Terracycle fertilizer- worm castings

[Clint]

It's made from worm poop! What do you think about this as a foliar feed, or even a pitcher feed if you are into that (I do) ?


They feed organic waste to worms then make a liquid spray-ready fertilizer out of the castings. They collect and recycle bottles (over 1.5 million so far) and donate some of the money to charity, and most importantly, It's at my local Walmart so it's easy to get. It looks very weak, like a light tea, and it even has worm turds floating around (I kid you not!)


It's already in a spray bottle. I usually just eyeball some orchid food and mix it in with an eyeballed amount of water. I figure this will be really convenient instead of doing guesswork, especially with Nepenthes. There is an all-purpose kind, an african violet kind, and an orchid kind. I've only seen the all-purpose kind, but I really wasn't looking anyway. There is a tropical kind and tomatoe, too, but it's not in a spray bottle. Like I said I've only seen the all-purpose.

In development are rose, cacti, and herb foods.

I remember that the nutrient value are listed on the bottle, but can't remember them or find them on the website, which is here.


http://www.terracycle.net/index.htm



Hey could a mod fix the title? Thanks!

 

[Clint]

Just a bump guys! I bought three bottles of the orchid fertilizer. The nutrient ratios are .03-.002-.02. I'm used to seeing something like 30-20-20 but I guess since it's already watered down that the ratio of .03-.002-.02 is correct, yes? It said Urea Free so it won't burn, and that's why I chose that one but IIRC the other types like all-purpose and african violet had the same ratio.

agr.wa.gov says the other contents are as follows. All are in PPM

Arsenic <0.1
Cadmium <0.02
Cobalt <0.01
Mercury <0.0005
Molybdenum 0.024
Nickel <0.03
Lead <0.03
Selenium <0.1
Zinc 0.0716


I know Zinc is bad, but it's in such a small amount it shouldn't matter. I looked up other bands like Miracid and Shultz that many of us have used/use, and they had Zinc, too.


It's ready to use, cheap, and made out of waste fed to worms and the bottles are recycled soda bottles so I feel good for helping the environment.

 

[neon-eon]

Do you have a lowii? If you do, you could do some kind of experiment where you put it in the lowii pitchers, and then put it in another kind of nep pitcher...I'm quite curious to see if there would actually be a notable difference in growth between the two...just a thought there...

regardless of that, be sure to let us know how the worm turds work out for you lol

-Gabe

 

[Nitecrawler]

I saw this product at Target, and I would love to know how it worked for your neps. No business around here really carries orchid products so I would have to order them, but if this works and is pre mixed, I would love to try it.

Give us a report!

JB

 

[Clint]

It hasn't been long enough to report anything..... All I can say is that you can use it at full strength.

 

[phissionkorps]

I'm quite curious to see if there would actually be a notable difference in growth between the two...just a thought there...

Fertilizer was long ago proven beneficial to neps.

Clint,
No one really uses this stuff, it has been brought up a few times, but it is not in use for a reason. Its way too weak to provide large benefits. Your best bets are either seaweed or fish emulsion if you're an organic kinda guy/since you use sphag. Fish emulsion will stink like anuses though.

Oh and another thing...if you ever think of foliar feeding your neps, don't waste your time. Nep nutrient uptake, greatest to lowest, is: pitchers, roots, leaves. Foliar feeding doesn't provide anywhere near the results of pitcher/root feeding. If you do use seaweed or fish emulsion though, don't feed the pitchers.

 

[Nitecrawler]

Ahhh thank you.

That answered some queries I had.

 

[Clint]

Wow really that weak? I figured that it was proportional since it comes watered down, it would be the same strength as regular ferts after they had been added to water.

I had already bought 3 bottles and after seeing how few trace elements Alaskan fish emulsion has compared to everything else, I figured I'd use up what I had then switch to Alaskan.

 

[phissionkorps]

I'm pretty sure 30-20-20 is just the ratio, regardless of if it is aqueous or not. .03-0.002-0.02 is a looot weaker by comparison. Orchid fertilizer is definitely stronger than worm dook. The kind I use is 19-31-17. Might as well go ahead and use it if you already have it...it can't hurt. You could try feeding the pitcher if you want, but I can't say for sure if it will cause any undesired effects or not. It seems too weak to do any harm. Otherwise, just water the plants with it.