Worms are for more than just fishing. I’ll be at The San Antonio Botanical Garden tomorrow to discuss composting with worms. We’ll be talking about how worms can take kitchen waste from the trash can to the garden and add life to your soil and plants. Soon you’ll be backing up your pickup to scavenge manure piles and livestock stalls to feed your own brood of humus producers, and you’ll be producing some of the finest vegetables and plants around.
This weekend or while supplies last. Every worm farm purchase from Texas Red Worms comes with 4 lb bag of worm castings. For pick up and local orders only. First come first serve.
Happy Mother’s Day!
Last Spring was the first time my parents used worm castings exclusively to fertilize their garden. My mom and dad claimed their best tomato crop they can remember. We used a handful of castings with each tomato seedling, and the results were terrific. Even in one of the driest and hottest years on record, the taste, yield, and size of the tomatoes were outstanding.
Worm castings or earthworm manure is the best all natural fertilizer you can get. Beyond Potassium and Nitrogen, worm castings are alive with beneficial microbes. Beneficial bacteria, nematodes, and other tiny beneficials that will add life to plants and soil. You can maximize your castings harvest by brewing compost tea. You will need an aquarium pump, water, castings, and some unsulfured molasses to amplify the effects. Worm castings are the only manure that can be directly absorbed by plants roots. They are perfectly pH balanced and won’t burn up plants like other high in Nitrogen manures.
Texas Red Worms will be at The 2012 Texas Master Gardener Conference – River Walk and Garden Talk. The event will take place May 3-5 at the Norris Conference Center, 4522 Fredricksburg Road in San Antonio.
I have tried several models of flow through systems and continue to tinker to get the results I’m looking for. The idea is for the finished castings to fall through the grate at the bottom of the bin and the worms to work towards the top of the bin.
Materials: square metal tubing, plywood, braided cable, 1.5″ self tapping metal screws, small I beam we found for the base bar to mount winches, and 2 winches (one we salvaged and another from Tractor Supply @$20) for pulling each direction.
We welded a bar to slide along the bottom of the bin to agitate the castings through the grate. I have tried other versions without the cutting bar, and castings tend to get clumpy and stuck. Stay tuned for the big reveal when we add worms and a few finishing touches.
The Garden Volunteers of South Texas will be hosting their monthly “Essentials of Gardening” from 12:15 – 3 PM tomorrow at the San Antonio Garden Center (3310 N. New Braunfels at Funston, next to the Botanical Garden.) Dr. Jerry Parsons will be speaking first on year round garden planning. I will follow him w/ a worm composting presentation. Admission is free but a $5 donation is encouraged. Come join us!
Texas Red Worms raises composting worms (European Nightcrawlers, Red Worms) and garden/aerating worms (Alabama Jumpers) in San Antonio and Livingston Texas. We are here to help you add life to your lawn, garden, pasture with the best fertilizer available, all natural worm castings.
Earthworms are the intestines of the soil and produce humus from decaying organic matter. Let us help you get started raising worms for vermicompost or turning your plot of land into an oasis for aerating fertilizing earthworms.
Above is a pic of one of my Alabama Jumper bins. Worms are feeding on my DIY Worm Chow and some pumpkin.
Alabama Jumpers are best suited for tunneling, aerating, and mixing the soil. They can be raised in bins like your other composting worms (red worm and european nightcrawler). I set my bins up with a few inches of clay soil on the bottom to make the worms comfortable and try to replicate their natural home. Next, I add several inches of compost that will provide the organic matter they will feed on. In a worm bed or bin the second generation will flourish if conditions are right (moisture and food). Having been born in the environment worms will adapt much better from birth and be happy in their new home. When introducing Alabama Jumpers into a new environment (bin or bed), start with an ample supply of the medium that you harvested them from to ensure a greater chance for success.
Texas Jumpers 