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Fairfield, California

Recently at school we have been talking about ecosystems and that type of stuff. Well today my teacher brought up her little worm farm she has in her shed. She said that the liquid and the worm castings that the warms produce is really good for growing plants. So i was wondering is this stuff good for giant pumpkins or is it just ok. Also if anyone has any good success with this what type of container did you use to hold the worms in?

2/2/2006 9:09:47 PM

Eugene,OR

Worm casting are the absolute best. They are "finished" compost in its most finished form. There is lots of stuff online about keeping worms for castings. Just do a Google search.

2/2/2006 9:13:28 PM

Rhode Island

we purchase worm castings and use them in our soil soup
(manure tea brewing) system. its very good as a folier spray or soil spray.
if your really wealthy you can purchase in a larger quantity and mix in with your base of plant area.
we have our own worm casting bed (its dug out every year from under our rabbit coups. tons of worms - tons
great for the base of the plant area.
for the soil soup we still prefer a purchased casting
pap

2/2/2006 9:25:13 PM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

I also use castings in a foliar tea. Not with the success yet of pap....but working on it. Our community gives away free vermiculture kits to encourage composting....a great idea and free works for me.

We dig some into the planting area each year and also mix it with our compost for vine burying.

2/2/2006 10:10:13 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Pap, can you explain your "manure tea brewing" system. Might be a great help to a lot of us nu-B's. Thanks Peace, Wayne

2/2/2006 10:55:03 PM

Paradise Mountain, New York

Worm castings are the best of anything you can use in your patch for pumpkins. Pap has the right idea about "manure tea brewing". It's basically just like having compost tea or casting tea. I had great luck last year with alfalfa tea. I'll probably be using alfalfa tea every year from now on. This winter I got my own red worms making me a lot of worm castings to be used this season.

2/2/2006 11:38:21 PM

Colo.Spgs.CO. Pikes Peak Chapter @ [email protected]

Add enough organics to your patch in the fall, and your patch will become one big worm farm come the next growing season. I have so many that when we get heavy rain in the summer, they ( red wigglers ) come out and crawl all over every building on the property, I have even had them trying to get into the house to get out of the rain lol and the whole outside wall of the house was covered with them, it looked like some kind of a horror movie. They also love to crawl all over the pumpkins as well..the more worms the better....

2/3/2006 3:31:33 AM

Ohio

Pumpkinlover, get a hold of Monty Wallace,this is one of his speacialties.

Boz

2/3/2006 5:00:54 AM

Follansbee, Wv

You won't find a better soil supplement than worm castings. Like pap, I use castings in my compost tea. Worms are very easy to raise. The trick is to keep the population at the right size for the bin, and to migrate them properly and at the proper time. A well fed population, in the right bin, will double in size very quickly, usually every few weeks. So in theory, a starting population of only 1000 worms would grow to well over 1 million in a single year. However, you wont see those kind of results because you will loose a large number of cocoons every time you migrate and use the finished castings. Also, worms will only breed when there is sufficient food and room. Once the bin reaches optimum population, breeding stops.

I am on the road on business right now, but I will be home next weekend. Feel free to email me and I can explain in great detail how to raise worms. In the mean time, there is some info in my diary, including my tea brewer.

Do castings work? I use them as the primary ingredient in my tea, along with alfalfa. I grew a 1095 last year...my first year growing.

2/3/2006 7:31:06 AM

Rhode Island

wayne
the sysyem we use is made by "the soil soup company"
if you go into any of the search engines on your computer
( i use dogpile.com ) type in soil soup and the company will be listed there.
i like the idea of a professional system because you can order the castings plus a one gallon bottle of nutrient solution that feeds the organisims while the tea is brewing.

brewing in warm weather is a simple process.in early spring id mix it in a inside warmer area. ( no not the wifes kitchen table )our system contains

a mixing tank with bottom spicket ( ours is 25 gallon color black ).
a forced air supply to agitate(brew the tea) mine has a recirculating pump.(some smaller systems use a fish tank air system.
a nutrient solution made of bat guano, molasses, etc.that feeds the brew as its being made.
bag of worm castings.
a mesh bag that holds the castings (or compost )in the 25 gallons of water.

* during hot weather a batch of 25 gallons will brew completely in 24 to 30 hrs. ( you can make as little as 10 gallons also.thats the benefit of a proper system.
tea is no good if its not brewed correctly or if its contents are not used up within a day or so of brewing.
there are also five gallon systems available for small money.our 25 gallon system is presently selling for around $250.
hope this helps
pap

2/3/2006 7:32:52 AM

Ray, North Dakota

Won't the addition of grass clippings and manure encourage worms to forage through your soil as that material breaks down? Why buy?

