Worm Castings

Here is my seed starting mix I will be using from now on. It is what I used for the PPP above.

5 parts peat moss
2 parts worm castings
3 parts vermiculite
1 part perlite

 

Loooking good brotherJ

If i coukd make a suggestion on your mix?
Id swap verm for perlite.
1 part verm
3 part perlite.
And a scoop of dolmite lime.

Not that you need it tho. Those sprouts look great. You know what your doin. Keep it uo

 

Yeah, I forgot, I did add lime ;p. I use coarse verm, too, not the small stuff, supposed to be good for water retention. I like my soil to be airy for roots, but also hold some water.

 

Silly question but does anyone ever put actual worms in their pots? Seems like that would be a cheap way to get their shit.

 

Even though I'm rather judicious when it comes to removing the worms from the castings some baby worms inevitably slip through and set up home in the containers. This is not necessarily a bad thing, but I would recommend against deliberately introducing worms, especially a large amount, as they will probably over time reduce the porosity and well drained characteristics of your potting medium as they convert more and more of the soil to castings. Ever seen how badly water drains through pure earthworm castings? Not a good environment for plants whose roots cherish adequate amounts of oxygen!

 

How do u feed the vermiculture. Put rotting food in the pot for them to eat to turn
Into compost???

Lol. Good idead but not completly thought out.

 

The worms would eat whatever was in the pot to begin with. That's what they do. I see your point about making the soil to dense, my plan was to use growstones (made of glass) instead of perlite to increase the air porosity but I'll probably not put too many worms in, if any at all.

 

There is not enough food in soil to keep worms happy.
Gues what they do when their food supply is delpeted?
They leave the pot looking for food, and eventually die and dry up when they try to trek across the floor.
You will awake one morning to find the floor littered with dead wormies.

And you want a specific worm(redd wigglers). Not the nightcrawlers u find in your yard.

 

If you want airy soil. Use promix. Or straight sphagnum.
Stay away from potting soils, dirt compacts.

Promix will be airy from start to finish. Just neutrient devoid so you have to feed them, and cannot just rely on soil feeding them.

 

I buy live worms from Osh Hardware to add to my raised garden bed outside. To feed them I dig a small trench with my garden trowel, toss in broken up apple cores, ripped up banana peels, and a few leaves that fell to the ground. I then use my trowel to fold the soil back over it, making sure everything is well covered. They also love fresh mulch and compost.

I doubt the worms are enough to add a significant amount of castings, but they do dig around creating air pockets and keep the soil lose.

 

Yeah, just buy those two things to start out with. Mix them together, lightly water it, and break it up with your hands. If it clumps like clay, add some perlite, if breaks easily then its fine as-is.

 

NPK (5-5-0)