Pass the Worm Juice!

We’ve now been making “worm juice” for about 5 months and are having good results.  We’re nearly r

Our garden is doing well using the worm juice our worms have
produced.  We use no other fertilizers.  And as for
weed control, we use cardboard, paper,
hay and mulch.

eady to share it with others who are interested in organic fertilizer for their house plants or gardens.

WHAT IS WORM JUICE?

We’re glad you asked!  It’s a by-product of nature in a liquid form.  Worm Juice is rich in good nitrogen fixing bacteria, and the key is that the bacteria are ready-available minerals and trace elements so it can be immediately used by your plants.

We have several worm farms in our barn right now, eating our kitchen vegetable scraps along with the soil we give them.  As worms break­down the food source they pro­duce a liq­uid that will fall to the low­est part of the container and drip into a bucket we keep under it. This juice is liq­uid gold as it works as an amaz­ing fer­til­izer. The great thing is you don’t need that much either. The ratio can be as much as 9:1 water: worm juice. How­ever the ratio will dif­fer depend­ing on how much we water our worms.  Sounds odd perhaps, but the lit­tle crit­ters don’t like it to be dry in there so we try to keep the envi­ron­ment as moist as pos­si­ble.

The best worm juice should look like a light brown, something like a weak cup of tea.

The worms produce a lot more of this juice in the warmer months and less in the cooler months.  But an overabundance of it in the summer can be saved until it is needed later!

Most of the “ingredients” that we put in our worm farms are organic table scraps from vegetables and fruits along with other compost.  The worms make wonderful compost and also leave behind the liquid which we drain from the bottom of the containers and put into gallon jugs.  This liquid can be mixed with water and then given directly to your house plants or garden plants for a boost in nutrition.

We are still learning proper use and have not had our “juice” tested yet.  In the past, we have seen the following results from others who have had theirs tested:

·         pH – 8.5: That’s a high pH for soil, but for a fertilizer added every week or two it’s fine.

·         Nitrogen – 1120 ppm: That’s high for a fertilizer.  About twice the concentration I’d use if I were applying a liquid fertilizer to my plants at home. The nitrogen is present mostly as nitrate, which is a good thing.  If the nitrogen were present primarily as ammonium, that might cause problems.

·         Phosphorus – 22 ppm: That’s a good/appropriate concentration of phosphorus for most plants. It’s much less than we apply when we use a typical garden fertilizer. Potassium – 5034 ppm: This is an order of magnitude higher than we’d apply for most plants using a liquid fertilizer.

·         Calcium – 279 ppm: This is a reasonable amount of calcium.

·         Magnesium – 211 ppm: This is reasonable amount of magnesium.

·         Sodium – 634 ppm

·         Other elements present included Iron, Copper, Manganese, Zinc, Molybdenum, and Boron, all at levels less than 1 ppm.

Our conclusion so far is that this makes an excellent liquid fertilizer if it is used properly.  Diluting it is important and applying it only once each week or two seems appropriate.  We are also sure not to get it on the leaves of the plants, only on the soil below.

This is a great way to avoid those chemical plant fertilizers by using own design in nature, and it’s affordable too.

You can start your own worm farm too - a great homeschool project for any family.

Here's just a little to get you started:  http://www.veryediblegardens.com/iveg/worms

Don't want to deal with worms?  We'll be selling our worm juice to all who are interested very soon!