Been brewing worm tea for a couple years now, only because I bought a microscope to check it. Without a microscope you have no idea what you are spraying on your plants. Another point that is very important is to sanitize your equipment after each use. Along with beneficial microbes, there are microbes that can get you sick or kill your plants. Another good way to use worm castings is just to make an extract. All I do is put a few handfuls in a paint strainer bag, agitate in a 5 gal bucket with dechlorinated water and apply as a soil drench or foliar feed. Going on 5 years raising worms, the garden definitely benefits. Stay Well!!!

@pilsplease7561

2 ай бұрын

That is partially true, about harmful microbes but usually the good ones will out compete the bad every time. I will add that I am a winemaker so I have tons of sanitizers that will kill microbes that are food grade and use those to sanitize my gear after making worm casting tea for my wine grapes. Star San which is a food grade sanitizer is a cheap option for people to sanitize gear, its impossible to build resistance to and will defeat bio films as well.

Could you do more videos on the Arizona Warm Farm/vermicomposting in general? Thanks!

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

You bet. 2 more videos in the works right now. Thanks for the suggestion.

I cant belive i was there Last week, its Beautiful, I was in the Phoenix Area Visiting Family for the Holidays, Loved it, Everyone was so Nice i walked around And toured the Farm my self 😅

I'm a beginning gardener, but it seems to me a recurring theme is that most pests are scavengers in a way. I keep hearing that fertilizing and strengthening plants in any way makes them less prone to pest activity. Including lawns.

WOW AWESOME! I have seen many videos that talk about this concept. But this the first video that actually gives you the recipe in a straight forward and easy way to understand. Thank You for taking the time to make this video. Very grateful, and I am pretty sure there will be many people that will agree. I have shared this video with family, friends and neighbours. Much love from South Africa 🌍🇿🇦 ❤️🤗👍👍💚 .

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

You're welcome. I loved learning about it too.

@ElvisAaronpresleybyRustyMartin

5 ай бұрын

​@@GrowingInTheGarden Ashley. Where can I purchase the overalls you are wearing

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

@@ElvisAaronpresleybyRustyMartin From Dickies: tinyurl.com/4a5p6b5a

This was wonderful. 👏🏾👏🏾👏🏾

We’re going there today!

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

Tell them hello from me! :)

Thank you for sharing the recipe…

you're questions were spot on. thank you!

Incredible!

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

Thanks for your help with this one, you're the best!

VERY good ! Helped me a lot. I was already extremely motivated to start a worm farm, now its a necessity. I like both of you very much, great questions by the host, great clear, short answers by the guest.

Love this

Happy New Year 2024 😊👍👍🥳

few things, first, vegetative tea and fruiting teas are different. To get Veg Tea you only need molasses and you can mix it directly into the recipe and start bubbling. To get a fruiting tea you want fungal dominant tea, so you need to replace about 60% of the sugar with starchy carbs (baby oatmeal is fantastic and free of harmful chemicals). And this needs to be mixed into the castings and the mix needs to be laid out about 2 inches deep and flat in a cool dark place, partially covered until it develops an earthy smell and visible fungal growth on the surface. This can take 24 hours to 5 days depending on the temperature and light exposure. Once the fungus as become highly active you can then add the castings mix to water and aerate it for 12 to 16 hours. second, all the extra amendments aren't necessary unless you are preparing dead soil for new microbes and need the plant to continue to get concentrated fertilizer until the microbe activity can support a full yield of whatever you are producing. The tea is meant to rapidly develop a colony of microbes. Not to act as a refined fertilizer. And for the tea to work, you need organics in the soil to break down for all your little microbe babies to eat. Castings and/or Frass with sugar and/or starch are all that is required. And lastly, a proper AACT can be mixed 10 - 1 with water to get 100% of the benefit of leaf spraying. Also, when your tea is properly aerated to maximum microbial density, the bits of solid organics left in the tea will appear suspended, and that AACT will last a week if kept at 60 degrees or below before going dormant. At which point it can be revived with more sugar and/or starch. AACT is the cultivation of microbial livestock. Not the production of fertilizer.

Sounds great , so Im not knocking this however we know nature is the best teacher so The thing im trying to comprehend is this a process that happens in nature i just want to understood how this method came about it certainly has a lot of components to get to the finished product

@GrowingInTheGarden

3 ай бұрын

Trying to mimic nature can take several steps. More details here: growinginthegarden.com/organic-fruit-tree-fertilizing-4-simple-steps/

@richardmeyer4406

Ай бұрын

That’s the way how I feel about . Life , gardening should be easy , cheap and copping nature . Or we are going the chemical way

Sooo helpful. Here's a rabbit hole question about hose sprayers. I can never tell if they're working. The water always comes out clear and the tank seems to stay the same color. I've encountered this with many sprayers. Thanks.

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

You should see the tank emptying. If it's not, the filter may be clogged. I go into more detail about that in the blog post: growinginthegarden.com/how-why-to-make-worm-castings-tea/

Nice! I think I’ll let AZ Worm Farm come spray my yard with their tea since I’m a half block away. Do they still offer that service?

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

Absolutely, you can learn more about it here: arizonawormfarm.com/mobile-tea-sprays

@msbknows

5 ай бұрын

Thanks Angela! You’re the best.

@rocksolidwealth

5 ай бұрын

How often should you spray? I'm thinking I will just buy it from them

@msbknows

5 ай бұрын

@@rocksolidwealth They offer a one-time spray for up to a half acre or a multiple spray package. Check out their website for your specific needs.

