On a mish to find a good prepackaged soil

[torrietree]

Hey itchy. Been thinking about making a worm farm/bin. Had been thinking after this out door season is done. Flush all the pots out and use the soil/coco/perlite/root mix as worm bedding.

 

Would this be worth it? Thinking it would make ok stuff to start with

 

 

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[itchybromusic]

you didn't run organics outdoors , is that why you'd flush the pots ?

 

in general yep absolutely , but you would need to add a lill more to increase the nutrient density of the end castings 

 

& keep in mind at some point that perlite will turn to dust if re-using over & over in a no till type system , i'm not talking 

in the next grow you do , just some where's down the track  

[itchybromusic]

Hey itchy. Been thinking about making a worm farm/bin. Had been thinking after this out door season is done. Flush all the pots out and use the soil/coco/perlite/root mix as worm bedding.

 

Would this be worth it? Thinking it would make ok stuff to start with

 

 

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from buildasoil.com 

 

What should I look for when buying worm castings or vermicompost? 

 

There is so much BS in the worm game that purchasing quality products and learning about making your own castings can be quite confusing.

You'll see many advertisers using claims like:

"Pure Worm Castings" 

"No manures or yard waste in the worm bedding and they are grain fed."

 

What I encourage you to do is ask some questions about how the worm castings are produced. Once you get a few questions answered I think

you'll have a much better understanding of the quality of the product you are considering.  

 

7 Questions to ask your worm guy:

 

1. What type of worms do you use?

2. What type of material are the worms fed? 

3. How long are the worms left with the material to make the castings? 

4. What type of "Worm Feed" are you using to supplement their diet?

5. How long have you been in the Worm Casting business?

6. How long has the ready to purchase product sat around? 

7. Are they 100% Pure Castings? (Run if they say yes)

 

 

Red Flag Answers: If you get several of these red flag answers I would avoid using the product. 

 

Question #1: Canadian Nightcrawlers, African Nightcrawlers, European Nightcrawlers. Many times when you get this as the

first answer you are dealing with a business that uses small black plastic buckets with Black Peat, worms and an indoor temperature

controlled facility. None of which are great for the environment, and all of which end up with a low quality casting material that

looks like pure castings. Note: Many reputable worm farmers will use European Nightcrawlers and the type of worm used on

it's own doesn't mean much. I do find it strange that many of these dealers label their worms as "Canadian Nightcrawlers" which

are in fact just Lumbricus terrestris or normal European Nightcrawlers. 

 

Question #2: If you hear peatmoss or black peat, or "No Manure and no waste" then RUN the other way. Worms best use is to

recycle waste materials and the best way to feed worms is with plant based thermophillic compost which is often times a manure

based compost. This way you deal with a waste problem while creating a new product. If your worm farmer is shipping peat moss

all over the world just to make castings then they are not doing it right and the peatmoss isn't enough food so they will have to add

"grains" or worm chow products. 

 

Question #3: If you get a response with something like, "14 days" or "Not Long" or "A couple of weeks" then you should look elsewhere

for your materials. Good vermicompost is typically made with a minimum of 45-60 day retention times and sometimes longer that way

the worms can properly work the product.

 

Question #4: If the worm farmer says they feed with grains, this typically means a chicken mash type feed or a Purina Worm Chow type of

feed. Worm farmers typically use this feed to fatten worms up for sale and also to supplement the Black Peat Moss they are feeding the worms.

The black peat moss works great for the production because the lack of nutrients keeps the pile of peat from going thermal and killing the

worms.... but it doesn't have any nutrition so the farmer is forced to use worm feed. Again, why we ever want to Purchase goods to feed worms

when the whole idea is for the worms to process waste products and produce? When worms are fed plant based materials from compost

they are getting much more than nutrients. There are plant growth hormones and other benefits that are of primary importance when using

finished vermicompost. Don't cheat yourself and use castings that were raised off of Peat and Grains, that might be fine to produce a fat

worm for your fishing hook, but not for created a diverse finished vermicompost.

 

Question #5: If they just started the business a few months ago and have purchased a "Franchise" model for creating perfect pure castings

every time.... you want to stay away! These new companies are purchasing a business model that is built off of the Peat Based, Plastic Bucket

Housed, Grain fed worm systems. Anyways, not all new business's should be avoided, but the ones using the same model from these major

worm companies should be avoided because the end goal is to churn out a Pure Casting product every 2 weeks and feed them imported peat

moss. That is not how castings should be made! 

 

Question #6: If the worm farmer says.... well that is last years castings.... stay away! Storing Vermicompost can be done but you want to avoid

the Pre-Bagged worm castings from your hydroponic store that has had the same inventory for 6 months left over from last season.... This will

be a waste of money. You can get decent product that has sat around a few months as long as it was stored in bulk with a good moisture content. 

