The Living Medicine Cabinet

My worms live off : Peat Moss (soil medium), brown packing paper and paper bag strips (on top), powdered rock dust (on top), cannabis defoliation trim(on top), and organic bananna peels (buried in the soil.) I feed a fistful of food about once every 7-10 days and sprinkle/mist water every feeding. I have had them about 9 months and they have multiplied. I keep them in the veg room alongside my cloning tray. Even though I get fungus gnats in every pot every time I use new soil or compost anywhere in the room, I have never had gnats invade the worm bin. I believe it helps to A) keep the bin covered and B) keep the top tray of soil dry - I have 4 trays about 4 inches deep with mesh bottoms so the worms can crawl from tray to tray. The worms live in the bottom 3 trays.
 
SweetSue said:
Well that's disappointing. Do you suspect the seeds or your property challenges? Likely a combination of both, eh?
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I believe it is fertilizer toxins in the soil combined with a thin layer of humus. Repotted plants grow so-so.
I'm thinking of having a soil test done, but some parts of my subsoil aren't soil, just sand.

I was looking towards comfrey, borage, white clover, and earthworms as the 'A Team' to build soil health - So far I have volunteer plantain, dandelion,red clover and birdseed along with the white clover doing most of the soil reclamation. I'm very interested to see if the White Clover will naturalize.

HugelKultur with Red Maple trees and branches is my alternative attempt at soil reclamation. Not finding the time much this year, only about 5 days spent on the hugelkultur compared to 20 days planting and planning seeds.
 
I think the only worms I'm going to be raising for a time will be the ones in the pots. I keep killing them off. :straightface: After three batches I think I need to listen to the universe. But then.... I no longer have the unpredictability of Dale's health challenges to distract me, do I? Maybe one more try. I don't know. So much carnage already.
 
Radogast said:
My worms live off : Peat Moss (soil medium), brown packing paper and paper bag strips (on top), powdered rock dust (on top), cannabis defoliation trim(on top), and organic bananna peels (buried in the soil.) I feed a fistful of food about once every 7-10 days and sprinkle/mist water every feeding. I have had them about 9 months and they have multiplied. I keep them in the veg room alongside my cloning tray. Even though I get fungus gnats in every pot every time I use new soil or compost anywhere in the room, I have never had gnats invade the worm bin. I believe it helps to A) keep the bin covered and B) keep the top tray of soil dry - I have 4 trays about 4 inches deep with mesh bottoms so the worms can crawl from tray to tray. The worms live in the bottom 3 trays.
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Hello Radogast, good to see a fellow worm wrangler around here!
Fungus gnats cant live in worm castings, it is too high in chitinase! Sprinkling water is not usually necessary unless you feed very dry foods; when I started my bin I over fed with cardboard and had to water. I found that watering with worm castings tea REALLY speeds the decay of cardboard and paper. Rockdust is good for the worms, it acts as grit in their gizzards and help with digestion, besides the obvious nutritional value it adds. Banana peels are a delicacy for worms!
And yes keeping the top layer dry helps with bugs; It is my experience that sprinkling powdered eggshell also helps keep bugs at bay!
Regards!
 
TheRoach said:
Hello Radogast, good to see a fellow worm wrangler around here!
Fungus gnats cant live in worm castings, it is too high in chitinase! Sprinkling water is not usually necessary unless you feed very dry foods; when I started my bin I over fed with cardboard and had to water. I found that watering with worm castings tea REALLY speeds the decay of cardboard and paper. Rockdust is good for the worms, it acts as grit in their gizzards and help with digestion, besides the obvious nutritional value it adds. Banana peels are a delicacy for worms!
And yes keeping the top layer dry helps with bugs; It is my experience that sprinkling powdered eggshell also helps keep bugs at bay!
Regards!
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Hello Back TheRoach. We seem to be following similar threads :)

I didn't realize wom castings were a source of chitinase. Is that maybe from the egg shells?
I read about egg shells, but we don't use very many eggs, so I haven't added them.

I added lobster mulch sprinkes once to get the bacterial life active - there has got to be chitinase in there :)

I added a thick layer of cow manure once, they don't like it. It still hasn't been populated.
 
Radogast said:
I went with Horizon Herbs for the first time this spring. I called them on the phone after about 8 days and they were just sitting on my order 'I don't know how this was missed, your order will be shipped express tomorrow.' The shipment arrived in 2 days after the reminder phone call. I was disappointed because I had called before entering my order on their website because couldn't order 1oz of seed on their website, so they told me to add 1 oz as comment and I ordered through the web. - - Next time, I will just order over the phone.

Their selection is awesome, but the way my germination rates are going (from all seed vendors) I dont know if I can try seed starting 3 years in a row. I'm growing a while lot of nothing outside from a whole lot of seeds.
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I'm going to sprout pretty much everything before I plant. I don't have anytime to waste with just throwing the seeds out. As you said, germination rates are fractional at best. That reminds me, I need to get everything ready to germinate in their trays today!