No one around me makes their own worm castings. Live in a very small town.

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

You can make your own in your garden beds - learn how here: growinginthegarden.com/vermicomposting-made-easy-in-bed-worm-composting/

@zachyweezer

2 ай бұрын

if you can, visit a forest. when you move away the layers of leaves, i bet you'll see small, dark looking granular bits. those are worm castings. you can scoop some up and figure out a way to separate them from the dirt. i bet a kitchen sieve of some kind would work. good luck!

have you experimented with Beauveria bassiana powder for pests? Id love to see you do a video on it.

@GrowingInTheGarden

3 ай бұрын

No - Haven't used that. Seems interesting.

I’m in the process of making LAB from Korean natural farming. Do you think I can apply worm casting tea to the leaves and the soil around the same time as applying the LAB? Or will it be too much at once or will it be beneficial

Good info. Only question I have is do you mix the final tea with water or use full strength? Thanks.

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

Usually you dilute with water. You can get the dilution instructions here: growinginthegarden.com/how-why-to-make-worm-castings-tea/

Hell yea

Is the tea spray offered from AWF in gallons, etc? Or is this only available in their site service?

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

You can buy it by the gallon on Saturdays. Call first to make sure they have it available.

Just put some castings into a bucket of water, stir it around, then throw it onto the ground under your trees. It works exactly the same way. DO NOT worry about all of that absolute twaddle, that the guy is rabbiting on about.

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

That works too. If you want more microbes, doing this will help.

I accidentally bought the dried black fly larvae instead of frass. Can I still use this to make the compost tea?

Hi!! Where can I find some sweet potatoes to start growing my slips?? Any suggestions?

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

Check for organic ones at your local grocery store.

Does Arizona Worm farm also sell live worms in small amounts?

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

Yes, they sell lots of worms.

Can I do this directly in my garden in a few spots?

@GrowingInTheGarden

4 ай бұрын

Sure

Can this help with flowers (dahlias, zinnias, gladiolus, cosmos, etc cutting flower garden)?

@GrowingInTheGarden

2 ай бұрын

Yes!

He doesn’t add any molasses? No feeding the microbes?

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

Not to this recipe

@jonathanbuford1793

3 ай бұрын

I was under the same impression that it was a. Essential part to get the most out of the castings? Hmmmm

I alternately get excited at the giant worms in my soil, and dismayed to see various birds mostly crows, devouring them each time the weather warms up and it rains. Well I'm assuming that's what's on the menu at the apparent smorgasbord going on out there. Any advice you have on encouraging worm reproduction would be helpful.

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

Healthy soil makes for happy worms and happy worms reproduce. Follow good organic gardening principles and they will reproduce.

But if you take your tea and then mix it with city water, wouldn't it kill everything like he said in the beginning?

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 ай бұрын

I had that same question. Zach's response 'No. The chlorine is not in contact long enough to cause any problems and it dissipates rapidly after spraying."

I’ve seen worm teas with sugar in it as a food source. Is this something different?

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 күн бұрын

Here's the response from Zach: Lots of people recommend Molasses. It primarily feeds bacteria and we don’t have any trouble growing bacteria. So we don’t. It is also useful for longer brews (briefly: as you brew longer good bacteria dies and then gets eaten by bad bacteria-which you really don’t want…..so people add sugars to sustain the good bacteria). Our tea recipe focuses on fungal dominance and helpful nematodes, neither of which is really helped by molasses. Frankly, it would be way more useful To add fresh alfalfa if they are looking to pump up their tea. It will speed fungal growth. We also hate long brews. Anything over 36 hours is risky. The tea peaks somewhere around 18 hours. I never understand taking a risk for longer tea. If something happens where you can’t use it on time, dump it and start over. No one should be risking growing potentially pathogenic bacteria like E coli and Salmonella.

I thought adding unsulpharated mollases was a part🤔

Who has the supplies and time to make this. Can we just go and buy some

@GrowingInTheGarden

2 ай бұрын

Yes, they sell it on Fridays and Saturdays at the Worm Farm.

just bought a bubbler and acquired a large trash can, only to discover that microbial reproduction is severely limited past 90 or so degrees. summers here are brutal and there's no way i could do this inside....bummer.

@GrowingInTheGarden

Ай бұрын

use it in the cooler months of spring and fall, your plants will love it

I’ve seen worm teas with sugar in it as a food source. Is this something different?

@GrowingInTheGarden

5 күн бұрын

Here's the response from Zach: Lots of people recommend Molasses. It primarily feeds bacteria and we don’t have any trouble growing bacteria. So we don’t. It is also useful for longer brews (briefly: as you brew longer good bacteria dies and then gets eaten by bad bacteria-which you really don’t want…..so people add sugars to sustain the good bacteria). Our tea recipe focuses on fungal dominance and helpful nematodes, neither of which is really helped by molasses. Frankly, it would be way more useful To add fresh alfalfa if they are looking to pump up their tea. It will speed fungal growth. We also hate long brews. Anything over 36 hours is risky. The tea peaks somewhere around 18 hours. I never understand taking a risk for longer tea. If something happens where you can’t use it on time, dump it and start over. No one should be risking growing potentially pathogenic bacteria like E coli and Salmonella.

@chaselex

4 күн бұрын

@@GrowingInTheGarden wow thank you so much for your detailed response. I really appreciate that. I will take all that into consideration. I do live in South Florida and we have a problem with some nematodes. I’m wondering if that would actually be bad for me down here to increase nematodes.