Worm Tea

[bmilwaukee]

Just a quick note. Milorganite is not actually dried sewage sludge. Microbes digest the nasty stuff and then are dried, creating Milorganite. It is actually a great system that allows people to send organic materials through their in-sink disposal systems and into the wastewater treatment system. From there, these materials, instead of being wasted, are turned into fertilizer and energy. They are diverted from area landfills where they would take up space and generate methane. Also, Milorganite does not contain a ton of lead. Just google Milorganite and head to their webpage where you can find detailed information about the fertilizer's contents.

[Orchid Whisperer]

Originally Posted by bmilwaukee

Just a quick note. Milorganite is not actually dried sewage sludge. Microbes digest the nasty stuff and then are dried, creating Milorganite. It is actually a great system that allows people to send organic materials through their in-sink disposal systems and into the wastewater treatment system. From there, these materials, instead of being wasted, are turned into fertilizer and energy. They are diverted from area landfills where they would take up space and generate methane. Also, Milorganite does not contain a ton of lead. Just google Milorganite and head to their webpage where you can find detailed information about the fertilizer's contents.

Just saw this post and one from many years ago regarding Milorganite. You are partially correct in that Milorganite does not contain high levels of lead or other metals. EPA classifies it as an Exceptional Quality (EQ) sewage sludge, meaning it is low metals, low pathogens and safe for the general public to use. I've used it on the lawn, vegetable garden and as a sort of "Milorganite tea" on orchids, to provide trace elements. However, it is still considered sewage sludge by EPA; personally, I'm totally OK with that.

[Ray]

Without going back over this entire thread, I don't know if I was one of the naysayers about worm teas, but it's very likely. However, I am coming around, sort-of.

After doing some research, it appears that most of the benefit from such "teas" results from the colonies of microbes that grow in them, and by establishing a stable population of "good bugs" in the rhizosphere, they work to keep the "bad bugs" at bay. There is also some evidence that there may be beneficial chemical interaction between those "bugs" (or their metabolites) and the plants themselves, but very little is known about that at this point. Most of the work done has been with terrestrial plants, and it's hard to say if those benefits translate well to epiphytes.

Considering my educational and work background (science and engineering, plus 4 decades in the glass/ceramic & chemical industries), the concept of using stuff like worm teas just "bothers" me - too many unknowns to make me comfortable risking my precious plants. However, several months ago, a gentleman from a Canadian biotechnology company (also an avid paph grower and current customer) contacted me about a unique product they have developed that is made up of several "consortia" of beneficial bacteria and yeasts. His own experience with his paph collection, as well as field trials at a large sculpture garden and several farms in SC, plus research ongoing at Clemson and McGill University, shows that their plant & soil amendment product has real benefits. He sent me sample material, some of which I shared with a few of my larger-scale grower friends, and one of the first things noted was the greatly-improved survival rate of ex-flask seedlings. Then I learned that Holger Pernar (Hengduan Biotech in China) has noted significant improvement in his culturing of Paph. tigrinum, a particularly difficult plant to propagate, and now essentially extinct in its Chinese habitats, but using the stuff. If you want to read about it, the product is "Garden Solution", made by Inocucor.

I don't do a lot of de-flasking, but a regular application in my greenhouse seems to be doing a good job of keeping pathogens at bay, which is always more of a concern as the temperatures drop and we get more gray days. (It has also done a marvelous job of decreasing the "gunk" level of my artificial pond outside of the greenhouse, and the frogs and fish are apparently unfazed.)

With that level of science and effectiveness behind it, they have convinced me to work with them and be the primary retail outlet in the US (if you are near Myrtle Beach, you can buy it at Brookgreen Gardens). We are finalizing the arrangements now, and I hope to have stock, including samples, later this month.

[oscar freak]

I'v just started keeping both orchids and an earthworm farm,and my worm wee is filling up nicely.i think i'm going to give it a go as an experiment and see what happens.

[nynighthawk]

Hi folks,

Just a note or two about what is being referred to as "worm tea".

I've been keeping a worm bin for about five years, now. The little guys are great at turning my kitchen scraps into vermicompost. I've mostly been using that on my street tree bed and in my garden...haven't experimented with using a bit in my terrestrial orchid mix. But, I'm going to try a little bit when I repot my cymbidiums.

Anyhoooo, what I just want to mention is that there may be some inconsistency in what is being referred to as "worm tea". As far as I understand, the liquid material that is created by the worms in the bin is not, itself, worm tea. "Worm tea" is created by taking some of the vermicomost and putting it in a bin of water that is then aerated for a period of time to increase the population of microbes. When I took a Master Composting program, a few years ago, the instructor had a bucket set up with an aquarium bubbler in it to provide oxygen and circulation to the mix.