I just finished the beds this morning and threw some clover seed down to get the cover crop going. We've been getting some very intense thunder/rain storms down here over the past two weeks. I'm a little worried that my plants will get washed away before they have time to property root themselves. Hopefully the clover will sprout and hold the topsoil together for now.

But ya, pardon my French but Horizon doesn't have their shit together. I got a couple good recommendations from my local hydro store for seed companies so I'll have to check them out for the future. Its really a shame because they have an amazing selection of plants and seeds for pretty good prices...I guess the lesson to be learned here is don't order from Horizon if you are in any kind of rush.
 
SweetSue said:
I think the only worms I'm going to be raising for a time will be the ones in the pots. I keep killing them off. :straightface: After three batches I think I need to listen to the universe. But then.... I no longer have the unpredictability of Dale's health challenges to distract me, do I? Maybe one more try. I don't know. So much carnage already.
Click to expand...

I'm getting images of the tide at Omaha Beach...
 
Radogast said:
My worms live off : Peat Moss (soil medium), brown packing paper and paper bag strips (on top), powdered rock dust (on top), cannabis defoliation trim(on top), and organic bananna peels (buried in the soil.) I feed a fistful of food about once every 7-10 days and sprinkle/mist water every feeding. I have had them about 9 months and they have multiplied. I keep them in the veg room alongside my cloning tray. Even though I get fungus gnats in every pot every time I use new soil or compost anywhere in the room, I have never had gnats invade the worm bin. I believe it helps to A) keep the bin covered and B) keep the top tray of soil dry - I have 4 trays about 4 inches deep with mesh bottoms so the worms can crawl from tray to tray. The worms live in the bottom 3 trays.
Click to expand...

The worms were living it it up in my bin until I left. They were tearing through food faster than I could put it in there. I was gone for two weeks and came back to a completely decimated bin over run with soldier fly larvae. The larvae in itself is not bad...they are actually more productive composting critters than most worms, and aren't really pests in the traditional sense. The only annoying thing is sifting their carcasses out of the VC when its ready to be harvested.

Its all ok though...my bin design turned out to be pretty lame. I need to make a true flow through bin that I can harvest regularly and not have sift through left over food scraps and paper. I'll be putting that design up on my Worm Bin thread once I get to it if you are interested.

Radogast said:
I believe it is fertilizer toxins in the soil combined with a thin layer of humus. Repotted plants grow so-so.
I'm thinking of having a soil test done, but some parts of my subsoil aren't soil, just sand.

I was looking towards comfrey, borage, white clover, and earthworms as the 'A Team' to build soil health - So far I have volunteer plantain, dandelion,red clover and birdseed along with the white clover doing most of the soil reclamation. I'm very interested to see if the White Clover will naturalize.

HugelKultur with Red Maple trees and branches is my alternative attempt at soil reclamation. Not finding the time much this year, only about 5 days spent on the hugelkultur compared to 20 days planting and planning seeds.
Click to expand...

The "A team" will definitely give you a humic layer to die for but it could take a while. In Masanobu Fukuoka's One Straw Revolution
he claimed (if I remember correctly) that a decade of mulching with clover and rice/barley/etc yielded only around 4" of new humic material. When he wrote the book he had been farming that land for almost 30 years. Granted he saw results long before then (reverting poorly managed orchards and mountain side), but it does take time and dedication. Its definitely achievable though. I couldn't think of a more satisfying accomplishment than transforming barren ground into fertile acreage.
 
Hey Closedcircuit, I found this article on worm casting. I thought you and Radogast may find it interesting!

Insect Repellency

Testing has shown that several microorganisms found in worm castings work as effective repellants for a large array of insects. A key element for insect repellency is the level of chitinase-producing organisms. Chitinase is an enzyme that will dissolve chitin. The exoskeleton of bugs is made of chitin [so obviously they don't want to hang out where their skeletons will get dissolved!]. Bugs have various detection mechanisms to determine the level of chitinase in plants and soil. Once the chitinase level is high enough, they will leave the area. Worm castings test with a very high level of chitinase-producing organisms.

Also, some elements in worm castings are able to activate the chitinase-producing organisms found inside plants. Once triggered, these organisms multiply to a level that can be detected by the insects. The repellency effectiveness has been tested and confirmed for white fly, aphids, spider mites and various other bugs. Twenty various plants have been tested showing effectiveness. The rate of repellency is in direct relation to the size of the plant. Spider mites will leave houseplants in about 2 weeks, aphids leave roses in about 6 weeks, and white flies will leave full sized hibiscus in about 3 months.
 
TheRoach said:
Hey Closedcircuit, I found this article on worm casting. I thought you and Radogast may find it interesting!

