Worm tea?

[DaisyDaisy]

When I started using my wormery I rather looked forward to using the juice that comes out at the bottom to give my garden a treat.

But in the book "Composting with worms" this is discouraged because the juice contains things not fully digested/processed that you'd not want to introduce to the garden.

Any advice on this before I tip it down the drain is most welcome !!!

[Boots]

I thought the liquid was the desired result of working a worm farm???

Am pretty sure you are meant to dilute it as it comes out highly concentrated, but I have never heard of anyone farming worms and then tipping their compost tea down the drain...

...Am Very confused by this....


What undigested things? The same things you would put in a compost bin?


...Tis a joke.... right?

[Andy Hamilton]

I have the same book and was unsure about it. I was looking into using a wormery indoors for people in flats and it had hardly any info other than the fact that flies might be a problem.

As far as I know worm tea is sought after, if you look on the sites that sell comercial wormeries this is included as one of the benefits of having a wormery. I don't remeber reading that bit about not using it, it does seem daft not though. - If you can it might be worth experimenting putting it on one plant and not another?

[Ranter]

I've been using it on all my plants for over a year, well diluted, & have no problems. Everything (mostly ornamentals in the garden) is doing well.

Everything I've read praises worm tea as the best plant food available, a professional gardener & a couple of ecologists that I know also agree.

[Shirley]

Why should I compost with Worms?

Worms compost quickly: they are the fastest natural composters by far. The fact that they eat up to half their own body weight in waste everyday makes them very efficient at clearing waste. They also reduce the volume of your waste: something like 8-10 bins of waste will probably be reduced to 1 bin of compost. Having eaten the waste they leave behind a top quality compost called worm-casts. Worm-casts are known as 'Black Gold' by experienced gardeners, they comprise a rich, dark material which is friable and pleasant to handle. As a further benefit the worms will also produce many litres of a fertilising liquid which, if you’re using a wormery, can be collected from the tap. When diluted 1:10 with water this can be used as a general purpose plant feed.

http://www.wigglywigglers.co.uk/life/co ... Rtg189A716

[DaisyDaisy]

Thanks for all your comments - I had been uising the juice on plants, based on the info that came with my can-o-worms from wigglywigglers and the junior wormery that I started with.

Then suddenly I read the comment in "composting with worms" and wondered what experience others have had. I think I'll carry on using it for the moment.

[Shirley]

Why not email the wigglers and ask them - they are lovely people there, I'm sure they would be happy to answer your question.

[DaisyDaisy]

Yes, I though about emailing wigglywigglers, but wnated more of an independent view on this.

[Wombat]

I have used the worm juice to good effect for years! This other book sounds a bit sus if you ask me......

Nev

[hedgewizard]

Comments please chaps, I'm about to make the tyre wormery that I posted about before, which I'd seen working at Ourganics (links down). Having read this I'm wondering where this liquid is going to go (leaches out between the bottom two tyres, I expect) and if there might be any way to catch it. I'd planned a slight modification which is to pack the bottom tyre with silver sand in case Mr Rat decides to tunnel under on general principles.

I'd also appreciate any advice on this before I do it, since I've not got the book - I'm just waiting for the brandlings to move into my composter again as it cools down, and then I'm good to go.

[Christine]

Perhaps you could allow the impermeable plastic to drape more? Liguid will collect in the bottom, as it's the lowest point.

[hedgewizard]

Certainly could do, but this would just give me sodden worm cast at the bottom. I've thought about putting a little hole at the bottom and an old basin underneath too, or maybe cutting a notch out of the bottom tyre or something...

[Ranter]

This weekend there were 17 of us in a minibus heading up to Yorks to go walking. A significant amount of conversation revolved around wormeries. Pretty surprising given that we are nominally a world travellers group. Encouraging though. Everyone that had one was besotted with it & loved using the tea on their gardens & veg patches - everyone was sure it had worked wonders.

[hedgewizard]

I'm sorted. A bit of research suggests that putting the tires on a sloping piece of corrugated iron is a good idea, and having the worm exudate run off into a covered pan. Another suggestion is to stuff the bottom of the wormery with newspaper to absorb the exudate, and then composting that later - but I'll see what I can do with the old chicken house roof!

[the.fee.fairy]

ooh the corrugated roof sounds a good idea.

There's a garage at home that will throw as many tyres as i like at me, so i might have to give the tyre wormery a go!! just got to find room...

Please keep us informed as to how successful you are!!