fungal in vermicompost tea

Welcome Eric <3

I only have access to vermicompost (it's too hot and too dry here to do ordinary composting). I have been making worm compost teas using molasses originally and now have managed to get humic acid and an organic seaweed solution. Any other suggestions? Did try to get fish hydrolyste but couldn't find it locally. I would particularly like to increase the fungal element. I just make the tea in a 5 litre bucket with a bubbler for 36 hours.

Thanks

I only have access to vermicompost (it's too hot and too dry here to do ordinary composting). I have been making worm compost teas using molasses originally and now have managed to get humic acid and an organic seaweed solution. Any other suggestions? Did try to get fish hydrolyste but couldn't find it locally. I would particularly like to increase the fungal element. I just make the tea in a 5 litre bucket with a bubbler for 36 hours.

Hi Lucy,

You can go a long way with just vermicompost, it is one of those things that is in the awesome category if you look at some of the stats. With your suggestions you already have many of the bases covered.  I would go easy on the molasses because even though it helps generate microbial activity it is not so good for diversity. Really your question is very open ended if you have a look a the wild plants you have to hand and know what proportion of essential/beneficial elements they contain you can tailor preparations. For a balanced prep you need the big 3 (NPK), then plenty of micronutrients and traces. It is best that whatever you put in has already broken down and been properly composted or been decomposed in some other suitable way such as whizzing it up finely and encouraging some worm action. Just curious now what kind of food web you have where you are and how these critters could be encouraged to participate in your project.

For a fungal element you couldadd  proprietary fungal spores or find some oyster mushroom spores,  but often they need more preparation measures to get things going. You could also try adding some leaf mold to your mix. Alternatively if you want a greater fungal element you could try the IMO (Indigenous Microorganism Tea) method.  For a greater fungal presence it could be as simple as extra woodchip to mulches that have not been treated with retardants etc.

eric fisher wrote:

I only have access to vermicompost (it's too hot and too dry here to do ordinary composting). I have been making worm compost teas using molasses originally and now have managed to get humic acid and an organic seaweed solution. Any other suggestions? Did try to get fish hydrolyste but couldn't find it locally. I would particularly like to increase the fungal element. I just make the tea in a 5 litre bucket with a bubbler for 36 hours.

Hi Lucy,

You can go a long way with just vermicompost, it is one of those things that is in the awesome category if you look at some of the stats. With your suggestions you already have many of the bases covered.  I would go easy on the molasses because even though it helps generate microbial activity it is not so good for diversity which is something you should aim for. Really your question is very open ended if you have a look a the wild plants you have to hand and know what proportion of essential/beneficial elements they contain you can tailor preparations. For a balanced prep you need the big 3 (NPK), then plenty of micronutrients and traces. It is best that whatever you put in has already broken down and been properly composted or been decomposed in some other suitable way such as whizzing it up finely and encouraging some worm action. Just curious now what kind of food web you have where you are and how these critters could be encouraging to participate in your project.

For a fungal element you could proprietary fungal spores or find some oyster mushroom spores,  but often they need more preparation measures to get things going. You could also try adding some leaf mold to your mix. Alternatively if you want a greater fungal element you could try the IMO (Indigenous Microorganism Tea) method.  For a greater fungal presence it could be as simple as extra woodchip to mulches that have not been treated with retardants etc.

Hi Eric

Thanks so much for your detailed supply and will be checking out in detail your IMO and other suggestions.I am loving this thread.  I'm new to Castellon so it's been a huge adjustment! Sooo dry it's the ants breaking down the wood! (I had wondered why my seeds weren't coming up, until my partner found the ant nest FULL of my seeds, had to admire their ingenuity and hard work as they had moved them quite a distance.) Our village is renowned for having the most millenario olive trees - over 1,300! They grow olives, carobs and almonds. Unfortunately with the EU laws they have to keep the soil bare!!! So most spray with glyphosate, although we now have a growing number of young organic farmers 4 certified and a couple who can't afford to go the certification route. Luckily my plot, not yet developed, has not been worked for 30 years and one of my neighbours has just gone organic, plus I have unworked plots on 2 other sides, so it's only my south boundary that might get some trickle down glyphosate. Sorry, that was a bit long winded but it all impacts my soil food web. I would love a microscope, finances permitting to actually see what's in my worm tea, but opted to do a foraging course instead :) As you say the worms are just amazing (10,000 woofers hard at work LOL) I decided they already had all the science worked out for me.

Thanks again and good luck with the book it sounds awesome!
Lucy

For tea, I like the following:
1) milk kefir/kombucha/water kefir/etc
2) kimchi/etc
3) 7 day old rice water/amasake/koji
4) worm compost/purple non sulphur bacteria
5) water from a pond/lake/stream/etc
6) healthy compost
7) chitin/insect frass/crustacean/dead mushroom
8) fungi from some healthy plant/LC/Oyster or other mushroom/mushroom slurry/spores