Foliar Feeding Worm Poop... holy eff

readysetawesome

readysetawesome

Active Member
Background: My first outdoor grow, 100% organic, I have one large Jack Herrer plant and 3 smaller plants of other strains that really are just seedlings.

I finally invested in an air pump and 2 stones, some blackstrap, and a bag of Aurora's Big Worm so I could brew a simple/gentle strength nutrient tea. Mostly I wanted to help give a boost to my clones that are dealing with transplant and just finished hardening off for outdoor growth, but I figured I would put it on the big girl pretty aggressively too and see...


With only a modest mix, maybe 1-2c of castings per gallon (wrapped in cheesecloth to prevent clogs in the sprayer), applied for 3 days in the AM, I am seeing totally ridiculous off-the-charts growth like never before on the big Jack Herrer plant. This girl was already getting pretty big, but now I am legitimately concerned about the height challenge later this year. I had planned to use fences on either side of her for support and tarps (if the rain comes early), but she may literally get too tall for that. (Should I slow her down somehow? maybe I'll just get a bigger container... and dig a hole to sink it down in the dirt a few inches)

The clones also perked up a lot from just a couple days on the foliar feeding program.

yay worm poo!

p.s. I got a 1 gallon pressurized mister, HIGHLY recommend, there is no chance you'll ever get lazy applying food or pesticide and it makes it much easier to reach all the innermost reaches of a bushy outdoor plant.
 
readysetawesome

readysetawesome

Active Member
Ministry Grower said:
Could you enlighten me on the magics of the worm poop?
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Worm castings or poop are rich in nutrients that serve as plant food, especially nitrogen in particular which is crucial to growth. Castings can be added to a soil mixture for planting, top-dressed on the soil of an already established plant, or brewed into a tea like you would make a compost tea. When added to soil, castings will provide food as they are broken down over time by soil microbes and made available to the plant, which is also how most dry "top dress" fertilizers work.

Worm casting tea, aerated thoroughly with air stones & aquarium pumps for 24+ hours will actually jump-start the processes of (1) multiplying beneficial microbes and (2) nutrient extraction, before you even deliver the food to the plant. So more nutrients are available in a form the plant can immediately use, and if you deliver some of the tea to the root zone you are adding microbes that will help the existing soil mixture provide maximum nutrient availability.

The tea I'm using also includes a small amount of un-sulphured molasses (1T per gallon) to encourage microbial growth - the good bacteria that help with nutrient availability require both a little sugar and plenty of oxygen.

Be aware there is a lot of variation in what you get when you buy a bag of "worm castings", the more expensive ones are usually worth the $ as they are more carefully screened to be only the castings and not consisting of much other mulch/worm bodies/etc.
 
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OG Gardenz

OG Gardenz

Active Member
you can put a ring of 7' hog wire around her with slats of 1 x 2 boards woven in vertically for rigidity... can train the branches and keep em low while supporting when she gets heavy.

with plants yielding 6+ lbs i need two rings... which is also good if you want to keep em low.
 
readysetawesome

readysetawesome

Active Member
OG Gardenz said:
you can put a ring of 7' hog wire around her with slats of 1 x 2 boards woven in vertically for rigidity... can train the branches and keep em low while supporting when she gets heavy.

with plants yielding 6+ lbs i need two rings... which is also good if you want to keep em low.
Click to expand...
I've been using tie wraps to pull her down toward the chicken wire wrapped around her container, but I have no plan for supporting her flowers yet...Thanks for the tip, I will probably do something like that soon.

Btw how big of a container are you growing in? I'm at 25 gallons and planning to go up to 45 or 65 soon.
 
Ministry Grower

Ministry Grower

Member
readysetawesome said:
Worm castings or poop are rich in nutrients that serve as plant food, especially nitrogen in particular which is crucial to growth. Castings can be added to a soil mixture for planting, top-dressed on the soil of an already established plant, or brewed into a tea like you would make a compost tea. When added to soil, castings will provide food as they are broken down over time by soil microbes and made available to the plant, which is also how most dry "top dress" fertilizers work.

Worm casting tea, aerated thoroughly with air stones & aquarium pumps for 24+ hours will actually jump-start the processes of (1) multiplying beneficial microbes and (2) nutrient extraction, before you even deliver the food to the plant. So more nutrients are available in a form the plant can immediately use, and if you deliver some of the tea to the root zone you are adding microbes that will help the existing soil mixture provide maximum nutrient availability.

The tea I'm using also includes a small amount of un-sulphured molasses (1T per gallon) to encourage microbial growth - the good bacteria that help with nutrient availability require both a little sugar and plenty of oxygen.

Be aware there is a lot of variation in what you get when you buy a bag of "worm castings", the more expensive ones are usually worth the $ as they are more carefully screened to be only the castings and not consisting of much other mulch/worm bodies/etc.
Click to expand...
Thanks for the information, I just picked up the book True Living Organics I think it is called by The Rev. I am thinking about trying to make my own soil using all organics. That way I can recycle the soil in my garden and it will still be full of micro life and happiness.
 
OG Gardenz

OG Gardenz

Active Member
readysetawesome said:
I've been using tie wraps to pull her down toward the chicken wire wrapped around her container, but I have no plan for supporting her flowers yet...Thanks for the tip, I will probably do something like that soon.

Btw how big of a container are you growing in? I'm at 25 gallons and planning to go up to 45 or 65 soon.
Click to expand...
I go directly in the ground and dig out 3' deep and 4' around to amend and supplement.... or I use 200gal cloth pots as well
 
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