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08-31-2007, 02:27 AM
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| worm tea question Hi, Will I over fertilize the plant to use worm tea as the only source of watering for my orchid? Or should I just worm tea once or twice a month for watering? I have a few african violet plants, can worm tea help them grow? Any advice? Thank you!      |
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08-31-2007, 03:28 AM
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 Worm tea reply I don't think you can over fertilize with worm tea. And, yes, worm tea would be beneficial to your African Violets. I water with worm tea about once a month and fertilize "weakly weekly" otherwise. I also mist with worm tea 1-2 times/week. Hope this helps. Lisa
__________________ Lisa Grubbs-Carter (boxerfan) Mom to Riis (Boykin Spaniel) and Magoo (Boxer)& 21 assorted Orchids "When the Aliens come, I hope they bring their Dogs."-Dan Moore  |
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08-31-2007, 04:03 AM
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| I use worm tea every second feed on all my orchids and African Violets, they all love it! My s/h African Violet also lives on worm tea- so far so good. (I feed weakly- one quarter strength) Miki Last edited by Miki; 08-31-2007 at 10:36 AM. |
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08-31-2007, 07:42 AM
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| I use worm tea every watering on all of my orchids. I remember it being mentioned though that used with plants potted in sphag., the benefits were undetermined. I don't use it on my African Violets. I found that it aided in fungal growth on the violets for some strange reason. My violets do best with plain water and lots of humidity. |
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08-31-2007, 01:24 PM
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| In addition to the other posts, worm tea is beneficial to other plants, vegetables and fruit trees besides orchids and african violets. Keep in mind, worm is a fertilizer. 
__________________ Arlene |
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08-31-2007, 02:44 PM
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#1 using only worm tea #2 watering with worm tea occassionally - with the inbetween waterings consisting of plain water & regular orchid fertilizers #3 combining worm tea with diluted fertilizer at each watering. It's still an early study, but I was told that #1 was showing the best results. Of course, the results come from the company supplying the worm tea. However, I have to agree. I've already tried combining the tea & fertilizers, or using the tea just once every two or three waterings. The best results that I've seen are using JUST the worm tea for three out of four waterings - with one flush of plain water once a month to remove salts & minerals from my water. The worm tea is also great for other plants. My indoor plants love it, especially the peace plant, but the impatients outdoors hate it - don't ask me why.  Last edited by Sharyn; 08-31-2007 at 02:51 PM. |
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08-31-2007, 06:34 PM
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| Thanks for all the feedback. I have been using it on my orchids and african violets for a few weeks on every watering, but I don't see the effects that many of you have mentioned in the forum, maybe it's because of the worm tea I get from different vendor. My orchids are ok but it doesn't seem to have much growth and I don't know why but it seems like one of my african violet doesn't like it, the flowers falls off after less than 2 weeks, the leaves turned very hard and ridgit. I did not and *cannot* get the worm tea from Our Vital Earth since they refuse to ship to canada... Last edited by spicy0610; 08-31-2007 at 06:37 PM. |
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08-31-2007, 07:06 PM
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| spicy, I've only been involved with orchids since February of this year and very shortly after my interest and collection started growing is when I bought the worm tea. I've always used it and I am not one to recognize the benefits being I don't have a point of comparison to look back on. My commitment is based on the words of others who say it makes a difference...for the better. I don't honestly know though but knowing the component here and knowing how beneficial it is for the soil and mostly, taking the words of others who swear by the stuff...well, I'm almost afraid to go without it. I'd be very curious to know from those who were growing orchids way before using the tea, what the differences are that they've seen since using the tea. Now, as for your African Violets..... I seem to be the only one who has noted adverse effects of the tea on the violets. I don't use it on them, I have in the past and as I mentioned in my post previously here, I found the tea aiding in fungal growth on the violets. You say the leaves are now hard and rigid since using the tea....rigid as in crisp?...that's a good thing in my estimation. If you keep them outside, and not on humidity trays, then frequent watering will help promote lots of flowers but you have to keep up the watering. Last edited by sandra; 08-31-2007 at 07:18 PM. |
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08-31-2007, 07:17 PM
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| I have only been using worm tea for about 3 weeks, but with great results. I use it in a S/H setup like Jerry did in his tutorial. I have 3 onc. 2 catts, 1 phal, and 1 paph all in S/H using worm tea. I have new growths starting on the paph, both catts, a new leaf that grew out in about 2 weeks on my phal, and new growths on 2 of my oncidiums. I think the other oncicium is starting some new growth, but it is recovering from dehydration as well. As far as frequency and over fertilizing, my orchids are "in" worm tea 24/7. I use LECA to bring the tea up to the roots, with about 1 inch of tea always in the bottom of the container. So I really don't think you can over fertalize with worm tea. Keep in mind I have only been using it for 3 weeks now. Hope this helps with some of your questions. Jay |
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08-31-2007, 07:55 PM
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| Watering every time with worm tea will not hurt the plants. It is a issue of cost and whether the added benefit is significant. Once a month is a big improvement and more often is smaller effect. African Violets love worm tea, although you can use worm castings in tropical plants. It might be easier and less chance of problems with the liquid coming in contact with the African violet leaves. Worm casting is exactly what you think, worm manure. It comes dry and odorless. Sprinkle a little on the pot surface like you were salting your food. I never recommended it for orchids because I thought too much would wash out and not be economical. I always thought it would work as well. I have used worm tea 100% without diluting once when I desperately needed to water a plant and had no water. It worked fine. You can increase the strength by diluting less than the recommended 50-1 20 or 30 to one works well. weekly watering would just put you in this range.
