Making Worm Tea - Delivering Essential Micro-nutrients

Worm Tea steeping with quality castings

Making worm tea from high quality earthworm casting can help your hydroponic plants get the essential micro-nutrients they need for success. You can buy worm tea from a number of on-line sites but if you have a worm bin, you can make your own. Tea can be used as a topical fertilizer or used to supplement the nutrient solution. I prefer to keep a sprayer full, and use as a foliage spray. Here's how to make "tea" from worm castings. Save yourself from the challenges of trying to figure out which nutrients are missing in your hydroponic nutrient solution and make up a batch of this amazing, nutrient-rich worm tea.

INGREDIENTS and Essentials

Use quality, well sifted worm castings

• 1 cups of well composted worm castings (well sifted)
• 1 tablespoons of VT maple syrup (or molasses)
• Water which has been left to stand overnight or rain water (or collected rain water)
• An aquarium pump and airstone for aeration
• A watering can
• A sock

Procedures

Sock filled with worm castings

1. Put the worm castings in an sock or stocking hose and tie a knot
2. Fill the bucket with water. Either use rain water or let the water stand so it is chlorine free. You don't want to kill the beneficial micro-organisms.
3. Add the syrup or molasses to the water to feed the micro-organisms
4. Place the sock in the bucket and allow to steep.
5. If you have one, use a bubbler like an aquarium pump and airstone. Place it in the the bucket and plug in the bubbler so the the water is aerated.
6. Let water and castings bubble for 18-24 hours. 
7. Use within the next 2 days.

ENSURE

• Castings tea must be "brewed" (allowed to set or "steep") as directed above to be most effective. By steeping the castings and aerating the mixture you encourage the growth of beneficial micro-organisms.
• You should always use water that is chlorine free. Rain water is best but you can also let the water in the bucket stand overnight and the chlorine will dissipate.

Caution

• Worm tea is not for human or animal ingestion -- keep away from pets, as worm tea can be extremely poisonous to animals (and often smells appealing).