Insect Repellency

Testing has shown that several microorganisms found in worm castings work as effective repellants for a large array of insects. A key element for insect repellency is the level of chitinase-producing organisms. Chitinase is an enzyme that will dissolve chitin. The exoskeleton of bugs is made of chitin [so obviously they don't want to hang out where their skeletons will get dissolved!]. Bugs have various detection mechanisms to determine the level of chitinase in plants and soil. Once the chitinase level is high enough, they will leave the area. Worm castings test with a very high level of chitinase-producing organisms.

Also, some elements in worm castings are able to activate the chitinase-producing organisms found inside plants. Once triggered, these organisms multiply to a level that can be detected by the insects. The repellency effectiveness has been tested and confirmed for white fly, aphids, spider mites and various other bugs. Twenty various plants have been tested showing effectiveness. The rate of repellency is in direct relation to the size of the plant. Spider mites will leave houseplants in about 2 weeks, aphids leave roses in about 6 weeks, and white flies will leave full sized hibiscus in about 3 months.
Click to expand...

Awesome info Roach! I didn't know all that much about chitinase. Thank you
 
TheRoach said:
Hey Closedcircuit, I found this article on worm casting. I thought you and Radogast may find it interesting!

Insect Repellency

Testing has shown that several microorganisms found in worm castings work as effective repellants for a large array of insects. A key element for insect repellency is the level of chitinase-producing organisms. Chitinase is an enzyme that will dissolve chitin. The exoskeleton of bugs is made of chitin [so obviously they don't want to hang out where their skeletons will get dissolved!]. Bugs have various detection mechanisms to determine the level of chitinase in plants and soil. Once the chitinase level is high enough, they will leave the area. Worm castings test with a very high level of chitinase-producing organisms.

Also, some elements in worm castings are able to activate the chitinase-producing organisms found inside plants. Once triggered, these organisms multiply to a level that can be detected by the insects. The repellency effectiveness has been tested and confirmed for white fly, aphids, spider mites and various other bugs. Twenty various plants have been tested showing effectiveness. The rate of repellency is in direct relation to the size of the plant. Spider mites will leave houseplants in about 2 weeks, aphids leave roses in about 6 weeks, and white flies will leave full sized hibiscus in about 3 months.
Click to expand...

+reps . Great Info - blogged this post so I could find it again.

Worm castings repel spider mites :woohoo:
 
ClosedCircuit said:
The worms were living it it up in my bin until I left. They were tearing through food faster than I could put it in there. I was gone for two weeks and came back to a completely decimated bin over run with soldier fly larvae. The larvae in itself is not bad...they are actually more productive composting critters than most worms, and aren't really pests in the traditional sense. The only annoying thing is sifting their carcasses out of the VC when its ready to be harvested.

Its all ok though...my bin design turned out to be pretty lame. I need to make a true flow through bin that I can harvest regularly and not have sift through left over food scraps and paper. I'll be putting that design up on my Worm Bin thread once I get to it if you are interested.



The "A team" will definitely give you a humic layer to die for but it could take a while. In Masanobu Fukuoka's One Straw Revolution
he claimed (if I remember correctly) that a decade of mulching with clover and rice/barley/etc yielded only around 4" of new humic material. When he wrote the book he had been farming that land for almost 30 years. Granted he saw results long before then (reverting poorly managed orchards and mountain side), but it does take time and dedication. Its definitely achievable though. I couldn't think of a more satisfying accomplishment than transforming barren ground into fertile acreage.
Click to expand...

Going from memory, 4" a decade is about 10x the normal rate of soil creation. I'm a big fan of Masunobu Fukuoka :)
 
Radogast said:
I added a thick layer of cow manure once, they don't like it. It still hasn't been populated.
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From what I understand the cow manure has to be aged and dried. Otherwise it gets to "hot" for the worms and they don't populate it.

So like a dried cow patty should work
 
Radogast said:
Going from memory, 4" a decade is about 10x the normal rate of soil creation. I'm a big fan of Masunobu Fukuoka :)
Click to expand...

Oh ya I'm sure its faster than normal because of his inclination to mulch between every sowing and harvest. Nonetheless, to repair or make your land viable it could take at least a few seasons of work. It would be quite the project. You should document it for us :)
 
ClosedCircuit said:
Oh ya I'm sure its faster than normal because of his inclination to mulch between every sowing and harvest. Nonetheless, to repair or make your land viable it could take at least a few seasons of work. It would be quite the project. You should document it for us :)
Click to expand...

Garden Creation Thread is in my signature. The creation part is so slow, it just seems like something else :)
 
Got bugs in your compost/worm bin?? Add in Neem cake meal, the worms love it and the bugs absolutely will leave the house.

Also another good organic amendment is Crab shell meal. That kills the insects on contact so top dress in the pot and in the worm bin is another good way to rid yourself of the critters.

Fungus gnats are going to be in the worm bin and in the castings/compost that come from the bin. That's a fact of life and just an annoyance really. If the gnats show up later in your grow it's possibly due to over watering which is WAY worse than a few insects. Once I started top dress with neem cake meal any and all insects and the larvae are history..
 
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