Benefits of leachate

Since my last post was about the benefits of leachate, I wanted to post another example of how well leachate has worked in my gardens.

These are some green beans that have been growing in our garden over summer. The green bean on the right is the typical size that we usually get by watering and adding fish emulsion fertilizer every few weeks. The green bean on the left is the result of only two feedings of leachate in the last few weeks. The size difference is incredible!

And just to give you an idea of how large this green bean is, I put a bottle of Bulls-Eye barbecue sauce next to it to give a proportional comparison. Leachate really does work wonders!

What I do with leachate

A lot of people are confused about the difference between leachate and worm tea. Worm tea is made from taking worm castings, placing various amounts into a teabag of some sort (usually made with pantyhose) or just by placing the worm castings also known as earthworm castings (ewc) directly into water until dissolved and mixed adequately.

Leachate on the other hand, is what leaches out of the bottom of a worm bin and is often captured in a bucket. It is comprised of many substances, including various bacteria and fungi, as well as worm urine, vegetable juices, and whatever else might have leached out after water was added to the top. It can become anaerobic (stink) and I've even read online that some people have complained of their plants getting diseased after adding this leachate to their gardens. I have not had that problem, in fact, just the opposite. So I decided to show you how to add this magnificent "waste byproduct" to your garden and hopefully, you can achieve the same results that I have.

I begin by carrying the bucket outside to a patio area and filling it up with water. I always feel like I should be using distilled water to keep as many microbes alive, since my tap water contains chlorine and is probably killing many of the beneficial organisms that help break down plant food in the soil.

I fill the bucket completely, and it's usually a lot lighter in color than what you see in the above picture, but I let it sit and ferment for too long this week and the microbes were abundant, as you can see by the foam.

I poured half of this batch onto my neighbors tomatoes because he has been donating a lot of his vegetables to my worms and I wanted to show my gratitude. I only used half because I have a lot of gardens I am also feeding this leachate to and a little bit goes a long ways. In fact, after I added leachate to my neighbors garden, I filled the bucket up with water again.

 After feeding a few plants, I saved some in the bucket to show you what color the leachate usually is after I dilute it. It should be a tea color.

These are Roma Tomatoes that my wife uses to make various tomato sauces for dinner. They might not look that big, but my hands are pretty huge and these tomatoes were only growing to half this size before I started adding leachate. These aren't even the biggest ones either, but were the first I spotted and still shocked me, as this plant hadn't produced any fruit this year until I started adding leachate a few weeks ago. The plants seem to love leachate, but it's important to dilute it first and spread it far and wide in your gardens! :)

And yet another benefit is that it seems to bring dead plants back to life see Zombie Celery.

I also added it to a dying washington navel orange tree that seemed to be a complete loss, with the hopes of bringing it back after the success I had with the donated Celery. A few days ago we noticed that the orange tree seemed to be coming back.

Not only did the root base come alive (below the graft), but it started to grow new shoots. I'm not sure what kind of tree the root base is, but I assume some sort of dwarf citrus.

The thing that got me excited was that I noticed the stem of this upper part, which is definitely a washington navel orange graft and it's alive! Are there Zombie Oranges in my future? I'll keep you updated!

Outside Worm Bin (Update 1)

I decided to finally do something with this orange bin that's been sitting on its side for the last week. I realized it would be sitting there for a while if I didn't do something with it soon, as I have a habit of getting overwhelmed by my many hobbies, which aren't all documented on this blog. So I decided to get the outside worm bin prepared for the worms I plan on adding in the next few weeks, before it gets too cold.

I began by making a trip to my neighbors house. He had a truck bed full of cardboard that had been there for years. He told me I could have all the cardboard I wanted, so I took it all (hehe). I tore up what I could, but midway decided it probably didn't matter, as the bin is huge. I learned a valuable lesson later when after watering the bin for over twenty minutes, the bottom portions were bone dry. I had to dig back in and tear each piece up into smaller, more easily biodegradable pieces.

After looking around for a bottom among mine and neighbors' various junk piles, I decided that a bottom might not be necessary after all. I found a spot on my property where a previous owner had added a large amount of sand to help with the mud in the winter and decided to move the worm bin to that spot. I raided my neighbors wood pile for a few pieces to fill the holes in the bottom and to add a little weight to the top, which was also donated by a friend (Thanks Tom!)

This piece didn't fit, but the idea is to keep my 3 dogs from getting too curious and digging here. I know this will be inadequate, so I had to think on other ways to fix this new issue.

Next I added shredded paper. 

And more shredded paper.

