Worm casting tea as fertilizer

[abhikjha]

Hi Guys,

I heard some great reviews of Worm casting tea or Compost tea in general. We all know that worm castings are one of the best fertilizers for plants. Since I am using 100% mineral materials for my cactus, I need to fertilize each time I water them and mulching worm castings on top of the soil is not a good idea as it will retain moisture for a long period of time near the roots and base of plant.

So, I was thinking to use chemical fertilizer and as per Steve's earlier suggestion, am using NPK 13 05 26 at the moment which is great.

I want to get some advice from the experts here if someone is using worm casting tea here. James mentioned this in one of the forums but this is the only post I found on the topic:

http://www.cactiguide.com/forum/viewtop ... &start=135

This web article talks a great deal about it:

https://cactusway.com/learn-how-to-fertilize-a-cactus/

And this web article talks about how to prepare it and it's benefits:

https://learn.eartheasy.com/articles/th ... ts-thrive/

[BlueTinge]

I don't go anywhere near chemicals & have no idea why people touch them to be honest. Worm tea, compost tea, nettle teas, homemade fish fertiliser etc. The list goes on you have tones of things to use that aren't chemicals & from a gardening perspective you actually get better results, I doubt its any different with cacti. They don't have access to chemicals in nature / don't need them simply because they have the microbes that break down organic matter to exchange with the roots of the given plant. It blows my mind how we actually think plants need chemicals... By drenching with chemicals you kill all that life, I could go on & on. Another note is not all castings are created equal, I have looked at different batches of commercial castings to home castings & the commercial stuff is biologically dead in comparision (Under the microscope).

I recently read a case study of vermiculture in India & there is a huge difference in casting quality. What you feed them is what you get in the castings... Make sense really. Feeding food scraps which most people do is actually the one way to guarantee a low quality castings so if your thinking of starting your own little worm farm or buying some ask what was fed to the worms. They should have a diverse diet if their being farmed correctly.

[Tyrfing]

I don't go anywhere near chemicals & have no idea why people touch them to be honest.

I think the words you are looking for are organic vs in-organic. Worm tea, compost tea, nettle teas, homemade fish fertiliser all contain chemicals. One major difference is that you know what you get in an in-organic fertilizer. Depending on how it is produced, an organic fertilizer might contain traces of pesticides and herbicides, an in-organic will not. Some common chemicals used by plants are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Plants don't care if these come from homemade fish fertilizer or from a bottle of in-organic fertilizer as long as they get what they need in about the correct quantities.

[BlueTinge]

I don't go anywhere near chemicals & have no idea why people touch them to be honest.

I think the words you are looking for are organic vs in-organic. Worm tea, compost tea, nettle teas, homemade fish fertiliser all contain chemicals. One major difference is that you know what you get in an in-organic fertilizer. Depending on how it is produced, an organic fertilizer might contain traces of pesticides and herbicides, an in-organic will not. Some common chemicals used by plants are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Plants don't care if these come from homemade fish fertilizer or from a bottle of in-organic fertilizer as long as they get what they need in about the correct quantities.

I'm sorry to sound rude but you really need to look into it a tad more & read some case studies. I myself have a wormery at home & it is 100 percent organic, I know exactly what goes into it & I look at it under the microscope everytime I harvest castings, the same goes for my home made compost. When I make my compost & castings the N,P,K ratios are the last thing on my mind, its all about the diversity of microorganisms & fungi. If you're using an organic fertiliser that has traces of pesticides or herbicides then you should most likely not be using it unless you bought it knowing the contents which you should always do. I have never made compost tea, nettle tea & homemade fish fertliser that contains any chemicals that's just absolute ridiculous & putting that on here which will influence peoples gardening approach is dangerous. You are so wrong its umbelievable, like I have said before you might need to do some research on how a plant actually feeds & what micro organisms are, get yourself a microscope. Plants know 100% what the difference is between chemicals being introduced into the medium as opposed to organic matter, micro organisms break down organic matter & trade these nutrients with the roots of the plant, the plant then gives these microbes their exudates. Micro organisms are vital to a plants overall health & soil health when using chemicals you kill every living thing in the medium. The soil is a living ecosystem not just a medium for a plant to put its roots to hold it down. On top of this you have seemed to prioritise N,P,K which is what people tend to do when they use chemicals, there is a lot more to a plants nutrition then just N,P,K.

