Worms for The Garden
Nutrient rich worm castings…
Dendrobaenas are fantastic composting worms which produce nutrient rich worm castings (also known as vermicastings). Nutrient rich, biologically active worm castings provide essential plant nutrients including iron. They improve the structure of soil bedding promoting strength and growth with plants. Whether you have a window box or you’re a serious gardener, worm castings can work for you.
Every few months you add a handful of worm castings to the base of the plant. Every time it rains, or when you water the plant, a tiny bit of worm castings goes down into the soil, and your plant gets a delivery of organic vitamins and minerals. It’s that simple!

How to Use Worm Castings…
1
Top Dressing
Fertilize existing plants with worm castings, no mixing required.
Top dressing refers to the application of worm castings right on top of the soil. Just sprinkle a handful right where the roots go into the ground. Then, the nutrients filter down with the water and feed the plant. This is the easiest way to apply worm castings as it requires no measuring or mixing.
This is also called side dressing. The concept is the same. Every few months you add a handful of worm castings to the base of the plant. Every time it rains, or when you water the plant, a tiny bit of worm castings goes down into the soil, and your plant gets a delivery of organic vitamins and minerals. It’s that simple!
2
Amend Your Soil
Incorporate the castings into your potting mix…
Amending your soil with worm castings is done before planting (unlike top dressing, which is done after planting). To amend your soil, you mix potting soil or garden soil with the worm castings so that it is evenly distributed throughout. This way, the worm castings also surround the roots once they extend into the earth.
This type of application requires more worm castings to start with but enhances the overall structure of the soil. It increases the nutrition and the biology that’s needed for healthy plants to grow.
3
Seed Starting Mix
Give your plants a boost by adding earthworm castings to their diet from day one
Gardeners who take the time to grow plants from seed know that they require a tender touch, perfect sun exposure, water, and nutrients to grow into maturity. By incorporating a healthy dose of worm castings in proportion to the rest of your seed starting mix, you give that little seedling a better chance of not only surviving but thriving.
Once you add our worm castings to your seed starting mix, you’ll see how easy it is to start seeds all on your own.
4
Make Worm Casting Tea
Gardens love a good dose of liquid fertilizer.
Don’t drink this stuff! Plants love it but humans should stick with chamomile. Worm casting tea is sometimes called compost tea. It is made by steeping worm castings in water–just like you would a cup of tea. As the worm castings soak, beneficial microbes multiply, creating a tonic that quickly delivers nutrients to the plant. You can spray this tea directly on the roots and even on the plant leaves as protection from airborne diseases and infestation.
Brewing worm tea can be tricky to get right, follow the steps below to get you started:
- Mix 1 part worm castings and 3 parts water in a bucket
- Let that mixture soak for 24 hours or more, stirring occasionally
- Apply your tea: there are two main ways to use your tea.
- You can pour an 8-ounce cup of tea per plant at its base every 30 days or
- You can add 4 ounces of the tea to 1 gallon of water (make sure to strain it through some fabric—an old shirt works great) and apply it as a foliar spray. If you make a spray you can apply it every 30-60 days. You could spray it more frequently if needed without running the risk of burning your plants.
5
Rejuvenate Tired Soil
Bring that dirt pile back to life with organic worm castings.
Don’t throw out that old soil! Add finished organic worm castings to a pile of tired and depleted soil and watch it come to life again. In a matter of weeks, the microbes in worm castings will have done their magic—repopulating the soil, breaking down the organic materials, and reestablishing that sad dirt into valuable organic living soil. When you feed your soil worm castings, your soil will pass the love on to your plants—just like mother nature intended!
One of the great things about worm castings is that they have a near-neutral PH which means that you don’t have to worry about throwing your soil out of balance. If you’ve never tested your soil to see how it’s reading you may want to consider giving that a try. Maybe you’ve wondered why your plants continue to struggle even though you’ve loaded up your soil with compost and fertilizer—it very well may be that your soil is out of balance! Thankfully, once you’ve achieved an ideal PH level, worm castings are a near fool-proof addition to your soil that will liven things up overnight.