Vermicomposting (Make your own Worm Castings)

Discussion in 'Growing Organic Marijuana' started by OldPork, Feb 8, 2009.

  1. #5061 ElRanchoDeluxe, Jun 30, 2019
    Last edited: Jun 30, 2019
    What you want to look for are charts from University studies that indicate parameters for the constituents of your water. Desired ranges, maximum limits etc. Compare the numbers to your water report. Your Na levels are a bit high and your Alkalinity is borderline just depends on which study you look at.

    High pH alone is no indication that your water is unusable. Alkalinity is a measure of bicarbonate, Ca, Mg, and the ability to neutralize an acid. I've used water with a pH of 7.8 with an alkalinity of 100ppm without issue. Water at my new place is 7.8pH with an alkalinity of 254ppm and it causes some serious problems!

    With the levels you are at your native soil may ultimately be the determining factor. Otherwise an occasional r/o drench might be nice to leach some Na. Or use 10-25% r/o mixed with tapwater. You could do the same inside as well.
    HTH
    RD
     

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  2. Beautiful castings


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  3. I had hard water in the 350ppm range used it for couple years before It started building line scale on my pots and stunting growth etc. I got portable R.O unit now. Works great easy to install and move around just screws into faucet. Turned 350ppm ware to 10 Ppm.


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  4. Thanks TL.OG34 my cycle time is the same as my grows. I get about around 70 pounds every 4-5 months. It supplies my small garden. I make my own compost and then cycle it through my worm bins, at which time I add some egg shell powder,neem,alfalfa,malted barley,crab meal,kelp,nettles and comfrey.
     
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  5. That sounds like a great system! that way when you make a soil mix the compost is already amended. I have a bin inside that I keep about 1000 red wigglers in. The bedding I use is mostly cardboard,pine bark fines, and some peat. I feed the worms a lot of banana peels,canna leaves, kitchen scraps like lettuce and potato peels, melon rinds etc. occasionally I’ll dust an all purpose dry amend that consists of kelp, alfalfa, crustacean, rock dusts. Recently I’ve begun to strategically place piles of oak leaves,straw, and grass clippings from mowing in shady areas around my backyard by the wood line. I’ve seen crazy amounts of worms in these piles. The worms I get in my yard are giant composters. I assume they are euros but these things are very lively and I’ve seen some as big as 5 inches long. I’m contemplating starting a new indoor wormery with these bigger composters. I’m sure they would be hardy enough to raise and the castings I’ve seen in the piles outside seem to be denser and darker than the castings my red wigglers produce.


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  6. Sounds like you have a good system started yourself. Look up Asian worms this may be what you are seeing. We have them in the North east. I'm trying them in one of my bins right now. I just didn't want to pick them out of the compost I'm using.
     
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  7. Hmm never heard of Asian worms but I’m in the Northeast (MA). I don’t think they’re typical earthworms because the typical earthworms I find are usually pale/pinkish in color and very lazy. Sometimes they won’t move for so long I think they’re dead. I tried raising them but didn’t go so well they stayed alive for the most part but they just didn’t populate or compost as fast as the wigglers do. These other worms I’m finding now are ridiculously active! catching em is like trying to wrangle a snake. I don’t recall seeing them last year. I’m very happy because this year they’re everywhere. I’ve been putting em in pots and raised beds. The weird thing about these worms is when I pick some of them up they’ll segment themselves in half. I’m not rough with them or pinching them or anything. it almost seems like they do it on purpose, defensive mechanism maybe? Idk

    Edit: just looked up Asian worms google images and they look very similar. One picture I saw labeled jumping worms looked exactly like them and the name certainly fits. I knew of Alabama jumpers but didn’t know we had jumping worms in our neck of the woods. Maybe all this rain we’re getting has caused them to proliferate.

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  8. They sure are odd with the way they act. I actually had them rear up like a snake ready to strike, and they can move very quick.They also have that steel or chrome like reflection from their skin. I believe they are likely spread by fishermen. They'd be the perfect size for trout fishing.
     
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  9. You must spend a fortune on aloe vera? Any bypass to this issue?
     
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  10. I have a question that may have been answered and I just haven't found the post. In my latest compost pile I added the carcasses of fish. They have completely broken down. Will this cause any issues when cycling this in my worm bins. If not, the worms will finally get revenge.
     
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  11. Under 7 bucks a gallon at Walmart........

    [​IMG]
     
  12. Shouldn't be a problem. At one time, I used Oly Mountain Fish Compost when it was a "thing" here. Never had any problems.
     
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  13. Thanks for the response Chunk.
     
  14. How many of them do you go through per say 600w light? Ive always relied on other things but thinking of growing my own....filling my garage roof with aloe plant and have a roof garden
     
  15. I use most of the gallon on a run at 1/2 cup per gallon water.
     
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  16. Yes exactly! they do have a metallic chrome like skin! So they must be the Asians. It’s almost like they invaded my yard. I don’t remember them last year. Now they’re everywhere. I’m not complaining they must be good composters they’re putting in work on the unfinished compost I have. I can see the areas where they’ve processed the material and looks like nice castings. Maybe all this crazy rain made their population explode. [​IMG]


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  17. wowzers this is some pampered plants. I do think that the quality of what goes in counts. I'm having a fiddle on a test run with some fishing bait additives - amino acids. I'm hoping it will have some healing features we shall see maybe a cheap source of aminos.
     
  18. Hahaha how the tables have turned. I always put leftover bait in my piles: mackerel, herring, poagies,clams. But never fed to the worms after. Going to try to put some through my bins soon like you do. Tim j you think the Asians would be good bin worms?


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  19. http://ccetompkins.org/resources/jumping-worm-fact-sheet
     
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  20. They got gallon jugs of aloe extract juice Walmart $6. Or you just grow few plants and rotate em so you always have new filets/pups to use.


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