God knows where you got the idea of not being able to know what is in organic feed. Good luck with Fritz Haber's fertiliser

[BlueTinge]

I don't go anywhere near chemicals & have no idea why people touch them to be honest.

I think the words you are looking for are organic vs in-organic. Worm tea, compost tea, nettle teas, homemade fish fertiliser all contain chemicals. One major difference is that you know what you get in an in-organic fertilizer. Depending on how it is produced, an organic fertilizer might contain traces of pesticides and herbicides, an in-organic will not. Some common chemicals used by plants are nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium. Plants don't care if these come from homemade fish fertilizer or from a bottle of in-organic fertilizer as long as they get what they need in about the correct quantities.

I'm sorry to sound rude but you really need to look into it a tad more & read some case studies. I myself have a wormery at home & it is 100 percent organic, I know exactly what goes into it & I look at it under the microscope everytime I harvest castings, the same goes for my home made compost. When I make my compost & castings the N,P,K ratios are the last thing on my mind, its all about the diversity of microorganisms & fungi. If you're using an organic fertiliser that has traces of pesticides or herbicides then you should most likely not be using it unless you bought it knowing the contents which you should always do. I have never made compost tea, nettle tea & homemade fish fertliser that contains anything inorganic. You are so wrong its umbelievable, like I have said before you might need to do some research on how a plant actually feeds & what micro organisms are, get yourself a microscope. Plants know 100% what the difference is between chemicals being introduced into the medium as opposed to organic matter, micro organisms break down organic matter & trade these nutrients with the roots of the plant, the plant then gives these microbes their exudates. Micro organisms are vital to a plants overall health & soil health when using chemicals you kill every living thing in the medium. The soil is a living ecosystem not just a medium for a plant to put its roots to hold it down. On top of this you have seemed to prioritise N,P,K which is what people tend to do when they use chemicals, there is a lot more to a plants nutrition then just N,P,K.

God knows where you got the idea of not being able to know what is in organic feed & please explain to me in deatil what exactly an inorganic chemical fertiliser is made from, where it is sourced & how it is made. Good luck with Fritz Haber's fertiliser

I will also add & will end it here even though there is so much more to this as well but a lot of the inorganic nutrients you give to your plants don't even get taken up by the roots simply because it gets locked up in the soil, why is this? It's because the stuff your using kills all the micro organisms & their job is to break down nutrients and make them available to the plant which avoids for the most part a large amount of nutrients being locked up in the medium. There is a reason why there is so many issues with chemical run off into our waterways & into our rivers simply because with inorganic fertilisers you over feed first of all & more the half of the stuff doesn't even get used by the plants...

[Tyrfing]

I'm sorry to sound rude but you really need to look into it a tad more & read some case studies. I myself have a wormery at home & it is 100 percent organic, I know exactly what goes into it & I look at it under the microscope everytime I harvest castings, the same goes for my home made compost. When I make my compost & castings the N,P,K ratios are the last thing on my mind, its all about the diversity of microorganisms & fungi. If you're using an organic fertiliser that has traces of pesticides or herbicides then you should most likely not be using it unless you bought it knowing the contents which you should always do. I have never made compost tea, nettle tea & homemade fish fertliser that contains any chemicals that's just absolute ridiculous & putting that on here which will influence peoples gardening approach is dangerous. You are so wrong its umbelievable, like I have said before you might need to do some research on how a plant actually feeds & what micro organisms are, get yourself a microscope. Plants know 100% what the difference is between chemicals being introduced into the medium as opposed to organic matter, micro organisms break down organic matter & trade these nutrients with the roots of the plant, the plant then gives these microbes their exudates. Micro organisms are vital to a plants overall health & soil health when using chemicals you kill every living thing in the medium. The soil is a living ecosystem not just a medium for a plant to put its roots to hold it down. On top of this you have seemed to prioritise N,P,K which is what people tend to do when they use chemicals, there is a lot more to a plants nutrition then just N,P,K.

God knows where you got the idea of not being able to know what is in organic feed. Good luck with Fritz Haber's fertiliser

Your compost & castings consist of _only_ chemicals, and everything is chemistry. Nobody is denying that microorganisms and fungi play a role, that is (complex) chemistry too. Your assumption that I only care for NPK is just wrong.
Knowing the contents of what you're buying isn't that easy when even the producers don't know what it contains. Last year we had major problems with several commercial organic fertilizers in Scandinavia. Chemical analysis showed that they contained enough residues of clopyralid and aminopyralid to cause stunted growth of e.g. tomatoes and cucumbers (source). I wasn't affected, probably because I trust Haber. And of course, synthetically created fertilizers feed much of the world.

[BlueTinge]

I'm sorry to sound rude but you really need to look into it a tad more & read some case studies. I myself have a wormery at home & it is 100 percent organic, I know exactly what goes into it & I look at it under the microscope everytime I harvest castings, the same goes for my home made compost. When I make my compost & castings the N,P,K ratios are the last thing on my mind, its all about the diversity of microorganisms & fungi. If you're using an organic fertiliser that has traces of pesticides or herbicides then you should most likely not be using it unless you bought it knowing the contents which you should always do. I have never made compost tea, nettle tea & homemade fish fertliser that contains any chemicals that's just absolute ridiculous & putting that on here which will influence peoples gardening approach is dangerous. You are so wrong its umbelievable, like I have said before you might need to do some research on how a plant actually feeds & what micro organisms are, get yourself a microscope. Plants know 100% what the difference is between chemicals being introduced into the medium as opposed to organic matter, micro organisms break down organic matter & trade these nutrients with the roots of the plant, the plant then gives these microbes their exudates. Micro organisms are vital to a plants overall health & soil health when using chemicals you kill every living thing in the medium. The soil is a living ecosystem not just a medium for a plant to put its roots to hold it down. On top of this you have seemed to prioritise N,P,K which is what people tend to do when they use chemicals, there is a lot more to a plants nutrition then just N,P,K.

God knows where you got the idea of not being able to know what is in organic feed. Good luck with Fritz Haber's fertiliser

Your compost & castings consist of _only_ chemicals, and everything is chemistry. Nobody is denying that microorganisms and fungi play a role, that is (complex) chemistry too. Your assumption that I only care for NPK is just wrong.
Knowing the contents of what you're buying isn't that easy when even the producers don't know what it contains. Last year we had major problems with several commercial organic fertilizers in Scandinavia. Chemical analysis showed that they contained enough residues of clopyralid and aminopyralid to cause stunted growth of e.g. tomatoes and cucumbers (source). I wasn't affected, probably because I trust Haber. And of course, synthetically created fertilizers feed much of the world.

This is a caset study I read today, I read many on a weekly basis. You should read it, its only on worms.

https://www.scirp.org/html/1-9900039_2490.htm

A small part taken from a CASE STUDY by scientists.

Vermi-agroproduction technology promises to usher in the “Second Green Revolution” by completely replacing the destructive agro-chemicals which did more harm than good to both the farmers and their farmland during the “First Green Revolution” of the 1950-60’s. Studies indicate that vermicompost is a wonderful growth promoter and at least 4 times more nutritive than the conventional composts and gives 30-40% higher yield of crops over chemical fertilizers [84,85]. In Argentina, farmers consider it to be seven (7) times richer than conventional composts in nutrients and growth promoting values [52]. The “humic acid” in vermicompost (excreted by worms) stimulate plant growth even in small amount [86].Earthworms restore & improve soil fertility and boost crop productivity by the use of their excreta (vermicast). They excrete beneficial soil microbes, and secrete polysaccharides, proteins and other nitrogenous compounds into the soil [87]. They promote soil fragmentation and aeration, and bring about “soil turning” and dispersion in farmlands. Worm activity can increase air-soil volume from 8-30%. One acre of land can contain up to 3 million earthworms the activities of which can bring up to 8-10 tons of “top soil” to the surface (in the form of vermicast) every year. Presence of worms improves water penetration in compacted soils by 50%. U.S. study indicates that 10,000 worms in a farm plot provides the same benefit as three farmers working 8 hours in shift all year round with 10 tons of manure applied in the plot [42]. Indian study showed that an earthworm population of 0.2-1.0 million per hectare of farmlands can be established within a short period of three months. On an average 12 tons/hectare/ year of soil or organic matter is ingested by earthworms, leading to upturning of 18 tons of soil/year, and the world over at this rate it may mean a 2 inches of fertile humus layer over the globe.

