If you mulch and chop and drop, and spray fermented weed juice on the soil sometimes, they thrive. They have survived droughts around the run off of my Grey water septic tank reed bed. I live in Africa with major drought cycles. They then repopulate and go where the food is.
This was very informative. I was just saying to my friend, I need to find a worm specialist, not a gardener to explain this. Every time I find a Troy Presentation, its very well prepared and presented. Thanks Sir. 🙏🇨🇦👊🏻👨🌾💖🍂🍁🍂
I added maybe 20 red wigglers to my raised bed trying to seperate the castings from my bin. The raised bed is only about a 6x3x one foot tall with 6" of leaves with some steele mesh in case the moles move in. Also mulching with leaves. This is my firsts attempt at the raised beds. I probably need to start a new worm bin, those 500 babies I added last year has to be over 2000 this spring.
I have 3 to 4 inches of leaf mold for mulch, and I bury food scraps. I have 4' x8' 2' deep raised beds, and had a decent survival thru the winter in the Hudson valley of New York state.
I am making 5 wicking beds out of 36" x 36" x 21" tubs. Last year I did raised beds about 10" tall 21' x 4' with the bottom filler being sticks, compost, cardboard etc. Garden did not do great. Great full sun just not deep enough, and not consistent moisture. So today took all the soil out and piled it to the side. Most everything was gone, barely any whole sticks left, and TONS of worms. Guessing 5 different kind. The plan is to mix these piles of beautiful black soil with potting soil, perlite, peat, small pine chips, etc. After watching it seems I better not use this soil in wicking beds because a wicking bed needs a mixture more like a plant from the store. Hoping you see this and give me your advice. There were lots of wigglers, and couple kind of large earthworms..
Hi Brian, I can't be 100% sure but if the garden was 10 inches tall *and* included a lot of sticks, you may not have had enough depth. But the presence of earthworms is a great sign that you had an ample amount of organic matter in the soil!
I take it you mean for field crops? They are certainly viable from an agricultural perspective, but it would be very expensive to treat many acres with worm castings themselves, so it's not too viable from an economic perspective unless you've got a cash crop like cannabis, grapes, etc.
Is paper a must to feed worms? Just started , I bag when I mow to pick up dead leaves, I dump it let it compost, and when I start a worm tray, I put just the compost and feed on top with a little dirt and cover with wet paper towels, and mist to keep most. This rt or do I need to do another way?
Super good info! It's very frustrating seeing other composting worm companies promoting the idea of adding red wigglers to regular garden soil. Hopefully done out of ignorance since it would be a rather convenient way to get repeat business :( Converting what little organic matter exists in your soil into worm castings (if the worms even survive long enough) is a really bad idea for all the reasons mentioned.
I deep mulch with spoiled hay. I have at least two types of worms living year round in my garden. E-fetida I introduced, and L- rubellus which just showed up. Five years no till.
That's great! Creating a soil like *that* will work, but very few people are creating that intentionally. Most are trying to use composting worms in clay-heavy soil.
The slideshow was supposed to show on the youtube video... Looks like Troy had some technical difficulties there without Steve's help. He realizes it and runs through the slides @22:24
Why would they be bad for living soil? I have kelp meal and alfalfa meal in my living soil, aren't they perfect to boost the microbial life from it and make it available to plants? i don't need them to survive forever just help break down the organic matter while my soil is cooking. (I'm also gonna give them a couple apples diced small to kickstart their new life :p)
We never mention worms being bad for soils. Hopefully you've watched the live stream. The point of the discussion is that composting worms don't reside IN the soil but ABOVE the soil.
If you mulch and chop and drop, and spray fermented weed juice on the soil sometimes, they thrive.
They have survived droughts around the run off of my Grey water septic tank reed bed.
I live in Africa with major drought cycles. They then repopulate and go where the food is.
This was very informative. I was just saying to my friend, I need to find a worm specialist, not a gardener to explain this. Every time I find a Troy Presentation, its very well prepared and presented. Thanks Sir.
