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How Often to Use Worm Casting Tea

Many people refer to worm casting tea as worm tea or worm compost tea. It is an all-natural liquid fertilizer made by soaking worm castings in water. The worm casting tea can provide beneficial microbes, prevent plant disease and contribute to plant growth. It is much safer to use than chemical fertilizers. You can also use it on house plants, outdoor garden plants, and vegetable gardens. Let us look at how worm tea can help your garden. 

What Are Worm Castings?

Worm castings are worm poop or worm manure. It is the waste produced, most commonly by earthworms, as they feed on organic matter. They are easy to separate and collect from your worm bin. Also, you can add them to soil and use them as organic fertilizer. Worm castings are rich in nutrients, beneficial microbes, and improve soil structure. The benefits of worm castings have made it more popular than other fertilizers. They contribute to plant growth and are safe to use on all plants.

Why Is Worm Castings Tea Beneficial?

Worm casting tea is beneficial for the following reasons:

  • Introduces healthy microbes into the soil and on plants
  • It helps polluted soil recover by breaking down the organic and inorganic compounds present
  • Encourages plant growth by supplying essential nutrients
  • Prevents foliar plant disease and the effects of harmful bacteria
  • Great for seedling germination and growth
  • It helps to introduce oxygen into pore spaces and retain water

How to Make Worm Tea?

You can make worm tea from worm castings. Usually, you place red wiggler worms into a compost or worm bin with soil and organic matter. As the worms feed, they produce castings that you can use to make worm tea. You must ensure that you have high-quality worm castings to create high-quality output.

It is important to note that you should not mistake worm leachate for worm tea. Worm leachate is the liquid you find at the bottom of a vermicompost bin. Moreover, this leachate can harm plants.

You place the castings in a special compost tea bag made from a porous material like cheesecloth. The tea bag is then placed in dechlorinated water to soak. You can use a fish tank bubbler to add more oxygen to the liquid at this stage. The fish tank bubbler stimulates the castings' microorganisms and produces a high-quality worm tea.

How Long Should Worm Castings Soak?

Ideally, it would help if you soaked worm castings until the liquid turned to a light brown color. Additionally, this light brown color usually develops overnight. You can then remove the air pump and compost tea bag when it has changed to a light brown color.

If need be, you can strain the liquid to ensure no worm castings remain. You can then add more water tea to dilute it if you find it too concentrated. Moreover, the additional water will not weaken the tea. It will now give you a worm casting tea ready for use in gardens and potted plants.

Can You Use Worm Castings More Than Once for Worm Tea?

No. Worm castings cannot be used again to make another batch of worm casting tea. What you can do, however, is use the worm castings you have removed from the worm tea in your plants. You can mix the worm castings into the soil like you would fertilizer. 

It provides an extra use for your worm castings, which is still beneficial for your plants. Even though nutrients and helpful bacteria have been transferred to the tea, some will still be present in the castings. In addition, the structure of worm castings alone improves soil structure and helps it retain water.

How Do You Store Any Remaining Tea?

It would help if you used worm casting tea as soon as possible. If there is any remaining liquid, you should keep it away from direct sunlight and use it within three days. The container you store it in should be left open to avoid the beneficial microbes from dying out.

How to Use Worm Tea

As it is a liquid, you can apply worm compost tea to plants in several ways. Firstly, you can add worm tea to the soil and plants using a watering can. Also, water the plants generously to ensure that the earth and leaves are adequately wet. The worm tea that seeps into the ground will provide nutrients and beneficial bacteria around the root systems of plants.

The worm casting tea on the leaves will protect the plant from plant diseases. The healthy microbes help keep harmful pathogens that cause plant disease away. Also, they can help repair any current damage on plants. You can equally use a spray bottle if you use it as a foliar spray. Of course, if you are using a spray bottle, ensure that you strain the worm tea to prevent any blockages. Worm casting tea can also be used directly in a drip irrigation system if you have one in your garden.

How Often Should You Use Worm Castings?

It would be best if you replenished the worm castings on your soil every two to three months. Start by adding a thin layer of compost and worm castings on the ground and slowly build it up.

How Often Should You Apply Worm Tea?

You should apply worm tea to plants and soil once every two weeks. The tea will never burn or harm your garden in any way. Thus, you do not have to fear if you add too much. However, you want your plants to receive adequate nutrients from the soil to remain healthy. Therefore, use worm tea and avoid over-watering your garden.

Can You Overuse Worm Castings?

Worm castings are organic, you can add them to your soil or compost pile, and it will not affect your plants negatively. Unlike chemical fertilizers, worm castings will not burn the roots of your plants.

Conclusion

Why use harmful chemicals when you can make your fertilizer? Making compost tea fertilizer is better for plant life and the environment. Also, it is better for your well-being since you can avoid exposure to chemicals that can harm your health. Even better to go with an organic version of worm castings tea like Simple Grow!

Brewed worm tea is easy to make and an excellent addition to your garden. As an organic fertilizer, it has many benefits, including protection against plant diseases, providing nutrients, and introducing beneficial bacteria to plants and soil. Accordingly, you now know how to make worm tea and the different ways to apply it to your garden and plants. What are you waiting for? Give your garden the boost it needs.

Grow Bigger Plants with Simple Grow

Do you wish your plants would grow bigger? Was your garden less than it should've been last year?

If you're tired of growing puny vegetables and fruits, it's time for an upgrade...Simple Grow Worm Castings!

What are worm castings? Another term for worm manure. Why would you want to use it in your garden, raised beds, and house plants? Because it makes them grow bigger, faster and healthier...with no chemicals!

How do worm castings do this? It's like giving your plants a powerful multivitamin with everything they need to grow. Trace minerals, nutrients, and most importantly...worm castings are chock full of beneficial microbes. Why does that make a difference?

In recent years, we've learned the importance of gut bacteria for humans and know that it impacts so many different parts of our health. The same thing applies with worms. Gut bacteria from the worm's digestive tract gets into the soil from the worm castings and promotes plant health. Plants have a symbiotic relationship with the microbes from the worm's digestive tract. Plants respond to it and grow really big...really fast!

If you've never tried worm castings before, you owe it to yourself to give them a try. Instead of using traditional chemical fertilizers from the big box store, why not try fresh, certified organic worm castings this year? You'll be able to grow bigger, healthier plants that you actually can feel good about eating. 

Take advantage of our special bundle sale on 25lb bags today!

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