What is a way to improve the growth of your plants in the garden? Then using Worm Castings is a way for it. These are the organic fertilizers used for plants derived from earthworms. You can even use this organic fertilizer for seedlings. Nowadays, many people focus on growing plants using organic fertilizers more than chemical fertilizers.
What is Worm Castings:
Worm Castings are natural and organic fertilizers derived from the earthworms in the soil. These castings are also called Vermicast, which is naturally produced. It acts as an organic fertilizer for plants for their growth.
Earthworm casting is the worm poo or poop. The worms in the earth absorb all the compost, and their excretion has all the nutrients. This works great for plants in the garden because of its nutritional value. Earthworm casting resembles football and also helps to enrich the soil.
Why use Worm Castings for plant growth?
All plants need enough nutrition to grow healthy against all seasons. So Worm Castings are great organic fertilizers that contain all the nutrients a plant need to grow. As we know, this is the poo or poop of earthworms that absorbs compost from the soil.
This organic fertilizer is applied to the soil directly to the plant and doesn’t burn it. Not only on the top, but you can also apply it as a side dressing, soil amendment, etc. Vermicomposting is the process of making the castings.
Benefits of Worm Castings:
There are many benefits of using the Worm Castings. They are,
It has great nutritional value:
As the earthworms consume and digest most of the compost, it comprises all the nutrients. After digestion, the compost is refined and becomes usable material that helps grow the plants in a garden. It has important nutrients like minerals and trace elements.
Neutral pH:
The pH is 7.0, which is neutral as most fertilizers are acidic or alkaline, which can harm plants. We can apply the castings easily as there is no strong smell compared to other chemical fertilizers.
Makes soil absorbent:
The earthworm castings can make the soil more absorbent, absorbing water and other nutrients well. It helps in keeping the soil moist for a long time.
It has beneficial microbes:
The final product from the worms has all the beneficial microbes, bacteria, fungi, etc. This makes the soil as healthiest possible suited for any plant.
Removes heavy metals from the soil:
According to scientists, these worm castings can even remove dangerous toxins and heavy metals from the soil. This helps in recovering the contaminated soil fast. After removing all the toxins, the soil becomes rich.
Seeds composting:
Many gardeners and farmers add composting worms to the compost files. This can improve the speed of growth and can give a healthy final product.
Helps in improving the soil structure:
According to various scientific research, this organic fertilizer has many nutrients that help growth. It is high in nitrogen, iron, calcium, humic acid, and sulfur.
How to Make Worm Castings at Home?
The process of making our worm castings at home is fun and interesting. The process of making this casting is called vermicomposting, which is very easy to make. First, you need to purchase or construct a worm box or bins. These boxes or bins for making casting are available in different sizes and shapes.
How to use Worm castings in a garden?
There are five major uses of worm castings, and they are,
Top dressing:
Top Dressings refers to its name itself. It adds the casting on the top of the soil so the roots absorb the nutrients that got into the soil while watering. Top Dressings are very easy for a top dress because there is no need for an exact amount and measurement.
It’s called side dressing because of the same process. Every few months, you have to take a handful of the casting and spray it on the base of the plant. Through raining or watering, the soil absorbs all the nutrients to the soil.
Amend the soil:
Amending the soil means mixing the casting thoroughly with the soil. This process has to be done before planting. Mix a generous amount of the casting with the garden soil until thoroughly mixed. To name the soil, a large amount of casting is needed, giving many benefits to the plants.
Seed starting mix:
A plant needs enough sunlight, water, and nutrients to grow healthy. Plants get nutrients from fertilizers, and adding organic fertilizers boost their nutrition. Adding the casting to the seed starting mix and planting them protects the plant.
Take a generous amount of the worm castings, mix them with the seed starting mix, and plant them together. You can see the plant’s rapid growth, and it also protects the plants.
Worm casting tea:
This is not a regular tea for humans but for plants, who love it. Making this tea is similar to making our regular tea. Add the casting to the water and let the casting soak into the water. The nutrients are multiplied and give a tonic from tea.
Spray this water on the base of plants and even on the leaves. It can help the leaves from the sun and weather changes. The process of making this casting tea is tricky, so follow the below steps,
- The casting and water must be in a 1:3 ratio and put in a bucket.
- Put them aside for 24 hrs and let the material soak with water. Stir the water once in a while.
- Now take the final tonic and spray them into the plant.
Rejuvenate the tired soil:
The earthworm casting helps rejuvenate the tired soil. After gardening, please do not throw the dy and tired soil and put them aside. Add some amount of casting to the soil and see its result. You can observe great results in weeks. The pH value is neutral, and you don’t need to worry about the pH value of the soil.
Tips for healthy gardening:
- Be careful while getting fertilizers because synthetic fertilizers can have harmful chemicals.
- Always try to use organic fertilizers like worm castings etc.
- Mix the casting thoroughly with the soil to make it nutritious.
- Always maintain a neutral pH value in the soil because acidic and alkaline can harm the plants.
- Make sure you test the soil before gardening.
- Choose the soil that suits the plant.
Conclusion:
Gardening is one of the fun and interesting activities or hobbies. But this is a long-term process and needs concentration and dedication. Garderes always consider using organic fertilizers over synthetic fertilizers. Organic fertilizers like Worm castings have many nutritional values to them. You can even make your castings at your home with minimal materials. There are many ways to use the casting, and they are given in the article.
FAQs:
Worm castings are the organic fertilizer that is made using earthworm excretion. This is a very healthy fertilizer to the plants.
Yes, making the casting at home is possible, and it is very simple.
There are many benefits to Vermicomposting. Some of them are it increases the absorbent capacity of the soil, improves soil structure, removes toxins and heavy metals in the soil, etc.
Yes, casting has many nutrients like iron, nitrogen, potassium, humic acid, etc. But we need help finding the exact content for homemade castings.