__________________ jerry  |
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09-01-2007, 02:45 PM
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| Another newbie worm T question Hi. I have been lurking (and enjoying) this forum for several weeks now. The threads on worm tea have really caught my interest and I will be ordering some tea from Our Vital Earth in the next day or so...am waiting for my daughter to decide if she wants some too! In the meantime, I remembered that several months ago I had ordered some Wiggle Worm castings for my roses that I had never used. On the back of the bag was a "recipe" for worm T...it was a 3:1 ratio that you let sit for 24 hours. My question now is, do I dilute that 50:1 for my orchids? It sounded like the manufacturers intended it to be used straight, as they made no reference to further diluting it...just don't want to hurt my orchids. Thanks for your help! Peggy  |
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09-01-2007, 03:26 PM
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| I have a wormerie so my own supply of Worm Tea I only dilute it roughly 10 parts water to 1 part Worm Tea and mist the roots every day plus use it to water the orchids once a week The results are superb especially when you consider many of my orchids are rescue ones that were in a dire state when i aquired them |
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09-01-2007, 07:13 PM
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| I only use worm tea with a straight water flush through about every 3 weeks, and am amazed at the results on the plants in the GH. This time last year I was fighting a scale problem, haven't seen ONE on my cym leaves as yet, OR, I might add, any mites. I have been watering with diluted worm tea once a week, and misting the leaves every second day. I have also noticed less discoloration of the leaves this year compared to previous years as well, and less of that black moldy stuff as well.
__________________ Anton On the box it said Windows XP or better so I bought a Mac. |
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09-01-2007, 07:59 PM
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| Worm tea update Well, as I have posted earlier, I use worm tea diluted 50:1 in a semi-hydro setup. This mean the plants get worm tea 24/7 due to the wicking of the LECA. Here are some before and after shots of a phal I have. Keep in mind this is only been 2 1/2 weeks, repot was 8/16/07. first is the sad phal before repot. Note the very droopy leaves. They were rubbery and limps and wrinkled. Second photo is the phal today. Third photo is the roots on 8/16/07 before root trimming. Last photo is the roots in the S/H. Notice how much healthier they look. Jay |
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09-01-2007, 08:10 PM
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| Also in worm tea I got this catt around 8/10/07 just after losing its flower. It had one small growth seen in first picture taken 8/16. Today I notice a second growth to the left as seen in picture 2. Picture 3 is of Burrageara Stefan Isler 'lava flow', which was lacking water as you can see from the folded leaves. Since going in hydro on 8/16 I believe that it is shooting a spike. jay |
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09-01-2007, 08:19 PM
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| And last but not least Here is one more Noid catt that I picked up at the same time as the other Noid on 8/10, then repoted on 8/16 to semi-hydro. The first picture is on the day of the repot. There was one really small growth that you can't see in photo. Second photo is of that growth. I hope that is what I think it is. Someone more familiar with catts please advise, but is this a sheath? And the last photo shows two more new growths in the last couple of weeks. Again, all of these are kept S/H with Worm Tea from OVE. jay |
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09-01-2007, 10:49 PM
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| A word on dilution of worm tea. The 50 to 1 ratio is only for the product manufactured by OurVitalEarth. They recycle the liquid back through the worm bed about 30 times which results in the high concentration The liquid from a home wormery can be used straight. The casting when diluted according to the bag directions can be used straight. The manufacturer knows the concentration of his product.
__________________ jerry |
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09-02-2007, 07:52 AM
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09-02-2007, 10:26 AM
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