Worm tea vs. compost

If I use worm tea, do I need to still mix compost into the soil? I was going to use a peat moss, verm., compost mixture for my soil. If I add worm tea to that would I be over-doing it?

I don't think you can ever have too much compost, etc. I can't think of any reason why you shouldn't do both.

I agree they work well together. the only reason I wouldnt use both is I dont really think it is necessary and would save some for later. I have heard too much compost in the soil can deprive plant roots of oxygen as it decomposes
but that is a rare problem for me as I only make so much and have to be a little stingy with it.

Worm tea? Never heard of of it, of course there are a multitude of things I have nerer heard of. Are you processing redworms in a blender or our using worm castings? Cheers, Cap Carl - www.beautifycnmi.com - www. marianasdive.com

You make worm tea by brewing worm castings.

T'aint no such thing as too much compost. You were seriously misinformed tednugent, compost draws worms and they help aerate the soil as well as adding their castings to help enrich your soil. Check the soil and composting threads for more detailed info.

Maybe what tednugent heard related to using compost in containers. In the garden it's a wonderful thing and wouldn't cause any problems, but containers are a different story.

Sorry, but I can't relate to that one. Finished compost works fine whether it be in a regular garden setting or a container, it's intended as a supplement. I could see where really coarse compost could be an issue in a container, as it is still breaking down. Bottom line with that situation the solution is to make tea with it and use that instead. I admit I'm strongly prejudiced since I use only natural or organic methods to garden and have been for over 25 years. About the only commercial fertilizer I buy anymore is osmocote for my rose bushes.

If you go to the container gardening or indoor gardening & houseplant forums and read tapla's threads on water movement and soils in containers, you'll understand where the idea that compost maybe not being the best thing for a container is coming from. Basically he recommends using things in your soil that will retain their structure for as long as possible so that you maintain the best drainage and level of aeration, and compost won't retain its structure so therefore may not be the best ingredient for container soil.

tapale's thread.....I have read. It appears to me that he has created a greenhouse or nursery potting mix which is nearly always supported and nurtured by chemical feeding. This is truely a position taken by most grant supported colleges but it a positon that is not taken by anyone with any serious organic or healthy soil philosophy.

Yes his practice will grow plants. No his practices will not build the quality of the organic contents he has suggested make better structure. In fact little amount of organic principles are in his thread.

If you work with his structure principles and include about half natural soil and ten percent compost by vollume you will have an alive and able to stay alive and improve potting medium. Now your organic approach to feeding and soil building will work.

Of course organic content that is alive and working will reduce to humus and then humic acid. Common sense must apply. Most potted plants are on a one year stand and back to the compost pile. The few that are not will live nicely for five to ten years without repotting if the medium is nicely ballanced between his position and a fully organic planting medium. My comments assume that inorganic trace minerals are used and that a suitable PH is achieved by the medium maker.

Worm Cast Tea is great but it is not a completely ballanced tea.

Finished compost teas contain worm casts. The rains will deliver a more ballanced tea and total biological family growth found only in finished compost. Of course that statement will only apply to the quality of the compost.

A really good finished compost will include thousands and millions of live bacteria, fungi, and living higher forms of life from amoeba to neematodes. Beyond this there will be higher forms of life eating and pooping, living and dying in the compost.

If I were to suggest the use of worm cast tea I would add it to compost tea as a bacteria and fungi booster. That would be the big issue but there are many other trace things that are found in worm cast teas. The higher forms of life are not found in worm cast teas. Worm cast teas could be used as a watering medium into or over organically ballanced living potting mediums.

Interesting thread, I have a bag of earth worm castings. Can I just mix some in a 5 gallon bucket of water and apply? Or is there a more complex system of doing it?

tednugent.............if you are the real "TED" I wish to thank you from the bottom of my heart for your support of our fund raising for CF kids. Of all the nice things you have done this is perhaps the most important in my mind.

I tried for a number of years to win a hunt with you but someone else always had the winning ticket. I flat ran out of money trying to capture one of your signed musical intruments for my grandson. Our grandson does not have CF...but he loves you and your music.

Our hunting camp for a number of years sponsored a Black Bear Hunt to support the CF organization. It has been discontinued because of Pennsylvania's management practices that have cut the animal populations below desirable to many hunters. Not to mention the fact I can no longer get out there to help promote and have fun dropping a few bucks with you to help them.

Thank you again for everything good you have done for all of humanity not just CF.

All teas will get better as they age and in proportion to the oxygen in the water.

Without a big post here I would suggest you make and stir up daily with a paddle to increase oxygen. In a week or so you should have reasonably good tea.

If you happen to get serious about the best worm cast tea you can read about it by giving Google the words Soil Soup. There you will see aerobic worm cast tea the highes quality that can be made using proven techniques. I do not do worm cast tea alone. I add it to what I feel is better...my high quality finished compost tea brews.

There is absolutely nothing wrong with lower levels of brewing. You just can not achieve the higher quality brews without the proper equipment and set up. Your garden's soil biology will finish the job for you. It will just take a little longer and may not be quite as efficient.

Thanks, docgipe!

Throwing kisses at you docgipe, I read that thread on container planting several times and just didn't get it. I knew something didn't make sense to me, you clarified the situation. No compost wouldn't work real well in an artificial environment. I just couldn't wrap my mind around the idea, since I'm think of the soil be it in a container or not as a living organism. Thanks, my dear :)

I'm new to DG and this thread. I need to find a recipe for potting indoor plants (palms, etc.) for a large four-season sunroom to be completed this spring. I plan to have lots of plants and I would like to pot them in a good organic medium that would work with organic fertilizers. Who's had experience with this? It sounds like docgipe has a good potting mix, but is it on another thread, or earlier on this thread? I'd appreciate any ideas and help to determine a good potting mix and maintenance fertilizer. Thanks!

I use Pro-Mix from Ace Hardware to which I add aproximately 20% by volume of my own garden soil, 20% volume of my own compost This year I will be experimenting with coir at the rate of about fifteen percent by volume. To wheel barrow sized mix I will add one cup of 4-2-4 organic fertilizer, one cup of kelp meal, one cup of alafalfa meal and a cup of crab meal. If I don't forget and do not see any worms going in with the soil or compost I will add a few worms to each pot I fill with this mix.

When I pot a plant I will mulch the pot with ground pine wood mulch.

My fertilizer will be once a month mixed in sequence manure tea, earthworm tea, fish oil tea and aerobic compost tea. I got some bat guana for X-mas. I will no doubt have some of it in or along with one of my teas. The point is to use a blend of teas "very modestly". Most potted plants need very little fertilizer.

I did not add any trace minerals because both my garden soil and my finished compost has ample trace minerals. If you do not have these add a cup of granular Ironite or other trace mineral product to you wheel barrow full of potting soil.

I firmly believe anything along these lines is a far better potting soil than any of us can purchase. I am not aware of any biologically alive potting soil on the commercial market in our area.

I did not mention PH because unless you have a horrible situation to deal with the blend like I suggest will be just fine anywhere.

I mix my potting soil well and water it in for two or three days before using. Pro Mix or any product containing peat moss or coir needs time to get moisture ballanced.

Finally.........this is not rocket science. My goal is to have a biologically alive potting soil first and all other factors are supporting or boosting the basic soil mix. I have almost never used any manufactured fertilizer on my property unless it came in a purchased plant pot or balled and burlap shrub.

This message was edited Jan 27, 2008 11:09 AM

This message was edited Jan 27, 2008 11:13 AM