Worm Castings Report

I am delighted to report that the worm castings that I spread around the base of my Confederate Rose bushes seem to be keeping the whiteflies in check! Before I put it down I was surprised to see them already settling in for a seige! After a week with the castings they seem to have been reduced considerably in numbers.

X

My experience has been great too - I'm a total believer. I had a real bug problem last spring/summer on a lot of my hibiscus, but this year, I've mixed worm poop in the soil and also used a bit as a top dressing, and not one bug this year at all (knock on wood). My roses have noticed the bugless improvements too :-)

I just put it down as a dressing and didn't incorporate it into the soil. I just wish I could find a local source for it.

X

Do you guys have the chain Armstrong Garden Centers? I purchased it for the first time through HVH, then all the other bags I got I purchased from Armstrong under the name of "Worm Gold Plus". I actually liked the HVH product better, but the other seems to work as well (just gives me some stickery little weeds), and I don't have to pay shipping. If you don't have Armstrong, maybe do a search, or a call-around for the Worm Gold Plus product?? Just an idea...

Good luck,

karen

I spent almost a whole morning on the phone calling around in at 60 mile radius to see if anyone had worm castings. Pretty much 100% said "what?".

I bought mine online at Rising Mist, 20 dollars for a 10 lb bag. Seemed a bit steep to me for poop but I wanted to see if it would work since the whiteflies won the battle last year. This year it appears they won't!

X

why not buy the worms in stead ? or buy both till your own make enough Paul

Actually I have been looking into one of those worm composting bins .. rather pricey though.

X

I made my bin with a $4 walmart rubbermaid 10 gallon container.. two pieces of old screen, duct tape and a drill. Took about 10 minutes to make.. OK maybe 15. I have harvested 2 gallons of castings from it since October and it is just me adding the food to it. No odors.... occational small gnat/flies which I take it outside... open the top for a few minutes... stir up the top covering paper and put the top back on.. they are kept under control that way. No odor at all either and I have it in my small 8 x 14 ft atrium in the house.

Tammie

Sounds like a plan .. could you take a picture of it and give a bit more details please?

X

OK, pics of worm bin.. first. I have a few hibiscus seeds I want to start... any suggestions? I did some I thought were hibiscus and they turned out to be some kind of vine... growing to see what it is!

First pic is the outside of the top... you can see all the holes I drilled... there are about as many on the bottom too. I kept the outer edge more solid so the tape would stick on the inside. It is SUPER EASY to drill those holes. I was surprised... sort of like a warm knife through butter.

Now the inside of the lid with the screen taped over the holes to keep worms in and other buggers out... I first did the tape folded over the edges of the screen all the way around and then taped the screen to the underside of the top.

The inside. I moved everything over to one side so you can see the bottom with the screen. It is secured to the bottom the same as the top. You can see the torn newspaper that I use as bedding. That was on top of everything... I just shove everything over to one side take the old bedding paper from the top and place it in the cleared area and start feeding on that with new torn newspaper on top of everything. I mist the paper on top with a spray bottle to dampen it once it is torn and thrown in. The castings with the worms is now all on the left side... the worms will finish any edible food over there and then move over to the 'empty' side where I will be placing the new food. After a couple of weeks or so, I can then remove the castings that are mostly done on that side.. I do it by hand and remove most of the worms. I put new shredded paper on top any time it gets thin or if I have a lots of gnats and mist it.. that slows them down and keeps odors from forming.

Here it is ready for food on top of the paper on the right side, castings on the left waiting for worms to finish and move out. I will put fresh damp newspaper on top of everything.

Tammie

I usually start hibiscus in a communal pot then transplant to small individual pots when they are bout an inch high.

Since the bottom of the composter is drilled, do you sit it on or in anything special?

X

I made one too for my worms
Years ago there was a worm co-op
I got a bag and have since then had to make another bin for the worms
they ARE prolific
I use a bin lid from a bin that I broke for the bottom to sit on
It collects the worm water too

Yes, I have another bin just like it that I use to mix my potting soils in.. I have the lid to that one under the worm bin.. the bin is sitting up on two bricks. Real fancy! I rarely have any drip though since I live in a very dry area... humidity is usually in the single digits and teens in the day time.

Tammie

Ahh .. the bricks .. that was the missing part! Thanks!!!!

X

X, if you don't mind, I'm going to reference your thread to our worm casting thread that we are receiving at our Ga. RU on the 19th. I'm sure folks would like to hear about positive experences with the worm poop!

http://davesgarden.com/forums/t/697802/

X, I looked into this and they are too far for me. The person bringing the WC lives 3 + hours from me. I was hoping someone from the Savannah area was going to the RU but no luck.

I spoke witht the folks at Cross again and pleaded with them to restock the castings. We'll see......

