Design and Construction of My Worm Bin, Original post 4/13/11, Edited 7/28/12

Design and Construction of My Worm Bin

Original Post 4/13/11

Last Edited 7/29/12

Materials and tools to construct:

Ten Gallon Sterilite plastic tote

Cheapest  1 inch X 3 inch strapping you can buy. One 8 ft piece is enough for one bin.  I use four pieces the short way on top cut 10 1/2 inches and two pieces cut 13 ¼ inches the long way underneath.  I use hot melt glue and screws to hold the base together.

Plastic Window screen material to cover the base

Hot melt glue to hold window screen to wooden base

One inch metal putty knife to spread hot melt glue

Heat gun to heat metal putty knife to facilitate spreading of hot melt glue

I cut a piece of window screen to cover the base and hold it in place with hot melt glue.  I heat the metal putty knife with the heat gun in order to spread the hot melt glue.

Row Cover to cover bin, I use All Purpose Fabric, from Gardener’s Supply Co. Item 32-646.  It comes in 6 ft by 20 ft  piece – enough for 24 bins.

One inch wide nylon strap material, 50 inches long, cut in half

One inch wide elastic strap material, 9 inches long, cut in half

Lots of old news paper, don’t use the glossy inserts

Construction:

Construct base to fit in the bottom of tote and cover with the fiberglass screen.  I use four pieces of strapping the short way on top and two pieces the long way underneath.  I use hot melt glue and screws to hold the base together.  I use Hot Melt Glue to hold the screen in place -- no tacks.

I cut a piece of cardboard by trial and error to fit the bottom of the bin and then use this as a template to mark the base to trim it to fit.  I use the same template to mark and cut the screen for the base.

Plug the holes near the handles with masking tape or
Gorilla Tape.  

Cut piece of row cover the size of the lid – use lid to draw outline on the row cover and then cut leaving four inches to spare all the way around.

Make belt from nylon strap and elastic: My wife makes these “belts” by cutting two pieces of the nylon strap 25 inches long and two pieces of elastic material 4 ½ inches long.  She sews the four pieces of material together with a slight overlap at the seams resulting in a belt that is 56 ¼ inches around when relaxed and stretches to 61 ½ inches when fitted around the top lip of the bin.  This tension provides the seal which keeps insects inside or those outside from getting in.  If the strap is too loose the seal is inadequate to keep insects in and if it is too tight it is very difficult to put the belt on the bin.

Why?

Ventilation and air circulation help reduce condensation inside the bin.  Getting rid of the moisture that is a byproduct of the vermiculture process is very important.  The vermiculture should stay moist and the castings should be crumbly – NOT muddy.  The air space under the base helps too. 

Worms need air to breath; they absorb oxygen through their skin.  And air promotes aerobic decomposition which is the “good” kind.  Anaerobic decomposition (without air) produces nasty smells.  The row cover provides more than enough ventilation.

Drain – I have eliminated the drain which came with the original bin.  It was there to drain off excess “tea” that accumulated in the space under the base.  The drain leaked.  Also I have changed my method of getting rid of the excess moisture which has eliminated the need for a drain.  

Base – The base is to support the bedding and allow excess moisture to accumulate below the bedding.  Otherwise the bottom of the bin would get soggy wet and so would the vermiculture in that area.  Wet muddy vermiculture is to be avoided.  There is less air in a wet environment and can result in anaerobic (lacking oxygen) decomposition which smells awful.  We want aerobic (in the presence of oxygen) decomposition.

Row Cover over top of bin and all holes plugged – to keep resident flies inside the bin until captured in the fly trap or on the Fly Paper and to exclude visiting  flies that are attracted by the smell of good food. These visitors would lay their eggs if given a chance.  With the fly trap and or Fly Paper installed inside the bin there will be few if any flies inside the bin under normal conditions.

I have 25 worm bins in my cellar covered as described and we don’t have a problem with flies in the cellar.  

My Worm Bin, Original post 4/13/11, Last Edited 2/22/15

My Worm Bin

Original Post 4/13/11

Last edited 7/29/12
Last edited 2/22/15

Ten gallon plastic tote from Wal-Mart, Sterilite Brand, cost about $5.

A wooden base in the bottom covered with window screening material provides air space under the bedding and a space to collect excess moisture.

I eliminated the drain – more on that later.

Several dry folded newspapers to act as a sponge to soak up excess moisture.

