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Sowing Seed in Vermicompost
zenpmd
Posts: 28
Has anyone tried this? I have done so recently outside direct in the border and seemed to get an extremely high germination rate. I am new to gardening and cannot tell that, although germination was great that the seedlings are now suffering because it is too high in nutrients as they do seem rather small given they are over a month old now.
Having said that, I managed to find some data (which i cannot find again!) which basically said that vermicompost is no higher in nutrients than basic garden compost?
0
Posts
I haven't tried, but I don't suspect it's because vc is too high in nutes.
I did use it some years ago and also tried worm castings.
Far as I remember, vc is quite low in nutes, but does offer a whole banquet of other beneficial trace elements and minerals as well as a complex mix of useful organisms. So if your plants aren't as big as you think they should be, it might be because they are lacking in the major nutes N, P and K if they're being grown only in vc. If not, then it's something else (like the weather) that may be the cause.
I would have thought that using the vc as a lightly raked-in top dressing would be good, but as I said above, I've not really used the stuff.
Hopefully someone who has will be along soon
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.
Pete - why would I need more nutrients, though? As an organic gardener I wont use any synthetics and I wouldnt have thought seedlings and young plants need to start having stuff like chicken manure added straight away would it?
I said it was a possibility. All garden plants must have N, P and K in varying amounts to live - it can be from organic or inorganic sources. I think vc is low in NPK which may be the cause. I used the stuff once as a soil improver and thought it good but expensive - that's my only experience of it as I said.
As to the requirements of your plants would depend on what they are - some like lots of NPK others are happy with almost none. I would agree that if your plants are seedlings then chicken manure at this stage would not be a good idea
Billericay - Essex
Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit.
Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad.