Hey Boss... Here's an old school tip I learned from a 90 year old lady 35 years back when I was a pre-teenager ...take half of your pine needles and burn them... 😉 you won't believe the benefit.. 👌 👋 Its a trick she learned from her great grandma so its old as all hell but it works wonders
Great test, Al! Compost and worm castings for the win! We use about 20% worm castings in our potting mix and it works great. And we NEVER feed our starts any additional fertilizers.
I appreciate all of the effort that you put into these experiments. It is eye opening and makes me want to fine tune my composting processes even more to support my garden and my wallet. Lol. Thank you!
Thanks so much for this experiment. Ive got my own compost and worm castings, I was contemplating buying some sterile mix to start my seeds indoors, but now I will just try to control any fungus or bugs as they come up in my own mix. :)
excellent video, I have bookemarked a book about wormcasting and your video results, I am a farmer and doing this professionally, your video helped me make the choice to create me own compost with both worms and traditional. Thank you for this.
Great series of videos with the bok choy intro, analysis and now lettuce. Thanks for taking the time to experiment so we can benefit from your knowledge sharing.
Thank you very much for sharing this great experiment. And especially for talking about self-suffiency, because this is what gardening is all about. As you perfectly say it in this serie of videos : what if the gardening store is closed and/or we dont have access to the bag of soil and the bottle of nutrient ? We rely too much on external and synthetic outputs (that will be no more sooner than later). We must focus on being resilient, growing with local, homemade supply. How many gardeners are buying bags of worm castings when they can do their own in their garden/balcony, no matter how small it is.
Awesome video! The first week's results were definitely surprising, however, we can see how quickly the tables were turned(especially with miracle gro ;) ). I also appreciate your use of graphical overlays when describing the soil mix ratios! I like how you pointed out how beneficial microbes could improve your plants, as it's something many may not consider. Keep up the awesome work!
I tried this experiment. I want to let everyone know, this does work. I don't have a worm bin yet, so I bought worm castings at the store. But I do have very nice homemade compost with lots of ingredients, and pine needles. I did not have that fast growing variety of seed. So my lettuce was a little smaller. And I didn't even bother with miracle grow seed starting mix. I mean, why. Here's how it went... Plants hate my growing space. It's too hot and dry, but it's the only one I got. These guys did well. The tomato seeds all sprouted and are growing STRONG. Some of those seeds were saved heirlooms - 6 years old! The spinach did great! The lettuce was just starting to look like it MIGHT be damping off, but it was just perfect timing to take them outside. In a shady spot with a plastic dome, they perked up overnight. So maybe they wouldn't have. In less than a month, I have decent sized plants ready to transplant into my bed. I mean, nothing like his plants, but with my disadvantages, Im pretty darn happy with this mix and will be using it from now on. THANKS SO MUCH for sharing this!
This helped a ton! Thanks. I've always wondered why we 'have' to start seeds in sterile mix when seeds have been germinating in nutrient rich soil for thousands of years...
Right! Exactly. I mean, we don't sterilize our soil outside right? Sure, some people might practice soil solarization for specific reasons, but it's definitely not necessary for getting excellent seedling growth. :D
I am composting oak leaves with mold and red wriggler worms and it's working great. Can't wait to do some similar testing on how it works in growing greens. Thanks so much for these videos! Teaming with microbs....
I like your experiments and agree with your thoughts on growing plants in a medium that is teaming with beneficial microbes. This allows the roots of the plant to begin forming nodules for the rhizobacteria; therefore, the plant grows a strong root system that is ready for the outdoors (the organic outdoors.)
Love your informative and interesting videos! Thank you so much for sharing your experiments with us, I've learned so much from you. Please keep them coming!!
Thanks Al really helpful information. I've just start my seedlings 2 weeks ago. Purple Bumble Bee cherry tomatoes and Berkeley Pink Tie Dye tomatoes are up and 2 inches now. Just used basic seed starter mix nothing special but someday would like to start my own worm bin and use the castings to start my seeds.