Shredded news paper strips that have been dampened make up the next layer.  This is the layer that the worms live in and in which you bury your food scraps.  It is also where the worm castings accumulate as the worms do their thing.

Dry shredded news paper strips on top of bedding to absorb excess moisture.

A layer of folded dry newspaper on top.

Screened vents in the top of the sides.

Edit: 7/29/12: I have eliminated the screened vents and instead use a piece of garden row cover to cover the top of the bin and hold it in place with a one inch wide nylon strap with an elastic piece sewn in.  The tension in the strap holds the row cover on tight. The row cover provides plenty of ventilation and does a better job of keeping flying insects out of the bin (or ones in the bin from flying out).  Particularly, this has solved a problem I had with fungus gnats infesting the bin.  The fungus gnats could access the bin through the screened vents.

I purchase the row cover from Gardener’s Supply Co. Item 32-646, All Purpose Fabric, 6ft X 20ft – enough for 24 worm bin covers.

Screened vents in the lid.

Edit: 7/29/12: The lid has been replaced with row cover.  I also lay a couple sheets of folded newspaper on top of the row cover to retard drying if the bin seems to be drying out.  

A baited Fly trap to capture fruit flies.

Edit: 7/29/12: If fruit flies are a problem then continue to use the baited fly trap.  I have had more trouble with fungus gnats and another small fly identified as a Minute Black Scavenger Fly which looks a lot like a fungus gnat.  They are not attracted to the vinegar bait in the fly trap.

New 7/29/12: A strip of TAT Fly Paper to trap flying insects inside the bin.

To trap flying insects inside the bin I use a strip of TAT Fly Paper unrolled from its container and stuck to a sheet of dry newspaper that is put in the top of the bin under the row cover.

Stick the bins if you stack them to allow ventilation.

Edits 2/22/15: 
I have eliminated the screened material on the top of the wooden base.  The newspaper on the top of the wooden base provides it own support.  I use 2 pounds of folded newspaper on top of the wooden base to absorb the excess moisture from the vermicompost.  I change the newspaper every 3 to 4 months when I harvest the worm bin.  I tear up the old wet base paper and use it as bedding when needed.

I keep the bin filled to within 3 to 4 inches of the top with moistened newspaper torn into strips (the bedding.)  The worms and microbes digest the bedding during the 3 to 4 months between harvests.  Adding bedding material helps keep the vermicompost from compacting and turning anaerobic.

I use a plastic storage bag or plastic shopping bag over the top of the vermicompost to help keep the top from drying out.  In the winter the air is very dry and the top of the bin will dry out unless evaporation is retarded.  The plastic works well.  In the summer when the humidity is higher the plastic cover has to be removed or reduced in area to prevent the vermicompost from getting too wet. 

Worm Bin Checklist to Hand Out to New Worm Bin Owners

Worm Bin Checklist to Hand Out to New Worm Bin Owners

Updated 12-20-2011

Feeding:

Feed the worms scraps from the kitchen including fruit and vegetables, old bread, cereal and anything of plant origin.  This includes paper.  Tearing it up or chopping it up speeds the process but is not necessary.  Start with one pint buried in the front of the bin and then a second pint buried in back a few days later.  Check the front after a week and only add once most of the food is consumed (looks like dirt instead of garbage.) How soon you can feed again will depend on the temperature, the nature of the feed, the moisture, and number of worms.  One pound of worms should consume about ½ pound per week of garbage.  If you feed too much then the worms can’t keep up and the garbage may heat up and or decompose anaerobically (without oxygen -- which smells bad.)  Potato peels, orange peels, carrots, avocado skins, corn cobs take a long time to decompose but they will eventually disappear.  Softer foods disappear quickly.  Make your judgment when to feed next based on the softer foods.

Moisture control:

Not too dry, not too wet.  70% moisture is the target but the worms are tolerant of both wetter and drier conditions.  When there is too much moisture they may try to escape the bin.  You also run the risk of the bin going anaerobic (without oxygen) and getting smelly.  A wet bin at the bottom is to be avoided.  Add dry newspaper to help take up excess moisture.  If the vermiculture is too dry, spray water on top of the vermiculture to add water. Use “Squeeze Test” to measure.  Worms breathe through their skin which must be moist in order for them to breathe.