Remember my post, 10 Years of Bills = Worm Bedding?, well there's about 5 years of bills in there (lol).

My kids collected a bucket of leaves and tossed them into the bin, while my wife was adding cardboard. We also added some produce a neighbor donated and some eggs as well.

Then we got the water hose and started wetting it all down.

 We added some more produce, leaves, and tried mixing the paper in better.

And we learned that this bin has good drainage, but also that the bottom didn't get as wet as we'd hoped, because it drained out the sides, but I just lifted the parts up that hadn't gotten wet enough and watered them adequately.

 Next we added the lid to see how it would look. I was satisfied with its aeration (ability to breathe).

And then we added a piece of wood and the bucket to deter the dogs from jumping on the bin.

But I felt like something was still missing. The bottom was going to start attracting the dogs and I knew they would start digging if they got curious. So I started to bury the bottom of the bin with sand, because I knew it would prevent the dogs from digging, while also allowing the bin to drain if too much water is added to the top.

 So I began to add sand

 And more sand

And more

Until I was satisfied my neighborhood had thought I'd gone mad, adding what appeared to be a poor man's bunker to my front yard!!

Even after adding the paper, leaves, cardboard, egg shells, vegetable scraps, rabbit manure and the small amount of sand mixed in, we have still only filled the bin to about one tenth of its capacity! It's going to take a while to completely fill it, and at least 3 or 4 weeks until I can add worms without worrying about losing them.

Worn Inn Update(s) 2

It has been a busy week! I haven't found time until now to add the pictures I've been taking over the last week and a half, so I decided to just include them all in one post so you can see for yourself the ability of these worms to consume waste.

We decided to add this zucchini squash that had been sitting in the fridge for a few months. It was very large as you can see from the picture and I simply cut it in half, to expose the insides, and then added it to the bin. Next I added rabbit manure all around it (to increase microbial production) and then sprayed the top layer with water, as water is required to make the poo attractive to the worms.

The next day we had an old bag of sugar laying in my wife's "coupon pile" (lol). It only had a few grains of sugar inside, but to my surprise, the bag itself is nothing more than a brown paper bag with another thin layer of paper glued to it (which means the worms will eat it!). I just tore it into some pieces and added it to the top, with a few eggshells we had laying around, and sprayed the top with some water.

I also snapped a picture of a lonely worm who had found his way to the top of the bin and was enjoying the fresh air. You can barely see him right above the green zucchini squash (sorry about the grainy photo/ipad camera)

Five or so days later I added another half bucket of food that my neighbors donated to my cause!

There was a lot of citrus this time, but I made sure to add a bunch of torn up paper and cardboard to the bottom of this bucket to soak up any liquid that might pool and to "even out" the unstable elements of the system. I was happy to see white and green mold on the citrus peels, as that will definitely help in the breakdown of matter and decay.

I was also happy to see that leachate was once again collecting in the bucket under the worm inn. I'll show you in another post what happens with this stuff, but it's not waste, I'll tell you that!

The inn sat in darkness for 3-4 days (like it always does lol) and this morning I checked on it again to see how the microbes and worms were breaking down all the waste I've added last week.

Everything looks pretty good.

I decided to move things around a bit to see if I could capture any worms and I was able to find some easily.

Since I was sure there were going to be really fat worms (from all of the corn meal I added  a few weeks ago) I decided to look for some.

And a few seconds later, I spotted one moving quickly away from the light. I also added a picture of the bucket I keep out in our back storage room for food scraps, to give others an idea of the process.

Throughout the week we continuously add to this bucket with any scraps from meals or the gardens. As you can see we've got some bread, as well as flour and some grapes. For those of you who don't know where this is going, that is starch and sugar, which when combined creates a lovely thing we like to call, alcohol (hehe). I doubt it will be detrimental to the worms at all to be honest, but what you cant see is that the bottom is full of dry cardboard, waiting to soak up any juices.

Zombie Celery (It's Alive!)

So I was over at The Worm Dude's website, reading his post 'Food for the worms, or Food for ME," and was intrigued that an attempt at feeding his worms romaine lettuce resulted in the lettuce actually growing in the castings, rather than decomposing. I chuckled when I saw this amazing sight and so a few days later when one of my neighbors handed me a bucket of kitchen scraps they'd saved for me, I decided to plant some of the waste to see what happened. I didn't just grab any old waste though, I went for the celery, as the center section still looked lively.

After tearing off the rotten parts and tossing them into my compost bucket, I planted the living part in plain ol' dirt in an area of my garden that we just harvested sunflowers from. I then proceeded to pour diluted leachate onto the celery for the last week or so and to my amazement, the celery grew new parts and is coming back strong!

