I helped built a compost facility in California and I have done tests during that time with our compost, worm casting, miracle grow. Worm casting had the greatest growth followed by miracle grow and then our compost and then the control. The worm casting was purchased from a nearby worm farm using cow manure as the feedstock.
I never buy any Miracle Grow products. Their parent company is Monsanto (bought out by Bayer). If Monsanto doesn't mind killing people with Glyphosate, they probably wouldn't mind killing/sickening people with toxins in their other products.
Was that in Durham California? I went to the big worm farm out there and they gave my a tour, it was amazing out there, not many places grow outside like that
If all the seedlings failed then there is clearly something wrong with the test, a conclusion can't be made until you fix the reason for no germination. Plants can grow in 100% castings, so something isn't right.
@@thombaz Look up "Jeb Gardener" on RUclips. He does a TON of experiments with castings, nutrients, etc. He has a video called something like "I took cuttings to replace the one I lost" and has 0% worm castings vs rooting hormone vs 100% worm tea and the 100% worm tea had best growth. Plants can grow in 100% compost and that's basically all worm castings are (but with better microbiology available)
@@joshuamorris3364 Those are all different things. Give it a try and you will see. I don't even use nutritions for my seeds as some of them don't germinate.
IMHO, I think the quality of the castings can make a very big difference. Castings made from shredded paper and peat moss couldn't have the same nutrient value as ones from a very specific compost mix or mostly fed veggie food scraps. Also, there are fungal based composts (leaf mold) vs bacteria based compost high in nitrogen (grass clippings, veggie scraps, comfrey).
Well hey, since you took the words out of my mouth by saying green-fed worm castings are supreme - I'll go ahead and tell people a brand that contains only green-fed worm castings. Vermisterra Worm Castings are my choice.
I can grow in 100% worm castings, so I am a little surprised it did not germinate. I put worms in my plant pots in my grow room. After about 3-6 months it will turn into all worm castings as the worms process the soil. Plants grow in this, but not as well. Once it turns to all castings, I process it out and replace it. I then use the castings on new plants mixed with pro-mix potting soil.
yeah I would read the comments Texas Organic before you dismiss something on 1 test. Too many variables to kick an option to the curb on 1 try. A worm does so much to our soil that most people aren't even aware of. So why would it be so hard to believe that at the very least, they could provide a slight improvement? It doesn't matter. I know the results based on my own years of use. either indoor or out. happy gardening.
Vermiculite has caused me problems in the past. Young seedlings are susceptible to root rot; therefore, I don't mix vermiculite in the starting mix. I only use it on top to cover the seeds.
It was interesting to see the experiment. :-) The thing is, people use beans and other legumes to put nitrogen back into the soil. Legumes have a symbiotic relationship with soil microbes who take the nitrogen from the air and feed the plant. Beans don't need anywhere near as much soil nitrogen as squash plants so that could explain the differing results.
Well done. I think your experiment was done right with weighed out amounts and treating each set of plants identically (as much as possible) and from what I see, the worm castings did little to nothing for the plants. In fact, it looks as if the 0% plants did better than the rest. One thing I have learned over the years is that too many people try to use too many different products on their plants and it is just a waste of time and money. Basically, too many people love their plants to death. We have had great results in using just the compost we make and nothing more and we produce so many tomatoes we can't eat them all and our friends get tired of us giving them so many.
Great experiment. I bought into the belief that worm castings is the best thing in the world for growing plants, but never really check with actual growth test.
You should have used seeds of the same plant (or at least the same family) of the plant/s at the start of the video to your experiment. There are different families of plants which reacts differently to different soil conditions. I believe the plant at the start of the video is from the Gourd/Cucurbits family, while the plant you used is of the Legume/Beans family. In my opinion it's unfair for Mary Ann Smith to compare your experiment to hers.
Michael Reden That’s a fair comment, and I have some notes about that exact point in the video description. I think it is important for people to consider that germination success is dependent on a lot of factors. Worm castings alone are not a miracle supplement.
Now I'd like to see the comparison of growth using worm castings from cow manure, compared to worm castings from compost. My guess is the castings from compost would do much better.
When you say it's ordinary soil, actually it's special soil. 🙄 it's written it's forest soil which mean there's more than one organism (like worm) which live inside the soil before. It's mean there'll be more microorganism and more variety of nutrients for the plants inside it.