2/3/2006 10:22:55 AM

Waquoit Mass

worm castings are usually 40 percent organic unreal. and dont forget if you dont have worms in your soil buy em .we have a place we get em 500 for 12 bucks dave

2/3/2006 1:02:42 PM

Colorado

And for the low price of $495.00 you can purchase
1 ton of the stuff.Thats alot of worm poop :>

http://www.dirtworks.net/worm_castings.html?OVRAW=worm%20castings&OVKEY=worm%20casting&OVMTC=standard

2/3/2006 2:10:33 PM

Norton, MA

Dave, are you talking about the worm farm on the Cape? The woman's name is Maggie something right. I went there for some last summer. AleX Noel.

2/3/2006 8:00:18 PM

Owensboro, Ky.

Thanks pap, I will look into soil soup. Peace, Wayne

2/4/2006 8:14:39 AM

ordinary,VA

You can find 'worm farms or bin's' on ebay
around $70 bucks or so.
but you make your if you wish.
great way to make your own worm castings.
just make sure you keep your worm bin
out of the heat summer time in Mississippi
could cook your worms.

2/4/2006 9:58:23 AM

Burt NY

you can make your owen with a backyard composter your garbage and a cup of red worm from a bait shop

2/4/2006 10:20:39 AM

Ontario, Canada.

Check out the link below to Cathy's Crawly Composters.
They sell complete kits with worms.

Complete Vermicomposting kits

(1 lb. Red Wiggler Worms) $79.95
(1/2 lb. Red Wiggler Worms) $69.95
Kits also include:
14 gallon Vermi-bin
Bedding
Step by step instructions
All you need to get started!

http://www.cathyscomposters.com/

2/4/2006 10:47:37 AM

Long Island,New York

all you have to do around here is place a pile of manure on the ground and wait a week or two....zillions of worms

2/4/2006 10:59:57 AM

Waquoit Mass

thats because of all the bodies buried there g lol

2/4/2006 11:50:35 AM

Mill Bay, British Columbia

For the Canadian's out there, here is a list of worm/castings suppliers.

http://www.cityfarmer.org/wormsupl79.html

Glenn

2/4/2006 1:04:10 PM

Follansbee, Wv

$79.95? Holy worm crap Batman.

1 pound red wrigglers 20 bucks.
1 12 gallon storage bin from Dollar General 5 bucks.
bedding...shredded newspaper, coffee grounds, assorted household kitchen waste, free.
Step-by-step instructions...moisten the bedding and toss in the worms.

Need more detailed instructions, email me.

I'm in the wrong business.

2/5/2006 1:10:59 PM

Hobbiton New Zealand

i just got an old bath tub for my worm bin put it on a slight lean toward the plug hole raised off the ground and just put a bucket underneath to collect all the liquid that runs out.

2/5/2006 6:41:25 PM

[email protected]

I'm with Monty on this one.

We buy fishing worms (Canadien Nightcrawlers last year)once every year in April. We make our own Worm-farm/vermiculture factories out of Rubbermaid storage tubs with screened vent holes. Layer in Peat Moss, old brown leaves, wet newspaper strips & worms. Keep the tubs under my sons trampoline where its cool & shadey.

Free fishing worms & worm poop all summer. I dump whatever remains right into the garden after the final fall tilling then start again the following spring.

Buy worm poop? Never.

2/5/2006 10:38:21 PM

Midwest

Soil soup systems go on sale sometimes. Register your name and they will e-mail you with specials from time to time.

2/6/2006 12:22:45 AM

Colo.Spgs.CO. Pikes Peak Chapter @ [email protected]

If you have healthy soil and do not use fertilizers and chemicals high in salts along with chemical pesticides..etc..And everything else bad for the environment including your pumpkin plants, then well your whole patch should be a very consistent and productive worm farm if you are adding the correct amount of organics seasonally every autumn ( manure,leaves,un-polluted organic matter ). A cover crop helps a whole lot also. Even when I till 2 weeks later I can have literally 200 worms in one shovel full of dirt. The worm count goes down in the fall when the growing season is over. That is when it is time to start over and start feeding them all over again.....If your worm count is low to none then there is something very very wrong with your soil, and I recommend get it tested, add organics, or quit using chemicals that will kill the new worms you buy...Happy growing

2/6/2006 3:37:07 AM

Follansbee, Wv

My wife told me on the phone last night that I have received a few emails about worms and worm bins. I am currently in Florida and am unable to answer. Be patient. I will be home this coming weekend and will answer all....thanks.

2/6/2006 6:07:26 PM