Fertilize Your Plants With the Best Worm Castings
Plants, like all living things, require sufficient nutrients to bloom and remain healthy throughout their lifecycle. So, if you own a plant or garden, you should consider applying earthworm castings to their soil, as it’s a high nutrient source for them. A worm casting is a highly effective organic fertilizer that will help your plants grow to their full potential. They primarily provide a massive nutritional boost to the soil, with the results visible in plant growth and yield. If you want to use earthworm castings to fertilize your flowers and vegetables and provide them with the essential nutrients, start by checking out our recommendations for the best worm castings in 2023.
Worm castings are a great way to create organic fertilizer for your garden. In addition, they can provide your plants with the natural nutrition they need to grow strong, healthy plant roots. So, if your goal is to create a sustainable garden without using chemical fertilizers, worm castings will help you do that.
Buying Guide to the Best-Selling Worm Castings
If you are ready to treat your soil and plants to a nutritious fertilizer, you should get a bag of worm castings. Worm castings have numerous advantages, and we have already discussed some of the best products on the market. However, if you require any additional information before making your purchase, please consult this guide.
What Are Worm Castings?
Put on your big boy/girl pants because the answer to this question may slightly gross you out. Worm castings are essentially worm poop. When earthworms eat compost, they excrete waste high in minerals and beneficial microbes. Also known as vermicast, these fertilizers are collected in a controlled environment via a process known as vermicomposting and used as a natural fertilizer for gardens, potted plants, flowers, and vegetables. Farmers and gardeners can improve soil aeration, water retention, plant yield, and plant growth with these organic products. As gross as it sounds, worm poop is great for growing healthy plants, and they are much better than chemical fertilizers.
How Do I Pick the Right Worm Castings?
Nutritional value
Before you purchase any worm casting, make sure it has the right nutritional value for both your soil and plants. Ideally, your worm casting should contain a healthy combination of trace minerals, enzymes, fungi, and microbes.
Organic composition (additives for fillers)
The best worm castings are pure and unfiltered. Some products use fillers like sand, dirt, and other manure to bulk up their packages, while others use chemical additives to make the fertilizer more potent. However, you want to get only pure, organic worm castings for your plants. Using pure worm castings instead of relying on harsh chemical fertilizers will ensure the best results for your soil and plants in the long term.
Moisture content
Another important factor you need to consider before getting worm casting is the moisture content. This is majorly affected by the production timeline of the product. For example, if your choice of worm casting has been sitting on a shelf for a long time, chances are the water level has reduced and become insufficient. Avoid such products. The right moisture content should be about 55%-70%.
Size
The size of your choice of worm castings package should be entirely determined by the size of your garden or farm. For example, if you have a large garden, a 30-pound bag will cover your soil area adequately. However, if you have a small home garden, you should choose smaller sizes.
What Are the Benefits of Worm Castings?
Increased organic nutrients for the soil
The best soil will contain 5% organic material. However, most fields have less than 1%, resulting in lifeless soil and, ultimately, limited plant growth. Worm castings add organic matter to your soil and potting mix, which serves as a food source for soil microbes.
Faster and improved plant growth
Worm castings are known to help with plant growth. In other words, adding a little worm casting to a growing plant improves seed germination, allowing it to thrive and grow to its full potential.
Improved aeration, water retention, and soil structure
Another major benefit of worm casting is that it gives you better soil structure and improved water retention. Worm casting acts as a glue that connects sand, silt, and clay sticks together. When this happens, your soil can retain up to 25,000 more gallons of water, which will help you decrease topsoil erosion and runoff.
Long term nutritional provision
Worm castings don’t just provide nutrients to your soil; they do it long-term. In other words, when you add vermicompost to your potting mix, it will remain active throughout the plant’s life cycle.
Stronger roots and plant health
Plants fed with worm castings have much stronger roots and general plant health than others. Their roots grow thicker and generally spread all over the surrounding soil to absorb nutrients.
Plant protection
Vermicompost has been known to protect plants and soil from several pathogens. For example, worm castings can protect plant seedlings from plant diseases caused by attacks of zoospores of common pathogens like Pythium.
Harvesting Your Own Worm Castings
While it’s certainly much easier to buy your worm castings online, you can create your own worm farm and harvest worm castings on your own. To do so, you’ll need to start with a worm bin or two. Luckily, worms don’t need a fancy set-up, so a plastic container will work as a worm bin just fine. After a while of feeding your worms, you’ll be able to harvest worm castings from your worms.
To learn more about how to get started, Epic gardening is here to help:
How To Use Worm Castings on Your Plants
Use only a pinch for seedlings
Seedlings already have everything they need to grow within them. So, if you use too much worm casting on them, you might suffocate the seed. The ideal move will be to add a pinch of worm casting to each seedling; you can also treat the soil with a small amount. Also, when transplanting them to your garden, add one or two teaspoons of vermicompost for optimal results.
Add a cup or two for full-grown plants
Full-grown plants need a lot more fertilizer and organic matter to blossom to their full potential. The best way to do that is by adding one to two cups of worm casting to the soil around the plants. Remember, sunlight kills the microbes in worm castings. So it is preferable to get the fertilizer into the soil instead of leaving it on the surface.