Can I just say that we have 2 apple trees. I moved back home to take care of my mom. That's where they are. So every year the apples would get eaten by the bird, They never grew properly and the tree almost looked like it was dying one time. So last year I decided to use warm castings. Let me tell you!!,the fruit it produced was amazing!! baked a pie ,, Trees looks amazing. That was proof right there for me.
Thank you for taking the time to test the claims and educate us, strangers! I added a worm compost bathtub to my system this year so I'm using castings that are "alive" (i.e. not dried out and "dead") and will continue to do so. It makes sense that they don't propel growth and shouldn't be used as an alternative to quality FERTILIZER. Cheers!
Plants grown with excess nitrogen are filled with water. Plants grown in living soil have higher sugar content and better flavor. They have nitrogen in the form of amino acids that are not readily available to the plant.
Hey. Great job. But all things are not equal. Had you recently flushed the castings? What is your primary food source for the worms? Ph balance? Bedding material? So many factors to be considered
Could be the quality of your worm castings. Try a different source. Or, several. To prevent the saturation problem use an equal amount of Perlite and/or horticultural sand with each soil. And, to ensure that the seeds are good - germinate all of them in a control soil before transplanting them into your experiment. Just thoughts. Well done for doing this video. And, thank you!
Something can be said about the quality of any worm castings used. Also using only worm casting might not work well for plant growth , but is a good amendment.
I Definitely been growing with worm casting for the last year in a half and when I get ready to transplant I usually fill the first layer with perlite inch and a half then 3 to 4 inches of strawberry fields and on top of that I only put about 3 inches of worm casting then I'll put on the remaining pot with Ocean forest and this is in a 5 gallon bucket or larger
Its also, what goes in, also goes out. So, I've composted chicken manure and had worms eat a higher nitrogen composted mix, that has been very obviously higher in nitrogen than carbon rich composts eaten by the worms.
Did my own testing several years back to justify the cost of castings. They are best for mature plants and do help but not worth the high price. Better to make your own of use sparingly.
With 80-90% coco peat and 10-20% vermicompost the good seeds will always germinate for me and when the seedlings are months old i used to give 50g of vermi compost on 15 days gap. May be your soil is Enriched with natural ingredients for plants.
Hi there! I am surprised that you say that worm castings are low in nitrogen. I checked out a statement of the University of California saying the opposite!
I think, you should have first germinated the seeds on a tissue paper and then panted the seedlings so that we know we are working with the seeds which really germinate.
I would never put any fertiliser or compost in seedlings pots, they have all the nutrients in the seed itself. This show how high salinity affects seedlings. Compost should be put ideally underneath the roots when transplanting plantlets
A lot of pro gardeners germinate seeds in compost, but I don't know how. What kind of compost they are using. Anytime I tried to grow seeds, anything other then peat/coco/perlite mixture did not worked.
But I truly never mixed up the worm casting process I know that 💯 a lot of people does everything different 💯 and I truly hope that everyone has a great opportunity 🙏 for great success in growing
Im a garden noob just looking for advice because I have bags of miracle gro potting mix and recently bought some worm castings, would it be alright if I mixed the casting with the miracle gro ? is the fertilizer in the miracle gro gunna kill the microorganism in the castings? Thanks for your help
Experiment with different foods to give your worms, and test the castings/soil to find the best that way. If you feed your worms junk, you can't expect equal, or better results. I'm sure it's better than soil by itself. But, why stop there. Experiment using different bins, and feed them differently. Take notes, and test the results.
Jim D It could have been using topsoil was a poor choice. I’m going to redo the process with a seed starter mix and will post a future update. From my results it looks like vermicompost cant compensate for poor soil during germination.
@@TexasOrganicGardening I thought during germination the seed is living on its own resources? The rusted gardener said don't add any fertilizer to seeds in start packs. I don't remember what soil he used, but I thought you could use anything because the seed has its own nutrients for the plant to sprout.
Sorry, but you are wrong. The photo originates with me and it was taken at 16 days after planting the cucumber seeds, all conditions the same except the casting additions at different percentages. Since that one study, I have done others with continuing benefits during the season (earlier flowering, earlier fruiting). In fact, each year I try to work in various growth studies, as I sell worm products and produce at our local Farmers' Market and seeing is believing. This particular study was the most dramatic I have done, for sure.