Here are my thoughts about it. The MG seed mix just ran out of nutrient as most seed starting mixes don't have much so that it doesn't burn seedlings. Plants obviously need more in vegetative stage. Straight casting are ok, but when you add compost your adding different nutrients as well which plants benefit from. Adding pine needles most likely made the soil more acidic, and could have brought the pH down to a better level for this particular plant. Where I live everything is alkaline and I always have a hard time lowering pH and keeping it down. We have a lot of calcium in our water as well as other minerals that work to keep everything at a more alkaline pH. Good experiment. I have worms and use the castings as fresh as I get them. I also have rabbits and I feed the manure to my worms as well as use it in my garden constantly. Also have a compost pile that I put all of my yard waste in, and don't use any weed killer on my yard or chemical fertilizers. I grow mostly outdoors and have never had plants that look so good. The rabbit manure seems to make my plants turn dark green and really healthy.
I'm thinking the castings had nitrogen and the compost had pk and no n left cause it was woody and the pine needles either gave the correct ph or provided a better structure for oxygen :)
Thank you ever so much! What a fascinating experiment. So GLAD your homemade seed starting/potting mix eventually blew past the commercial stuff. I've been doing vermiculture for a couple years now, and am starting humanure composting this year. I also have a source of organic pine needles right next door. So I'm planning on gradually adapting your recipe as my seed starting mix. How long should the pine needles sit before grinding them up and before using them as part of a planter mix?
Compost varies quite a bit depending on what you compost. Those who add manures to their compost are going to have more nitrogen than those who don't. Commercial seed raising mixes only have a small amount of fertiliser to get them started then you need to fertilise them or plant into fertile soil.
amen! Great video. I am currently using coir/vermicompost/peat/sand soil blocks and the plants are loving it (definitely won't use as much sand next time though). Worm compost is just amazing.
Thanks for watching Debbie! Just be sure to do a small scale test until you have a good ratio figured out. This year's batch of worm castings was stronger than last year's. I had to reduce the ratio to about 25%. It all depends on the castings.
Very interesting! I'm working on starting some hard-to-find seeds and am nervous about them not "taking." Starting seeds in a "sterile" soil just did not make sense to me either. Will try my own mix based on your recipe using Bokashi compost, which supposedly kills seeds in the fermentation process. Thank you!
Thanks for watching! I'm glad the info was able to help out a little. I think some small-scale tests are always a great way to learn & to try new things! xD
Fantastic presentation. ANY commercial fertilizer will feed your plants. Some are better than others. Composting feeds the soil, the soil feeds the plant. Both methods require an investment. One is "wallet works", the other is sweat equity and time. When its all said and done, I have more sweat than cents. And I too prefer to orchestrate a bio-culture investment vs. buying into a never ending cash and resource withdrawal system.
Excellent pros and cons Wayne. Thanks for sharing! I find that having multiple options is always a good thing. In the end tho, we need to decide what is best for us within our current circumstances. :-D
I loved this! I am interested in Aeropnics, mainly because the lettuce grows 3 times faster. The air ratio has something to do with it as well. But I would really love a "compost tea" that would be organic. Unfortunately the "Master Blend" champions everything else. I can't wait to start my own farm and experiment. A "Multi-ponic farm" using many different methods. There is no shortage of dirt, if I could grow organic in dirt with some special organic blend that can even compare to Master Blend I'd rather go organic! Keep up the good work. I'm a new subscriber! :)
What did you do to the pine needles? Did you grind, shred, chop, etc? How small of a particle would you recommend the pine needles be reduced to? Thanks! OAG
+OldAlabamaGardener - Hi friend! I used my chipper / shredder to shred them up. They were probably around 1/2 inch long. At that particle size they seemed to add nicely to the texture of the mix. But by only using 25% of the volume, I didn't observe any signs of serious nitrogen draft.
Thanks for asking this question! I'm in the pnw, and if there is anything we have plenty of, it is pine needles! Follow up question: did you shred them and/or use them green or dry? I assume dry for both, but you know what they say about assumptions!
