AusBonsai

hi guys,

it has been just under a year since i have been solely worm farm products as fertilizer and soil conditioners.

I have been using the worm castings as the organic component in my soil mix for 4 months now as well.

A bit of background on my use and consumption of the products produced in this worm farm

- so far, after repotting 4 plants, three of which are in styrofoam grow boxes, i have still only used 2/3rds of one tray of mature worm castings, this stuff goes a long way
- i have 9 trees, all at different stages of development, and this worm farm provides all of the liquid a solid fertilizer i need, or have needed thus far
- each time i add waste to my worm farm, i will fill the ten liter bucket i put my scraps in, twice and water the farm, this can yeild anywhere between 15-20 liters (depending on how full the smaller 5 liter drip bucket is) of worm leechate.
- when i collect the worm juice concentrate over a few days in the drip bucket underneath the drain tap, i will usually pour this back over the newly added scraps to add back the microorganisms to the new scraps to accelerate the breakdown of the organics. I then pour two buckets of water over the worm farm and let it percolate through the three trays and collect the worm leechate from the bottom
- this washes some of the finer castings through in the water mix, and keep the worm farm aerated, making sure it doesnt go septic and anoxic. The worm casting fines serve to load the soil with nutrient rich organic. I then periodically, get the worm castings, and spread some over the surface of each of the plants, work them in slightly with a chopstick and they serve as a slow release fert
- every now and then ill take the worm farm trays off and wash the collected solids in the base out, returning them to the top tray, this flush usually yields some very rich leechate water when i then flush the worm farm with another 10-20 liters of water.
- so far, my plants have never been happier, the leaves are greener than i have ever seen them, growth is phenomial, especially for winter, and recovery of collected trees and recently repotted trees is fantastic.

To give you an idea of how rich this stuff is, the styrofoam boxes i use to capture the water (so my neighbours below dont get showered every time i water) are as grren as a shamrock with algae. And thumb thick privet cutting, taken 3 weeks ago, that have been sat in this captured water have struck a very impressive root system, again, in newcastle its winter, ansd a pretty cold one.

UI think it will be interesting to see the results in another 6 months or so, im going to continue to use only this as my source of fertilizer, and the plants that have been potted in worm castings i will be sure to document when i repot.

My worm farm provides enough product for me, depending on how much water i add to the farm, to water my plants every day. some days i may have a only a little juice in the drain bucket, and only have to add 5 litres of water because if given the worm farm a drench the day before and the resulting mix of leechate the water will obviously be less (as i will need to dilute it with more tap water to make up enough to cover all my plants), and some days i may give it a full flush and have a full bucket of worm juice concentrate to mix in with it, resulting in enough water to water all my plants at full strength.

regardless of this, i would think that a fully functioning worm farm, that is taken car of properly, could produce enough worm leechate at full strength to water 20-30 trees, and make sure they get a good dose of worm leechate about once a week to once a fortnight (on a rotation obviously).

Im certainly noticeing great results, anyone else using worm farm products on their bonsai?

Anyone got any technical information they can input here, benefits of worm farm products, general composition?

I know one of the main advantages is the introduction of microorganisms for the remineralization and breakdown of nutrient resulting in them being more accessible to the plant.

anyone got any input?

Oh and by the way, this worm farm, now having been in full production for about 8 months, takes ALL the orgnic kitchen scraps, including vegetable, leftover bread, stale plain biscuits, leftover rise, pasta, anything not too acidic and relatively "pure" from the food prepared for two people (me and my girlfriend). it also digests at a massive speed of knots, pizza boxes, newspaper, cardboard boxes etc.

my worm farm is currently eating up, with no problem at all, around 5 litres of scraps every two days. that is, i dump half a ten liters bucket of scraps into the farm every couple of days, and thus far, it has had no problems keeping up. and one of the trays is castings only. i think if i got all the three trays going, i could push a lot more into, and out of, this worm farm.

come on guys, surely someone is using, has questions, or has some knowledge to add?