![Megan Thee Stallion - Roc Steady (feat. Flo Milli) [Official Video]](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/HozPPyqW0dY/mqdefault.jpg)
I helped built a compost facility in California and I have done tests during that time with our compost, worm casting, miracle grow. Worm casting had the greatest growth followed by miracle grow and then our compost and then the control. The worm casting was purchased from a nearby worm farm using cow manure as the feedstock.
Awesome! Thanks for this comment. Makes me feel hopeful about using my vermicompost
I never buy any Miracle Grow products. Their parent company is Monsanto (bought out by Bayer). If Monsanto doesn't mind killing people with Glyphosate, they probably wouldn't mind killing/sickening people with toxins in their other products.
Was that in Durham California? I went to the big worm farm out there and they gave my a tour, it was amazing out there, not many places grow outside like that
@@michaeldiehl1378 right
@@dcchong8102 small world
I found that in side by side trials, worm castings do make the plants grow better. I've had composting worms for 20 years.
GSMs Crazy Canuck no doubt! This experiment was specific to seedling starts
@@TexasOrganicGardening My trials begin with seeds as well. It was also outside in the field. Any time you can enhance soil biology, you win.
@Farm1 Farm1 That's great if you have access to all those products. If money is no object you can amazing things.
@@gsmscrazycanuck9814 Top soil is cheap!
@@texaspatty4697 if you can find it. When we got here to the Ozarks, I couldn't find topsoil that was at all affordable that was useable.
If all the seedlings failed then there is clearly something wrong with the test, a conclusion can't be made until you fix the reason for no germination. Plants can grow in 100% castings, so something isn't right.
Very true. I have germination in my worm bins.
@@moagikeretetse6171 Same here!
I think 100% is just too much for a seed.
@@thombaz Look up "Jeb Gardener" on RUclips. He does a TON of experiments with castings, nutrients, etc.
He has a video called something like "I took cuttings to replace the one I lost" and has 0% worm castings vs rooting hormone vs 100% worm tea and the 100% worm tea had best growth.
Plants can grow in 100% compost and that's basically all worm castings are (but with better microbiology available)
@@joshuamorris3364 Those are all different things. Give it a try and you will see. I don't even use nutritions for my seeds as some of them don't germinate.
IMHO, I think the quality of the castings can make a very big difference. Castings made from shredded paper and peat moss couldn't have the same nutrient value as ones from a very specific compost mix or mostly fed veggie food scraps. Also, there are fungal based composts (leaf mold) vs bacteria based compost high in nitrogen (grass clippings, veggie scraps, comfrey).
Well hey, since you took the words out of my mouth by saying green-fed worm castings are supreme - I'll go ahead and tell people a brand that contains only green-fed worm castings. Vermisterra Worm Castings are my choice.
@@BigSnakey2 I love VermaTerra products!
@@BigSnakey2 By green you mean leafies or carrots and peas as well
You are comparing beans to squash. Squash requires more nitrogen so the lady probably isn't making things up.
Don’t believe the 5x number but even if don’t believe it makes them grow faster it definitely helps them with vitality & pest resistance...
5x is true… if the other soil is awful. I can grow tomatoes 20x faster in clay than in metal.
I can grow in 100% worm castings, so I am a little surprised it did not germinate. I put worms in my plant pots in my grow room. After about 3-6 months it will turn into all worm castings as the worms process the soil. Plants grow in this, but not as well. Once it turns to all castings, I process it out and replace it. I then use the castings on new plants mixed with pro-mix potting soil.
yeah I would read the comments Texas Organic before you dismiss something on 1 test. Too many variables to kick an option to the curb on 1 try. A worm does so much to our soil that most people aren't even aware of. So why would it be so hard to believe that at the very least, they could provide a slight improvement? It doesn't matter. I know the results based on my own years of use. either indoor or out. happy gardening.
Def need to do some additional testing, wider experiment. One small test is not enough to draw a definitive conclusion. Thank for your input!
Vermiculite has caused me problems in the past. Young seedlings are susceptible to root rot; therefore, I don't mix vermiculite in the starting mix. I only use it on top to cover the seeds.
I wonder how much it depends on what the worms are fed. All worm castings are not created equal.
It was interesting to see the experiment. :-) The thing is, people use beans and other legumes to put nitrogen back into the soil. Legumes have a symbiotic relationship with soil microbes who take the nitrogen from the air and feed the plant. Beans don't need anywhere near as much soil nitrogen as squash plants so that could explain the differing results.