I'll keep you updated on the progress of this plant, but I doubt there will be any issues. I should be harvesting fresh celery for some home made chicken stew in no time!

Outside Worm Bin (work in progress)

I was out in my neighbors field yesterday looking for random rocks to toss into my rock garden when I stumbled upon an old Orange Bin used at the local orange packing houses to store oranges for transport. My neighbor probably used it at some point years ago to feed his grandfathers many horses, but eventually the bottom rotted out and it was forgotten, as various other projects collected on top of it. I took one look and knew I could do something with it!

I still don't have any real design plans, but after seeing people using troughs, lifted by cinder blocks with a drainage hole for leachate and a bucket to catch it, I decided I wanted to try to design some sort of outside bin, with a lid that could be insulated, but could also be lifted so that leachate could collect and castings could be removed without much effort. Those are my requirements, which means I've got a lot of work ahead of me to design a nice worm bin out of what I have.

There is some termite damage on one of the 4 x 4s, but it looks old and I doubt they're active in the wood anymore. The bottom is completely rotted out, which is a blessing really, as I dont have to take off any rotten boards and can just design and add the bottom as I see fit.

I like the metal around the top and will probably put a hinge on the side, below the metal to secure the lid that I eventually make. If you have any ideas, hints, or tips for me I'd really appreciate any and all feedback, even if you think I'm nuts for using this (I've never built a worm bin before so I'm just going with the flow). I will be reading up on how to build various worm bins out of wood and borrow ideas from others as I go, but it should be a fun and interesting process and since I'm serious about vermicomposting, I realized I needed to start planning a bigger worm bin sooner than later!

Watermelon Vs. Fence Final Update

It hasn't been a very good week for the Watermelon. We ended up removing a bunch of weeds from our gardens this past weekend and we took out a lot of water grass that was growing wildly throughout the garden bed. I believe we removed too much too quickly, as the next day it was extremely hot and the watermelon plants basically withered away, without the insulation and protection from the sun that the grass had been providing.

Wilted

The other watermelon was so wilted that it started to decompose in the fence. I removed it a few days ago, tossed it in a bucket outside while I watered my gardens and then *thought* I had put it into my worm inn last week. Well, apparently I didn't!

At least not all of it! My puppy had gotten into the bucket when no one was looking and claimed half of the watermelon as her own personal chew toy. You can see her handy work above!

I ended up trying to remove the last remaining (and larger) watermelon from the fence, but ended up breaking it instead, as it was really wedged in there.

But I used my knowledge of shapes (thank you preschool!) and put it back together to give an idea of what it would have looked like if I hadn't broken it.

Looks pretty freakish doesn't it?

And I also grabbed some tomatoes out of the garden before my dogs dragged them through the fence and ate them! They seem to love tomatoes!

Not a bad experiment if I do say so myself, though I don't recommend you try growing watermelons in a fence if you care to retain their natural shape and want to see them mature! XD

Watermelon Vs. Fence Update 1

Just wanted to give a quick update to the watermelon vs. fence challenge. The first watermelon isn't doing that well and doesn't seem to be growing at all. In fact, it looks to be shrinking and I don't know if it's dying or what, but it will soon be added to the Worm Inn if it doesn't grow anymore.

It looks to be shrinking!

The other melon continues to grow and get larger despite the confines of its location!

Sorry about the picture quality!

It was bright and early when I took these pictures so they are a bit difficult to see. Will keep you updated!

Worm Inn Update 1

So today I added about 10 or more (I don't weigh it, just feel of it) pounds of frozen food and rabbit poop to my Worm Inn.

As you can see, it's pretty full!

I have been saving the rabbit droppings in a coffee can so that I can sprinkle them onto the piles as needed. The poop really seems to jump start the decomposition process and the worms are much more active on material that has the poop nearby.

Coffee Can is perfect for storage

And here's a shot up close after adding the frozen/rotten food and the rabbit poo

It's important to remember to wet the poop after it's added as dry poop is of no benefit to worms or microbes. Since I mixed the poop with frozen food, I only added a little bit of water because the thawing food will eventually soak the inn.

When done adding food, I always add a new top layer of shredded paper/cardboard to keep the smell from lingering and to keep the bugs who'd seek to get to the rot at bay. They cannot penetrate the mesh lid and just hang out around the top screaming, "Dude, it's Dave man, let me in!"

To which the worms reply, "What, who Dave? Dave's not here man!"

XD