Squeeze Test to judge moisture:

Take a handful of the vermiculture or the wet newspaper and squeeze it as hard as you can.  If you can just see a little moisture coming out from between your fingers the moisture is perfect.  If you can wring water out of the vermiculture then it is too wet.  If no liquid moisture can be seen then it is too dry.

Temperature:

Not too hot, not too cold.  Ideal temperature is 68F for feeding and reproduction.  Worms will die if they freeze.  They will die if they get too hot – 90 to 95F is the upper limit.  If you keep them in an environment between 50 and 75F they will do OK.  In the summer they can be kept outside in the shade but need to be checked for overheating on very hot days.  Too much food all at once may decompose thermophilically and heat up the bin locally to 80F or 90F or more.  If this happens, the worms will move away to a cooler spot in the bin until things cool off and then they move back to eat the decomposed garbage.

Insect Control:

Use TAT Fly paper stuck to a folded sheet of newspaper in the top of bin to measure and trap the insects.  If an infestation occurs, cover the side vents with masking tape and put row cover over the top of bin held in place with nylon strap with elastic gusset to trap adults inside.  Fruit flies can’t pass through the screened vents but Fungus Gnats can.  The adult insects will eventually be trapped on the fly paper and the infestation will be controlled.

If the infestation is fruit flies, then adding the fruit fly trap too would be advantageous since it will actively attract the adult flies while the fly paper is just a passive trap.  Fungus gnats and short flies are not attracted to the vinegar in the fruit fly trap.

Harvest:

Harvest worm castings from the bin to use on house plants or garden.  They contain nutrients as well as natural plant growth hormones and disease fighting chemicals.  The use of worm casting up to 40% in plant soil has shown improved growth and harvest as well as more plant vigor and disease and pest resistance.  Make worm tea from castings as a convenient way to feed house plants.  Worm tea is just as good as the castings.

Worm Tea:

This is made from worm castings.  Harvest the worm castings from the bin.  In a five gallon bucket put one pound of worm castings into 4 gallons of water.  Put a fish tank bubbler into the bucket to add air and stir the mixture occasionally.  (I use a paint stirrer on an electric drill but that isn’t necessary.)  After 12 hours add 1 TBS of molasses and stir and bubble for another 12 hours. When done strain the mixture through a sieve into a watering can and apply the tea to house plants or to plants in the garden.  It can also be sprayed on the foliage.  It can be used as is or diluted 50:50 with water.  It will not burn plants.  This is a living culture and needs to be made fresh each time.

If you have insect pests in your bin ( i.e. fungus gnats) then using worm tea on house plants is preferable since the insects won’t be transferred to the house plants as they would be if you used the castings. (The castings contain the insect larva.  The tea does not.)

Q&A

How much food can I expect one bin to handle? 

One mature ten gallon tote has about 2 pounds of worms when it reaches maturity in about 4 to 5 months.  The worms will process about 1 ½ pounds per bin per week.  Starter bins that have one pound of worms to start consume about ½ pound per week.  These results vary with temperature, moisture,  and the feedstock.

How long can I leave them without feeding?

Leaving them for a couple weeks is of no concern.  If you leave them for months without fresh food the worm population will gradually decrease and the worms will get smaller.  They will stop reproducing.  The worms will process everything in the bin over and over until there is nothing left but castings.  In a bin that I left for several months this way there were still a few small worms. 

Where is a good place to keep worms?

I keep mine in the cellar where it is about 65F year round.  A cellar that is at least 55F will work but the worms will not eat as quickly or reproduce as quickly if they were warmer.  Keeping them in your living space requires that you do a good job controlling insects.  Fruit flies, fungus gnats and short flies are all nuisance insects that would like very much to have access to your worm bin for feeding, breeding and egg laying.

If you already compost what advantage is there to having a worm bin?

For one thing the convenience of having the worm bin in the house in the winter justifies it.  The worm bin can be used in the winter as a source of castings to make worm tea for house plants or seedlings.  My wife and I grow greens in the basement under a grow light in the winter for salads.  The worm castings and worm tea are used to feed these plants.  The worm castings produced by the worms during the winter are ready to be used to plant in the spring.  Also worm castings are superior to compost for seed germination, plant growth, vigor, disease and pest resistance and harvest.  Use up to 40% with potting soil or garden soil for best results.  Even as little as 5% produces measureable results.

