NPP Turns Trash into Treasure: The Wonderful World of Worm Poop

Hey plant peeps. Today, we're delving deep into the world of worm castings and the art of vermicomposting, tailored specifically for those of us who spend time working to help our houseplants thrive. So, put on your favorite gardening gloves, we’re digging into some worm doo-doo.

Part 1: What Worm Castings Do for Houseplants

Houseplant Nutrient Nirvana: Worm castings are a secret superfood for our plants. These unassuming, nutrient-rich nuggets, fondly referred to as "black gold," offer our beloved houseplants an irresistible feast. Loaded with essential elements like nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium, they become the elixir of life for our green roommates. Their presence promotes massive growth and lush foliage that'll make your best of plant friends wanting to know what your green thumb secret is.

All images in this blog are owned and copyrighted by Lucid Linds Photography.

Soil Spa Day for Your Houseplants: Just as you relish a spa day, your houseplants can have the same luxury treatment. Worm castings provide the equivalent of a day at the plant spa. Applying them is as simple as a sprinkle on top of your potting mix or a gentle blend into the soil. The transformation that follows is like giving your plant's cozy home a complete makeover. These castings enhance soil structure, improve moisture retention, and turbocharge nutrient uptake – creating the perfect foundation for your houseplants to flourish.

The Pest Patrol Squad for Your Indoor Garden: Every plant person’s worst nightmare is plant pests. Worm castings can actually help! Worm poo houses a battalion of beneficial microbes that assume the role of your plant's personal security detail. Those microbes work tirelessly to keep unwanted intruders at bay. How awesome is that? Who knew? I did not until now and I’m so ready to toss out that stinky Neem Oil in my cabinet.

Part 2: Vermicomposting - The Indoor Gardener's Best Friend

The Composting Connection for Your Indoor Garden: Now that you're thoroughly captivated by the allure of worm castings for your houseplants, let's take a closer look at how to make our own worm castings through what’s called — vermicomposting. All you need to kick off this eco-friendly adventure are a crew of superstar worms (typically the red wigglers variety), a cozy home (a specially designed bin with appropriate bedding material), and your kitchen scraps (their favorite snacks). These legless heroes will work tirelessly, transforming your kitchen leftovers into nutrient-rich black gold. We’re using the Worm Bucket kit because the design is perfect for actually keeping it inside in our pantry, the kit comes with everything we need to get started (except for ordering the worms separately) and WB is created by one of our very own Nashville Plant People community members, Audrey and her husband Rob. More on Worm Bucket later, first let’s understand everything involved in making our own worm castings.

Eco-Warrior Status for Indoor Gardeners: Vermicomposting is a sustainable movement. By diverting our kitchen scraps from the landfill, we're actively reducing waste, cutting down on harmful emissions, and shrinking our carbon footprint. Being eco-friendly has never looked so good, and the planet certainly appreciates our efforts.

The Indoor Garden Game-Changer: The most avid gardeners indoors and out use worm castings for their plants because they are packed with so much goodness. But not everyone has a yard to compost outdoors in. Worm Bucket is pretty rad considering that we can now create our own worm castings indoors, and even in the smallest of small apartments and tiny homes. Your plants and the planet will be thanking you for your vermicomposting efforts.

Part 3: What Else Can We Do with Worm Poop?

Now that you're well-versed in the world of worm poo and the art of vermicomposting for our houseplants, let's explore some advanced techniques and additional benefits that will take your indoor gardening status to the next level.

1. Happy Hour for Our Houseplants: Have you ever heard of worm tea? Worm castings can be brewed into a nutrient-rich liquid known as worm tea. This potent cocktail can be applied directly to your houseplants' roots or sprayed on their leaves. Give your plants some worm tea and watch them benefit from how it acts as a natural fertilizer and foliar spray, providing a nutrient boost and enhancing your houseplants' resistance to pests and diseases. Again, it’s like a spa day and immunity shot rolled into one for our plants.

2. Vermicomposting Troubleshooting for Your Indoor Garden: As we venture deeper into vermicomposting for our houseplants, I’ve read that I may encounter a few challenges, such as moisture control, odor management, or worm health. Thanks to the Worm Bucket guide that came with my kit, I’ve learned that these issues can be resolved by adjusting bedding materials, maintaining proper moisture levels, and monitoring our worm colony's health.

3. Community Composting: Someone from our NPP community should consider setting up a communal vermicomposting system that would not only strengthen our indoor gardening community but you could sell your worm castings to fellow plant people who aren’t so into worms as “pets”. Y’all I don’t have time, but I did just pitch the idea to my husband as I am typing this. Ha!

Now that we understand the benefits of worm castings, worm tea and vermicomposting to become the ultimate plant parent let’s jump into why I suggest Worm Bucket, the steps involved in set up and how it’s going so far. And of course, we have a hook up on a a discount if you want to get one, we have a community code to save $20. (keep reading).

Part 4: Meet Worm Bucket

Everything that comes with Worm Bucket’s Indoor Composting Kit includes; two buckets with handles, a spigot, a brick of coco coir, chunky perlite, a Do’s and Don’ts guide and step by step set up guide. They also add in a Verm the Worm sticker, their top secret worm tea recipe and a cloth bag that you will need to make worm tea.

You will order your worms separately on Worm Bucket’s site so I set up my bucket a couple of days in advance to my worms arriving so I could immediately add them to their new home.

Set up was really easy, minus my cat deciding she needed to lay on the directions and hiding a stage 1 with her paws.

You'll find everything neatly packed inside, ready for action, no tools needed. The box itself, along with the paper inside, will eventually become a treat for your worms too (though not all at once).

First, there's the simple screw in the spigot, for a watertight seal. At first the green bucket will serve as your soaking bucket for your coco coir, they recommend rainwater or distilled water. (I used water that had been sitting out in my plant room for a week. That’s what I use to water my plants.) The coir is the 'dirt' for your worm friends, and it plays a vital role in their cozy habitat.

The perlite goes in the yellow bucket first, the one with those holes. Once your coco coir is no longer a 'brick', it's time to place it on top of the perlite.

Lastly you’re ready for your worms! Fear not, the instruction guides that come with this will explain everything if this is your first time composting anything. They share composting techniques, feeding schedules fit for your worms, the countdown to your first batch of worm castings, and other helpful tips to make this a worm-derful success. (Forgive my dad joke, I couldn’t help myself).

I’m keeping my Worm Bucket in my pantry under the shelf that blocks the light. It will sit next to the trash can and our recycling can. Don’t judge what’s in my pantry, this is real life y’all. ;)

Today I checked in on my worms, my husband ask if I was gonna name all of them…he’s got Dad jokes too. Everyone…err…every-worms seem happy and healthy and doing their “jobs”. I whispered to them that they will get a raise in 90 days.

So if you are ready to give vermicomposting a try you can get yours here. Use code: NPP20 to save $20 on your bucket. That code is only valid until October 31st, 2023. And since Audrey is local and in our plant group, if you are too, you can ask Audrey questions directly in our local plant group or Worm Bucket has their own Facebook group dedicated to this topic.

It’s official y’all, I got worms. If you try it let us know how it goes!!

Happy Planting and may all your worm poo turn to black gold!

Lindsey

Nashville Plant People 🪴✌️🪱