Well done. I think your experiment was done right with weighed out amounts and treating each set of plants identically (as much as possible) and from what I see, the worm castings did little to nothing for the plants. In fact, it looks as if the 0% plants did better than the rest. One thing I have learned over the years is that too many people try to use too many different products on their plants and it is just a waste of time and money. Basically, too many people love their plants to death. We have had great results in using just the compost we make and nothing more and we produce so many tomatoes we can't eat them all and our friends get tired of us giving them so many.
This video is very interesting! I think I will be doing some tests myself.
Great experiment. I bought into the belief that worm castings is the best thing in the world for growing plants, but never really check with actual growth test.
I just did a side-by-side video on my channel. I got the same results as the lady who took the picture in this video.
You should have used seeds of the same plant (or at least the same family) of the plant/s at the start of the video to your experiment. There are different families of plants which reacts differently to different soil conditions. I believe the plant at the start of the video is from the Gourd/Cucurbits family, while the plant you used is of the Legume/Beans family. In my opinion it's unfair for Mary Ann Smith to compare your experiment to hers.
Michael Reden That’s a fair comment, and I have some notes about that exact point in the video description. I think it is important for people to consider that germination success is dependent on a lot of factors. Worm castings alone are not a miracle supplement.
Worm castings are the best fertilizer. Thanks for sharing.
AJ's Green Topics Yes they seem to have really helped out my raised beds. Thanks for the comment
So take the video down if they work.
@@brabbit2967 Why take it down. Just because the results are different?
No clients have ever told me that worm casting did not work. Weird,but not impossible.
Thank you for all of this hard work!!
there is also the factor that there's different quality of worm castings (more pure, vs more compost heavy).
Now I'd like to see the comparison of growth using worm castings from cow manure, compared to worm castings from compost. My guess is the castings from compost would do much better.
Thanks for call out
When you say it's ordinary soil, actually it's special soil. 🙄
it's written it's forest soil which mean there's more than one organism (like worm) which live inside the soil before.
It's mean there'll be more microorganism and more variety of nutrients for the plants inside it.
what we call fertilizer already inside it, in organic form, even better
It about your worm casting.how you feed your worm and how you choose seed to grow.
Can I just say that we have 2 apple trees. I moved back home to take care of my mom. That's where they are. So every year the apples would get eaten by the bird, They never grew properly and the tree almost looked like it was dying one time. So last year I decided to use warm castings. Let me tell you!!,the fruit it produced was amazing!! baked a pie ,, Trees looks amazing. That was proof right there for me.
Amazing! 🏆🏆
I like your honesty. We only learn from the truth!
Your top soil is a fertilized mix. You should try plain old soil or plain peat moss, really plain.
Thank you for taking the time to test the claims and educate us, strangers! I added a worm compost bathtub to my system this year so I'm using castings that are "alive" (i.e. not dried out and "dead") and will continue to do so. It makes sense that they don't propel growth and shouldn't be used as an alternative to quality FERTILIZER. Cheers!
I find that hard to believe. I germinate at a 50/50 with castings and peat.
You must be rich!
Worm castings are going to be different based on the feed, environment and storage method too.
I think an experiment with just seed starting mix + different ratios of worm tea would be interesting.
Thanks for producing this! Quality content.
Plants grown with excess nitrogen are filled with water. Plants grown in living soil have higher sugar content and better flavor. They have nitrogen in the form of amino acids that are not readily available to the plant.
I’ve had seeds sprouting from scrapes right in my compost bin .
Hey. Great job. But all things are not equal. Had you recently flushed the castings? What is your primary food source for the worms? Ph balance? Bedding material?
So many factors to be considered
perhaps its what she put into the bedding and what she fed the worms. what is out is was once what was put in?
Could be the quality of your worm castings.
Try a different source. Or, several.
To prevent the saturation problem use an equal amount of Perlite and/or horticultural sand with each soil.
And, to ensure that the seeds are good - germinate all of them in a control soil before transplanting them into your experiment.
Just thoughts. Well done for doing this video. And, thank you!
Something can be said about the quality of any worm castings used. Also using only worm casting might not work well for plant growth , but is a good amendment.
I Definitely been growing with worm casting for the last year in a half and when I get ready to transplant I usually fill the first layer with perlite inch and a half then 3 to 4 inches of strawberry fields and on top of that I only put about 3 inches of worm casting then I'll put on the remaining pot with Ocean forest and this is in a 5 gallon bucket or larger
The best worm castings are made with domestic rabbit manure.
Because rabbit poo is a cold fertilizer....meaning you can plant stuff in it directly and it won't burn it...
