Worm Tea for Diseased Plants

Dear Debbie,

Thanks for asking about worm tea effects - I waited so I could give a true report over time.
I found your website indirectly through google because I was looking for a natural fix for blight on the plants I had in the containers on the deck.

I'm not a farmer, not a gardener -- just went to Wal-Mart and a couple of other places and got some tomato and squash and eggplant plants.

I don't know if you heard out there, but on the east coast there was a huge blight problem because Wal-Mart was selling infected tomato and squash plants, from some grower in the South. Hmmm.

So this is what I think. Worm tea did not cure the blight.What it does do is cause a spurt of growth, leaf growth,which helps to make the plant stronger.
IF (big word) I had applied worm tea more often and more consistently, I might have been able to save the plants. But I was both lazy and not sure if it would help, so I first started out applying a bucket once a week and this slowed down into every other week or every 2 or 3 weeks.

The squash plants died. All of them. Even the pumpkins that I had grown from seed and set off in the yard, far away from the infected squash-from-Wal-Mart plants. So maybe the blight is not necessarily from the squash/tomato plants. Or maybe it travels far in the air.

The tomato plants did not die. But they were sickly and scraggly and produced puny fruits, many of which were covered in black spots. I think this is one of the symptoms of tomato blight.

But I am a happy customer. I do believe worm tea is a very good thing for plants -- it's like a perkup for them, gives them a little push, maybe like a good strong cup of coffee.

So if I was doing it all over again, I would make worm tea every day for them while they were very young and in the danger period of suffering from blight.
Thanks,

E Dempsey

Home Worm Bins

Food for a home worm bin:


Fruit and vegetable scraps are always a safe bet .

Collecting kitchen scraps in small lidded bucket allows them to age for a while
before adding them to the bin. Aging encourages microbial colonization while
the food is breaking down. This will happen in the worm bin actually but the
worms won't start feeding on the materials until they are starting to rot.

You can also add tea bags and coffee grounds with filters to your bin. Be moderate with this material as it can be very acidic. Worms love orange veggies! Pumpkins, butternut, as well as any variety of melons.

These materials will break down into liquid so watch that your material doesn’t get too wet for the worms. Too much water robs the bedding of air.

Foods to avoid: dairy; meat; onions, citrus fruits and garlic.

Pet Waste Composting with Worms (How-To)

{Do Not add worms right away. Let your waste and materials set a while (10 days). This will allow the worms to acclimate easier and cut the risk of harming the worms (uric acid, amonia).}

To begin your pet waste vermicompost pile, dig a good sized hole in the ground, approx. 3' accross and
2'-3' down. Less depth is okay if you are not able to dig any further. Line the bottom of the hole with a thick layer of shredded leaves.

Then you simply start adding your pet waste. Each time you add waste, do so with more bedding material and water if needed.

Cover the pit with black plastic sheeting to retain moisture, keep the worms shaded and to control the amount of water the pet waste recieves.
Once the worms are acclimated, they should thrive on all of the rich food. This will allow you to add waste without fear of harming the worms.

Pet Waste Composting with Worms (How-To)

Let your worms manage your pet waste!

Start up a completely separate system, preferably outside.

There is a health concern. Cat and dog wastes contain

potentially nasty pathogens. Cat wastes have an added danger. It can also

contain a parasitic protozoan called Toxoplasma gondii. This can be a serious threat for pregnant women

or those with compromised immune systems.

All of that being said, the worms still manage to turn your pet poo into valuable vermicompost for flower

gardens and lawns. My next post will have the how-to information for starting this composting system.

Stay tuned :O)

Debbie (Worm Lady)

Best Worm for Composting

There are a few species of worms used for composting. By far the best worm to use is the Red Wiggler worm or Eisenia fetida. They will consume organic matter quickly, half their body weight every day. So, if you start with 1 pound of red wigglers, each day they are consuming 1/2 pound of food.
They multiply quickly increasing your vermi-composting capacity. With conditions remaining good, red wigglers will double in population within 60-90 days!
These worms will not "move out" as long as there is plenty of food and moisture. Small spaces do not bother them making them excellent to live and thrive in home worm bins.

Worm Farming Question

Debbie,


My worms are needing harvested, so I'm anxious to get everything put together. What fun it has been watching these creatures do their magic.

Do I need to do anything with the castings to insure they are clear of
 insects that would be harmful to plants? The worms seem really healthy
 and have procreated beyond my wildest dreams the last 6-8 weeks, so I think
 the community is relatively healthy.

However, I've seen what I believe to be a mite once in a while. This has me terrified
and I'm not sure how to safely and hopefully organically deal with the issue if it's a problem.

Any help on this would be greatly appreciated if you have time to respond.
I don't want to introduce something to my garden that would necessarily need to be eliminated.

Much thanks for everything,

 Jill


Hi Jill,


 The worms' material will have nothing in it harmful to plants unless man
has put it there. Castings are Nature's Design. Adding anything would possibly
take away from the positive microbial life throughout the castings Which
gives your soil and plants incredible strength and resilliance.

Anytime you see an overabundance of one particular composting critter, the best way of
control is to change out their bedding or add another material into their
bedding. It's amazing how easily the ecology of the worm composting material
changes.

Usually there is nothing to panic about since the solution is simple. Just know
that all of the creatures play a role in the composting.Trying to X out the bad
guys is taking away from a balanced system and, consequently,
your plant's defenses.

Sorry for the long-winded response. Hope this helps.

Debbie

Composting passion

We have been vegans for about 15 yrs and recently tried the raw foods lifestyle. Delicious recipes! We can only follow this diet during the growing season of our garden. One problem is it does produce a great deal of veggie waste.  And, of course, the worms go through veggie waste extremely fast. So worm bins are excellent for the vegan and raw foods lifestyle. 


I've become a believer in the tumblers also. We started carrying a compost tumbler http://bit.ly/awojWp on our site which necessitated using it. We use this for everything and it composts quickly! I know it's written, but, you do not have to worry about the brown matter ratio with a tumbler. It composts really well reducing the matter so that you can keep adding. Another point is, there is a certain amount of brown matter within all the veggie waste.

Composting is a passion with me. Hope this helps.