Profound

Worm Castings

Most commercial worm castings or even home made worm castings are provided to us by what is called Compost worms these include tiger worms, red worms and blue worms, some castings also come from Night Crawlers but predominantly the first 3 are the commercial producers of worm castings.
They are fed organic material normally high in nutrients and vitamins, from manures, cardboard, food scraps, green waste etc etc.....
The very same things you would use in a compost heap funny enough, hence the word "compost worms"

Worm castings in general are made up of predominantly worm manure, when a worm moves through the organic material it is constantly eating and munching the organic matter and passing manure behind it, within the stomach of the worms are hundreds of billions of microbes which a % of attach themselves to the excretion of the worm as it passes its way through the worms system, remaining organic content in the manure sustains the microbes which in turn help to make powerful humic type organic matter incorporated in worm castings.

Castings have the ability to provide instant nutrients to the soil and plant along with long term nutrients.
Humic acid molecules are very tightly bound which take time to unravel but while they are doing this they are providing nutrients and feed sources to microbes and the soil food web.

Most castings are normally very high in micronutrients, when it comes to macro nutrients or major nutrients Nitrogan is normally pretty good along with Calcium.
Potassium and sometimes phosphorus are normally the 2 macro nutrients that are not that high in vermicast.

So if you have a worm farm "think" about what you are feeding them and perhaps look at putting together a balanced diet :muchies: for your worms, this will give you an excellent quality organic fert or soil conditioner and if you are buying it make sure you look at the general analysis and make up for the lacking nutrients that are not in the castings.

This is a pretty typical worm castings analysis

Nitrogen 1.5%
Potassium 0.37%
Phosphorus 3.5% < this is pretty good
Sulfur 0.34%
Calcium 6.5%
Magnesium 0.7%
Iron 0.82%
manganese 70 ppm
Zinc 100 ppm
Copper 54 ppm
Boron 10 ppm
Selenium 7 ppm
Organic carbon 13.3%
pH 6.7
Solubility insoluble
Particle size 1-2 mm
Humic acid 4%
Fulvic Acid 2%
CYTOKININS
AUXINS
Proteins
Enzymes
Amino acids

Usually no more then 25% of the soil mix you are using should be worm castings as any more then this is a waste.
Worm castings are excellent for holding moisture as it will will hold up to 10 x its own weight in moisture, which really does make it ideal for bush grows mixed with perlite and peat and the soil you will have amazing results again just look at my first post for these amounts used.

To sum up, Worm castings is fantastic stuff it is one of the 4 definite materials you should be incorporating into your mixes (IMHO)

Bird Guano

Seabird Guano is normally very high in Nitrogen and Calcium alog with some minor nutrients or micronutrients.

The word "guano" originated from the Quichua language of the Inca civilization and means "the droppings of sea birds".
As the word is used today, guano describes both bat and sea bird manure. The most famous guano was that used by the Inca. The guano would collect on the rainless islands and coast of Peru.

Atmospheric conditions insured a minimal loss of nutrients. There is very little leaching of valuable material, nor is there a considerable loss of nitrogenous matter. For this the Inca would guard and regulate the treasured soil enricher.

Nutrients in guano are as different as there are a variety of producers, food sources and environmental constraints. Sea birds eat strictly small fish and are not scavengers. Guano can be fresh, semi-fossilized or fossilized and will be a factor, among others, on the nutrient content when used.

Guano can be used indoors or outdoors. Guano supplies fast and slow release nutrients to the biological system. Applied as a top dressing and worked into the soil or mixed with water and applied (Guano tea), guano can have a dramatic influence in healthy plant growth.

Hydroponic growers, in contrast to normal fertilization, may find that guano and water are a natural alternative to chemical solutions. Use nitrogen guano for growth along with other organics nutrients, phosphorus guano for budding along with other nutrients. Ofcourse the sediments and other drawbacks like ....scent and clogging of filters are easily taken care of by hydro farmers I'm sure.

2 different types of bird guano and bat guano can be found High N and high P in both products.

High N

Typical major or macro nutrients available

N 10%
P 2%
k 1%

High Phosphorus

N 0%
P 12%
K 2%

__________________