Using vermicompost

Hi all! I originally posted this on the "beginner houseplants" forum because I wasn't yet a member and didn't receive a response. Now that I am a member (and you see my posts popping up in every imaginable forum) I figure I'd repost.

I am going to start vermicompost here in my Manhattan apartment soon. In NYC you are also able to purchase vermicompost from the city for $1 a pound. I purchased some because I just got at least 10 different plants in the course of 3 or 4 days. I want to use this vermicompost with all of these plants. Some are indoor plants and some are outdoor plants as well as the most common herbs.

How can I incorporate the compost in my houseplants, outdoor garden, and herb garden? I have read about pasteurizing vermicompost for houseplants but that it is okay for outdoor plants.

Thanks!

With the house plants, you can either re-pot, pot up (increase the size of the pot your plant was in) and incorporate the new soil, or just add a thin layer to the top. And your outdoor gardens, either save it until your plants have died off for the winter and mix it in when you aerate your soils or add a little bit as a mulch now and dig it in later.

Personally, I would be hesitant to pasteurize it - I'm not all that familiar with worm composting, but I'd hazard a guess that it's broken down pretty completely, and the microbes contained in the compost are typically one of it's greater benefits. >shrugs< You may have another reason I'm not familiar with? Maybe someone else more familiar will chime in.

Just get it in there >smile< !

I would not use it on indoor plants or the herbs.

Indoor plants are in a "closed" system the soil is "dead" no real need for the microbes and the like.
Herbs generally prefer well drained "poor" soil no real need, there either.

Why pasteurize? Why kill all those microbes? Make a tea and foliar spray anything & everything or just incorporate it in a new bed. Thats what I would do to get the most bang for my buck. You can also top dress it around fav's I like doing this where I have started to lasagna compost so any eggs left in the castings have a chance at a good & prosperous life, making me better soil.

LOL, that's true - you probably don't want worms in your houseplants, although it could only help them IMO. Always an icebreaker at cocktail parties...

I'm surprised at MQN's suggestion not to use it on herbs, but I don't have a ton of them, so I sit corrected >smile< .

Herbs are actually great to begin Xeriscaping, thats generally speaking of course, always the exception that proves the rule. Not saying you can't I just think it will be a waste. What kind of bin are you going to set up?
Mean
Queen
Nadine

I don't think New York is ideal for xeriscaping... but then again this website is the first time I've come across the word too! Haha. I am going to set up a rubbermaid bin- there is only three of us in the apartment and only two of us are eating real food (we have a baby on formula and starting solids now) so I figured starting small. That an my Manhattan apartment is teeny weeny tiny! I've researched it quite a bit I just have to go ahead and do it!

Rubbermaid is how I went also to begin with - try Freecycle to get your worms, I just replied to 2 different people who are going to come over and "u-pick" out of the outdoor bin.

Sorry tried and true Westerner here, forgot about humidity out east.........(re:xeriscaping)

So do the worms regulate their population or will I need to find people to "u-pick" too?

Actually, I think xeriscaping is an excellent idea 'back east' as well. I moved here last fall from Phoenix and am finding this year's drought conditions are making me rely heavily on my knowledge of low water use plants.

Just so long as you can prepare the soil... you know that song!

Stansangelxxx, once again MQN will probably have to tell you the answer, all I know is there is plenty of parks in NYC (as well as robins) who would love a present of any extra worms.

Yes they will self regulate, most people over feed when they start out.

Remember they are not eating the food you put in there, they are going to be eating What eats the food (ie mold, fungus etc) so get your bin going 1-2 weeks before you get the worms.

If it gets smelly its too wet (out west here, we rarely have that prob) add bedding (shredded newspaper is good but unshredded works to) to help absorb moisture. Adding cornmeal also helps to absorb the moisture (personally think the cornmeal is an aphrodisiac to them).

And if it gets ants, it's too dry! Sprinkle, sprinkle, sprinkle...