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Worm Casting Tea

I just posted on main page as well - but I really would love input from as many people as possible. I am ready to start my fishless cycle and heard about using a tea bag in my aquarium filled with worm castings to help start up the system - replacing the seaweed usage. Has anyone else tried this and if so was it successful or not? I have my own worm farm so I have the castings - I just wondered if anyone else has tried this route. Thanks for the help!

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Permalink Reply by TCLynx on January 31, 2012 at 3:00pm

If you are careful about what your worms get fed and you are fairly certain that you won't be introducing any food born pathogens into your system or the castings are aged 4 months from the last addition of anything into the worm bin, then the worm castings are a great source of beneficial bacteria as well as trace elements. I don't know if they equal seaweed extract or not on the potassium and trace elements since all castings are going to be dependent on what the worms were fed.

You will still need an ammonia source for your fishless cycling.

Permalink Reply by Heidi Burrows on January 31, 2012 at 5:35pm

Thank you and I fully agree the more I am reading about vermiculture and introducing them into the system the more I realize I am better off with not using it! Especially as I am unsure what my worms may carry as it is a newer system and it has a lot of active food at the moment. So much to learn but I love the challenge! Be well and Happy February!

Permalink Reply by TCLynx on January 31, 2012 at 6:37pm

I personally think worm castings are a great system jump start ingredient.

However, I know what I've been feeding my worms and which bin has been resting long enough for me to feel comfortable eating raw veggies grown in it.

If you would feel comfortable putting a raw carrot from your worm bin in your mouth after only a quick rinse under the faucet, then I expect you could feel comfortable using those worm castings in a tea bag to jump start your AP system. If your worm bin makes you wrinkle up your nose of feel grossed out in any way, then it is not cured or aged enough to be good for the AP system.

I'll happily spend hours sifting and playing in "ready" worm castings, they are such marvelous stuff though they will leave you with fairly dirty hands. The texture of them is so wonderful. I mix my sifted worm castings with peat from my failed peat pellets and some coir and compress them into seed starting blocks.

Permalink Reply by Heidi Burrows on February 1, 2012 at 6:19am

Wow! Now see I started my worms only a few months ago in an attempt to make my own composted soil as I live on about 8 feet of sand - yes in the middle of Maine! No I am not near the shoreline - Rocks are a commodity we have to import in too! One of the main reasons we decided to look into hydroponics then aquaponics was due to the poor soil - LOL Makes digging easy though - so my future outdoor system is going to be amazing! I also realized my worms were busy critters but it is going to take a while before I have enough castings to make any significant difference. I am not bothered by them at all - I actually have Night crawlers which I have played around with for many years but they are not as fast as wigglers in processing. I also do not know where the worms came from as I purchased them through a fishing vendor. They are healthy but who knows what they brought in with them. I also started thinking about my produce I feed them. Of course it comes from the store right now so if pesticides or chemicals were used and weren't washed off well the casting could have traces of that as well. So maybe in the future when they are being fed from my homegrown stuff I will use the castings in the system. Thank you again for your insight and some great future ideas for me! Happy February!

TCLynx said:

I personally think worm castings are a great system jump start ingredient.

However, I know what I've been feeding my worms and which bin has been resting long enough for me to feel comfortable eating raw veggies grown in it.

If you would feel comfortable putting a raw carrot from your worm bin in your mouth after only a quick rinse under the faucet, then I expect you could feel comfortable using those worm castings in a tea bag to jump start your AP system. If your worm bin makes you wrinkle up your nose of feel grossed out in any way, then it is not cured or aged enough to be good for the AP system.

I'll happily spend hours sifting and playing in "ready" worm castings, they are such marvelous stuff though they will leave you with fairly dirty hands. The texture of them is so wonderful. I mix my sifted worm castings with peat from my failed peat pellets and some coir and compress them into seed starting blocks.

Permalink Reply by Brian on February 6, 2012 at 8:37pm

Heidi,

European Nightcrawlers will not compost or multiply very well. I grew 1 lb of eisenia foetida into 19 lbs of worms in 2 years time selling some by the pound and 1/2 lb during that time, but the nightcrawlers are a whole other story. I like the nighcrawlers becaus they are bigger and generally more active, but I am switching back to red wigglers because I need more composting capacity than the nightcrawlers can provide.

Permalink Reply by Converse on February 6, 2012 at 9:12pm

Greetings,

Eisenia fetida, more commonly called red wigglers are a redworm. 2 pounds of Eisenia fetida can produce up to 7 lbs. of worm castings in a month, with good conditions. One of the reasons this worm is used, is the same reason we have them on our commercial worm farm, they are the fastest at eating ( and creating castings) and reproducing of all the type of worms used for composting. They are also the most highly adaptable to varying temperatures, pH ranges and moisture levels. Some worms that are used in composting have a wandering habit, especially if the conditions they are in do not suit them. Eisenia fetida, by comparision, do not have a wandering habit. There are actually many types of what are called redworms. European Night crawlers, properly called Eisenia hortensis, is not really a night crawler at all, and is a redworm. It is called a night crawler in its common name due to its size.

In the USA if you buy Night Crawlers from a bait store that gets its bait from a vermiculture operation that knows what it is doing will have their worms properly labled. They may be selling European Night Crawlers, but most likely they are selling Night Crawlers from the Lumbricus genus. Lumbricus terrestris is the common one found in the USA stores.

