[magiccannabus]

Hey I have some pond zyme(same enzymes as in soil products), and I was wondering if it would be good or bad for a worm bin to add these?

[Clackamas Coot]

Originally Posted by magiccannabus

Hey I have some pond zyme(same enzymes as in soil products), and I was wondering if it would be good or bad for a worm bin to add these?

magiccannabus

On this Organic Soil sub-forum is a thread about EM-1 which is a specific 'microbe inoculant' (for lack of a better term/phrase) and almost every claim made for the EM-1 product reads exactly like the claims/features of the septic tank products, pond products, koi pond products, etc.

There's a connection to the science of all these products and the differences may be very, very slight between the 'coir enzyme products' and pond maintenance products. I found this product Microbe-Lift PL and if I can get some kind of realistic mixing ratio, I'm ready to experiment. It's only $20.00 per quart and has active bacteria because the shelf-life is 1 year according to the manufacturer.

To answer your original question, in part, the EM-1 product is used on compost piles as well as worm bins so there's that I suppose.

HTH

CC

[Wretched]

this is great info

[Bozo]

Howdy ,I have just recently decided to start growwing my herb a more natural way and worms are going to be a big part of it .I tried searching this thread with no luck and I cant seem to find any where online on the subject except that it is a good idea .
Heres my ideas and few questions for the worm wranglers out there.I want to make the best worm castings possible,so I am planning there diet and there bedding .I am thinking about a mix of Coir,Alaska Humus.high quality vegetable compost .All 3 parts in thirds keeping the 1 part green 2 part brown ratio .I am also planning on using green sand for grit.I am thinking this bedding will make them happy and they will start eating it .I then want to feed the homemade kelp meal ,grapefruit ash,organic friut and vegetable scraps,local mountain plants .I am also thinking alternating citrus ash one feeding lime the next but not both at same time to keep ph from getting too high.
The plan is to blend the food into a slury/paste .Plan is to fee them for about 2 months stop feeding and force them to move up to the next tray..Ok that is my worm plan for high K castings .Alot more reading to do and a few questions .
After worms have left the tray and I have trapped any that are left behind ,if I leave tray alone will cocoons hatch? If so how long do you wait to retrap small hatchlings ?
I want castings that are as free of cocoons as possible any advice?
Do you make custom castings?
Proven recipes?
Any advice?
Ok enough questions Thanks for all the great info I have aquired already and look forward to learning more about others making High quality castings.
I think i can make castings that are many time more effective than brands such as wiggle worn brand pure castings .I do relize there are castings out there that are of the highest quality but I am not willing to pay the prices they want .
I live in a remote coastal mountain rainforest with tons of natural resources I plan on making the best castings possible with the highest microbe count I can with
We also have a garbage problem in my area and I cant find anything localy about it hopefully i will have a million worms this time next year and my whole town will turning garbage into gold
Thanks again for making me think

[marali]

[marali]

Just take dry harvested castings and sieve them in a good sized screen so the cocoons will be trapped. This way you will really get clean and very very pure castings. Super small particles which will mix with soil mix like crazy. Good stuff. Also read this three web sites. Short reading but very valuable for ya.
https://forums.gardenweb.com/forums/l...005723968.html
https://www.redwormcomposting.com/wor...-worm-cocoons/
https://www.wormmainea.com/FAQ.html (scroll down for separating cocoons and worms)

Your list of food is amazing, especially local mountain plants. These are loaded with beneficial microbes and nutrition value. For bedding i would also look for some leaf mold. It's just great!!! Btw, personally i wouldn't add so much ash and lime as you would. Go easy with it, as i recall, worms don't like that kind of stuff. Use diverse carbon material. Avoid using a lot of newspaper, i personally hate it.

Yes, cocoons will hatch, but not quickly enough for you i think. You want them to hatch so you can get the worms out, right? it's easier to just get the cocoons out, faster and much more reliable if you want cocoons free castings.

Diversity is key for me, and just like you, as i see, i i'm just crazy about plant material, just like for composting. They go crazy about mj trimmings and roots, so this is your number one specialty for them if you are into using castings for mj. there are tons of plants which will benefit your plants. Just search around in nature and collect some. And here is a wonderful info i have found usefull. When you have extra food, just freeze it. When it thaws back it'll break down twice as fast, so worms will be able do digest it twice as fast too.

[Wretched]

wowweeee

[P-NUT]

is cedar toxic to worms? I thought about building a bin out of cedar since it resists termites and rotting and repels insects.

Originally Posted by P-NUT

is cedar toxic to worms? I thought about building a bin out of cedar since it resists termites and rotting and repels insects.

If you use cedar I would line the interior with a dark 4 mm plastic or pond lines.

V-man

[budchopper]

Originally Posted by MrFista

Forgot to mention. you can add chitin (crab shell, locust, cicada, preying mantis shells) to your worms and they will select for fungi and microbes that break it down.

The end result is you have castings containing fungi that kill larval stages of insects in the soil. This is patented, but doesn't stop the home gardener from doing it themselves.

If you use crab or lobster shell make sure you get all the meat out first, then crush up fine, and add.

this is great,any info on the patent? who`s patent is it?