Our local cropping research group, BCG hopefully is going to do some experiments with compost teas and worm castings. Has anyone tried these in the past?

How they going to do that Adon i know worms love tea leaves have got some buck worms in worm farm since march they love tea leaves.

I have heard they are going to sow plows of wheat with worm castings as fertilizer then make a "tea" out of worm castings to use as a foliar fertilizer. I think the same would be done with compost. Do you know about compost and vermicost teas?
I have never heard of buckworms where did you get them(I suppose they are compost worms)
I started my own worm farm in March as well and have also found they love tea leaves. should start another forum on worm farms. Nice shower again here!

Buck worms are the large earthworms we get here some people also call them scrub worms big thick buggers little finger size up to say 6 inches long get them out in the paddocks heaps of them in longtem stubble mulch paddock first time have been able to keep them in worm farm great for cod fishing.
Have had a bit to do with composting when over in the states helped a mate i stayed wih set one up to break down calf bodies the bodies were gone in about 8 weeks will track down site if you are interested.

Sounds good! I have tigers, reds and Indian blues am tryiing to get a hold of some euro nightcrawlers but noby around here has them. So you have buck worms living in a worm farm. Are they breeding?

yes they are breeding checked the other day was told the would not breed but these are! Dad told me they would never live he and his mates used to collect them for murray fishing i helped few times they used to go out to flood irrigation areas on first night of run with gas lights and pick them up i just go out after summer rain and pick them up in puddles or have a spot were they gather old drain in paddock they seem the prefer red clay but are building up numbers in black ground during sowing usually collect 3 or 4 of airseeder tynes thinking wire wrapped around.

You can buy them for cod bait about one dollar each some people get the from around cherrypool in the riverswamp down there.

I wonder if they are the same worm we have here. get about 15cm long and pretty fat. Might have to get some and chuck them in the worm farm. Are the scrubworms in with other worms?

the sound like the same worms, have been told not to have any others in with them mine are alone you have to make worm farm very escape proof they are better the african night crawlers for getting away. have found they like it wet down on bottom layer, not to wet on top they like bean or pea stubble on top dont like spuds mainly pumpkin ant tea bags. and not hot worse thing for them worse than any others mainly because of there bulk i think.

Very interesting Adon I will keen to know what the outcome is from the trials....Man those buck worms must move heaven in the earth !

Sound more like black snakes to me ....will have to Google this one

Happy trials & trails !

Would be really good to see how they go with it. I guess the system would have to be played with to see how good it could get. Would be very nice to not have to use chemical fertilizers tho not just becuse of the price of them.

What your email dave? have some pics of srubbies I got this morning. (not sure how to put them on the forum)

I have had a population explosion in my worm farm! There are little worms everywhere! I reckon that the temp has got to just about right so probly all the egg hatched at once.

Reckon I have jsut about enough worm castings to see how I go at making a batch of castings tea. I reckon I'll pput it on the lawn and the garden and see how it goes. Got a bit excited last week and grabbed a heap of worm and went fishin so will have to control myself!

FARMER DAVE ..... and others.
Any reports, as to how the Scrub worms are
breeding??
Still find the tea leaves and the pea straw are doing the job?

Hi worm grower welcome to the forum! :wave:

I have not tried breeding scrub worms because they have been really hard to find lately. It is bloody dry out here and they are really deep.

with my compost worms tho they love the pea straw and tea leaves. Every time I put a soaked patch of staw in, they go mad and get all through it.

adon, thanks for the welcome. Hope I can add to the
- "Compost teas, worm castings and worm farms" thread over the coming months. I am just in the very early stages of worm farming, but all is going well,
and all the worms seem happy (as it were) and are sure growing.I will post as I find any helpful tips
that may help others. Best of luck to all the members that are into worm farming.

Hey all just came across a good story in the weekly times yesterday about how compost teas can fight strip rust without haveing to use chemicals. Basically these guys were spraying "liquid compost" onto crops to encourage biology onto the leaves. This inturn created competition for room and stripe rust could not cover the whole leaf therefor limiting the damage.

I am going to try compost out next year as we have a very large supply within 100km of us and it is pretty cheap really.

Very wise that adon1 bloke!!! IM BACK!!!

Good news Adon, was hoping that glitch would get sorted out soon.

Was only taliking to hubby yesterday about starting a small worm farm. The idea is to eventually go as organic as possible here for vegies and the likes, though to go completely organic is impossible with our surrounding neighbours high in chemical heaven.

Any more info on the scrub worms??? If this is any help, a fair while ago I dug through a pile of woodchips which had been dumped near a lake I was going to fish. The pile had been there for some time and I found quite a few scrubbies at the damp end. Normally only find them under rotting logs in undisturbed bushland.