Thank you for the great information. I understand that red worms will eat most fruits and vegetables. If you focus on more sweeter foods, does it have an effect on the castings? For example...can you change the effect of the castings, based on the diet? or is the compost the same, no matter what you feed them? (obviously as long as their diet consists of recommended foods, not oily, dairy, meats, or others,) Thank you for your time. -Chris
Thanks Chris for your question. It is a very good question. In fact, from what I have read and seen, I’m not sure that anyone knows the answer to this question for certain. Much research is still being done on the effect on castings. I’m not aware of any that have been done or that are currently being done that differentiate castings produced from different feed stocks. Based on my current knowledge, I will provide my best guess as to how feedstock may affect the quality of the castings.
Worm castings are known for their microorganisms that help drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance, along with a ton of other good things for plants. Worms create these microoganisms while they are digesting their food. Their digestive tract is designed to select the good helpful microorganisms and eat the bad ones. Meaning that whatever the worms eat comes out better than what it put in, as far as microogranisms go.
The only difference feedstocks will really have on the quality of the castings is the nutrient content(my hypothesis). The worms can’t magically create nitrogen or phosphorus, all they do is help promote good microorganism to thrive. Since castings are often so expensive, people don’t typically worry about the nutrient content of the castings as much, since you only use a little bit of castings per plant anyway. The idea is to get the nutrient content of your soil correct first, then add the castings in for all of the great benefits the microorganisms provide.
Hope this answers your question. If anyone else has a question. Please feel free to contact me through the contact page. I would be happy to answer them!