Hi Al, I did buy a bag of MG plant food In between your video (paused it and went to store) I am building my soil with aged horse manure, wood chips, leaf compost and tons of worms underneath. I have no separate worm bin. My requirement for MG is only for cucumbers and zucchini that somehow are not taking off, I am a 100% agreed with use of worm casting and compost mix for a long lasting supply of natural fertilizer and plant food. I commented on the worm casting experiment to please let us know how the plants behave after transplant.
Thank-you for sharing your insights & personal experience! I hope your cucumbers & zucchini start to take off for you. When I performed this experiment, it was in the Winter. So once it was over, I simply chopped up the lettuce and had tacos! xD
Nice work and thank you. I suspect the pine needles helped to increase oxygen and reduce compaction. Similar results may have been achieved with perlite and/or vermiculite.
Thanks Michael! I was thinking the same thing. In this instance the pine needles were a poor man's replacement for the perlite / vermiculite materials. Something I could use from a local resource in more of a survival situation. I enjoyed this (and the earlier) test because it forced me to think of my seed starting in a more self-reliant manner.
First of all I want to say I really appreciate the time and thought you put into these experiments, if more people did videos on stuff like this there would be a lot less confusion in the gardening world, so great job. However, when it comes to seed starting mixes I think most people do use them for germinating seedlings and then transfer them to a different nutrient rich potting mix after and your test doesn't really match how people use the product. I think a better test would be to test the germination success rates (at least 30 seeds for each sample) and add more samples to include sterilized soil by either the oven or boiling water. That should provide a better answer how the MG mix stacks up to a sterilized method vs a "beneficial bacteria" method and which gives more successful germination (the key question). Also you might consider a soil pH reading in the future as that might provide more insight on the subject.
+askiro jaro - Thanks for the feedback & extra ideas! I don't know if I'll do much more testing with sterilization. For me, the germination testing is of particular interest. I could increase the sampling size to try to create proper statistics. But I think that it would be extremely important to test more plant types as well. There could be varieties that are more sensitive to osmotic stress. It would be really useful if I was able to identify those seed types. I'm glad I actually read the bag on the MG. I had never really noticed those instructions after all these years. Perhaps other gardeners hadn't realized them either. If they were putting the mix into flats and trays and going straight to the garden (without supplementing), then they may have been disappointed.
Let's see if I get an answer after 6 years. :) In you 1st Pot of 50% compost and 50% worm compost, what is the "compost you talk about that is mixed with the worm compost? Is it just a normal bought compost or actually just a soil ( potting soil)? Hope I get and answer .
Thanks for watching! By brother had gathered the pine needles from my Bubba's house. :) I bought some composting worms years ago (red wigglers). I've been using them to make worm castings ever since. More on that here: ua-cam.com/video/fuW7IAFkZ78/v-deo.html
Hi Gary! I don't recall any difference in flavor. But I was mainly focusing on growth, so I hadn't paid serious attention to how each specimen tasted. Thanks for watching!
Thank you so much. I'm new to this and your channel has been such an invaluable treasure of info... if I don't have my compost or worm castings ready what would you recommend I use as the planting soil or mix to start my first above ground garden.. Thank you again!
Hi Connie, thanks for watching my video! What you decide to use for your garden would depend on a variety of factors. Your budget and your plot size are 2 big things to consider. Some people find square foot gardening to be a great start. I had great success building SIP totes. Are super simple option would be to build a raised bed and have a delivery of 50/50 topsoil mushroom manure. It all depends on your resources and your goals.
I just started my seedlings last night using your technique ( worm castings only) several seeds. Fingers crossed I hope they will all be successful. Thanks again!
I love all your videos and I am subscribe to your channel. I was wondering what kind of compost are you using? Is it just from least in yard clippings or maneuvers extra?.
+Frank Jaquez - Hi Frank! Thanks for your support by subscribing to my Channel. :) The compost I used was homemade. It was all plant & vegetable based with no manures. I used a Jora 70 tumbling composter and then sifted it with a sieve.
How about adding some sort of rock dust to the worm compost? What results do you think it will have? And thank you! Because of you this is my first year starting a small garden and buying worms for composting.
