Compost vs worm castings

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Either choice is good …Personally I just don’t have the patience to “ cook “ compost or soil mixes right now.
I find work arounds … EWC is a no brainer for ease of use. I use Worm gold plus for all my layered mixes .
For “ mild “ peat bases , I use DTE Bio-Live as a full ammended bump ( nothing else ) it comes with mycos , humic acid and shit load of goodies .
 

Cotyledon420

Well-Known Member
Either choice is good …Personally I just don’t have the patience to “ cook “ compost or soil mixes right now.
I find work arounds … EWC is a no brainer for ease of use. I use Worm gold plus for all my layered mixes .
For “ mild “ peat bases , I use DTE Bio-Live as a full ammended bump ( nothing else ) it comes with mycos , humic acid and shit load of goodies .
I want to start my own compost...and I will but I still need medicine now
 
I thought we had this chat a week or so ago. LOL. Compost by true nature is far superior to worm poop. Much broader spectrum of nutrients, minerals, fungi and macro biotics. I'm just organic here. What do I know? Enough to not buy it. LMAO!
Not really. But EWC nutrition depends a lot on what was fed. The problem with many commercial EWC is that they feed crap to the worm... cardboard for example.
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
Not really. But EWC nutrition depends a lot on what was fed. The problem with many commercial EWC is that they feed crap to the worm... cardboard for example.
Agreed. Depends on the quality of ewc.

Colorado worm company, and bas have good quality ewc.

Start a worm bin. Fresh is best, and you can add the nutrition to the worm bin, that you'll need thru the different stages of growth
 

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
Agreed. Depends on the quality of ewc.

Colorado worm company, and bas have good quality ewc.

Start a worm bin. Fresh is best, and you can add the nutrition to the worm bin, that you'll need thru the different stages of growth
Interesting, I have a follow up question about this, and the use of dry amendments when top dressing, Build A Soil has this Craft Blend that they recommend using as a top dress. On it's own without worms in the pot/soil my guess is that they would take a couple weeks to break down before becoming into usable nutrients. Maybe months. Worms, seem to speed this process up, correct?
PXL_20220625_195232352.jpg
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
Interesting, I have a follow up question about this, and the use of dry amendments when top dressing, Build A Soil has this Craft Blend that they recommend using as a top dress. On it's own without worms in the pot/soil my guess is that they would take a couple weeks to break down before becoming into usable nutrients. Maybe months. Worms, seem to speed this process up, correct?
View attachment 5154458
Yes compost worms. Red wigglers, I believe, work best. They also help to bring nutrients down deeper into the soil, from what I've been led to believe.
 

Week4@inCharge

Well-Known Member
Yes compost worms. Red wigglers, I believe, work best. They also help to bring nutrients down deeper into the soil, from what I've been led to believe.
That makes a lot of sense, thanks. The local shop were all out of red worms and the merchant told me the same, that red wigglers were better at compost cause they like to eat a lot. I reluctantly grabbed the last medium sized earthworms they had. Better than nothing I guess.
 

Hollatchaboy

Well-Known Member
That makes a lot of sense, thanks. The local shop were all out of red worms and the merchant told me the same, that red wigglers were better at compost cause they like to eat a lot. I reluctantly grabbed the last medium sized earthworms they had. Better than nothing I guess.
I ordered mine thru Jim's worm farm. From what I could tell, they all looked alive. 100 of them if I remember correctly.
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
I ordered mine thru Jim's worm farm. From what I could tell, they all looked alive. 100 of them if I remember correctly.
My first order got messed up by USPS. So they sent me a whole new order via FedEx. Now I have 2 shirts and 2 bricks of coco. Was really impressed with their customer service.

I threw the first rotten bag in my backyard. Didn't realize it would attract bears. Found the bag all torn apart and shit.
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
I have a compost pile on the ground that's full of worms. I don't turn the pile I just keep adding more stuff to it. If I need some worm compost I just come in from one of the sides, flip it up and take from the bottom which is all composted. Most of the worms are higher up in the pile where all the newer food scraps are.

The problem is other critters get into it which is fine for outdoor use but to get a product that I can mix with soil I might use indoors I'm going to start doing in-bed vermicomposting where you cut the bottom out of a buckets, drill large holes in the sides, and bury them in the ground with a lid on top. That way no flies or other bugs can get in as the only access is going to be from the ground.


 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
I have a compost pile on the ground that's full of worms. I don't turn the pile I just keep adding more stuff to it. If I need some worm compost I just come in from one of the sides, flip it up and take from the bottom which is all composted. Most of the worms are higher up in the pile where all the newer food scraps are.

The problem is other critters get into it which is fine for outdoor use but to get a product that I can mix with soil I might use indoors I'm going to start doing in-bed vermicomposting where you cut the bottom out of a buckets, drill large holes in the sides, and bury them in the ground with a lid on top. That way no flies or other bugs can get in as the only access is going to be from the ground.


Usually you don't want nightcrawlers indoors. They can venture off if they're not happy.
 

StonedGardener

Well-Known Member
Yes compost worms. Red wigglers, I believe, work best. They also help to bring nutrients down deeper into the soil, from what I've been led to believe.
We are infested with " Jumping Worms " , no shit. They came in plants from out of country on ships navigating the St. Lawrence then got their asses down to Upstate, probably from people bringing plants down. They are terrible, really wreak havoc on first couple of inches of soil. The whole yard turns into one big blanket of castings, covers up grass.
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
We are infested with " Jumping Worms " , no shit. They came in plants from out of country on ships navigating the St. Lawrence then got their asses down to Upstate, probably from people bringing plants down. They are terrible, really wreak havoc on first couple of inches of soil. The whole yard turns into one big blanket of castings, covers up grass.
Holy shit. That's crazy. Never heard of them before.

 
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