You will want some type of redworm for your composting. A true night crawler, while it will eat the matter you feed them, will be a very inefficient processor, time-wise. Night crawlers are also very temperature sensitive (bait sold in stores they are refrigerated to keep them alive). Redworms, for the most part, will survive soil temperatures found in the upper soil horizons year-round...and they will also survive the temperatures found in your AP media beds. My vote is for Eisenia fetida. But I am also all for working with what one has, and keeping it within budget. Hope this little bit of information helps some.

If you have any more vermiculture/AP questions you'd like indepth answers to, feel free to send me a message. I am glad to help out where I can.

My best to you in your project!

- Converse

Permalink Reply by Heidi Burrows on February 7, 2012 at 5:43am

Thanks Converse for the info on the vermiculture. I do believe what I have is a Night crawler as I have fond memories of collecting them at night using nothing more than a flashlight with a sock over it to dim the light and an old coffee can - for hours on end until the lower back would ache! Of course as it is the middle of winter here now I had to resort to the bait shop to get these :) which I do believe came from Canada originally. It is definitely a budget thing as I have been unemployed for well over a year and have been trying everything to reduce, reuse and recycle to survive with a family of 5. I looked at Redworms many times online but couldn't in good conscience pay $35 and up for a pound of worms when I have children to feed. I can hear the conversation now with my husband LOL! I do hope to get some sometime as I know they are better producers of castings and will help with both my future AP systems as well as my sandy soil! I also hesitate to buy online when I do not know the source so I will most definitely refer to my new vermiculture experts when the time comes. I have been composting for years but this is the first time I have actually had an indoor wormery going. The crawlers seem to be in heaven but as you mentioned, they do not process very fast and who knows how long before I actually get any castings worth speaking about. Thanks again for your comments! It is so nice to have such great sources and support with my new ventures! Have a fantastic day!

Converse said:

Greetings,

Eisenia fetida, more commonly called red wigglers are a redworm. 2 pounds of Eisenia fetida can produce up to 7 lbs. of worm castings in a month, with good conditions. One of the reasons this worm is used, is the same reason we have them on our commercial worm farm, they are the fastest at eating ( and creating castings) and reproducing of all the type of worms used for composting. They are also the most highly adaptable to varying temperatures, pH ranges and moisture levels. Some worms that are used in composting have a wandering habit, especially if the conditions they are in do not suit them. Eisenia fetida, by comparision, do not have a wandering habit. There are actually many types of what are called redworms. European Night crawlers, properly called Eisenia hortensis, is not really a night crawler at all, and is a redworm. It is called a night crawler in its common name due to its size.

In the USA if you buy Night Crawlers from a bait store that gets its bait from a vermiculture operation that knows what it is doing will have their worms properly labled. They may be selling European Night Crawlers, but most likely they are selling Night Crawlers from the Lumbricus genus. Lumbricus terrestris is the common one found in the USA stores.

You will want some type of redworm for your composting. A true night crawler, while it will eat the matter you feed them, will be a very inefficient processor, time-wise. Night crawlers are also very temperature sensitive (bait sold in stores they are refrigerated to keep them alive). Redworms, for the most part, will survive soil temperatures found in the upper soil horizons year-round...and they will also survive the temperatures found in your AP media beds. My vote is for Eisenia fetida. But I am also all for working with what one has, and keeping it within budget. Hope this little bit of information helps some.

If you have any more vermiculture/AP questions you'd like indepth answers to, feel free to send me a message. I am glad to help out where I can.

My best to you in your project!

- Converse

Permalink Reply by Heidi Burrows on February 7, 2012 at 5:49am

Hi Brian, Thanks and as I responded to Converse I definitely hope to get Wigglers sometime but budget is definitely an issue at the moment. As I have seen the crawlers are slow to process castings I will persevere and hopefully they will produce a few cup fulls by spring. If nothing else they are great entertainment for the kids whenever I feed and check them. Thanks again and have a great day!

Brian said:

Heidi,

European Nightcrawlers will not compost or multiply very well. I grew 1 lb of eisenia foetida into 19 lbs of worms in 2 years time selling some by the pound and 1/2 lb during that time, but the nightcrawlers are a whole other story. I like the nighcrawlers becaus they are bigger and generally more active, but I am switching back to red wigglers because I need more composting capacity than the nightcrawlers can provide.

Permalink Reply by TCLynx on February 7, 2012 at 6:43am

Heidi,

If you have a search around, I think there may be some forums out there for vermicomposting and I think on some of them you might even be able to find some one who would trade or maybe even give you some composting worms. Especially if you can find some one near you. I haven't been on any of those forums in ages but I seem to recall. Anyway, if some one is giving you worms it probably won't be a full pound but more like a good hand full of worms with castings if their bed is busy and active it only takes a few minutes to count 100 worms into your had but I don't see too many people willing to sort a whole pound of worms out without getting paid. It isn't the worms so much as the labor involved in sorting them or they have invested in equipment and they need to pay it off.

Permalink Reply by Converse on February 7, 2012 at 9:47am

...or they have families to feed too and this is part of their income stream...

Permalink Reply by Converse on February 7, 2012 at 10:09am

Heidi, I'll send you a private message, when I can, with ideas to help you out.

Permalink Reply by Christopher Brickey on February 10, 2012 at 11:23am

I have a vermiculture system also and i used worm castings stuffed into a sock and then let sit in my ap tank for a few days. idk if it helped or not. sorry. it was after the system was established. it did not hurt though. it has been a few months and the plants are fine.