Books On Using Worm Castings Only

[Alex]

Hi,

I would like to know if there are books on using worm castings only, as a medium?

Alex

[David Hare-Scott]

Probably not but you never can tell what somebody will publish a book about.

Worm castings are generally used as a feriliser and soil conditioner. Assuming that you had enough to fill a tub or garden bed it wouldn't be such a good idea to do it. A growing medium should be the right combination (for the species) of the ability to hold water, air, nutrients and trace elements, to support the root structure and to support beneficial microbes. Straight worm castings is likely to fail several of these requirements for most plants and even if it didn't it would be a profligate consumption of a valuable resource. Good growing practice is about balance.

D

[songbird]

i agree with most of David's comments.

i'll add that not all worm castings are the same. what is the source of worm castings you might be using?

do you have a specific application in mind? like a container or a specific plant?

songbird

[Alex]

Hi Dave and Songbird,

Commercially bought worm castings - plagron ( Dendrobena Veneta). I have use them as a soil amendment for a long time, and used them in soilless potting mixes.

I am thinking of using them the way ordinary compost is used.

A long time ago I grew a plant in a mix of worm castings and perlite, and it did spectacularly well, when fed with high (8.0) pH tap water and worm tea. My guess is that the pH can get low, or maybe watering every day flushed the salts out or the plants liked the high calcium and mg concentration.

It would be nice to know other people's experiences.

I was just wondering whether there is any literature on using them this way. There are some websites, but they are very short in description. Like:

reason I like worm castings is because I can basically grow them myself, and keep foodscraps out of landfills. :)

Alex

[songbird]

worm castings don't necessarily have a high salt concentration. it depends upon what the basic feed stock is. i use quite a broad range of materials for the worms i grow here and i've never noticed a salt accumulation problem.

from what i recall worm tea can be very strong and most times i see it referenced as diluted with water. here i do a closed system bin/bucket - the worm tea stays in the container.

yes, that's a good thing for sure. i do a lot with worms here, but mostly i use them to recondition garden soil so that is an outdoor application (even if i keep the worms indoors all winter to keep them from freezing).

i don't do much with houseplants, but a part of the possible trouble with using worm castings for houseplants is that the worm casings may contain worm cocoons that will hatch out tiny worms. eventually these worms may get big enough and start crawling out of the plants (at night or after watering). that is if they survive. some potting soil environments may not be suitable for them and they'll die off. so there is that caveat besides the other obvious one that not all plants need a particularly rich soil. straight worm castings are likely to be fairly rich in nutrients if the base feed stock is veggie scraps and other high nutrient density materials. so i would cut the worm castings with peat moss and like you said before perlite or vermiculite for plants that don't need such a high nutrient soil.

songbird