Hi Sarah (and Greg), Here is a response from Tumbleweed/Reln via Angus Stewart about worm leachate. Angus is a prominent soil scientist and has conducted some research lately into worms & worm products in relation to soil fertility (you might also know him from his work with native plants and ABC Gardening Australia TV show) I would have to say that I concur with his statements: The diet of the worms is definitely going to influence the nutrient composition of the leachate. There will always be some nutrients there but it will very much depend on what you feed them. Kitchen scraps and manure are relatively high in nutrients and a diet for the worm farm that includes a reasonable quantity of these will provide a well balanced range of nutrients in the leachate and castings. Stuff like cardboard, straw and shredded paper are low in nutrients but high in carbon rich material such as cellulose. These low nutrient materials are great for aerating the worm farm as well as providing carbon for the worms to produce humus. If you have created a toxic environment then your leachate will reflect this. Worm Farm Leachate "worm tea" should not be harmful to edible plants if you water it down and have a relatively clean worm farm. Worms have an amazing filtration system in their bodies. This Worm Tea provides nutrients such as nitrogen, calcium, phosphorus, potassium and many others including trace elements. It provides organic matter called humus (the brown colour is created by humus) which helps to hold the soil particles together as well as holding water and nutrients in the soil to allow them to be released to plants over time instead of washing straight through (as they do when humus is not present). As a rule of thumb the worm leachate should be the colour of a weak tea and you will never do any harm at that strength. I still recommend using the castings and making worm cast compost teas as it is more beneficial to the plants and soils and goes a long way Glad to hear that the leachate is ok as many gardeners love it and it is easy to collect from your worm farm.
Posted on: Wed, 02 Oct 2013 07:21:20 +0000
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