I have used it and believe that it works. Dont have any real proof so you will just have to take my word for it. I mix a cup or so in a 5 gal bucket of water with 1 oz of unsulphured molasses. Use an areator over night and use on your plants. Inside or outside. I have heard you can filter and use as a foliar spray as well. Try it I dont think you will be disappointed.

I read up on the science of the Tea/Leachate question.
My take is that making the tea is not worth the extra effort.
Controlled tests at the UW on roses did not demonstrate conclusive results. So: adding stuff & aerating and figuring
how to use it is a lot of work for a questionable result.
However, there are anecdotal stories of good results.
Maybe it's like nutrients for humans: too many variables.

The other issue is how safe is leachate ? Some posters here don't even acknowlege the question.

Nor do some of the posters here seem to acknowlege that the worms shouldn't live in their own waste for too long. Based on my reviewing, 6 months seems to be a limit. That is, at some point, the worms need a Fresh start even if we aren't ready to use the castings, or even if there is still bedding in it.

I'm back to the forum to report good results if I can find a topic where it will fit. How we name our posts matters: the post "Sweet Spot" could be aptly titled "horse manure". There's a humorous version of that from, is it, Mash ? Col Potter "Horse Pucky ?"

"The other issue is how safe is leachate ? Some posters here don't even acknowledge the question."

The general consensus on this board is that leachate is to be avoided and is a sign of a bin not having enough bedding among other issues. (Save one poster who successfully uses a unique water harvesting method.)

I would venture every poster on the board has at one time another posted on the topic of excess moisture in the bin.

It has been noted many times and is commonly known that some bin sellers confuse leachate with worm tea. They are two very different things.

Leachate nobody wants. Worm tea, if given a fresh bottle, most of us would spray anything that does not move and run after anything that does to spray it. The real debate is molasses or no molasses. One study said it could increase e coli.

Leachate is somewhere between safe and toxic. It varies by what it was dripping from.

"Nor do some of the posters here seem to acknowledge that the worms shouldn't live in their own waste for too long."

I equinoxequinox do NOT acknowledge that worms shouldn't live in their own waste for too long.

Every particle of the superficial layer of the earth has passed through the intestines of a worm, said my friend Charlie.

Worms themselves also agree by frequently voting not to move into new bedding with food offerings and instead can often be found in the "tastiest" areas of an old bin.

For the record, further reading * has me continuing to learn how to make the aerated vermicompost "tea" . . . aka something like microbial extrapolate . . . ? and I think I am seeing some result on some roses, tho they haven't had the ultimate climate test of warm humidity, yet.

(* Teaming with Microbes )

I for one never mentioned leachate in my original post only "worm tea" I dont even get any drainage unless I use too much juicy melon. I have seen online some people that have no results using the tea and others that have shown results with tests of plants. I have seen a difference in plants and shrubs which I have used the tea on. It doesnt happen overnight , its a time process more like a month before visual results are seen.

Lots of things to talk about in this thread. Everything that follows is based on the assumption that the worm bins are properly tended to, fed in timely fashions, and provided the TLC we all bring to this little art we practice.

About worms living in their own poop: they don't, and won't, because
their own poop isn't food anymore....even for worms. It's worm poop.

If some worms are found in those areas, it's just worms being worms. Anomaly. Put some cantaloupe in a little pile at the top of the fresh bedding, come back in a day or two, almost all the wormies will be swarming all over it BUT...there'll be those few mentally challenged vermi-misfits down there exploring confused wondering where everybody is.

Parallels exist all around us in human-kind: druggies, MHMR'ers, anti-society rebels, people living in cabins in the woods, or Idaho.

Think of it this way: take some finely processed compost from your, or a neighbors' yard-waste compost pile. Add some worms. They will thrive off it. The vermicastings produced from that food source is not suitable for worm sustenance and the ones that wallow around in it are either adventurers or the dullest knives in the drawer.

chuckiebtoo

Moderation, Diversity, Patience, Rationality

Hallelujah. Hi. What have you seen on the other side and how did you prepare the worms for caregiver vacation? I feel our worms should be able to go with out a caregiver for 1 month? 3 months? 6 months? I think I recall a guys worms still being alive in his worm bins in the cellar three years after he passed with no care from his widow. That is the set up I want my worms in in case nobody notices I'm gone for a while due to having my bills all automatically paid.

"It's worm poop." I prefer to think of worm poop as a work of art and our little Andy's, Claude's, and Pablo's, cruise on out thinking "My work here is done." They are in search of new paint and canvas or kitchen scraps and shredded white paper. It hurt to type that because I just do not find white paper palatable. "this little art we practice" I just realized I just fell under the spell of the subliminal message.

"Parallels exist all around us in human-kind: druggies, MHMR'ers, anti-society rebels, people living in cabins in the woods, or Idaho." Profound. I wanted to live in Idaho until I found that the only little spot of it with farming earth and rain was below the dam, next to the prison on the incorrect side of the tracks and a few more things like that. I'm with the herd now. Right at the center. No getting dehydrated on the fringes for me. Let's hope no fellow worms purchase a traditional necklace for me to vacuum in. Do vermi-misfits live on the Island of Misfit Toys? If so I hope at Christmas time Santa collects them and gives the to deserving vermicomposters without worms and puts a bin in their stocking. I'll admit I am dull but now I understand why I do not have a lot of room to dance around in the shower.

Perhaps those wayward worms are like a comet pulled from orbit, as it passes a sun? Maybe life on earth began with a wayward... Maybe we are all "that worm" in the wrong bin.

Bonus: Gregory's next book is going to be about Alice. How do I know? He told me just a few hours ago.

chuckiebtoo I thank you for your patience. I may have flunked those other ones.

If Walt can wax lyrical about about dots in the sky certainly we can take a bit of time to think a bit about worms.

and he's been thinking, which really worries me!

To the original post. I am so bad. I am going to go with hearsay or antidotal information way before I go with CDC guidelines etc. Why? Because who knows best Mama or the stupid CDC?

"does it work. Is it really worth the effort. If so do you have proof it works or just hear say. I'm thinking about trying it . I've read a lot about it but have doubts. Does it work for you?" (Secret message, all others avert their eyes, the letter J, the letter K. the period, the semi colon, and next there hides the '. I know it looks like a coma but it is a '. Who knew? Who knew I'd tell you? Who Woulda Thunk? They have been hiding it from you all these years. Why did nobody share this before? Please put lots of '''''''''''''''''''''''' even where they do not belong just because you can now and are making up for lost time. (I never would have found it either.))

For surgery I do not want a stupid, archaic, dark ages, sterile room. Nature abhors a vacuum. Sterile is the stupidest thing we can do. I want a room filled with the good guys. The good wee beasties. Then I will Believe the doctors have a clue, have purchased a vowel and can carry on. I still may die. But I will die with lots of wee beastie friends who think I am tasty bits.