Clopyralid & aminpyralid are both CHEMICALS... used by your friends (chemical) farmers, it's not the organic compost makers fault that you all spray your fields with the stuff & then it ends up in the compost. Stop using chemicals & then we wont have aminopyralid etc in our organic compost. You literally went against yourself & anyways after buying organic comporst or any compost as a good gardener you should be potting up seed in the compost for 3 weeks to test it before you use it, which is a way of knowing if you have any aminopyralid etc in your medium.

This is why I'm not coming back on here after today, the horticulutral knowledge on here for the most part is dangerous.

[BlueTinge]

1) Reference [85] studied the agronomic impacts of vermicompost and found that it consistently improved seed germination, enhanced seedling growth and development, and increased plant productivity much more than would be possible from the mere conversion of mineral nutrients into plant-available forms. The growth responses of plants from vermicompost appears more like “hormone-induced activity” associated with the high levels of nutrients, humic acids and humates in vermicompost rather than boosted by high levels of plant-available nutrients.2) Studies made by [88] at CSIRO Australia found that the earthworms can increase growth of wheat crops by 39%, grain yield by 35%, lift protein value of the grain by 12% & fight crop diseases. Reference [89] also studied that earthworms & its vermicast improve the growth and yield of wheat by more than 40%.3) Reference [90] studied the agronomic impacts of vermicompost and inorganic (chemical) fertilizers on strawberries when applied separately and also in combination. The “yield” of marketable strawberries and the “weight” of the “largest fruit” was greater on plants in plots grown on vermicompost as compared to inorganic fertilizers. Also, farm soils applied with vermicompost had significantly greater “microbial biomass” than the one applied with inorganic fertilizers.4) Reference [91] studied the agronomic impact of vermicompost on cherries and found that it increased yield of “cherries” for three (3) years after “single application” inferring that use of vermicompost in soil builds up fertility and restore its vitality for long time and its further use can be reduced to a minimum after some years of application in farms.

[BlueTinge]

1) Reference [93] studied the growth impacts of earthworms and their vermicompost on potted corn crops and compared with chemical fertilizers. Vermicompost with earthworms in soil achieved excellent growth over chemical fertilizers. While the plants on chemicals grew only 5 cm in 7 weeks, those on vermicompost with worms grew 15 cm within the same period. Corn plants with worms & vermicompost also attained maturity (appearance of male & female reproductive organs) very fast. Another significant finding was that plants on vermicompost demanded “less water” for irrigation.2) Reference [93] also studied the growth impacts of earthworms with vermicompost on potted wheat plants and compared with chemical fertilizers & conventional compost (cow manure). Wheat crops on vermicompost with worms maintained very good growth from the very beginning & achieved maturity very fast. The striking rates of seed germination were very high, nearly 48 hours (2 days) ahead of others and the numbers of seed germinated were also high by nearly 20%. Plants were greener and healthier over others, with large numbers of tillers & long seed ears at maturity. Seeds were healthy and nearly 35-40% more as compared to plants on chemical fertilizers. What they achieved in just 5 weeks was achieved by others in 10 weeks. More significant was that the pot soil with vermicompost was very soft & porous and retained more moisture. Pot soil with chemical fertilizers was hard and demanded more water frequently.3) Reference [93] also studied the growth impacts of vermicompost on farmed wheat crops and compared it with conventional cattle dung compost and chemical fertilizers. Exclusive application of vermicompost@25 quintal/ha boosted yield 18% higher over the chemical fertilizers (NPK: 120:40:60). On conventional compost applied @ 100 Q/ha (4 times more than vermicompost) the yield was 17% less than that on vermicompost. The requirement of irrigation was also reduced in vermicompost applied farm plots by 30-40%. Test results indicated better availability of essential micronutrients and useful microbes in vermicompost applied soils. Most remarkable was the significantly reduced (nearly 75%) incidences of “pest & disease attack” on vermicompost grown crops.

[abhikjha]

Thanks guys for your views. It's always good to have different views to weigh the pros and cons. At the moment, I will experiment with vermicompost tea for fertilization. I don't have any plans to make vermicompost at my home apartment but will buy the best and trusted one whichever is available online. The other benefit of tea is I use seaweed and fish fertilizer for the food source for good bacterias which themselves are good for plant growth. Vermicompost naturally acidify the soil so that's a plus point too.