Worm Castings

I like using worm castings on all my plants. Even the weeds and grass that grows next to my raised garden bed is three times bigger then the surrounding grass. I've also mixed powder worm castings (2-1-1) with MiracleGrow seed starting mix. Once i did a test and i found that adding 10-15% worm castings to my seed starting mix increased growth and germination 2x compared to the control group of just mg soil and no castings. I also found that when I added 20% or more castings, it started to kill them.

 

Usually the NPK of worm castings is around 2-1-1 so I only use it during veg and mostly during the first month. After that I'll go fish emulations which is 5-1-1 or anything else higher in nitrogen. But lots of people only use worm castings during the whole veg. cycle and do fine. Plus you don't have to worry about heavy metals like mercury as much, like you do with fish and other animals

 

uh... I just thought i'd add that worm castings will never burn or harm plants. you can plant into %100 castings with no adverse effect (besides maybe some compaction). I would hedge my username it was the MG that "started to kill them." Then as far as the NPK, that is a misleading way to describe worm castings. Vermicompost is useful for all phases - veg, flower, germination, what ever. I seriously doubt that discussing vermicompost's NPK is useful for any thing, it is simply a vital part of any soil mix, like chunk says, and it is indispensable at all times for plant health. If you are having some kind of issue with this, consider it's a paradigm of sustainable organics vs. bottled nutrient. hint: trying to use vermicompost from the perspective of organics will be easier than as a bottled (or powdered) nutrient.

 

They are the shit lol

 

You can over fertilizer a lot of plants with worm castings. Its weak, so it's more forgiving, but you can still kill by over fertilizing them. If you want to see for yourself try going out some bag seed or go to Walmart and buy a pack of lettuce seeds or legume seeds (like sugar snap peas) for 99 cents.

Another tip I learned over the years. If you grow legumes in winter, you can directly sow cannabis seeds, and you won't have to fertilize until the plants start flowering, because legumes can make their own nitrogen. Rotating crops also cuts down on disease and allows you to use the same soil over and over.

 

Always look at the npk. The government requires it on fertilizers so poor farmers don't get ripped off. If it didn't have the npk don't buy it. Also worm castings is usually 1-0-0 or 2-1-1. That means 1% or 2% nitrogen, which is very low but still there.

 

As far as I am aware vermicompost and/or pure worm castings should not take the place of fertilizer, but instead should be used as a supplement to your normal fertilizing regime. The main benefit of vermicompost lies in it's bacterial activity not necessarily it's nutrient profile, although it generally does provide a balanced composition of all of the macro- and micro-nutrients. I'm also pretty sure that the NPK ratio changes depending on the feedstock. Worm castings are also usually neutral in pH, which means that they will decrease the acidity of acid soils or decrease the alkalinity of alkaline soils.

Vermicompost - Nature's Ultimate Fertilizer

 

nice quote. Yeah! budmastah you'll love the worm castings. get the benefits by amending it, topdressing it, and making aerated compost tea. add some kelp meal in for the extra kick.

Any composted organic material ends up mostly as nitrogen that explains why your NPK will include nitrogen- it also may explain why it has no NPK- it's composted. Who knows exactly what compost's nutrient profile is like. It's much easier to stick your hand in a bag of vermicompost and see the health with beetles, millipedes, pot worms, red worms, and that earthy sweet smell of ready to go vermicompost.

If it doesn't include an NPK you have a sign to be suspicious- ask the worm farmer a few questions. Maybe they feed their worms rock dusts and oyster shell flour and you'd be missing out on "da kine" by choosing a bag of commercial wiggle worm instead.

 

Of course it could be the strain, but I have two plants right next to each other, one in a seed starting mix of peat moss and vermiculite, the other on a homemade mix of peat moss, vermiculite and worm castings. The plant in the homemade mix is 1 week younger but the stem is much thicker and it is on its 3rd node while the other is just starting the 3rd. The younger plant is probably already big enough to transplant from its party cup at 11 days. It is the best start I've had in my very limited grow experience, and the only one I've started so far in a mix with WC.

 

Right On Brother Jericho

 

Plant on the left is a Sweet Seeds Green Poison, one on the right is Nirvana PPP. These were mentioned above. The GP is 19 days old from sprout, the PPP 12. Both are getting transplanted tonight (I always wait until the end of the light cycle), the GP because it is hungry (see bottom leaves) and the PPP because it is getting too big for cup.

 

Oh, and correction to post #16 above, PPP is on 4th (maybe 5th, hard to see) node and there are secondary branches already on all of the existing lower nodes.

 

Wow and to think I was about to start my first grow without worm castings..Definitely gonna grab some now lol