Garath,
I have three worm farms (the three plastic container type) and have been using the worm "juice" on my garden and plants growing in the ground for many years. I also use the juice on my bonsai, but relatively sparingly. I was very interested in your methods and now I may need to try some other uses?

I am only just getting a worm farn set up after moving to a new house. I used to work at a nursery and we trialed worm castings on some plants we had. We had several plants in tubes that were grown using the same mix ect. We planted one in worm casting and the other in our commercial (expensive) potting mix. In a matter of weeks the plant in the castings was way in front of the plant in the commercial mix. It was taller, thicker, greener and generally looked healthier.
I plan to use the castings and liquid on my bonsai but work gets in the way so I haven't really got it up and running yet. I would however recomend using it in bonsai as it is natural, should be ph balanced and better for the enviroment. Just my


Josh

I am very new to bonsai as many of you know and Gareth I'm also one who resides in Newcastle (well lmcc) my father was big on permaculture when. I was a child so in my 30s I've been a composter for a long time. We have always had worms in our compost . When ever a new bin was started the you made sure you moved some worms as well. A small example of difference my father was a lawns man for a bowling green and my father a big user of chemical ferts. He decided to grow 3 simple crops in 3 plots in our yard the first plot was left with out anything the 2nd the best chemicals he could find the third pure compost. Now I admit their were some differences in shade from our big old ghost gum so morning afternoon shade swung but in general the enviro was the same. Needles to say the compost across the board was.the best but also had more weeding more pests and a bunch of self sown plants popping up. 20 plus years on he now swears by proper worm farms and vermiculture he re did the test with worm castings verses compost the casting plants with a healthy dose of worm tea twice a week. Were clear winners. But this is not bonsai. Just thought I'd add my limited knowledge. I do use a little casting and juice on my pj fig but its barely a stick in a pot. I do plan on using it on trees I grow

Yeh I'm a user of worm wee.
At what ratios do you use and you mentioned that you use for transplanting and cuttings, could you please elaborate. I use it to just water in a mild tea color form, I may need to change this though, how ever the worms have to fight the chickens, the sheep and the pig for our scraps.

Regards
Mick

Gareth,

A few years back now I was involved in a field trial of worm castes on wheat production up near Gunnedah. There was a company that was using woms to compost sewerage sludge. A fellow had invented an industrial size worm bed, in the order of 3m wide and 30 metres long. One of the secret was to add 10% zeolite to adsorb the ammonia given off by urine in the sludge.

Up shot was, it was the wettest month in several decades and 4 inches of rain overnight washed most of the worm castes off the paddock in the 3 week of the trial. This was a single application of wormcastes and they were washed off after three weeks. The farmer harvested the crop anyway, even though the trial was canceled, and found a tonne per hectare more grain in the caste section than the control. The result wqas very unexpected.

There is no doubt in my mind that worm acivity in soil and worm products such as castes and wee when applied to plants improve growth.

Paul

Interesting post Gareth. I've been thinking about getting a worm farm recently but this was purely to dispose of kitchen scraps and maybe to use castings on the garden.

If there's benefits for my bonsai though, it definitely sounds like something worth investigating further.

Hi Gareth
What an interesting post! I have been using worm casting and fluid on my garden for many years now. I have two worm farms in action. Since Christmas I have been using the fluid mixed sparingly with water on my bonsai.
The figs have taken to it very well. They are growing beautifully even now. The worm castings I mix with Seasol and water. I add a little to the mix when repotting. The plants appear to like this. I always make sure that when I
place scraps in the worm farms, I add shredded paper and a little gritty potting mix. The worms seem to like the grit. I flush the worm farms about every 6 weeks. This is my limited knowledge on worm farms.

reply time!!!!!!