+Edward de Almeida - Hi Edward. Both rock dust and worm compost can vary in composition. Rock dust might have the potential to help due to its effect on cation exchange, its ability to alter pH and its high level of silicon. But it would depend on how much was added and on whether the worm compost was actually deficient in some way. I don't really know what the effect would be. However, it would certainly make for an interesting test! ;-)
did you fertilize at all beyond what went into the original mix? I would be curious the results if you applied equally through bottom watering a comprehensive fertilizer. Would the medium matter if you fertilized? You could include more mediums like one with sand, one with crushed rocks, etc.
Hi! No, for this series of tests I did not use any fertilizers or supplementations at all. The reason was, I wanted to see how I could start my own seedlings without relying on any retail nutrient inputs. Basically, if all the stores were to shut down today... how would I be able to do my gardening? It was fun though because now I've determined that I can just use my homegrown worm castings for ALL of my seed starting! :D
This is a fantastic experiment. Wonderful results. I love how soil biology wins! I'm listening to a book on audible called "The Hidden Half of Nature" by David Montgomery. Its complicated and fascinating, all about the history of microbiology, in the soil, in medicine, in our bodies etc. Those humongous plants in a biologically vast environment from the start will have such a better chance against pathogens when you get them outside. GOOD STUFF.
Seed starting mixes are not a typical growing media. They are supposed to be fine, sterile, low nutrient, and able to hold the right moisture before transplanting... Not important for most veggies but important for some sensitive seeds. I would bet the difference in leaves with the pine needle sample is due to a pH difference which causes a different ratio of nutrients.
However I would not by MG starting mix myself. I would use a mix of peat and fine perlite/vermiculite depending whether they need light to germinate. A sterile media works but is not suitable to a home grower. While working in a greenhouse or a commercial setting unsterile conditions can lead to major losses.
Even just pre-sprouting in pure vermiculite would be an easy way to get fast germination. Afterwards, seeds could be transferred to a more fertile mix.
I gotta defend the seed starting mix tho, it did what it promised it was the biggest when u started the seeds, the poor growth after that is most likely low concentration of nutrients as seeds cant tolerate as high concentration as adult plants but once are developed need more not that I would buy it as its most likely cheap peat moss medium with nutrients added, for seeds i would prob go coco something or just throw them to what I have if its just plant that gonna be eaten
also there is nothing wrong with going with sterile environment, u just need to add controlled mycorhyzae and bacteria culture back, with compost and worm casting u cant control what is inside and have to hope the healthy culture is there, nonetheless it kinda doesnt matter if ur growing at home that much too especially if u have healthy compost
Mushroom compost works well in outdoor beds. I used it here: ua-cam.com/video/4PJZd6yy_R0/v-deo.html Perhaps you could get it to work in a potting mix too? Not sure.
37.5% Worm castings?? That'd have been some serious weighing practices LOL Watch out, next time Miracle Gro won't be sending seed starting mix in that bag :D
heheh Yeah, I just had to put in that .5%. That single bag of MG seed starting mix has lasted for years. But it's the last one I'll ever buy! Never again. ;-)
In some of my earlier tests, I was messing around with potting mix formulations, built from base components. Currently, I don't plan on doing a retail mix shoot out. One test I'm doing right now is in some 5 gallon bucket SIPs. I'm trying a few different potting mix approaches. Look for those results later in the Summer! :-D
I'm not familiar with this "soil sterilization" method but it sounds like a goof or worse. Perfect environments? Isn't this why we have kids that can't be exposed to peanut butter, cats, dogs or critical thinking? I remember mom scolding me because she found frogs, some still alive, in a pair of my pants while doing laundry. It's ok to make a mess or two but it seems that perhaps it's necessary for survival..
If you had all the time in the world you could test 5 plants for each setup, and put the best plant of the series vs the best in the other series, because a champion plant can grow better in the worst conditions than a turd plant in perfect condition. 🤣
This is not a fair test. Your MG mix ran out of nutrients. Same would happen if you kept using your organic mix over and over without recharging it. Vast majority of your commercial market uses chemical fertilizer because of economics and it works for them. Organics is more expensive for a reason. This test and your conclusions are highly misleading.