The current issue of The American Gardener has an ad on the outside back cover for a liquid fertilizer product called "Terracycle Garden Fertilizer" which is supposed to be made from worm poop.

The ad goes on to say it is available at WalMart, Home Depot and Target. ANyone tried this yet?

LL<

Where do you get the worms? And, do they have to be kept at a special temp? I want to use my garage but it could get up to 90 degrees in there and it can go to freezing in the winter so iguess if the worms are sentivie to cold and heat, I'd have to keep restarting. Which isn't a problem, just the enquiring mind wants to know.....
Thank you,
terri

I think 50 to 80 degrees is best. They will die if too hot or too cold... like freezing. You can keep them in a closet, under a sink ... just about anywhere the bin will fit. If you keep it balanced... in other words, plenty of shredded bedding on top and do not over feed, there is absolutely no odor... unless you consider the scent of fresh dirt an odor. If you keep them in the garage in winter they would need either a heating pad around part of the side of the bin or a heat producing light over part of the bin to keep them from freezing. Some people put in the cut up food frozen ... I store mine in the freezer. then it will cool things down some in the summer to help keep them alive.

Tammie

Just an update to say I'm still whitefly free on the Confederate Rose with the worm castings. I've got a little less than 10 lbs left and will re-dress the plants probably this weekend. It's a definite winner as far as I'm concerned for controlling whitefly.

X

My little seedlings had whiteflies....so I took your advise, and now no whiteflies,no fungus gnats either. YIPPEE! a safe way to keep my seedlings healthy.
Kyle :-)

I had never heard that worm castings re: white fly. I have been buying the castings at Armstrong too, Karen. I have added it to my soil mix for all my pots. Now that you mention it, I have not had bugs either this summer. No mites either. So what about it do bugs hate?

LhasaLover,

I love the homemade worm bin. Thanks so much for the pics and instructions. I've copied them off for reference.

What do you feed them with? I assume kitchen scraps? How much and how often?

Thanks,

Karen

my worms get lots of lettuice, carrots, avacado and other things from the kitchen.. anything green that is trimmed off or not eaten of fresh foods. Mostly comes from my parents. I put a bunch of small tomatoes in last year and this year have had many volunteer tomatoes come up in my flower beds where I have used my castings. Have pulled all but one up and it had blooms on it now... I don't eat tomatoes so don't grow them. the ones in the bin came from my parents. Guess I will have some to give away soon. I even had some sprout in the bin.. tomato plants seem to abosolutely LOVE the worm castings.

Tammie

Tammie,

Can you put in too much food or too much shredded paper?

My best tomato plant this year is a volunteer that planted itself in almost total shade. I was sure the tomatoes would not ripen under these conditions. Wrong! I picked six huge ripe tomatoes from it yesterday. BTW: I love tomatoes, but can't get my kids or grandkids to touch them.

Thanks,

Karen

As long as the layer of food you provide is not too thick and is covered well with damp shredded paper, you should do OK. I just pull up the paper, dump in a bag of stuff, spread it around and spread the paper back over it. When there is not much paper left, I tear up a bunch... sprinkle it over and litely spray with a mist bottle. When I think it may be getting time to harvest castings... more like mud... I just shove everything to one side of the bin and start feeding in the cleaned out area... the worms will finish off what is left in the old stuff and gradually move over to the new stuff.

Tammie

Tammie,

Thank you so much for this info. Having priced worm castings -- this is terrific!

Karen

I, unfortunately, don't have time to start a worm bin, so I ordered worm castings from HVH and also a place in Vermont (my home state).
Hope they work!

Tammie,

I saw the bins at Wally World today -- $4.00 each -- what a deal. My daughter has been wanting to start raising worms for the castings, and was looking into getting an old bathtub as she had read somewhere that worked well. However, we get temps too cold in the winter for them to be outside, and how would you get the thing inside for the winter? I showed her what you had posted, and she is very excited about doing it your way. Cheap, simple, and no worry about the worms getting too cold. Couldn't ask for more than that!!

Karen

Do you guys use special worms or will the ones from the Bait Shop work? My kids are all excited about a pet worm farm and I want the castings. Thanks for all the great info in this thread!

I bought a 10 lb bag of worm castings today at Wally world. $3.57 a bag.They had them listed as organic compost

Kyle

Tell me more about this bag at wallyworld! I can always use more than I can produce and that price sounds really great.

garden_mom the worms are red wrigglers.. they will be your biggest expense but you really don't need to buy a lot, they will multiply given a little time.

Tammie

They said this item came in late in the season.I had never seen it there before. In a yellow and red 10 lb bag.

Hope ours has this product. I hate to go to WalMart but for worm castings........

is located with the topsoils, peat etc outdoors.