Handy Mick wrote:At what ratios do you use and you mentioned that you use for transplanting and cuttings, could you please elaborate. I use it to just water in a mild tea color form, I may need to change this though, how ever the worms have to fight the chickens, the sheep and the pig for our scraps.

good question. Now that i think about it more i can explain it like this, after i flush the worm farm (which can be between 10-20 liters of water) and let the majority of the water drain, i put a 4 litre bucket underneath to collect concentrate for the drip tap. next time i flush this is usually mostly full.

then I either:
1. pour that 4 liter bucket with the concentrate into a large bucket, then after flushing with 10-20 liters of water this is mixed into the concentrate. OR
2. pour the concentrate back over the worm farm (after adding new scraps) and then pour 10-20 liters of water over it then.

Either way, you could say it can be as much as 1 part Concentrate: 2 parts leechate (4 liters conc: 10 liters leechate) to as little as 1 part concentrate : 4 parts leechate (4 liters conc : 20 litres leechate), approximately.

I should detail here, the concentrate, is the liquid collected over a longer period of time. the Leechate, is the water collected after flushing the worm farm, which contains fines from the castings, liquid from the worms and is microbially active.

If i only use the concentrate, i tip this into a 9 liter bucket, and treat it like a fertilizer, distributing it throughout my trees sparingly, and then watering in with another 1 or two buckets of just water.

the castings, i use at around a handfull for every 20cm square area in the pot. and work them in with a chop stick, but they usually water in pretty well in the first application, any clumps that dry out, absorb water very well, and soak in eventually.

the cuttings, were just thrown in the syro boxes i use to catch the water from my trees ( i live in a 3rd story flat, so i capture all my water to keep my neighbours happy!!!, and drain them over the balcony through a hose into the drain below when i need to so i dont shower my neighbours with stink water every time i water/fertilize), and they struck root in about 5 days.

Transplanting, i have gone back to using organic at around 40%, owing to the fact that a soil that is biologicaly active is, i bilieve much more beneficial than a purely inorgnic mix, nutrients can remineralize and be used by the plants. And so i though Worm castings were a perfect canididate. This is only form of organic in the mix, it is used just as potting mix is, the rest is 50% diatomite, 10% zeolite, the ratios change slightly for the inorganics and im still tweeking it, but the organic remains around the same in %.

63pmp wrote:Gareth,

A few years back now I was involved in a field trial of worm castes on wheat production up near Gunnedah. There was a company that was using woms to compost sewerage sludge. A fellow had invented an industrial size worm bed, in the order of 3m wide and 30 metres long. One of the secret was to add 10% zeolite to adsorb the ammonia given off by urine in the sludge.

Up shot was, it was the wettest month in several decades and 4 inches of rain overnight washed most of the worm castes off the paddock in the 3 week of the trial. This was a single application of wormcastes and they were washed off after three weeks. The farmer harvested the crop anyway, even though the trial was canceled, and found a tonne per hectare more grain in the caste section than the control. The result wqas very unexpected.

There is no doubt in my mind that worm acivity in soil and worm products such as castes and wee when applied to plants improve growth.

Paul

Doesnt surprise me, even rain would only just water it is, even is the castings washed off, the microbial activity would remain. This is the exact concenpt of Compost tea, a practice that is very wide spread now and making big moves in agriculture, especially organic agriculture over the last 5 or so years.

fireworks wrote:Hi Gareth
What an interesting post! I have been using worm casting and fluid on my garden for many years now. I have two worm farms in action. Since Christmas I have been using the fluid mixed sparingly with water on my bonsai.
The figs have taken to it very well. They are growing beautifully even now. The worm castings I mix with Seasol and water. I add a little to the mix when repotting. The plants appear to like this. I always make sure that when I
place scraps in the worm farms, I add shredded paper and a little gritty potting mix. The worms seem to like the grit. I flush the worm farms about every 6 weeks. This is my limited knowledge on worm farms.

generally, as i detailed above, the amount of worm leechate (mixed with concentrate) can be used at very high rates, even with bonsai. with a free draining mix, even with one such as mine, using very rich organic (worm castings) and simultaneously watering very high amounts of worm leechate, my plants have had nothing but positive results.

i have not purchased or used ANY fertilizer, seasol, powerfeed, dynamic lifter, ANYTHING, for 8 months now. yep i didnt make a mistake. 8 MONTHS!!!!!! and my plants are growing very very well, even for winter.