No way Dan. My organics were FREE: ua-cam.com/video/fuW7IAFkZ78/v-deo.html And every year I'm gathering more and more. The MG seed starting mix is a gimmick. Plain and simple. It's sold in small bags at a premium price and requires quick supplementation. This is by design - to draw people into buying additional products. Meanwhile I've purchased 2 cu ft bags of regular MG and was able to use that for seed starting just fine. But the price for the volume was a FRACTION. This test was super fair. Miracle Gro simply ripped me off.
AlboPepper - Drought Proof Urban Gardening - Free is a relative term. There is time, labor, and knowledge involved in making compost. I don't think you disagree that organically produced food costs more for a reason. I've done everything from organics to mittleider to hydroponics and each has its benefits and draw backs. I would not say one method is vastly superior to another as your test would seem to indicate. MG is not a bad option for people starting gardening. BTW I use their starting mix from time to time because it is sterile and I'm too lazy to put a pan full of mix in the oven to kill the fungus and gnats. $4 is not going to break my bank.
My test might seem to indicate any number of things. What statements did I make that you are contesting? What did I actually SAY that you disagree with? This video was 2nd test that was part of a 3 video series. If you are looking for the intended objectives in this video, then watch the 1st two. As for fungus gnats, the worst problem I've ever had with fungus gnats was back when I used to use the MG products indoors. I never pasteurized my homemade mixes. And I never had issues with gnats. This video was not about lazy gardening. It was about selecting sustainable products that were locally available to me.
AlboPepper, starting on 10:14 you are comparing apples and oranges. You compare a grow that ran out of nutrients vs one that did not then go into why it was better with organics. How is that fair? Why not grow MG version as instructed and explain time and cost for both then compare? My guess is you will get similar results except MG version would cost $ while your organic version would cost labor which you can convert to $ at people's discretion.
Gotcha. I know lots of people that have used MG seed starting mix but didn't actually follow the instructions. At 7:00 I was helping people out by directing them to those instructions. My results show what people can experience if they fail to do so. I didn't misrepresent the product. I spelled it out. The reality is that the MG seed starting mix doesn't hold up over time. It might be weak, allowing for faster or improved germination (at least in theory). But in my tests, I was able to get plants that both germinated AND grew well over the long haul using castings. If the MG couldn't compete, then that's too bad I guess. At least people know what to expect. This test and the other one was a demonstration of how someone can salvage their own components to make a self-reliant, sustainable mix from local resources. You need to watch the 1st video for context: ua-cam.com/video/K7Ekhc28qu8/v-deo.html All retail products both synthetic AND organic could become unavailable if our supply lines were to fail. This showed how I was able to scrape together resources, even in a worst case scenario, allowing me to grow some seedlings. Did you watch the 1st video? As a by-product of these tests, multiple things came to light, including the effects of nitrogen draft and also the questionable need for soil pasteurization. But I also personally saw the foolishness of buying MG seed starting mix. That has become quite clear to me. I've tried many MG products. Mixes, liquid feeds ( ua-cam.com/video/pkVl3Wg0kHY/v-deo.html ) Osmocotes. But I'll never buy their seed starting mix again. Instead, I've grown awesome seedlings by relying on my castings. The amount of work involved is irrelevant to the context of these videos. I definitely will encourage people to look into cycling their own nutrients and not relying on 100% nutrient imports. I hope this video demonstrates how worthwhile the effort can be.
Read more: Vermi-composting
► link.albopepper.com/worms
Read more: Composting:
► link.albopepper.com/compost
For context, watch the videos for the 1st test:
Intro: ua-cam.com/video/K7Ekhc28qu8/v-deo.html
Results: ua-cam.com/video/Id0Cep_9nRI/v-deo.html
Hey Boss...
Here's an old school tip I learned from a 90 year old lady 35 years back when I was a pre-teenager ...take half of your pine needles and burn them... 😉 you won't believe the benefit.. 👌 👋
Its a trick she learned from her great grandma so its old as all hell but it works wonders
I'm 13 and I love gardening! Your videos are great, and that's earned you a subscriber!!
+GameGuardian - Thanks GameGuardian! Welcome to my channel. xD
Fantastic experiment and video! Just about to use my worm castings for the first time, and this gives me some great direction. Thank you!
