What are worm castings?

In a nutshell…

Worm castings are worm poop : a natural by-product of earth worms eating and decomposing organic material into their most essential building blocks (nutrients, minerals, etc). Worm castings are widely regarded as one of the best fertilizers that exist. There are many benefits of using worm castings on your plants. The easiest way to get your hands on some good-quality worm castings is to build your own worm farm. If you are unsure on how to get started, let us help you!

What are worm castings?

Nature knows best! You may have been wondering about the best fertilizer for your plants, which is probably why you ended up on this blog post. The answer is pretty simple : the best fertilizer is not some kind of artificial liquid or beads that you can purchase. One of the best fertilizers out there is simply worm castings. Which are also known as “worm poop”. That’s right : organic material eaten and then pooped out by a worm. How is THAT supposed to be the best fertilizer there is? Let us explain what worm castings are.

Worms are naturally present in soil and are part of the thousands and thousands of small little actors who, along with bacteria, fungus and other (micro-)organisms, transform organic material into soil. This is nothing more and nothing less than what we call “composting”. Each piece of organic material (eg. fruits, vegetables, etc.) gets transformed back into its individual components.

When a worm eats organic material it encounters, it refines it. Nutrients, minerals and trace elements are being broken down to their purest form. This way, plants may easily absorb them and use them to grow and flourish. As mentioned a bit further up, this is simply the process of composting. However, when worms are used in a targeted manner during this process, it is called vermicomposting or vermiculture. A lot of people also call is worm farming.

Discover with us why you should start using worm castings as fertilizer for your plants and, most importantly, where to find them… or how to make them yourself for free!

The many benefits of worm castings

• It it widely regarded as the best fertilizer in the world. Worm castings are truly the “super food” of plants, wether they are in your garden or sitting inside in a plant pot. Worm castings introduce loads and loads of “good” bacteria, other micro-organisms and nutrients to your soil. Just skip the artificial and chemical fertilizers for the really good stuff!
• It is 100% ecological and natural. There is no better way to reduce the amount of waste you produce on a daily basis than to compost any and all organic material.
• Worm castings are super easy to use. You simply mix them with the top 5-10 cm (2-4 inches) of the soil surrounding your plants. If you notice certain plants producing fruits or buds, you can add some extra castings to give them an extra boost. In case you want to spread the castings on a bigger area in your garden, a good rule of thumb is to use a quarter to half of a cup for every 10 square meters (100 square feet).
• Worm castings are FREE if you own a worm farm. Starting a worm farm is very easy and can be done with material you probably already have at home. Discover how to easily start your own worm farm. You don’t have a garden or live in a small appartment? You’ve never had a green thumb and are afraid of killing your new friends? Then worm farming really IS made for you!
• It increases your soil’s water retention. In addition to all the micro-organisms and nutrients worm castings bring along, they also help trap some water close to the plant’s roots to help them fight drought periods.
• You can make worm tea out of it. Worm castings are the main ingredient for “worm tea”, which can also be used to boost your plant’s growth and general well-being. Discover how in this blog post.
• Worm castings don’t smell bad. Worm castings literally smell like fresh soil/dirt. And who doesn’t love the smell of fresh dirt? Did you know there is actually a name for that smell? It’s called petrichor.
• Worm castings are kid- and pet-friendly. Since worm castings are just refined organic material, you don’t have to worry about your kids or your pets playing around your freshly fertilized plants. No chemicals involved!
• Worm castings have a neutral pH of 7.0, which is perfect for… basically any and every plant and/or soil out there. You don’t need to worry about the type of soil you have in your garden or how fragile your plants may be. Worm castings are a good fit in all cases.

Where to find worm castings

Now that you know what worm castings actually are, you may wonder where to actually find them and how to use them. Well, you basically have three options :

• Buying pre-packaged worm castings at your local plant nursery and/or hardware store;
• Finding a local worm farmer who is willing to sell or gift you some of his worm castings;
• Start your own worm farm!

The most fun option is obviously to start your own worm farm. If you are unsure how to start a worm farm, do not worry : it truly is WAY easier than you might imagine. Find all the information you need for that here.

Once you’ve started you worm farm, you will need to wait a few weeks or months, depending on its size and the number of worms you’ve put into it for starters. If you are feeling impatient, you can check regularly to see if your worms have already produced enough worm castings for you to harvest. Worm castings are very easy to spot. They look like little dirt “worms”. As you can see in the picture right here, the lumpy mounts of soil are the actual worm castings. You won’t mistake “normal” soil for worm castings, even as a newby.

There are several ways of collecting or harvesting your worm castings. To learn more about the different techniques, please follow this link.

If you have any questions regarding worm castings, how to harvest them or how to start your own worm farm, please feel free to contact us anytime through our website. We answer all messages within 48 hours !