There's some around Who hate the taste of chamomile Imagine earthworm casting tea I bet That would have a delicate sweet flavour But drinking it would need a new mind set
Just joking Allan Rex Tyler ry ----- Original Message ----- From: "Allan Balliett" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2002 8:23 PM Subject: FSW: earthworm castings for tea > > As I understand it, earthworm castings produce a reliable, well-balanced tea > > and also facilitate homeopathic herbal and mineral additions. Isn't this > > compost a good, somewhat easy to replicate material that would make it > > easier to test out the effectiveness of various additions to the mix? Any > > problems surfacing with using earthworm compost tea? > > > > Thanks so much Allan for setting this opportunity up! > > I too thank Allan for setting this up. I enjoy the opportunity. > > Do you mind if I get into worm compost debates a bit deeply here? > What is "worm > castings", versus "worm compost"? To be a stickler, castings are ONLY the > material that is processed by the worms, through their digestive system. No > matter how many worms you have in a bin, you CANNOT be assured that > every bit of > that material was processed by the worms through their guts. Only if you sieve > the material coming out of a worm bin, such that you have only the > little poops, > would you know that you have pure castings. So, what is sold is really worm > compost, not pure castings. > > What makes worm castings (I'm focusing on the poops right now, not along with > the other stuff that isn't processed) such wonderful stuff? The earthworm gut > is a quite interesting place. > > The evidence I have seen is that worms themsleves do not make the enzymes to > break down organic matter. Worms do not contain the DNA to make the enzymes to > break down organic matter. Therefore, what is it that worms are eating? The > muscles of the earthworms grind soil particles together in the digestive > systems, and crush, grind up and otherwise physically break open the bacteira, > fungi, protozoa, nematodes and microarthropods in the soil the worm consumes. > Do they crush ALL the bodies. No. Alot of them? Yes. The really susceptible > populations of bacteria and fungi appear to be the human pathogens, probably > because they are typically large cells with delicate cell walls and membranes. > Fungal pathogens appear to be quite susceptible to being destroyed by passage > through the earthworm gut. > > But that's not the best part of the worm digestive system! The worm > absorbs the > crushed cells of all these organisms, but then in the back end of the worm, we > have some really super bacteral and perhaps fungi species that hang out there, > and inoculate all that wonderful food stuff, so the castings are chock full of > beneficial bacterial and fungal species. > > What goes in the front end of a worm is modified and improved in many ways. > Clive Edwards at Ohio State is trying to show that there are lots of plant > growth hormones, or plant growth promoters (PGPs) in worm castings, but he has > yet to do a really well-controlled sicentific experiment that demonstrates that > worm castings have these material in high concentration. I have no doubt that > they are in worm castings, but, the science must be well-done to show that worm > castings and thus the worm compost, contain significantly higher amounts of > growth promoters than soil itself. > If you have a really healthy soil, are the same growth promoters made? So why > fuss with worms? Ah, but is it easier to get lots of PGPs when high numbers of > worms are present? Probably. So..... > > Well, you can see where this would be of interest to plant people. Worms are > merely ways to control the beneficial populations and get rid of the bad > populations. > > Now, lets move on to the other stuff that isn't processed by the worms, i.e., > does not actually go through the worm gut. That could still have pathogens in > it, right? Ah, but because the worms move through the material, even though > that material is fairly wet, they leave behind them air passageways. Worms are > little, itty, bitty mixers, teeny-tiny plows, if you will. They aerate the > material quite well. > > What is the minimum amount of aeration needed? It depedns on how much high > nitrogen-containing, simple sugar food resources you have thrown in the bin. > The higher the juicy, easy-to-use N and sugars in the bin, the more worms you > need to keep up the aeration so the bacteria and fungi don't use up the oxygen > in the compost and drive metabolism into the anaerobic range. Anaerobic means > all kinds of plant toxic compounds being made, and the possibility that human > bacterial pathogens and plant fungal pathogens are going to grow and > out-compete > the beneficial organisms. > > How wet can a worm compost be before it starts to go anaerobic? Depends on the > number of worms, and how fast the bacteria and fungi are growing. I've seen > worm bins at 80% moisture that make great worm compost, and some at that > moisture that make terrible compost. I've seen worm bins at 30% moisture that > make terrible compost. Not enough moisture and the worms just won't do their > job. Too few worms at high moisture and the "compost" stinks to high heaven. > > So, balance is the key. A few factors that you have to keep in mind > - moisture, > food quality, presence of good bacteria and fungi, worm density. The more > worms, the faster the processing, the more food you can add to the bins and the > wetter you can keep it. What causes worms to die off? Oh boy, there's a > complex topic. The wrong kinds of foods added to the bins, not enough "chunk" > to the foods so air does get limiting, not enough paper or cardboard, > too little > water, etc. Temperature plays a part only in that there is a top range and a > minimum range. The worms work faster as temperature increases, up to the point > they start to die when it gets too hot. > > So, please understand that worm compost can be really good, and it > can be really > bad. No panacea here. You must pay attention to the quality of the product, > how it was produced, the way it feels, smells, and insist that the > producer show > you the biological data and the chemical data. > > If the manure going into the worm bin is high in salt, the compost will be high > in salt. The manure will be high in salt if the animals are being fed > pelletized foods, so use small amounts of that kind of manure. You can use > normal amounts of manure from animals that are fed grass, grain (be careful of > high protein coming through if fed too high grain content however, you have to > balance with high paper, cardboard, stalk and stems of plants) . > > Can worm compost be as variable as thermal compost? Yes. It's just > less likely > to be as consistently variable. Thermal compost varies from batch to batch > because hte starting materials going in are quite variable. If the starting > materials are exactly the same, but percentages of the different materials are > varied, the results can still be variable. We have data from a big study with > the City of Eugene, OR that we'll be publishing soon. (there's a relative term > for you - what do you mean by soon? I mean we'll start the publishing process > in June or July, after analyzing the data, writing up the paper, and you could > expect to see the pub in about 2 years. That's why I have the e-zine. I can > talk about results before they ae officially published). > > But your implied question is relative to thermal compost. Is worm compost more > consistent than thermal. Yes. So, given a source of good worm compost, use > it. I tend to mix 10 - 50% thermal compost with 50 to 90% worm compost to make > tea, so I increase the diversity of organisms in the tea. > > Hope this answers your question! If not, try again! > > Elaine Ingham > >
