1. No. Worms process organic matter into vermicompost as a soil amendment.

2. Sorry, can't tell from info given what your soil/compost ratio is.

3. Prime ratio is 20-30% vermicompost to 80-70% soil or potting mix. Much more vermicompist than that and you begin to experience diminishing returns.

the potting soil I use is described like this:

A mixture of Black Garden Soil and fir bark fines.

- so it seems like the worms in my pots won't compost the garden soil, but might they compost the fir bark fines? and if they do, will that then be too much vermicompost, especially if I add vermicompost from my worm bin each year?

what's your best guess??

thanks so much for helping me with this problem.

carol

Interesting question- I agree with the above statement worms turn organic matter into vc. I did an experiment with a potted plant and wanted to add some wigglers to see what would happen. First the medium is 1 part coco coir, 1 part courst vermiculite, 2 parts sifted compost[bagged] from there I added 2-3 dozen wigglers and fed them once a week. I first started in a 1 gal pot but the plant grew and I moved to a 3 gal pot that it is now in. Its only been about 3 mo from the start but a couple of obvious things are noted. First there is tons of foliage more than I normally see, second in lifting the pot it is quite heavy indicating a certain volume of added VC. It seems the nitrogen content of this pot is quite high maybe from the food scrap feed I normally give, but I have only been adding enough in relation to the suspected worms in the pot. Even though I pinched the {terminal tips] in the beginning to force a more compact plant this plant continues kick out more and more foliage. This is surprising since I also feed them a mix of cornmeal and oats. I post the following as an example of the foliage I speak.

the power of vermicompost! wow!!

so you feed the worms in the pot. hmmmm....interesting. i wonder how that would go long term ... maybe eventually there would be too much vc?

carol

Too much nitrogen for my taste, this plant will go in the ground in a few weeks worms and all.

sounds like a good idea.

Last year I added 4 cups of VC to my roses mixed in the soil and those roses really reacted big time growth in height, so much so that my neighbor came over to comment on the fact. They jumped at least 1/3 higher than normal.

did they also put forth a good amount of bloom?

hey, are you deersteve from the rose forum? :)

carol

Carol-- Sorry no thats not me. Yes this rost plant has always excelled in blooming.

what rose is it? a curious mind wants to know! Carol

I have had this rose for several years and dont remember the name of it. But it does have large yellow flowers on it.

sounds wonderful!

carol