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Sydney, Australia

9 weeks to go to planting time. I will be filling in my planting pit with the best stuff I can get.....patch soil, composted cow manure, slow release fertilizer, blood and bone, ash. I have heard worm castings are great.....??? Anyone ever used worm castings or heard anything about what's in it? Any other things that would be beneficial to add into a planting pit?

Thanks....Ben

8/15/2003 8:53:53 PM

colorado

Hey ben, I just looked it up and it said it provides essential amounts calcium, magnesium, nitrogen, phosphates, and potash and if put right on a plant it will not burn it meaning they are a great seed starting mix and it increases bloom size, and vegetable size... it helps prevent funguses, helps repell insects..... Take care Ben, and best of luck to you this coming season, may you reach 4-digits!!! Steve

8/15/2003 9:27:44 PM

colorado

fungi* sorry, not funguses lol

8/15/2003 9:28:19 PM

Whidbey Island

Hey Steveman, if he hits 4-digits in Australia, he'll be at 2200 pounds!

8/16/2003 12:17:54 AM

Caceres, mid west of Spain

Hey Ben, I used it a lot, not in the patch though. It is a great stuff, better than manure, in fact, it is an improved manure with very few weed seeds in.

Carlos

8/16/2003 1:59:22 AM

Western Pa.

I've heard that Polka Dot drinks "worm casting" tea!

8/16/2003 4:50:00 AM

Montoursville, PA

Ben....you keep on doing what you are doing and the worms will come to you. With them they bring the castings, more even than you ever will need. In addition they secrete a burrow lining full of biological goodies. In so doing they enable the easier movement of natural water carried fertilizer to the roots, the excape of waste gases from beneficial fungi and the entry of oxygen to the five to nine inch and further root growing zone.

Consider using cattle molasses to support the fungi growth underground and make their job easier in the break down of your organic additives. Two ounces to a gallon of water every time you water or feed something else...either on the soil or leaves or both. Makes no difference but it does a ton of good stuff for you.

8/16/2003 11:05:39 AM

Oz

old pumpkins are the best...thats why i grew howdens also.
throw in worms they will make thier own guk. red ones eat leaves etc. charcoal without the fuel.
worms,,,,vance saffels englewood tennessee

8/16/2003 11:14:52 AM

Montoursville, PA

Oops! We have our worms reversed. Red ones are for compost piles with active manures. Once the pile turns to finished compost the red ones die out and the gray ones move in.

In the garden, in most instances, there are ample gray ones to creat the meca we dream of. They only need finished compost and semi finished compost to attract and hold them.

A healthy target to shoot for is seven to nine worms in a four inch deep one foot square segment. In my best years I have never found more than five to seven in the above sample. My thirty year aveage is likely more like four. That however is a pretty good maintenance level. A really good count would be more like a dozen.

If you have any and the soil is loaded with goodies they will come. You need not purchase any. In fact the eggs are there from eons ago just waiting for the right soil manager to create the hatching medium.

Sadly a couple bags of synthetic fertilizer will zap your earthworms or send them so deep you will not get the benefits which some feel are greater than the bag you popped to kill or chase them to more desirable ground.

8/16/2003 8:32:54 PM