Bat guano or worm castings, which is better?

beard o

beard o

Well-Known Member
I'm getting ready to begin another grow. Indoors, 4x4 tent, light source 1000w MH/HPS.

I'm mixing my soil. Minor dilemma. I only have a limited amount (almost none) of bat guano, but have a full, unopened bag of worm castings. My favorite local store closed a month ago, and so did my bat guano source.

Should I say the hell with it, and just run the worm poop, or should I waste my time trying to source bat poop? Or doesn't it make any difference?
 
Bat Guano comes in two different flavors, one high in N from insect eating bats, and another high in P from fruit eating bats.

I just use castings from my worm bin and I'm sure to give them the inputs I want in them.

Good worm castings are awesome, but that depends on what they were fed, like if it's just newspaper and cardboard vs a well diversified diet. Most commercial castings are proper castings, but if you can run your own worm bins you can control the inputs and therefore outputs.

And castings are covered in a calcium carbonate slime that hardens to produce a time release source of calcium plus whatever goodies are in the castings.
 
beard o said:
Wow! I never knew any of this. Really good to know. But unless you produce your own, how do you know what your getting at the time of purchase?
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You'd have to rely on reputable sources. Use one of the big ones like Uncle Jim's or Matt's and you should be good.

beard o said:
I've been interested in raising my own worms. But I give on the coast in the NE. Is raising worms viable in my area?
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If it freezes hard in your area, the worms in your bins will freeze to death outside in winter but there should be enough cocoons to repopulate the bins once the weather warms up.

I keep mine in my basement and run it year round. Azi's Worm Factory
 
beard o said:
Should I say the hell with it, and just run the worm poop, or should I waste my time trying to source bat poop? Or doesn't it make any difference?
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It could make a lot of difference depending on what you want to do with the potting soil mix you will be using.

It should not be that hard to find the various bat guano at larger regular gardening shops. It is not a product that is just sold at Cannabis grow shops so look around. Might even be able to find it on the shelves at farmer's grain co-op places that are in rural/farming areas.

Going to have to pay attention to the NPK numbers on the bat guano. If you pick one that has a high nitrogen level you might have to stop using it in flower if the other fertilizers are supplying enough of that nutrient. Same sort of consideration with the other macro nutrients.

Worm castings also have the macro nutrients and up to you to check before buying. The numbers can vary widely depending on the company and how they raise their worms.

What is more important than the NPK amounts in worm castings, which can range from 1-0-0 to as high as 5-5-5, is the large populations of soil micro-organisms in the stuff. These micro-organisms are a lot more important to the health of the soil than whatever nutrients are available. Plus the worm castings are a slow release product so it could be as long as 6 weeks before more is needed.

Do some google style searches looking for "worm castings contain soil organisms" and "n-p-k worm castings". Not sure how well such a search will work on a phone so I recommend using a desktop, laptop or even a decent net book for these searches.
 
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