Worm Bin Set up, Weight Table and Materials

Worm Bin Set up, Weight Table and Materials

ITEM	WEIGHT, POUNDS	ACCUMULATIVE WEIGHT, POUNDS
EMPTY BIN	1 3/4
LID	1/2
BASE	2	4 1/4
½ INCH DRY NEWSPAPER, FOLDED , on top of base for sponge to soak up leachate and excess moisture	1	5 1/4
NEXT 8 INCHES DRY NEWSPAPER STRIPS TORN ½ INCH WIDE, for bedding	1 1/4	6 1/2
NEXT 3 PINTS WATER TO DAMPEN NEWSPAPER STRIPS, to wet bedding to 70% moisture	3	9 1/2
THEN ADD ONE POUND WORMS OR	1
FIVE POUNDS OF VERMICULTURE WITH WORMS	5
COVER WORMS OR VERMICULTURE WITH SHALLOW LAYER OF WET STRIPS OF NEWSPAPER
¼ INCH DRY NEWSPAPER FOLDED, top dressing to keep moisture in bedding	1/2

The empty bin weighs about 1 ¾ pounds.  The lid weighs about ½ pound and the base weighs about 2 pounds.  Before you start adding newspaper, the total weight is 4 ¼ pounds.

On top of the base you put a layer of folded dry newspaper ½ inch thick which weighs about 1 pound. 

Next you tear up about 1 ¼ pounds of newspaper into strip ½ to 1 inch wide for bedding.  Tear the newspaper with the grain for uniform strips and ease of tearing – not cross grain.  To the strips add 3 pints of water which brings the moisture content of the newspaper strips to about 70%.

Add one pound of worms to the bedding or five pounds of vermiculture from another worm bin.

Cover the worms or vermiculture with a thin layer of wet newspaper strips – about one inch thick and then cover that with several layers of dry folded newspaper to keep the moisture in the vermiculture.

Script to use on 5/24/2011 at Deer Island

 With Amanda Poyant’s

4^th and 5^th grade Garden Club

Sponsor: Island Institute

I decide to type up a script to use on 5/24/2011 at Deer Island with Amanda Poyant’s Garden Club.  First I just made a list of the things I didn’t want to forget to mention and then I wrote the script.

Vocabulary: Vermiculture, Vermicompost, Vermicast, Worm castings, worm tea, worm bin, moisture control, fruit flies

Last Update: 5/24/11

Start with the harvesting of a worm bin and the making of worm tea

Dump one of my working worm bins so the students can see the worms etc.

Talk about the moisture content of the castings and show them how important it is to be at the right moisture for screening and for aerobic decomposition

Let the students weigh some vermiculture

Make tea

Screen some castings and separate the worms

As I take apart the worm bin talk about the layers and the features

Fly trap, vents for air, screens for fruit flies, plugged holes for fruit flies, layer of dry newspaper for moisture control,

Let them dig in the vermiculture to see the worms

Step One: Remove top layer

            Mention the screened vents for moisture control and fruit fly control

            Mention the newspaper for moisture control

            Mention the fly trap for fruit fly control

Step Two: Dump the worm bin, Separate contents

            Let the kids turn the bin upside down into a larger bin

            Take the base off the top of the pile and put it back in the original bin

Add dry folded news paper to the base if vermiculture appears too wet.  Talk about how the dry newspaper absorbs the excess moisture from the vermiculture and prevents it from getting muddy.  Vermiculture needs to have air mixed in to keep the decomposition smelling “earthy”.  Without air it smells stinky.  Muddy vermiculture can get stinky.

Take the layers of wet folded newspaper and put them in the first bin until the bedding is exposed.  Remove the bedding and put the bedding into the original bin.

Now pick out the larger pieces of undigested material and put them into the original bin.  Talk about whether the worms are eating the stuff or not.

Take out pieces of plastic or stuff that it doesn’t look like the worms and microbes will eat.  (This is a good chance to talk about how plastic needs to be recycled.) You can wash it in a bucket of water to make it easier to identify.

Talk about how some things decompose quickly and other things take longer – eventually – all plant matter will be decomposed and eaten by the worms.  The worms with help from the microbes also eat the newspaper.

Step Three: Let the kids dig in the vermiculture to get a feel for the nature of it, its moisture and consistency

            Let them see the worms

What has been eaten and what hasn’t – some things take longer to decompose but eventually it all is decomposed and eaten by the microbes, bacteria and worms.  I will pick out some stuff and indentify it for them like avocado skin, corn cobs etc.