 

Question #7: If the worm farmer is basing his High Dollar Price off of the fact that they only sell 100% pure castings you should look the other

way. Some of these business's understand that it's a ridiculous claim to make so they end up playing it safe and saying, 99% castings. Who

decided it was 99%? Some microscope lab? How would you know if the Black Peat looks exactly the same as the castings? These companies

are practically starving worms so they can re-ingest the same material over and over again to make an end product that is closer to pure castings.

The problem is that most of these companies aren't "screening" out the pure castings. Instead they are feeding with black peat that looks almost

identical to worm castings before it's even fed to the worms. Might as well just by the peatmoss and save some money. 

 

QUALITY CRITERIA FOR VERMICOMPOSTS

(Excerpt from Vermiculture Technology page 292)

The intended end use of a vermicomposted waste helps to determine which of its characteristics may be important in assessing its quality,

so it is important to list all of the potential quality criteria for vermicomposts and how they may be assessed. When specifying details of a

vermicomposting operation, or evaluating vermicompost products, information about certain aspects of the vermicomposting process may

be important. The vermicomposting system used (e.g., bin, windrow, wedge, continuous-flow reactor system, etc.) should be specified, as

should the primary raw materials (feedstocks). Differences in process types and raw materials have been shown to have a very strong

influence on the quality of the end product and its suitability for particular applications and value (Edwards and Arancon 2004). Any

preprocessing, such as leaching or precomposting, should also be described, since this may have considerable effects on qualities such

as available nutrient content, contamination with viable weed seeds, or human pathogens. Any amendments with inorganic materials made

during the vermicomposting process, such as application of fertilizers, lime, sulfur, and so on, should also be noted, since these may have

effects on the final chemical characteristics of the vermicompost, as well as possibly affecting its certification as an “organic” material. 

 

Other information essential for characterizing a vermicomposting operation includes an accurate assessment of the earthworm species

used and the average population density in the system, the processing time (material throughput) for a particular batch, and the duration

of storage of processed material or vermicomposts.

 

All of these can affect the quality, stability, and maturity of the resulting product. As already mentioned, the rate of material throughput

per total weight of earthworms may be a very important criterion for classifying and registering vermicomposting operations and their

resulting vermicomposts.

 

Con't reading Here https://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/14267485-quality-criteria-for-vermicomposts-pure-castings-vs-vermicompost

Edited February 15, 2018 by itchybromusic

[torrietree]

Hey itchy.

 

Main reason I was going to flush was not being organic. I’ve been using red power feed and one of the ozimagic products during veg. And I doubt I’ll get a good “organic” bottle flower nute either. So I was thinking if given a good flush the soil shouldn’t be too nasty to start worms in

 

 

The soil mix is brunnings coco, organic richgro compost and potting mix, plus perlite. My perlite ratio was still to low according to buildasoil recommendations but closer than previous years.

 

Really hate the idea of just dumping the soil out because I’m done. Will hopefully work out a no toll system one day

 

 

With the worm Bins I had planned on starting them with a mix of house hold veggie/fruit scraps, past seasons soil mix and some horse poops

 

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Edited February 15, 2018 by torrietree

[itchybromusic]

ok cool 

one day your gonna not use those bottles & surprise yourself with what you get without them 

 

that 'll work as a starting point for the worm bin if you can add some minerals in there 

that would be good , rock dust is good for that 

 

they will often tell you to condition the worm farm with worm conditioner = dolomite = PH adjustment & minerals 

[torrietree]

I was hoping this soil mix was going to negate the need for the bottles. But alas that wasn’t the case thinking it was poor soil and maybe to heavy/water loggy. Fresh start next year hopefully with some castings and stuff from home hopefully. Got a couple compost bins on the go aswell

 

 

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[itchybromusic]

I was hoping this soil mix was going to negate the need for the bottles. But alas that wasn’t the case thinking it was poor soil and maybe to heavy/water loggy. Fresh start next year hopefully with some castings and stuff from home hopefully. Got a couple compost bins on the go aswell

 

 

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one thing to keep in mind 

the soil mix i use is not a super soil 

it's a much more versatile mix than just being hot & a lill dangerous to small plants / seedlings 

 

you can pretty much start a seed in my mix without to much prob , you can use it direct after mixing 

or let it sit & ferment for a bit , then use it , all good either way 

 

the downside to this which many would say is a upside , starting pot size & length of time expected to live in the same pot

you will need to feed the pot to get though a complete grow , making worm castings in the pot under the much layer has many positives

 

life attracts life , while you have lots of good guys chowing down , they ain't gonna let any outsiders in & will protect there patch , in turn protecting 

your plant , generally we can't spray in flower so we get as many beneficial's in the soil & on the plant & support them as best we can 

[Chrystal]

Has been about 4 weeks now since i picked up the tomato clones look how big they are now, the plant on the left has two small tomatos the one on the right has one big tomato, only noticed the deficiency after i water the pots directly twice each just using any plastic bottle i can reach for no access to a watering can

[greenqueen2]

Thats fantastic gaz now i wanna see you do it again with some real plants lookin good gaz,,GQ

 

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[Chrystal]

Haha not yet Queeny but hopefully soon need to be patient