@@moniquevandeplas5210 Yes you can, but I feed my manure directly to worms. The They love it.
Well yeah. I sprinkled some on top of an exhausted pot plant. It worked.
Its also, what goes in, also goes out. So, I've composted chicken manure and had worms eat a higher nitrogen composted mix, that has been very obviously higher in nitrogen than carbon rich composts eaten by the worms.
So strange, I use 100% worm castings and it does well. I do use an organic fertiliser as well mixed in so maybe they just lack the NPK?
Npk of worm castings vary depending on the feed, n can be high in some castings. Also how can moisture prevent germination?
Is it helpfull to use 100% vermicompost for seeds germination?????
Did my own testing several years back to justify the cost of castings. They are best for mature plants and do help but not worth the high price. Better to make your own of use sparingly.
Actually its depends on what do you feed to your worms to make your worms casting reach in nutrients
With 80-90% coco peat and 10-20% vermicompost the good seeds will always germinate for me and when the seedlings are months old i used to give 50g of vermi compost on 15 days gap. May be your soil is Enriched with natural ingredients for plants.
Hi there! I am surprised that you say that worm castings are low in nitrogen. I checked out a statement of the University of California saying the opposite!
Worm castings contain about 1% nitrogen. I’m not sure what you have read or perhaps misread?
Short answer yes
Is there a specific type of worm to use
thank you!
That Miracle Gro
So would it not matter what kind of scraps you are putting in your bin? Does it not affect the amount of NPK and other Micro Nutrients in the end?
Those prolific green beans are incredible in an Indian green bean curry. Thanks for sharing....you sure have a lot of worms!🧑🌾
Thanks for visiting
I think, you should have first germinated the seeds on a tissue paper and then panted the seedlings so that we know we are working with the seeds which really germinate.
I would never put any fertiliser or compost in seedlings pots, they have all the nutrients in the seed itself. This show how high salinity affects seedlings. Compost should be put ideally underneath the roots when transplanting plantlets
A lot of pro gardeners germinate seeds in compost, but I don't know how. What kind of compost they are using. Anytime I tried to grow seeds, anything other then peat/coco/perlite mixture did not worked.
But I truly never mixed up the worm casting process I know that 💯 a lot of people does everything different 💯 and I truly hope that everyone has a great opportunity 🙏 for great success in growing
Im a garden noob just looking for advice because I have bags of miracle gro potting mix and recently bought some worm castings, would it be alright if I mixed the casting with the miracle gro ? is the fertilizer in the miracle gro gunna kill the microorganism in the castings? Thanks for your help
dragon slayer Yes you can mix the worm castings into miracle gro mix, no problem.
Experiment with different foods to give your worms, and test the castings/soil to find the best that way.
If you feed your worms junk, you can't expect equal, or better results. I'm sure it's better than soil by itself. But, why stop there. Experiment using different bins, and feed them differently. Take notes, and test the results.
Good video, thanks 👍
The best casting 90 or more days casting
thanks for sharing this video,like 👍
WORKED FOR ME 5X
Very food presentation, real life demonstration takes the bs out of the real life pragmatic example.
Sponsored by Miracle Gro no doubt 👍
I don't think you know what you're doing....
I would say you have no idea how to create worm castings! Is that not what everybody else gets
To much salt
You’re simply wrong!
That photo looked very deceiving!
Good on you for busting it 👊
Jim D It could have been using topsoil was a poor choice. I’m going to redo the process with a seed starter mix and will post a future update. From my results it looks like vermicompost cant compensate for poor soil during germination.
@@TexasOrganicGardening I thought during germination the seed is living on its own resources? The rusted gardener said don't add any fertilizer to seeds in start packs. I don't remember what soil he used, but I thought you could use anything because the seed has its own nutrients for the plant to sprout.
Sorry, but you are wrong. The photo originates with me and it was taken at 16 days after planting the cucumber seeds, all conditions the same except the casting additions at different percentages. Since that one study, I have done others with continuing benefits during the season (earlier flowering, earlier fruiting). In fact, each year I try to work in various growth studies, as I sell worm products and produce at our local Farmers' Market and seeing is believing. This particular study was the most dramatic I have done, for sure.
I'm going to go ahead and call this test, busted... you failed to germinate seeds in the 20% castings, huge fail .
Haha, so your one experiment means you're right and their wrong. 🤦♂️🤣🤣
So failed test