Step Four: Take a sample of the vermiculture and start a batch of worm tea

            Fill the five gallon bucket with water and put in the vermiculture.

            Mix well by pouring back and forth between two buckets.

Put in the bubbler.  Talk about how worms breathe through their skin so they won’t drown like we would.

Talk about putting in molasses at the 12 hour mark.  We are growing a liquid culture of microbes (very small animals) and dissolving the plant nutrients in water.  This is a liquid plant food that you can use to feed your plants directly – spray on the leaves and water the soil. Plants absorb the food through their foliage (leaves) and through their roots.  It also helps plants to fight disease.

At the 24 hour mark strain the tea and put the worms and undigested compost back in the worm bin.  Use the worm tea right away – it is a living culture and is best for the plants if used fresh.

Strain the tea to show them how, even though 24 hours hasn’t past.

Making tea is easier than separating worm castings and you can make a new batch every week to feed your plants.  My wife feeds our garden plants with worm tea every two weeks and she feeds her house plants once a month.

Step five: Remove a Gallon of vermiculture and weigh it.

Explain about the weight of water and the weight of vermiculture with water in it.  Target weight is 5 to 6 lbs compared to 10 lbs of water in same volume container.

Step six: Screen the gallon of vermiculture to remove the castings

            Set up the feeding dish and flat screen

Let the kids take turns trying to screen the castings out of the vermiculture.  Have them dump the flat screen into the original bin if they can or just demonstrate it if they can’t.

Show them that some of the worms go through the flat screen and will have to be separated from the castings.

Pick the worms out of the castings, use the light method to separate or use the cylindrical screen. 

Put castings aside for the kids to use with their planting.  Tell them to mix the castings 20% with potting soil to plant seeds or seedlings.

How much did we get from one gallon of vermiculture? By volume?  By weight? We screened out 2 1/2 lbs castings from 5 1/2 lbs of vermiculture.

Return worms and unscreened vermicompost to the original bin.

Step Seven: set up their worm bin with unscreened vermiculture:

Take one of the constructed bins and put folded dry newspaper in the bottom on top of the base to a depth of ½ inch.  This is to sponge up excess moisture that would otherwise accumulate in the bottom of the bin and turn the lower level of the vermiculture into mud.

Add six to eight inches of shredded DAMP but NOT SOAKING WET newspaper.  This is called worm bedding and gives a place for the worms to live before the vermiculture develops. 

Add a gallon of vermiculture.

Add some damp newspaper strips to the top of the vermiculture – enough to cover but not more than an inch deep.

Add several layers of folded dry newspaper.

Make, bait and insert the fruit fly trap in one corner.  The top of the trap should be above the level of the newspaper.

Step Eight: feeding the worms, weighing the worm bin, keeping a log

Bury one pint of food in one end of the bin. Call this end position 1. Start a log and write down the date and weight of the bin and how much you fed the worms.  The kids called position one the West end and position 2 the East end.

In three days bury another pint in the opposite end. Call this end position 2.  Update your log.

Update your log each time you take an action or make an observation with your worm bin.

At the start of the second week check position 1.  If the food is pretty well digested so that it is mostly unrecognizable then add another pint.  Repeat in position 2 in 3 more days.  On the other hand if there is still plenty of food left from the first feeding then postpone feeding until the food is pretty well digested.  Be patient.  Do not over feed your worms.  If you have more garbage than your worms can eat then consider buying worms – put in one pound of worms per bin and/or add to the number of bins.  One bin full of worms will digest about 1.5 pounds or about 1 1/2 quarts of garbage per week. Your worm population will increase to about 2 pounds of worms per bin through natural reproduction.  This doesn’t happen overnight.  In four to six months your worm bin will be full and ready to harvest.  Which brings us back to where we started – Harvesting the worm bin.

Moisture control:

The worm bin will collect moisture over time due to the moisture in the garbage and the fact that water and carbon dioxide are released as plant material decomposes in the bin. The moisture will build up in the bin if it doesn’t escape through the vents.  The dry news paper in the bottom of the bin will get saturated and will need to be replaced with dry news paper.  About once a month it is a good idea to check how wet the bottom of the bin is getting.  This requires that you dump the bin as we did in step four.  If the newspaper in the bottom is soaking wet then replace it with dry.  If it is damp then just add more dry newspaper.  Also, replace the news paper on the top of the vermiculture with dry shredded news paper and dry sheets of folded news paper.  Also add strips of dry newspaper to the food you add each time you feed.  Together all the methods will keep the moisture level the vermiculture from getting too wet.