I am soon going to make up a worm fattener recipee, to adjust any acidity in my farm (from the lime in the recipee), and get some more out of my worms, but apart from that, i dont anything, soil or manure apart from organic matter from the kitchen and cardboard over the top of scraps, or newspaper.

i add

- vegetable scraps
- egg shells crushed up when we have eggs, which now is not very often, hence why i want to add lime to combat acidity
- rice
- pasta (the rice and pasta i think really bulk up the worms)
- small amounts of garlic and onion off cuts
- stale biscuits and bread (only small amounts)

I am also, now that i have started a freshwater planted aquarium, i will use the water change water, to which i will be use probiotic bacteria in, to water the worm farm as well. This will add, i think more biological diversity to the farm.

I flush my farm a lot more than many people, i think it keeps it more productive, washing out and aerating anoxic areas, and keeping the worms mopist, they like it pretty wet. It also, when you use run the buckets of water through the worm farm a few times, distributes the microbes throughout the farm, and keep the bacteria working on breaking down the waste so the worms can more easily eat it.

I flush my farm around once every 2-3 days with around 20 liters of water, all my three trays are working and nearly full, im thinking about giving them a week break now just to let the worms catch up.

Just to give you some backround, i work at Hunter Pets in Thornton, before that i worked at Aquasonic, designing aquarium systems, doing lake aeration and remediation, and deisnging aquaponics systems. What i really specilized in, was probiotic bacterial mixes, for water quality management. So organic, probiotic microbially rich substances like worm farm products, how they worm in a semi aquatic, or nutrient rich environment, is right up my alley.

Rintar wrote:I am very new to bonsai as many of you know and Gareth I'm also one who resides in Newcastle (well lmcc)

Mate, if we havent met yet, and forgive me if we have, and your interested in Aquariums, you should come out to Hunter Pets in thornton and introduce yourself. there are a few of us around newcastle that would be happy to swap ideas, stock whatever.

If anyone is interested in bacterial driven systems, and aquarium chemistry, my blog is in my signature.

I feed once a week with the worm 'tea' and nothing else with great results, diluted to about 50% with water - regardless of the season.
Not very technical I know but my hypothesis on this has always been that if it is 100% organic anything not required by the tree will simply not be absorbed.

I feed once a week with the worm 'tea' and nothing else with great results, diluted to about 50% with water - regardless of the season.
Not very technical I know but my hypothesis on this has always been that if it is 100% organic anything not required by the tree will simply not be absorbed.

I find my trees are still growing now despite it being not unlike the arctic circle in newcastle at the moment. The bougainvillea is flowering and growing, (slowly, but growing).

Everyhitng else is going mad, does anyone have a breakdown and known advantages, aspects, effects of using worm related products like tea and castings?

I love growing organically and for anyone wanting to start using less chemicals and go organic a worm farm is the way to go.
Have been a bit slack in the last couple of years thanks to the addition of children. Still have a worm farm. I never add it to my bonsai mix as I us an open mix it just turns to mud on the bottom of the pot on clogs up the drainage. I also found that if I added castings to a mix that sometimes there maybe still some eggs and worms in my pot plants also end up with drainage issues. The moral to my story, worm farming is fantastic free organic fertiliser. Can burn if used too strong as a foliage feed ( should look like weak tea not coca cola ), doesn't smell, safe to use on natives, creates and encourages anorobic activity in soil, can bulk up sandy soils.
I live QLD and my wife must persist with roses and black spot. Since introducing worm tea and castings this problem has most definitely been controlled and ten times as many blooms.

If you haven't got on get one. Great investment especially for the health of your bonsai and everything else garden wise.

Nick.

Guys, It's really nice talking about worm farm organics, and also really nice above comments, guys, i also want to say something about it, I have three worms agriculture the three unpleasant program kind and have been using the worms juice on my garden and plants improving in the ground for many years. I also use the juice on my bonsai, but relatively sometimes. I was very passionate about your techniques and now I may need to try some other uses...???