Love your tests. You're kinda like the Gardening Mythbuster. And that light looks like it's doing a nice job.
+DW Marschall - Sweeet! I like it, hehehhe.
Great test, Al! Compost and worm castings for the win! We use about 20% worm castings in our potting mix and it works great. And we NEVER feed our starts any additional fertilizers.
how long before you actually feed? I was feeding my seed starts 3 weeks in.
Perlite, castings, peat, mykos recharge.
I really enjoy your experiments and perspective. Thanks for all your hard work on this!
I appreciate all of the effort that you put into these experiments. It is eye opening and makes me want to fine tune my composting processes even more to support my garden and my wallet. Lol. Thank you!
Thanks so much for this experiment. Ive got my own compost and worm castings, I was contemplating buying some sterile mix to start my seeds indoors, but now I will just try to control any fungus or bugs as they come up in my own mix. :)
Thanks for watching! :-)
excellent video, I have bookemarked a book about wormcasting and your video results, I am a farmer and doing this professionally, your video helped me make the choice to create me own compost with both worms and traditional. Thank you for this.
Brilliant help, I'm going with worm castings & compost. Happy days ☀️
Awesome! Thanks for watching Penny. :-D
Great series of videos with the bok choy intro, analysis and now lettuce. Thanks for taking the time to experiment so we can benefit from your knowledge sharing.
Thank you very much for sharing this great experiment. And especially for talking about self-suffiency, because this is what gardening is all about. As you perfectly say it in this serie of videos : what if the gardening store is closed and/or we dont have access to the bag of soil and the bottle of nutrient ? We rely too much on external and synthetic outputs (that will be no more sooner than later). We must focus on being resilient, growing with local, homemade supply. How many gardeners are buying bags of worm castings when they can do their own in their garden/balcony, no matter how small it is.
Awesome video! The first week's results were definitely surprising, however, we can see how quickly the tables were turned(especially with miracle gro ;) ). I also appreciate your use of graphical overlays when describing the soil mix ratios! I like how you pointed out how beneficial microbes could improve your plants, as it's something many may not consider. Keep up the awesome work!
+Juan Gracian - Thank-you for your support..... ;-) .... bro!
I tried this experiment. I want to let everyone know, this does work. I don't have a worm bin yet, so I bought worm castings at the store. But I do have very nice homemade compost with lots of ingredients, and pine needles. I did not have that fast growing variety of seed. So my lettuce was a little smaller. And I didn't even bother with miracle grow seed starting mix. I mean, why. Here's how it went... Plants hate my growing space. It's too hot and dry, but it's the only one I got. These guys did well. The tomato seeds all sprouted and are growing STRONG. Some of those seeds were saved heirlooms - 6 years old! The spinach did great! The lettuce was just starting to look like it MIGHT be damping off, but it was just perfect timing to take them outside. In a shady spot with a plastic dome, they perked up overnight. So maybe they wouldn't have. In less than a month, I have decent sized plants ready to transplant into my bed. I mean, nothing like his plants, but with my disadvantages, Im pretty darn happy with this mix and will be using it from now on. THANKS SO MUCH for sharing this!
This helped a ton! Thanks. I've always wondered why we 'have' to start seeds in sterile mix when seeds have been germinating in nutrient rich soil for thousands of years...
Right! Exactly. I mean, we don't sterilize our soil outside right? Sure, some people might practice soil solarization for specific reasons, but it's definitely not necessary for getting excellent seedling growth. :D
Another really great video. So wonderful to see proof. Thanks for all the effort.
Thank you for spending the time and effort to doing this testing! Glad to see my theory that worm castings are super for planting.
Thanks for watching Patrick! :-D
I am composting oak leaves with mold and red wriggler worms and it's working great. Can't wait to do some similar testing on how it works in growing greens. Thanks so much for these videos!
Teaming with microbs....
Wow, great test. Eye opener for sure. Thank you for taking the time.🇨🇦
I like your experiments and agree with your thoughts on growing plants in a medium that is teaming with beneficial microbes. This allows the roots of the plant to begin forming nodules for the rhizobacteria; therefore, the plant grows a strong root system that is ready for the outdoors (the organic outdoors.)
