Worms

Mad_Ninja

New Member
Getting ready for my next grow, assembling the usual suspects. I've never grown in anything larger than a 10-gallon, was wondering if that's enough space for live worms? I want to try using a certain mushroom with a certain cannabis cultivar, and having worms in the mix for the added intelligence. If the worms speak to the earth, they must navigate mushroom politics all the time, so I figure if I recreate a disgusting shit-pile in the sunny corner of a swamp in the armpit of nowhere, as long as it has an absolutely sweet pH, I should be able to add egg shells to cool the soil as the worms work their magic.

The reason for this post is: I need ideas about functional, organic ways to cool such soil. I know it's different, but I've grown weed with worms before and, there's just something about what the roots get from it that effects the depth of the experience. Thing is, I'm done with flip-a-day indica (too stony for me), and I want to host a REAL ganja monster in the aforementioned 10-gal., but I don't know if I can keep the soil cool enough. You see, I've had phenos with this kind of Asian/African bitch drag on month after month (with a fantastic payoff that I wish I photographed). Can I keep the soil cool all that time? What would you do, if you wanted to grow with live worms? Advice is eagerly welcome, as I'd like to turn over a new leaf with my debut project.

I'm trying to get back to my roots in an oddly literal way, back to when strain names were a silly concept. We just called it Thai Stick, all of it, because it was all fruity (or footy) ganja that would blast your brain into alien dimensions. Help me slay it, folks. I want to do the plant proud, the way it prefers for its full expression. Seriously, if I can foster some new terps between mayonnaise, hash, and butter, I was getting rotten oil and eggs, believe it or not, from them back then, huge things, resinous and black. I'm six foot and these things, I couldn't reach the tops of them and would certainly get sticky trying. You can find images of what I'm talking about online, just google: " huge mango thai sativa " but it's not the Afghan-looking phenos, it's the ones further down with the black flowers. Here, let me:
No pic was correct. But like the (poor) example pic above, very much, in pheno. But solid black with some brownish-purple bits and big, pale flowers, and only pale because of the trichomes. I need that rotten oil and eggs smell back. The associated effect was the trippiest I've known, I'm kind of obsessed with finding it. And this time I will, and I'll be recording the whole thing!

Thanks for reading, warm regards. (Gets back to researching worms for indoor plants, how to manage them. Can't have anything going wrong, not for a solid six months. I might be seeking the sulfur reek, but I really don't want any egg on my face. First impressions, you know.) And hey, while we're at it, what type of supersoil works for you? I like straight pig shit, properly aged. Really hits the spot, and isn't unbearable in my indoor situation because the soil has carbon in it. I know, I'm a genius.

EDIT - I've never done worms inside or managed worms of my own before. I hear it's as easy as buying red wiggler live bait at Wal-Mart and dropping it in a tub of properly mixed shit. Will they manage themselves or overpopulate? So many questions.
 
Last edited:

H.A.F.

a.k.a. Rusty Nails
I do living soil with worms and cover crops in 5g. Anything is possible ;)

This is all my opinion based on experience, reading and watching podcasts.

Start with the worm bin of some sort. Get used to wrangling the little guys and keeping them herded. I'm not gonna write a whole blog, but read a few and it's easy. The main bad things are over-feeding (the only part that you need to adjust to your worms), bad temps, or too much or too little water.

In pots, I don't purposefully add a specific number of worms, but they are in there. It doesn't take many in the pot. They do multiply and they do self-regulate population. If you are adding cresh castings to a pot there will be adult worms by harvest ;)

A cover crop or thick mulch layer is the only thing a pot needs to have the worms in the soil. Keeps a food moisture layer near the surface for them.
 

Mad_Ninja

New Member
I've seen your work around, @H.A.F. Appreciate your weighing in. I'll be adding cresh castings. I will also buy some live bait red wigglers on Sunday. In preparation, I'll shred and water a tote full of (1) newspaper, adding (2) a pile of mulch, and (3) some non-offensive-smelling food scraps, finely chopped, like banana. Now I live in the city, so I don't want to feed to cockroaches. I suppose the best way to make an environment that's good for the one and exclusive of the other is just let nature do her thing? Maybe it would be better to do just the cresh castings? I have no experience with this. I'll certainly hit a couple blogs for verification. Any further recommendations? I want these plants to rage through the offered soil, stuffing it with a multitude of fat roots. Fat roots means fat buds, to paraphrase the Kushman. And thanks to you too, @Fiddler's Green for dropping by.
 

Mad_Ninja

New Member
To address your question about potting, @Fiddler's Green -- I will be using cloth pots, 7- or 10-gallon. I plant to zap them relentlessly with bright LEDs, so I will need a cover crop. Recommendations for that? I'm thinking grass seed will suffice, something sweet smelling.
 

H.A.F.

a.k.a. Rusty Nails
Roaches is not something I have had to deal with, but definitely something to be careful of.

I would have the entire worm bin just with some bedding - the mix of stuff with no food. Add the food on top in one corner to start with. Covering it with bedding should keep the roaches away.
 

Mad_Ninja

New Member
LOL I looked up "cresh". I was like, "no he knows what he's talking about, I've seen his plants" LOL

Your advice about the bin is solid. I'll wait to add the food in the corner when they're settled in, then cover it over with wet newspaper and coco coir, etc.
 

Mad_Ninja

New Member
I just noticed Fiddler asked me about my plans for watering. Hmm. I'm just going to load tap into open totes and let it dechlorinate naturally over the course of a week, then add it, and redo the whole thing. I'll have at least two massive totes of tap water.
 

Fiddler's Green

Just a regular vato
Best of luck this year @Fiddler's Green
Thanks amigo, I have a spread of autos that I will be chucking pollen on purely for future seed stock (I think this will be the only way I can finish an outdoor run besides light dep). And a photo preservation project with the last half of a pack. All the leftover girls from last year will end up in a patch for nature to decide their fate.
 

Mad_Ninja

New Member
@Fiddler's Green -- thanks for the visual. I saved some live bait from a fishy fate, and I'm just letting them settle in. I most certainly will pick up some 5-gal. bins from Wal-Mart in time. I know they love veggies and fruits. What do they love most, in your experience? I tried an avocado in the pic above. It's already nibbled by them. We're gunna be fast friends.
 

Mad_Ninja

New Member
Okay so a few updates. Got plenty of phosphorous in the form of bonemeal. God-level overstock of available nitrogen with worm castings (+ live reinforcements), bloodmeal, and other properly decomposed organics. But for potassium... Does anyone have experience with ash for this purpose? I have a little, but I know you can burn the shit out of cannabis with just a little too much ash. How do you add potassium to your grow? Maybe I could feed the worms bananas?? LOL

Oh, and on the nitrogen side, I forgot to mention peat moss. I'm also augmenting with a lot of perlite and vermiculite, for soil texture, but I don't know if they're sufficient sources of potassium. I don't believe they are. Anyway, seeking organic potassium solutions. ...I think it was the pig shit that made the difference last time I had an overabundant yield.
 
Last edited:
Top