Have you fed your worms today?

15 years ago

Earthworms that is. Those of you who subscribe to the Texas Gardener Seeds Newsletter already read the article on putting cottonseed meal on lawns, as Lou has often advised us to do. This not only feeds the lawn, but it also feeds the earthworms which produce an even more potent fertilizer. Here are a couple of paragraphs from the article.

"Vermicompost, or Âworm poop,Â is among the richest natural fertilizers you can provide to your garden," explained Felder Rushing, a retired horticulturist from Mississippi State University, radio co-host of "The Gestalt Gardener" aired on Mississippi Public Broadcast and author of 15 gardening books, including Passalong Plants, Gardening Southern Style and The Mississippi Lawn Guide. "Worms eat the cottonseed meal for the protein, and then convert it into super rich organic compost, which is great for plants.

"On top of being safe to use, cottonseed meal supplies gentle and steady nutrition," he explained. "It doesnÂt provide the big rush that chemical fertilizers do, and thatÂs its advantage. When you apply cottonseed meal, it is broken down into the soil by microorganisms and worms, which makes the nutrients available for a long period of time. In the process, they enrich the soil, and you donÂt run the risk of environmental run off."

He also says that the big fat healthy earthworms tunnel deep into the soil opening it up to hold water and grass roots.

Another way to feed the earthworms is to do 'in place' vermic-composting. I fill up a two gallon ice cream bucket (that has a lid) everyday or two with kitchen scrapes, no fats or meat. I take it out to the plant beds, stick a shovel deep in as I can get it, pull up the soil with the shovel still in place, dump in the scrapes, and let the dirt back down over it.

My dog never bothers it, nor do any other critters that might be out and about. I used to take the scraps out to the compost pile, but am getting too lazy to turn the pile and give it even the little care it needs. Anyway I figure it does more good faster this way.

BTW, I learned about the Texas Gardener Seeds newsletter on this forum. You can subscribe here:

http://www.promit.com/subscribe.aspx?lid=2

Here is a link that might be useful: More about vermiccomposting the regular way ...

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Comments (5)

roselee z8b S.W. Texas
Original Author
15 years ago
Guess everybody has read this that wants to so am bumping it down.
lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
Thanks for the article. You can also use alfalfa pellets and soybean meal, two another options that you can use. I am a big believer in having healthy soil filled with earthworms. My mom's lawn in Houston never gets extra water. I have feed the lawn with soybean meal and alfalfa pellets a couple times a year and mulch mow everything on the lawn providing all kinds of food for earthworms. The lawn and everything else were able to withstand a dry spell in the spring with no problem. That led to questions from mom's neighbors on how she did it. LOL. I was the one that did everything even though I live up here. There seems to be no grub problems, little ant problems, etc. It's all about balance or control of the pest (not eradication)

Go down the street to my sister's. It's the opposite. She uses all kinds of chemicals. Last year, she used pesticide and fungicide to try and fix whatever the problem was. That was a surefire way of ruining earthworm population and other beneficial ones too. It only led to prolonged problems because it was never really fixed in the first place. It wasn't able to withstand dry spell and my sister had to water but didn't seem to help much (probably shallow watering). She even used weed and feed this year and she has trees everywhere. A big NO-NO! I think she's a little too stubborn to listen after all she runs her husband's termite pest control business....
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roselee z8b S.W. Texas
Original Author
15 years ago
Lou, I'm afraid I misrepresented what you said. You told us about using alfalfa pellets and soy bean meal, not cotton seed meal. Now that I think about it, it seems I read that cotton is sprayed with a LOT of chemicals, so cotton seed meal might not be the best to use (is that true?) but I guess the message is similar in that it is so much better to use organic fertilizers. That way you feed the lawn, the earthworms and the microbes which keeps it all alive. And you may as well feed them your table scraps too! Organic is better anyway you look at it.
liz_h
15 years ago
roselee, I assumed the post was about traditional vermicomposting, and was waiting for some replies before I looked at it. Sorry! Anyway, I learned some things from your & Lou's posts & am glad you mentioned the newsletter. I subscribed today.
lou_spicewood_tx
15 years ago
roselee,

I am on the fence over cottonseed meal. Just how much of chemicals are in the cotton seeds? Any residual left after processing into cottonseed meal? Those are the questions I have always wondered about but never could find definite answers. I mean they are animal feed that you can buy at the feed store? I have to assume it is relatively safe but who knows?

Have you fed your worms today?

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roselee z8b S.W. Texas
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Have you fed your worms today?

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roselee z8b S.W. TexasOriginal Author

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roselee z8b S.W. Texas
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roselee z8b S.W. Texas
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