Make it into worm tea
If you intend to use worm castings for a large garden, you may end up spending more than you anticipated. One way to manage this is by making worm tea. This aerated tea can be applied as a spray over the lawn. You get to give your plants the required nutrients while saving money with it.
Summary
The best fertilizers are gotten from organic sources, and worm castings are no different. We have already outlined some of the best worm castings in 2023 for you earlier in the guide; you can opt for any of them and start seeing results before the month runs out. So start giving your plants everything they need to survive and bloom today.
Nicest Worm Casting Worth Considering in 2023
UNCO Worm Casting
– Best Overall
We’re sure you’d like to see your plants bloom from start to finish. For this, you should get the UNCO worm casting. This fertilizer is stacked with nutritional supplements, but the best thing about it is that it can provide nutrition slowly over time, unlike most products that provide short bursts of nutrition. In other words, applying a small amount of this fertilizer to your flowers or vegetables will result in beautiful growth and yield throughout their lifecycle.
- Available in a 4.5-pound packaging
- All-natural organic fertilizer; free from chemical additives
- Odor-free so that you can apply without nasal irritation
- This worm casting feeds your plants over a long time
- You only need to use a small amount for best results
- It is perfect for both indoor and outdoor plants
- Using too much can attract root aphids
Simple Grow Worm Casting
– Runner Up
We know chemical fertilizers can easily mess up plants, which is why we’re recommending the Simple Grow worm casting. This product doesn’t contain chemicals, fillers, additives, dirt, or stones. As a result, it is safe for all plants, farms, and garden soil. In addition, this nutrient-rich organic soil supplement contains beneficial microbes, powerful multivitamins, and trace minerals, all of which provide your plants with 100% natural nutrition.
- Pure, filtered worm casting; no fillers or additives
- The product comes in a 5-pound bag
- Soil supplement is packed with trace minerals, hummus, and healthy microbes
- Organic fertilizer; suitable and healthy for all types of plants
- This worm casting will meet all of your plants’ nutritional requirements.
- It is a very healthy and eco-friendly option
- You can use it for all types of plants
- The product is more expensive than others in its category
BRUT WORM FARMS Worm Casting
– Honorable Mention
Gardeners who tend to large gardens will love the Brut worm casting. Why? Well, it comes in a big bag, and the worm castings are less than a week old, giving quality and quantity all in one place. The fertilizer also contains beneficial microbes, minerals, and nutrients. It provides long-term natural nourishment to both small and large soils. In addition, this non-toxic, odor-free product is suitable for both indoor and outdoor use.
This dark, rich and pure worm casting will make your plants thrive and bloom to their full potential.
- Available in multiple sizes; 5, 12, and 30-pound bags
- Pure, filtered earthworm castings for all-round nutrition
- 100% organic composition
- This product is perfect for large gardens
- The worm castings are fresh
- You get a high-quality fertilizer at a great price
- The fertilizer might contain more water than necessary
Dr. Verm’s Worm Casting
– Also Consider
The best way to ensure that your plants will grow to their full potential is by using Dr. Verm’s worm casting. This fertilizer contains natural growth hormones and will condition your soil for optimal germination and root development. The microbes in this casting will nourish your plants and allow them to thrive even in harsh conditions.
If you are worried about your plant’s health, this product will help allay your fears. It contains enzymes that stimulate the natural defense mechanism of plants. Safe to say that this worm casting is a complete plant care product.
- The fertilizer comes in two, four, and ten-pound bags
- It contains enzymes, trace minerals, and microbes for plant nutrition
- Pure worm casting; free from dirt and fillers
- Natural fertilizer; free from chemicals and additives
- It’ll make your plants’ growth skyrocket
- The worm castings will nourish your plants throughout their life cycle
- The product is safe for all types of plants
- The package may have a few weed seeds in the mix
VermisTerra Worm Casting
– Also Consider
If your soil is unsuitable for planting and you’re looking for a viable solution, the VermisTerra worm casting is a good option. This product helps to improve your soil’s aeration and water retention. Plants grow faster, yield more, and taste better when grown in soil with this fertilizer. And because the product is non-toxic, it is safe for children, pets, and even pollinators. This product contains no fillers – only pure worm castings.
- This worm casting comes in a 10-pound package
- Resealable packaging for easy storage
- Organic fertilizer; free from pathogens and heavy metals
- Certified by USDA and CDFA to be completely natural
- High-quality earthworm castings
- This worm casting helps improve your soil structure
- 100% organic fertilizer is safe for pets and pollinators
- Your plants will enjoy a healthy life cycle with this product
- The application process is a bit tedious
People Also Asked
A: Yes, worm castings are organic fertilizer, and they will not overly burn or affect your plants if you use too much. However, you need to apply a suitable amount for the best results.
A: Yes, worm castings make for better fertilizers than compost. However, they are also more expensive and cannot be produced easily.
A: If you buy worm casting in bulk, it can cost as little as 40 cents per pound. However, if you get in small bags, you can pay as high as $5 per pound. The price varies depending on the manufacturer, worm casting quality, moisture content, and other relevant factors.
