A question from Kobus:
Hi
I recently bought a worm “farm”, which works very well.
The seller told me I can use the “worm pee” for my garden, diluted
1:20, but I cannot find literature to back this up, even on this
site.
Is this true and can you please direct me to more information?
Much appreciated
Kobus
Hi Kobus,
In all honesty, there isn’t such a thing as “worm pee”. Earthworms do not urinate like mammals. I have encountered people using that term to refer to “worm tea”, however.
The term “worm tea” is often used to refer to the leachate (drainage liquid) that seeps out from the bottom of vermicomposting system (obviously, only those systems with holes in the bottom). It CAN be used as a liquid fertilizer of sorts, but it’s quality will depend on the maturity of the vermicomposting system (and how well it has been maintained).
Generally, the older the system, the more vermicompost will have been deposited in it, and therefore the closer the drainage liquid will be to actual “vermicompost tea”. The leachate from newer systems, and those that are poorly maintained can contain various phytotoxic compounds, so it’s important to be a bit more cautious when using it. Diluting it and/or aerating before use can help though.
My personal preference is to focus on creating high quality vermicompost FIRST, and then to make a “tea” using that.
Hope this helps!
8)
I’m thinking that ‘pee’ and ‘tea’ sound very similar, and that this is probably just a misunderstanding. That being said – worm poop is da bomb! 😀
Hi there,
I have an old chest freezer that has been gutted, do you think that would make a good worm bin? If so are there any pitfalls I should look out for?
Love your site BTW
Jon
@ Jon H I would imagine that old chest freezer would be excellent as long as you drilled holes for ventilation/airflow.
I have an original single bin wormery – which is a pain because you have to take out the bin contents a foot at a time into different boxes when decanting out the good stuff at the bottom and then return it level by level to start again.
I prefer the multi-level wormery I made myself out of plastic storage boxes because you can just lift each box out easily to get to the box you want.
But I am seriously considering returning all my critters to my mulched growing beds because – well – aren’t there worms doing all of this in a well-managed organic or veganic vegetable garden anyway. Its just that the worms would be doing it all without my intervention.