A particularly devastating problem in a worm bin is protein poisoning, also called “string of pearls” or sour crop, evidenced by…
Urban Worm & Jamaica: A Chance to Give Back
Jamaica is a vacation destination for most people. I recently got the chance to spend two weeks there volunteering my…
Actinomycetes: The White Stuff in Your Hot Compost
When you dig through your blazing hot compost pile and find dense pockets of white filaments, you might either be…
Magical Mycorrhizae: Nature’s Underground Network
Walk in most any wild setting and beneath your feet lies miles upon miles of filamentous fungal networks called mycorrhizae,…
5 Good Reasons to Start a Commercial Worm Farm. And 4 Bad Ones
A commercial worm farm – whether for worm castings or the worms themselves – appears to be a profitable venture…
Introduction to the Soil Food Web
What is the Soil Food Web? The Soil Food Web is the very beginning of the food chain. It’s a…
The Big Book of Worm Bin Pests & Problems
Does your worm bin have uninvited pests or does it simply stink? Are your worms looking deformed? Are they trying…
12 Alternate Uses For Compost Tea
When folks think of compost tea and how it’s applied, they normally think of a conventional sprayer applying tea to…
Making Dragon Doody Safe: How a Zoo Neutralized E. Coli with Compost Tea
In the late 2000’s, the Komodo dragon exhibit at Woodland Park Zoo experienced highly-toxic levels of E. coli. That is,…
How And When to Apply Compost Tea….and How Much
Once you’ve brewed a batch of high biology compost tea as discussed in our blog post titled “Compost Tea Brewing…
Compost Tea Brewing Like a Pro: The Ingredients, The Recipe, The Process
Compost tea provides plants and gardens with a metric buttload of life-giving beneficial microorganisms. But it takes a special approach…
DNA Sequencing for Vermicompost: 23 and Me for Worm Poop
A growing body of field tests demonstrates vermicompost’s effect on plant growth, yield, and pest and pathogen suppression. What those…