Worm Tea for better orchids

[jerrymeola]

Gardeners have been using worms to improve their soil for thousands of years.
Worm Tea is the composted product of worms, concentrated and fed with additional rock minerals, to give all the best features of gardening with worms, microbes, growth hormones, natural fertilizer and over 70 micro nutrients in a commercial package. Extensive research has been done at Ohio State University
http://www.wormdigest.org/content/view/311/2/

I recently did a garden show at Mount Dora Florida and met Bernie Moro with her husband Carl and daughter,Renee, the owners of OurVitalEarth. http://www.ourvitalearth.com They were selling their worm products and while we were talking Renee, who is not an orchid grower showed me the Vanda she bought the year before at the show. She watered it with Worm Tea only once a month. She just did not know Vanda need more water. The flowers were gorgeous and had been in bloom for three months. I was shocked.


Bernie told me they recycle the water over 40 times back over the worms while they are composting, which concentrates the tea and results in a shelf life of nine months rather than a few days. The process was developed in A
I bought a commercial quantity and after using it for only once last month, I am impressed. I do not like to recommend something that I have not tested longer, but the first results were amazing. My Vanda roots looked better after 10 days without water then one watered every day. The velum is not dried smooth, but still has that puffy look of freshly watered. I have soaked all my orchid species so far and this week I intend to start spraying the leaves with Worm Tea to control fungus and insects. We will see how it goes.

[Orchid_lady]

Wow! Worm tea seems very good, thanks for the tip.

[arleneg]

Jerry, thanks for sharing the info. Let us know how the rest of your orchids do with worm tea.

[desertgal]

Jerry, what exactly do you mean by soaking? Do you immerse the entire pot and if so for how long? To what do you attribute not needing to water often? My plants are all in bark except for one paph in Aliflor. The water runs right through them and I water at the sink by running luke warm water through each plant for several minutes. Every other week I sit the pots in water containing weak fertilizer until the bark on top is damp. The paphs seem to dry out very fast needing water at least every 2 days. I am very interested in the worm tea but need more information.

Katie

[jerrymeola]

Desertgal

I am sorry I did not see your question earlier.

Yes for a potted plant I sit the entire pot in a bucket for a couple of minutes. The vanda were bare root so I immersed most of the plant.

I often forget plants in buckets overnight so the time is not critical.

[arleneg]

Hi Jerry,

I went back to this thread to re-read your posting. I'm curious to know if worm tea really works as an insecticide and fungicide when sprayed on plants. Please let us know.

[Ellen]

After reading Jerry's post raving about the virtues of worm tea, I checked out the website, thinking "Gotta give this a try". However, when I learned that shipping was $20-plus, I decided that my orchids can survive very well without it.

[jerrymeola]

I will check on the shipping charges. It does not sound right.

If that is the case I can pick some up for members (they are offering 10% off for Orchid Geek members) and I can ship it on. I can ship 4 orchids for $15 so I doubt a pint bottle of concentrate (makes 5 gallons) should cost more than around $7-8.

[arleneg]

I checked. They charge $20-22 (regular shipping charge) for 1 gallon or if you want express shipping on the smaller sizes. The minimum charge for regular shipping on the smaller size containers (1 pint or quart) is about $7-8.

Jerry, if only I knew about the discount, I wouldn't have placed an order the other day... Oh well...next time.

[Pensacola Eric]

Jerry, how often do you use this on your orchids? I am trying to figure out if I should buy the quart concentrate or the gallon concentrate. I have about 50 orchids now. Also do you think they will be at the Vero orchid show (April 28 and 29th)? If so I will wait and pick some up then. Also will you be at the Vero show? I remember reading that you were going to be at the recent Orlando show and thought Vero isn't too far from Orlando. I am exciting about going as it is just sheer luck that I will be in Vero that weekend.

[butt0n]

Very good to know. I'll have to look into this. Thanks Jerry!