Global Worming Worm Tea
Tuesday, March 27, 2007
Kudos to our local NBC news station for featuring a story this evening about a local man who is brewing up something good for gardens -- worm tea! Chip Py of Silver Spring makes Global Worming Worm Tea by keeping about 36,000 red wiggler worms hard at work in several large bins where he tosses his food scraps. Worms eat. Worms poop. Then a blender-like machine is used to force distilled water through a giant tea bag full of the castings. The result is worm tea -- all the nutritious goodies and microorganisms of worm castings in liquid form.
While I've long known that worms and worm castings are great for the soil, it was interesting to learn that this worm tea can be used as an alternative to insecticides and fungicides. I might give it a try if I have another pesky invasion of whiteflies this year.
5 Comments:
Worm tea is great. I have a Can-O-Worms composter and it has a little spout for worm tea which is the best liquid fertilizer ever.
I love your blog.
I've been pondering setting up a vermicomposting system for a while now (Can-O-Worms composter is probably one of these). Seems to be quite easy, although I have trouble finding the right kind of containers in Sweden (long story). Vermicomposting is usually recommended for indoor composting since it's easy to make it odour free and furniture proof.
How does the worm tea act as an insecticide- do you think that it is the spraying action or the tea itself.
I had heard about garlic tea being good for deterring aphids but as my problem at the time was greenfly infected sweetpeas it sounded unnecessarily malodorous.
I have finally sorted out links on my sidebar so have popped you on.
Usually a lurker here - love the blog
Jane
Chigiy, thanks! I'll have to check out the Can-O-Worms composter that you and Rosengeranium mention.
Jane, I think there are tiny organisms in the worm castings that eat the "bad" insects. At least that is how I understand it from the Global Worming Web site. (Vermiculture experts, please chime in here!)
I have also heard of garlic tea being used as a repellent. Worm castings, I think, are odor-free, but I don't know if worm tea has an odor that repells. (Chigiy, is your worm tea odoriferous?)
Thanks for adding a link to my blog, Jane. Lurkers are always welcome here -- and I know I have a few of them! -- but I definitely appreciate when people take the time to chime in and let me know they love the blog. It keeps me going!
great blog!
i recently became interested in worm tea and have been using it very sucessfully in our garden.
Here's a great site: http://www.attra.org/attra-pub/compost-tea-notes.html) A lot of useful info, including notes like: worm tea out of the bottom of a composter isn't actually tea, but instead Compost windrow leachate—the dark-colored solution that leaches out of the bottom of the compost pile—most likely will be rich in soluble nutrients; but, in the early stage of composting it may also contain pathogens. It would be viewed as a pollution source if allowed to run off-site. Compost leachate needs further bioremediation and is not suitable or recommended as a foliar spray.
Also, how it acts an insecticide... I read somewhere, but can't seem to quickly find the source, that while the tea smells like earth to us, it's very "stinky" to bugs and they stay away. Of course, I also discovered that there are many different types of bacteria that you're growing and the ones you grow aren't always the ones that keep away the bugs that you have. Go figure! Other cool things to have in your garden are lady bugs and praying matids.
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