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FAQ's and Comments
March 28, 2011 vermicomposting
I am introducing a blog page to allow questions and comments on the subject of vermicomposting.
Dear Paul,<br />
I have taken note of the areas that can be covered by worm tea as well as castings. I seem to have missed the correct application to a fruit tree (citrus, guava and avocado. <br />
I am thinking of loosening the soil with a 4-pronged fork and letting the compost sink into the soil as deep as possible. The question is how much do I apply?<br />
<br />
I also plan to sink some wide piping into the soil under the tree, with some holes on the sides too, and then watering into this pipe - which will also save water. Now if I put casting or tea into this pipe and periodically watering it, will the castings or tea that is not absorbed into the soil,not go putrid or sour after being in the pipe for a while? The soil here is extreme clay, and each fruit tree's "bed" has been dug out 1 cubic meter.<br />
Will appreciate.
Paul
Apr-25 5:18pm
I would recommend using about 10 lbs. of worm castings per 100 sq. ft. of area that covers the rootball of the tree. I would agree with ariation of the soil to allow the worm castings and worm tea to more quickly reach the tree roots.<br />
I would encourage you to NOT drive pipes into the rootball. Severed roots will not feed the tree. Abetter method to conserve water would be to cover the rootball with mulch and water using drip irrigation.
In order to jump start this blog, I am posting an email I received from a site visitor from South America. If I can get interest from someone I will post my responses to his questions and post pictures he sent.
Hi there: Hope you can help me with my question A little of my background: I do live in a banana Plantation area (In the north cost of Colombia in south America in a town call Santa Marta in the tropics) with more than 15.000 hectares cultivated in a 20 Km radius. All the farms have to dispose of the remnants of the crops (see picture) mainly the stick where the bananas grows and there are lots of that, so I decided to start my vermicompost facility using this organic matter as food for them.
I started one month ago, after what I thought was a lot of research. Now I do have a 10X2 meters beds with worms dying
My problem: I do chop the stick and let it decompose few days, but now that I have a big population of worms, I started having a PH problem. It is TOO high, above 9.3 and temp 30.2 degrees centigrade (see picture). It looks like more it decompose more the PH get high...My water is from a little river by the farm and the water is at 29 degrees Centigrade and the PH is 8.4. I put on it the beds more worms than I have now, and I can not see they are reproducing since I see not eggs...But they eat very happily the food (see picture) and the worms I see are very alive.
The food is almost 83% WATER, I started today trying to take off as much water out of the chopped stick and then adding water with diluted orange jus so the PH was 5.2. Hoping this will help me any way.
My plea: Could you have the time and the patience to give me any insights I really would appreciate your professional advise and help....
THANK YOU very much
A desperate starting vermiculture farmer¨
Lucas Echeverri
Here is an email from a recent customer. I hope you will visit her blog page for some very informative information and pictures.
i just wanted to let you know how excited I am about my vermidirt purchase this weekend! I was the one who purchased 20 lbs. Wanda gave me a bunch of Mustard greens (haven't tried them yet, but i'm sure they will be great!). Thank you so much for introducing me to this product. I am keeping a blog of my garden and various homeade things. I have mentioned your website & your products. I hope you don't mind. Thank you so much, again!
also, my mother-in-law mentioned that you called. i'm going to call you back, i just haven't had a chance yet. i'm excited to learn more about the bokashi mix. and i've used up almost all of my vermidirt on my plants that were already planted, and on the seedlings that i planted Saturday. so, i'm going to need more!
The following text is email correspondence I had with a web site visitor from South Africa. I have arranged it to be in chronological order and edited out only the email addresses.
Dear sir, I just want to express my appreciation of the following text on your web page: "... the ultimate goal of returning the soil to God's design." As a Christian it touches me deeply that you should acknowledge belief in God - especially in this world where the majority is ashamed of even mentioning His blessed Name and provision.. He will surely bless you for this open confession. May He lead and strengthen you, and bless you in your business. I rejoice with you that you (deservedly) be the first to patent castings as insecticide and pesticide. It must be something to be really proud about!
And thank you for your much appreciated information. It is clear that you are not pulling punches with that.
I live in South Africa (Eastern Cape). Pensioner. Grew up near the soil and have always shunned chemical means of growing things. So only just recently I started to enquire about worm farming as a means to supplement my pension. (At 42 I resigned from a very good position and worked myself through 7 years of university and became a minister at 49. I landed in a very poor congregation - which later closed due to becoming a black township. I went on forced retirement with 6.1/2 yrs. pension - the global economic disaster year of 1987.)
Your web page is one of the first that I visited, and this high quality information (and your willingness to share it with others) has helped me to start with breeding with red worms (Eisenia Fetida). I now have 2 small plastic tubs (2.5 sq.ft. each) and a larger wooden box. To this I am applying my newfound knowledge, and learning as much as I can from whatever free source I can find.
Because you must be very busy, I do not expect you to reply. I am satisfied that I have let you know how much you are appreciated, that I have thanked you, and wished you God's speed. That is my satisfaction.
God's blessings and kind regards.
Rev. Gideon Aggenbag.
Dear Rev. Aggenbag,
I want to thank you for the very kind words. I was born and raised a Roman Catholic and attended parochial school from grades k-12. I was raised and taught in school to respect all religions as we all have but one God in the form of the trinity. God the Father, God the Son and God the Holy Spirit. When surrounded by the wonders of nature that God created, I feel much closer to him. May God bless you with good fortune in your new business. The lesson to be learned is that being a good steward of God's creatures is a benefit to not only the individual but to all mankind.
Many others have done the hard research and have it posted on the web. Use their knowledge so the wheel does not have to be reinvented.
May I have your permission to post your email on my website?
God Bless,
Paul M. Duchock VermiDirt Farms LLC - Owner Master Gardener www.vermidirtfarms.net Phone 843-332-1859
Dear Paul,
What an unexpected pleasure to have you reply to my email!! Yes, you are right, the only true God revealed Himself to us as Father, Son and Holy Spirit.
Yes, you have my permission to post my email hereunder on your website. I hope that you will benefit greatly from it. Our winter is approaching, and I have just in time learned (from one of your articles) that worms like some warmth too. I have just now – as evening approaches – put some old, dry, heavy underfelt over the wormbins, after they have been sitting in the weak winter sun all day (lids on, of course! J). Our night temperatures around here seldom drops under 10 degrees C.,
I also cut up cardboard boxes, after taking off all the tape, in narrow, +-20 mm strips, dip a bundle in a pail of rain water, squeeze it out some, and spread it over the bin surface and kitchen scraps (which I usually “mature” some before hand). Over that I lay some old, heavy underfelt after dipping it also in the water and squeezing it out just a little. The worms are so happy they smile at me every time I lift the damp underfelt, then make a dive. J.
Looking forward to the new addition to your website.
VermiDirt
