Worm tea may not be marketed as a fertilizer but it certainly IS one, just as compost or manure teas are a great organic source of plant nutrients. The big bonus with worm castings is the excellent array of trace elements it contains. And for any containerized or seasonal plants, the "weekly weakly" program is entirely justified - ALL nutrients must be provided from outside in the case of containerized plants and routine supplementation is typically suggested for seasonal plants to maximize flowering or fruiting in their short growing season. You would drown the plants before you would come anywhere close to overdoing with worm tea. Here is an example of the percentages and composition of nutrients and minerals in vermicompost and by translation, in worm tea. ⢠Organic Carbon 20.43 -- 30.31 % ⢠Nitrogen 1.80 -- 2.05 % ⢠Phosphorus 1.32 -- 1.93 % ⢠Potassium 1.28 -- 1.50 % ⢠Carbon : Nitrogen 14-15 : 1 % ⢠Calcium 3.0 -- 4.5 % ⢠Magnesium 0.4 -- 0.7 % ⢠Sodium 0.02 -- 0.30 % ⢠Sulphur Traces to 0.40 % ⢠Iron 0.3 -- 0.7 % ⢠Zinc 0.028 -- 0.036 % ⢠Manganese Traces to 0.40 % ⢠Copper 0.0027 -- 0.0123 % ⢠Boron 0.0034 -- 0.0075 % ⢠Aluminium Traces to 0.071 % ⢠Cobalt, Molybdenum Present in available form The above is approximate only, noting that all vermicompost is different because the composition does truly depend on the type of feed you give to the worms. But the above table does show the range of nutrients available in this product and confirms its position as an excellent source of plant nutrients, aka a fertilizer.

28 pounds of Worm Castings spread as "top dressing" will not go very far and a tea will be most effective if you have an active Soil Food Web which then makes the tea less needed. While there has been found to be some N benefit spreading Corn Gluten Meal the expense does not make it a good soil food versus Alfalfa or ground corn. What is your soil like? How much organic matter is in that soil? What kind of life is in that soil? How well does that soil drain? What does that soil smell like? What is the pH of that soil? Any soil that appears to be compacted, or is compacted, lacks adequate levels of organic matter.

Just my $ .02, but when I read where wormers using plastic totes for bins do not have holes in the bottoms with no excess moisture anywhere in there.....I've gotta believe that the moisture content in those bins (if using a lid) are inadequate. Oh, the wormies ain't gonna croak, or flee, or regress right away, but those wormies can and do get along really well in an environment much moister than the generally accepted worming principles (GAWP) some adhere to. Thing is, moisture hangs around much longer in plastic environs than any other material (think plastic bowls and lids in the upper tray of your dishwasher that just stay dripping wet forever) So it stands to reason that if a wormer continues to add moisture -laden foodstuffs in an environment that retains moisture so long, moisture levels are gonna build up and because of gravity, the excessive moisture is gonna seep to the bottom of the bin. The holes, like hummersteve....for one...says, are not used and supposedly unnecessary. But what they are are a really good "safety valve" for those buildups of moisture that should occur sometimes unless the bin ain't damp enough. I kinda think the people who don't use holes don't so because of not wanting any leakage messes. Finally, because the moisture does gravitate to the bottoms of the bins, that means that the bottoms are always wetter than up above. So if the bottoms are ideally damp, that can only mean that the upper regions are less ideally damp. And, by the way, dig down into the lower regions that are probably a little too wet, and compacted......there'll be lots of worms down in there and they will normally be less active and laying around feeling sorry for themselves, morose, lethargic, and most important.....disinterested in helping you grow your herd. cb2

please see link below or search 'TEA' in this forum Here is a link that might be useful: Tea thread