Worms in soil

[SkunkWrangler]

Sorry if this sounds stupid... Instead of worm castings in soil, can you just put a couple live worms in your containers?

 

[bigherb]

good question

lol

worm castin was not available to me soo i got this idea

2nd outdoor i tried this n i had great results overall dont kno how much credit i can give to the worms but no ill effect for sure i did maybe like 5 worms a 25 gal

 

[BlowCrack]

I wanna know this my damn self.....excellent question

 

[tophmaster]

i really wanna know too. might just have to try this shit out

 

[splakow]

interesting indeed caught my interest

 

[BacJimbo]

something i was wondering in regaurds to little friends, if you were to put in a few lady bugs in your grow room,would it help with pest control?

 

[Revolt!]

Yes, you can put live worms directly in your container mixes. It's best to add the worm castings directly to your soil mixes too, though. The worms (of course, depending on how many you put in) won't be eating enough to supplement your soil directly, so you will have to keep putting veg/fruit scraps on the top of your soil and rotate into the top layer some, which could lead to gnats and other problems. Adding worms is a great idea because they also will make air pockets in the soil, which is great for roots. It can get alittle messy indoors though, and like I said, you could run into bigger problems by doing this. I would just say just to mix in about 25% worm castings to your mix and you will be good. Or, you could take those worms that you were going to add to your soil mix, and use them for a worm farm instead. You need red wrigglers for vermicomposting, but the results are priceless! Every week I pull out a gallon of worm castings from my vermicompost. Fresh from the worms ass! haha.

 

[Revolt!]

something i was wondering in regaurds to little friends, if you were to put in a few lady bugs in your grow room,would it help with pest control?

"a few" ladybugs won't do anything at all to combat against heavy pest infestations. You will need at least 100-200 lady bugs in a medium sized area to do any real form of pest damage control.

 

[BacJimbo]

Sweet, thanks for your feedback Revolt, Appreciate it.

 

[lidspinner]

I would love to hear a little more abotu vermicomposting....I have heard you can do it indoors with hardly no smell....is this true? If you could pull a good handfull of castings a week then I say its worth it...

 

[altitudefarmer]

Here's a relevant article on vermi-composting:
http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2010/01/soil-and-organics-vermicomposting-101/

 

[CAPO]

Nice article!
It says redwigglers can handle down to 32 deg. farenheit. Uhhhh....they wouldn't be very active below 50 deg. The castings are real nice, but the poop juice gathering at the very bottom is the best.

 

[PureSugar]

something i was wondering in regaurds to little friends, if you were to put in a few lady bugs in your grow room,would it help with pest control?

I personally find lady bugs to be a waste of time. They must be released during a dark cycle and be prepared to find dead lady bugs in your light hoods and vents and I have tried them in several grows at different locations none with results that didn't require additional measures.

Worms in an indoor grow while I like the idea of the air pockets sounds messy. And the idea of worms crawling around my room just doesn't sound appealing to me.

 

[altitudefarmer]

Nice article!
It says redwigglers can handle down to 32 deg. farenheit. Uhhhh....they wouldn't be very active below 50 deg. The castings are real nice, but the poop juice gathering at the very bottom is the best.

hehe... he called the shit "poop"... heehee... -Billy Madison

 

[foolsgold]

anyone ever keep venus fly traps in their grow rooms?

 

[hotrod68]

Yes it can be done you just have to remember anything added to the pots will affect the worms. So watch chemical ferts, or pest control either organic or chem as they may potentially harm the worms.

And yes they will be good for aerating your soil but for small pots indoors you should have plenty of perlite, vermiculite etc so help the soil from compacting ......

Imho it's sort of a waste unless your growing in really big pots, big beds or outdoors. For small pots prob. more of a hassle than anything.

Just my .02

HR68

 

[Mud Man]

i friggin get live worms in My Mud sometimes ...scares the shit out of me!:confused0059:

like above i have heard it can be done, but i like worm castings:confused0059:

 

[Mud Man]

Here's a relevant article on vermi-composting:
http://urbangardenmagazine.com/2010/01/soil-and-organics-vermicomposting-101/

cool link Altitude

 

[ItalianBudz]

You can use a spray bottle with water and spray your plants down every few hours to keep the pests away. work's perfect for me.

 

[dican01]

no, no, no, no. you cannot put red worms (vermicomposting worms) into your soil containers indoors. they are a different species than the worm you see in your outdoor vegetable garden. and even then, bad idea.
red worms (composting worms) live and work on the surface in upper organic layers of soil. nightcrawlers (earthworkers) move from one layer to another, mixing as they go. you cannot introduce them to a container environment. container gardening is different than outdoor gardening. use worm castings or make your own castings but keep the worms out of the containers.
a great book about vermicomposting is "worms eat my garbage" by mary appelhof. the author actually looks like a worm!