I've been adding a little of the untreated worm effluent to my orchid water, lately. I don't really know if it helps at all. When I get my brain in gear, I will try to do a more thorough worm tea process and see if the 'chids like it.

I suspect that items like the worm tea might be more useful for terrestrial orchid mixes and maybe even sphagnum media, where there is more retention of moisture and the media stay in more intimate contact with plant roots.

Just mho.

I'm really looking forward to any followup you all have on this.

Please keep us posted, Ray. You are always so thoughtful and thorough in your explorations.

:-)

Jess

---------- Post added at 11:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:06 AM ----------

Oh...I forgot to mention that the setup of the "worm tea" bucket had the vermicompost in a baggie...like a big tea bag...so that the liquid remained pretty gunk-free. I guess and alternative would be to strain the mix afterward, if you intend to use the tea as a foliar spray, etc. We were told that using it as a spray was beneficial as an anti-bacterial/fungicide, as well as a foliar feed.

[Nexogen]

How to Breed Beneficial Microbes

DWC Root Slime Cure aka How to Breed Beneficial Microbes | Rollitup

[nynighthawk]

Thanks for that link, Nexogen!

[Ray]

The primary issue with the products mentioned in that article is that they are basically not much more than blends of different cultures. If you are lucky, sufficient colonies will develop to keep pathogenic ones at bay.

What usually happens, however, is one of these scenarios:

1. By "bombarding" the rhizosphere with the "good bugs", you may knock back the bad ones, but it is only temporary, and eventually the good ones die off and native cultures retake the lead. Don't forget that the bad bugs were happy growing in that environment, while to additives are foreign, so may not be well-suited for that same environment.
2. The individual strains do different things to the plant and root environment, and they compete with each other for survival, so often - if you're lucky enough to avoid the prior scenario - only one strain "takes over", and you don't get the full benefit.

That is where the Inocucor technology comes in - they have developed consortia of good bugs that play well together, so are able to build and sustain stable colonies that support each other while providing a broad range of benefits.

[nynighthawk]

Good points, Ray. Thanks for your insights.

:-)

[bil]

This is quite an interesting subject.There will always be yea and nay sayers for everything, but as long as we all stay polite, hopefully from debate, consensus and learning will result.
The interest in worm tea and so on isn't to do with the basic nutrients. Commercial fertilisers do that way better. What is interesting is the tag alongs, the congeners, if you like. Congeners are what turn boring vodka into whiskey or rum.
Worm teas and other brews contain additional nutrients, and also a whole slew of fungi and microorganisms. The basic science seems to be that if you try and keep a sterile environment for plants, not only will they be lacking, but the harmful bugs will gain ascendance.
Here's a couple of interesting references to brewing various cultures.
Making your own Plant Probiotic Brew | Rollitup
probiotic brewing
So who here is growing in true organic living soil? | Rollitup
discussion board follow on.
There's also lots of pages on compost tea. The probiotic brews get round the risk of virus transmission, but even if you don't like the idea of compost tea near orchids, it is very good for plants in pots.
Ultimate Compost Tea Recipe For Boosting Plant Growth compost tea
How to Make Compost Tea C. tea made easy
Beginner's guide to AACT/Compost Tea - Growing Hot Peppers - The Hot Pepper
Ultimate Compost Tea Recipe For Boosting Plant Growth

---------- Post added at 02:31 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:18 PM ----------

In one of the links I added, one of the people gets quite narky about commercial brews, and waxes lyrical on the joys of cultivating local strains of fungi and bacteria, suggesting that the ones you get for free in the area are best suited to living where you are.
He makes cultures from soil samples especially samples taken from forests and woodland, as these have the widest range of fungi.
What I learned when I was in the UK that bad fungi can be displaced and eliminated by overwhelming them with competition. Honey fungus was a tree killer, and we had an outbreak. Normally the reponse was to remove all potential fungi food from the area. However, once there that did nothing against the honey fungus. I happened to read about the idea of competition controlling it, and we mulched with shredded garden waste of every type 6 inches deep all over. The honey fungus just gave up and never came back.
One experiment to cultivate fungi. on a programme someone was illustrating the worth of putting cardboard into compost heaps. He put corrugated cardboard into a container with drain holes, and peed on it every day. The local fungal spores germinated, and helped by the nitrogen, turned the cardboard into a mass of fungal hyphae.
I'd quite like to try mixing bark chunks with some paper machee and then giving it some nitrogen to get it going. Then, when some orchids need repotting, I'd like to include some of the fungal innoculated bark chunks into the mix and see how they do. Normal plants depend heavily on a sybbiotic relationship with fungi and bacteria, and there are suggestions that this is far more complex than we thought.
If you google probiotics for plants, a lot of the references will be from Marijuanna boards. Those people take soil health VERY seriously.