How wet is too wet?  I use a container that hold 10 pounds of water when full – a little more than one gallon.  I fill the empty container with vermiculture and weigh it.  If it weighs between 5 and 6 pounds the vermiculture is in the right moisture range.  If it weighs more than 6 pounds then I need to add dry paper to reduce the moisture.  If it weighs more than 7 pounds, it is probably muddy and action must be taken to dry it out.  A wet bin is not a healthy bin.  I haven’t had a situation that a bin was too dry but that can happen in which case the vermiculture would less than 5 pounds and adding some water would be appropriate.

Fruit Fly control:

If you are starting from scratch with a new bin you can put the fruit fly trap in as a precaution or later if they show up.  If they do show up then do all the following:

Make sure that all the vents are screened and all holes plugged so the fruit flies can’t enter o or leave your bin.

Keep the lid on securely at all times except when feeding or working with the bin.

Put a baited fruit fly trap in the corner of the bin baited with two TBS of apple cider vinegar, one TBS water and two drops of dish soap.  Other baits work well too.

Be sure to bury all your food in the bedding – not on the surface. Fruit flies will not burrow to feed or lay their eggs.

The adults in the bin will end up in the trap.  Fruit fly larva in the bin will eventually hatch and turn into adults that will end up in the trap before they have a chance to mate and lay more eggs.

Flies outside the bin will not be able to enter and won’t be attracted if you bury the garbage.

After two or three weeks replace the bait in your traps and check the number of adult flies trapped.  Repeat for another two weeks.  At the end of the third cycle the fruit flies will be gone.

Google Group: http://groups.google.com/group/mainelywormbinbuddies

            This is a group of people that all have worm bins similar to the one you have that I made.  They are using these bins at their homes.  You can join this group and ask questions.  Someone in the group will answer your question.  I am also a member of this group so it might be me that answers or someone one else.  There is already a lot of information to read at the site.  This group is private in that you have to email a request to join and be invited by me or my daughter Alice to join.  You also have to have a Google Account to join.  I thought maybe Amanda might want to set this up for the Garden Club to join.  She could set up an Gmail address and send me a request to join by email.

Blog: http://mainelywormbins.blogspot.com/

            This is my blog which is a public site.  I put information on this that I want to share with the general public.  Anyone can access and read this material.  I plan to put the outline of the presentation I make at Deer Island on this blog. I am running this site anonymously in that I have not revealed my own identity.  It is a site where the public can gather information about building worm bins, setting up and maintain worm bins, access notes from my presentations etc.  They can post questions and comments and I will reply so long as the volume is manageable.  Present volume is zero which I can manage very well – just my speed.

Worm Casting Germination & Seedling Experiment 1

I am WillingWormWorkerTwo and I have been using worm castings for planting for a couple of years now.  I did a planting experiment with a variety of seeds and four mediums.  The mediums were as follows:

   

  1) Control,60 % ACE Potting Soil, and 30% peat moss

  2) Control mixture plus 20% by weight worm castings, dried hard and stored over the winter

  3) Control mixture plus 20% by weight worm castings freshly prepared

  4) Control mixture plus 20% by weight seacoast compost.

I have observed them several times and taken pictures.  The bottom line is that mixture two replicates the first super lettuce experiment I did, 3 is poorer than 2, and 1 and 4 are about equivalent.  I am going to repeat the comparison with control soil and freshly prepared worm castings and 20, 30 and 40% by weight with the seeds that seem to show the most differences.  The hypothesis being that the moisture content of the freshly prepared worm castings makes the concentration not comparable to 2.  I will try to figure out how to measure pH and may even send the mixtures to UMO for testing.  Of course I used up the hard dried worm castings!

This is the lettuce experiment after about 3 weeks, left 20% hard dried worm castings and potting soil, right just potting soil.

Below are the four seedling experiments after 4 days, first two days in dark covered with Saran wrap, second two days 12 hours of light each day, saran wrap removed after day 4.

Control 2/3 Potting Soil, 1/3 Peat Moss

Control & 20% by weight Hard Dried Worm Castings

Control & 20% by Weight New, not hard dried worm castings

Control & 20% by Weight Seacoast Compost

The same flats are shown after 14 days  of 12 hours on and 12 hour off of light. The order is as above from left to right, 1, 2 and in the second row 3, 4.