What kind of soil test was it? A little home soil test kit? Saddly those are not very accurate and the challenge with nitrogen tests is that they have a hard time telling how much nitrogen will be available to the plants since your soil health can have a lot to do with it. If it was a test done by your cooporative extension service then you can probably just follow their recomendations for the amounts/kinds of fertilizer you should use.

Your great foliage but shy flowering/fruiting could be from an over abundance of nitrogen or lack of phosphorus or even something besides nutrients like sun/temp lack of pollinators (if there were flowers but no fruit.) I live in an area where phosphorus is more likely to be abundant rather than lacking so I'm not the best position to help you with phosphorus questions.

I don't think worm castings are meant to be a high nitrogen amendment to your soil. Their real benefit is all the soil microbes they promote and thus helping you get healthy soil.

I thought coffee grounds were a good source of nitrogen? I've read the opposite in some composting sites so I'm confused. And your green waste - leave the grass that you have mowed/cut is supposed to be rich in nitrogen.

Hope you figured it out!

Worm castings are not supposed to be high in nitrogen. Usually about 1-1-1 in the npk readings. Thats not what they provide the plants with. It is the good bacteria and LOADS of micro-nutrients that they provide. An abundance of nitrogen just grows off a lot of folige and not fruit.

as said, worm castings aren't high in anything, like any compost, they're a soil conditioner and microbial booster .... with grounds, available N is what's relevent:
"Each cubic yard of these coffee grounds contains a total of 10.31 lbs. nitrogen, of which 0.01 lb. (0.09%) are available" the microbes work on the N, not worms - see link below

Bill

Here is a link that might be useful: about coffee grounds

According to a USDA experiment, as found in "Earthworms for Ecology & Profit", Ronald E. Gaddie, Sr., worms increase nitrogen 500%, Available phosphorous 700%, Exchangeable potassium 1200%, Exchangeable calcium 150%, and Organic carbon 200%. I have tried to find the original test documents to verify but without success. does anyone know where this supporting documentation can be found?

a USDA experiment? that's a book, published by a worm business [who're trying to make the profit!]

worms don't increase anything, they merely aid in the decomposition and conversion of organic materials to a more "humus like" state, you can't get more minerals out of something than you put into it - vermicompost is like bin compost, a soil conditioner, NOT a fertilizer, and NPK will always be pretty mild, like 1-1-1

Bill

Dear Squeeze:

That is why I am trying to find if that USDA document is true.
I have done simple soil tests on worm food products and there has been an increase in NPK. But my soil test equipment does not provide a numerical reading.

w

what are "worm food products"? you mean castings? and increase in NPK over what? your garden soil? newspaper?

doing a soil test on compost gives you an indication of the nutrient levels in that sample, reflecting nutrients that were used as initial bin inputs, nothing else, and if you had a good analysis of the NPK of those inputs you'd find there is less in the finished compost, the balance having leached, gassed off, or been used to support the microbial populations involved in the decomposition

being most interested in food waste composting, both hot bin and worm bin, I've had a number of compost samples [from both methods] lab tested - the N varied from 1.8 to 2.8%, in a mineralized form [desireable], the food waste inputs all had higher N than that, in organic form .... in addition, boron, copper, iron, maganese and zinc were all higher than would be found in garden soil due to the fact that the foods we eat are generally high in those things

the testing results certainly had some higher readings than the garden soil would have, and it no doubt had some lower as well - what's more important with compost is the bacterial content and the C:N ratio to support them, in the form of humus, those 2 things being the "health" of your soil, not high NPK readings

the object of any composting isn't increasing anything or 'making fertilizer', it's the salvage and sequestering [capture] of nutrients otherwise wasted

Bill

this was taken from Vermitech's web site and may explain some confusion on the authors part and my understanding if in fact what Vermitech says is true.
http://www.vermitech.com/worm_fr.htm
"The Vermitech worm beds optimise the consumption rate of waste plus it allows a large contact time for continued bacterial and enzyme activity. As a result of the combined action of the worms and their enzymes and bacteria, an analysis of worm castings when compared to the parent soil shows approximately:

* 7 times the available phosphorous
* 6 times the available nitrogen
* 3 time the available magnesium
* 2 times the available carbon
* 1.5 times the available calcium

The total mineral balance is not increased by worm activity. Rather the conversion changes the amount of nutrient available to the plant. The minerals have been changed form an insoluble form to a plant - available, soluble form. This has major implications for the reduction in the negative impact caused by nutrient leaching into our water systems. Vermicast's nutrients being more readily available are absorbed when applied reducing leaching and run-off."

that's about what I've been saying Walt, it has to do with available nutrients, and they're comparing to the parent soil, not the bin inputs, but the soil

and nitrogen [protein] is what worms and bacteria consume to grow and reproduce, carbon [carbohydrate] is what both use to do work, ie: they consume it, not produce it, the amount of N in the system can't increase, only decrease - no free lunch :)

you're relating the advertising of an outfit whose survival depends on selling castings and worms [and books] - some better info on soil health and the processes:
usda on soil organics
usda on earthworms [note the menu on the left about soil biology generally]
soil nitrogen cycle
about humus and nutrients

Bill

Thanks for posting those great links, Bill. Always good to get 'printed matter' from the experts on this mystery of life.

my neighbor told me that putting nitrogen on my lawn for the grass will kill any worms i have....is this true thank you

In what form David? Your basic store chemical fertilizer is a salt, so yes they won't like it. Kill them all of depends on how much etc. If you read organic gardening they'll say most things don't like it which is why they hate chemical fertilizers. Kills lots of the organic life in the ground, which is good for the fertilizer sellers as you have to buy more next time.

Here's a quick link, the topic is a fun internet research read if you like that stuff.
http://www.garden-ville.com/4376871_36600.htm
And yes there's always a sales pitch and what can you believe etc. But personally with all the time mother nature has been around, I always think her way is best.