🙏🇨🇦👊🏻👨🌾💖🍂🍁🍂
I added maybe 20 red wigglers to my raised bed trying to seperate the castings from my bin. The raised bed is only about a 6x3x one foot tall with 6" of leaves with some steele mesh in case the moles move in. Also mulching with leaves. This is my firsts attempt at the raised beds. I probably need to start a new worm bin, those 500 babies I added last year has to be over 2000 this spring.
I have 3 to 4 inches of leaf mold for mulch, and I bury food scraps. I have 4' x8' 2' deep raised beds, and had a decent survival thru the winter in the Hudson valley of New York state.
Leaf mold is awesome.....regular garden soil, not so much!
Good info and good
team!👍
Thank-you for all your efforts.
Our pleasure Cynthia!
I am making 5 wicking beds out of 36" x 36" x 21" tubs. Last year I did raised beds about 10" tall 21' x 4' with the bottom filler being sticks, compost, cardboard etc. Garden did not do great. Great full sun just not deep enough, and not consistent moisture. So today took all the soil out and piled it to the side. Most everything was gone, barely any whole sticks left, and TONS of worms. Guessing 5 different kind. The plan is to mix these piles of beautiful black soil with potting soil, perlite, peat, small pine chips, etc. After watching it seems I better not use this soil in wicking beds because a wicking bed needs a mixture more like a plant from the store. Hoping you see this and give me your advice. There were lots of wigglers, and couple kind of large earthworms..
Hi Brian,
I can't be 100% sure but if the garden was 10 inches tall *and* included a lot of sticks, you may not have had enough depth. But the presence of earthworms is a great sign that you had an ample amount of organic matter in the soil!
I understand worm castings are good for hobby gardening, are they viable for farming? Maybe reclaiming fallow acreage?
I take it you mean for field crops? They are certainly viable from an agricultural perspective, but it would be very expensive to treat many acres with worm castings themselves, so it's not too viable from an economic perspective unless you've got a cash crop like cannabis, grapes, etc.
Is paper a must to feed worms? Just started , I bag when I mow to pick up dead leaves, I dump it let it compost, and when I start a worm tray, I put just the compost and feed on top with a little dirt and cover with wet paper towels, and mist to keep most. This rt or do I need to do another way?
The red wigglers love living in my deep mulch vegetable garden.
Yes....mulch is great!
tyvm
Super good info! It's very frustrating seeing other composting worm companies promoting the idea of adding red wigglers to regular garden soil. Hopefully done out of ignorance since it would be a rather convenient way to get repeat business :( Converting what little organic matter exists in your soil into worm castings (if the worms even survive long enough) is a really bad idea for all the reasons mentioned.
I deep mulch with spoiled hay. I have at least two types of worms living year round in my garden. E-fetida I introduced, and L- rubellus which just showed up. Five years no till.
That's great! Creating a soil like *that* will work, but very few people are creating that intentionally. Most are trying to use composting worms in clay-heavy soil.
What streaming media will you be using for the conference.
Not 100% sure....likely something hosted by NC State!
Where can we find the slideshow?
The slideshow was supposed to show on the youtube video... Looks like Troy had some technical difficulties there without Steve's help. He realizes it and runs through the slides @22:24
Why would they be bad for living soil? I have kelp meal and alfalfa meal in my living soil, aren't they perfect to boost the microbial life from it and make it available to plants? i don't need them to survive forever just help break down the organic matter while my soil is cooking. (I'm also gonna give them a couple apples diced small to kickstart their new life :p)
We never mention worms being bad for soils. Hopefully you've watched the live stream. The point of the discussion is that composting worms don't reside IN the soil but ABOVE the soil.
Best advice ever. Attract worms, don't add them.
There was no presentation
Again, no sideshow
Great job Troy! You did a great job even without the slides!! Lots of good info passed and Worm-urban legends dispelled!!🪱🪱🪱
I thought the "growth inhibitots" was fascinating!!