treat with worm compost, pour on their plants. Josh did mention on the video that he also sprays it on his plants but the Ohio State experiment poured their solution on their tomato plants. Is pouring two cups per plant enough? Or should it be a complete drenching enough to make that my weekly watering? If you pour worm compost tea in your beds, how much do you use per plant and how often?

I just found this site, thanks Rose for bumping it up..... Josh used one cup of castings to 4 cups of water. I guess I read all of this because I am looking for organic ways to treat leaf curl and catapillars on my fruit trees. Once again thanks... and thanks to Josh

GWN, how do you plan to use your worm tea? Spray or drench? How much will you mix with water? And how often?

This is the flowering and fruiting season so I want to take advantage of the worm poop. I'll harvest again in two weeks and treat every other week. I don't want to spray because my hand gets tired from overuse, thats why the drench sounds easier.

How do others use their worm poop?

Do I understand that you pour or spray the tea directly onto the plants and not onto the ground? IMWTK

what I have been doing is to mix the compost with water and then take the tea and pour it on the base of the plant
I have not tried to spray the plants with it yet, I am afraid I have left it too late.
I also do not have a pump with which to aerate the tea, so not confident spraying yet, it seems that many others have more experience with this than I do.

Here's what I do, in the video of me making the worm tea I just use the worm casting loose in the water, so I put about a cup per plant at the base of the plant, and I do that about once a week, if I'm wanting something to grow really good, like something I'm going to show at the fair, I water it a couple times a week.  
When I make the worm tea to use for a spray, I put the worm castings in a coffee filter and it will hold about a cup of worm castings.  I staple the coffee filter together to hold it all in.


Then I put it in the water, and use the air pump on it for 24 hours and then put it in a sprayer and spray the plants.  I have some pump sprayers that are really cheap that work great and you put them on a 2 liter soda bottle.


I don't worry to much about how much worm castings to how much water, if you use to much worm castings it won't hurt the plants, and a little goes a long way too.
Here's the garden back a couple weeks ago

And the cabbage is just regular size cabbage, and they turned out great, I sprayed them with the worm tea about every other day, and watered them with worm tea once a week.

Thanks for the info Josh......we haven't used our worm castings in tea yet and this really helps us to get started using them.....

we have been using reg-compost tea ...(no worm castings).....giving our plants drinks....

if we only have a small amount of worm castings.....do you think using them in a spray is better then using them to water the plants?

happy gardening
rose

Josh wrote:Here's what I do, in the video of me making the worm tea I just use the worm casting loose in the water, so I put about a cup per plant at the base of the plant, and I do that about once a week, if I'm wanting something to grow really good, like something I'm going to show at the fair, I water it a couple times a week.  
When I make the worm tea to use for a spray, I put the worm castings in a coffee filter and it will hold about a cup of worm castings.  I staple the coffee filter together to hold it all in.


Then I put it in the water, and use the air pump on it for 24 hours and then put it in a sprayer and spray the plants.  I have some pump sprayers that are really cheap that work great and you put them on a 2 liter soda bottle.


I don't worry to much about how much worm castings to how much water, if you use to much worm castings it won't hurt the plants, and a little goes a long way too.
Here's the garden back a couple weeks ago

And the cabbage is just regular size cabbage, and they turned out great, I sprayed them with the worm tea about every other day, and watered them with worm tea once a week.

Josh, that sprayer is awesome!  What is it?  where did you get it?  Thanks bunches!  

Awesome cabbage, btw!   And I love the stone path around your beds.

WELL this is just one of those questions that just has to be asked and..... SOOO I will ask it.
How do you make sure that there are no worms in your worm casting tea?

My mom bought them online at: watersprayer

They come 2 in a package and she liked them so much she ordered 2 more sets.

How do you make sure that there are no worms in your worm casting tea?" wrote:

What I do, is take a paper plate, and a handful of the worm castings and spread them out on the paper plate and pick out any worms that might be in the castings.  If you should miss one, it's no big deal, it won't hurt the worm tea, the worm will also be good fertilizer for the garden.

Josh, after seeing your humongous cabbage, I was sold! I started my worm compost bin last night using a plastic bin. Online I saw people making beds of peat moss and shredded paper, so that 's what I did. I moistened the bedding & put the worms in. This morning a lot of the worms were on the lid, which told me they weren't too happy. The bedding appeared to be barely wet, so I added a bit more moisture, some potting soil, added coffee grounds, a couple of egg shells, cut up watermelon rind and celery tops for them to feed on...oh yeah, and cardboard on top.

My only concern is I live in So Cal and this week it's expected to get in the 90's. After work today I'm going to dig a hole under the shade of a tree for my bin hoping that if it's 1/2 in the ground it'll be cool enough for the worms. Wifey doesn't want any part of my bin in the house.

I can wait to start giving my plants some compost tea!!!!