Worm Castings Care

[andy2019]

Hi,

I just bought a bag of worm castings. I have the below questions please.

1. Should I keep the bag in a shady area or in the sun is fine?
2. Should I keep the bag air tight after each use?

Also should I mix the worm castings into with the soil or put it on top of the soil is fine?

Thanks

 

[Yinon]

@andy2019 , hello

You should keep the bag in a dry shady area, keep the bag airtight, but not completely - leave some, very small holes for ventilation.

I suggest mixing the worm castings with the soil:
Take a pot of soil, mix it with some worm castings (and some other beneficial things like maybe charcoal and etc.) and after everything is mixed, you can use the soil.

If you already planted something, and you want to add some worm castings but can't add more soil. I suggest sprinkling a bit on top and carefully watering it so the soil will absorb it.

Good luck.

 

[Mr_Yan]

I have composted with worms for 7ish years and castings are my primary soil amendment.

@andy2019 Get them out of any sealed plastic bag and get them out of the sun. Castings are or have a ton of bacteria living in them. If they run out of oxygen or water they die and the main benefit of the casting is lost. They can stay in a bucket with a cloth over the top for a little while but the clock is ticking - and they were already bagged.

This is a living material and will die easily or quickly. You bought it intending to use it so just use it - don't try to store it.

I mix castings in to the top few centimeters of soil for my veg garden. If you leave too much simply sitting on the soil surface it will dryout and volatilize off.

Around my perennials and fruit trees I will dig small holes and fill the hole with castings each spring. One of the bulb planters (like this) works well for this or I would love a drill powered auger (like this). . For trees and shrubs I try to put these holes, roughly, at the drip line of the leafs as my thinking is this should be where the growing tips of the roots are

 

[Yinon]

Oops, I thought we talked about already processed dead worms (Powder like).
Excuse me @andy2019, I suggest sticking to @Mr_Yan 's instruction, not mine in that case.

Thank you.

 

[Mr_Yan]

@Yinon powder like dried worms? I haven't heard of this product. Is it like a processed pellet fertilizer? I have heard of products where black soldier fly larva are the feedstock for fertilizers or crickets are ground up for protein powder. Is this similar?

I run all my kitchen scraps through a worm bin to make castings / vermicompost and then mulch my garden with fall leafs (dropped from a bunch of deciduous trees around the yard) and yard waste. Using these two methods I make all my soil amendments and don't even know what is on the market for home growers as fertilizer and the like.

 

[Mr_Yan]

@andy2019 - is the product your asking about like a black compost like a thick, almost sticky and wet, but granular black dirt? Or is it like a dry processed powder or pellet?

 

[andy2019]

@Mr_Yan It's a black compost like a thick, almost sticky and wet, but granular black dirt. Here's the product I bought

Worm Castings (Earthworm Casting) as Organic Soil Amendment and Worm Casting Tea, Alternative to Golf Course Chemical Fertilizer, Organic Soil Additives

The Best Quality Worm Castings, and Organic Soil Amendments.

www.fertilizeronline.com

Also I got a pretty big bag of worm castings and I don't think I can use all of it at one time. The instruction say to add to fruit trees every 4 months. How should I store the worm castings please? Or I should just put the whole bag down into the ground at one time?

 

[Mr_Yan]

"Store" it by mixing between 75% native soil to 25% castings up to 50/50. Put it in a large clay pot and grow some basil or beets or green beans. After that runs it course add that soil mix to your garden.

I'd just use it - side dress everything. Castings won't hurt or burn the plants.

 

[Yinon]

@Yinon powder like dried worms? I haven't heard of this product. Is it like a processed pellet fertilizer? I have heard of products where black soldier fly larva are the feedstock for fertilizers or crickets are ground up for protein powder. Is this similar?

I run all my kitchen scraps through a worm bin to make castings / vermicompost and then mulch my garden with fall leafs (dropped from a bunch of deciduous trees around the yard) and yard waste. Using these two methods I make all my soil amendments and don't even know what is on the market for home growers as fertilizer and the like.

Something similar yes, here we call that "Organic worm fertilizer" which is basically a verity of humus "fertilizer" if you know what I'm talking about: "Not exactly a fertilizer and not exactly soil, humus is the product of the decomposition of organic materials like leaves and animal waste. Like fertilizer, humus holds nutrients that plants can use".

Anyway, there are different kinds of humus and organic fertilizers here, I'm using (the less popular one) that we call "Amazonas Humus",
(Nothing to do with the Amazon forest in South America), which is basically a powder, that looks like soil, that's made out of 100% worms, grounded worms. (feels dry, looks like soil, smells like soil, very efficient, helped my plants a lot).

(There are some different variants that add charcoal, coconut shell and etc, but I'm currently using the 100% worm fertilizer and some regular Humus for other plants).

P.S

I was thinking the last few weeks about purchasing some live worms, haven't reached any conclusion yet.