+High Desert Garden (Phillip) - That's a great point Phillip. That makes a lot of sense!
Love your informative and interesting videos! Thank you so much for sharing your experiments with us, I've learned so much from you. Please keep them coming!!
Very impressive experiment to me since I develop my own worm castings and compost, keep up the good work.
Greetings from Bulgaria
Thank you for your videos. You provided valuable info I will put to practice!
All the best to you!
Thanks Al really helpful information. I've just start my seedlings 2 weeks ago. Purple Bumble Bee cherry tomatoes and Berkeley Pink Tie Dye tomatoes are up and 2 inches now. Just used basic seed starter mix nothing special but someday would like to start my own worm bin and use the castings to start my seeds.
Here are my thoughts about it. The MG seed mix just ran out of nutrient as most seed starting mixes don't have much so that it doesn't burn seedlings. Plants obviously need more in vegetative stage. Straight casting are ok, but when you add compost your adding different nutrients as well which plants benefit from. Adding pine needles most likely made the soil more acidic, and could have brought the pH down to a better level for this particular plant. Where I live everything is alkaline and I always have a hard time lowering pH and keeping it down. We have a lot of calcium in our water as well as other minerals that work to keep everything at a more alkaline pH. Good experiment. I have worms and use the castings as fresh as I get them. I also have rabbits and I feed the manure to my worms as well as use it in my garden constantly. Also have a compost pile that I put all of my yard waste in, and don't use any weed killer on my yard or chemical fertilizers. I grow mostly outdoors and have never had plants that look so good. The rabbit manure seems to make my plants turn dark green and really healthy.
Love your work. Thank you. I have just started a worm farm, so this is great information.
I'm thinking the castings had nitrogen and the compost had pk and no n left cause it was woody and the pine needles either gave the correct ph or provided a better structure for oxygen :)
Cool video, now I understand why my plants aren't thriving even when I use the "good" potting mix. Please keep the videos coming. I really enjoy them.
+Paul Buckel Jr - Thanks Paul!
Thank you ever so much! What a fascinating experiment. So GLAD your homemade seed starting/potting mix eventually blew past the commercial stuff. I've been doing vermiculture for a couple years now, and am starting humanure composting this year. I also have a source of organic pine needles right next door. So I'm planning on gradually adapting your recipe as my seed starting mix. How long should the pine needles sit before grinding them up and before using them as part of a planter mix?
Compost varies quite a bit depending on what you compost. Those who add manures to their compost are going to have more nitrogen than those who don't.
Commercial seed raising mixes only have a small amount of fertiliser to get them started then you need to fertilise them or plant into fertile soil.
Some commercial seed starting mixes have zero added nutrients. So there's lots of variability.
Great comparisons. I'm glad I didn't have to watch three videos over three weeks to get the conclusions. Thanks for doing that.
+Lolita's Garden - LOL, I know! I'm glad I did it in a single release. Thanks for watching! xD
Very informative and helpful. You're the gardening experiment king!
amen! Great video. I am currently using coir/vermicompost/peat/sand soil blocks and the plants are loving it (definitely won't use as much sand next time though). Worm compost is just amazing.
+Connor McKee - I agree Conner. Thanks!
Awesome info. I think I might be adding worm casting to my seed starter mix.
Thanks for watching Debbie! Just be sure to do a small scale test until you have a good ratio figured out. This year's batch of worm castings was stronger than last year's. I had to reduce the ratio to about 25%. It all depends on the castings.
those are some amazing results cant wait to sift my compost!
+Matthew Young - Thanks for watching Mathew! I'm so glad I begun making my own amendments. xD
Pine needles turn the soil acidic. So that probably made the lettuce grow slightly weird. I mulch my blueberries with pine needles.
Thank you for sharing!
I always found brought compost was rubbish!
This was truly beneficial to watch and learn from, thanks.
Thanks for watching Aubrey! :)
Very interesting! I'm working on starting some hard-to-find seeds and am nervous about them not "taking." Starting seeds in a "sterile" soil just did not make sense to me either. Will try my own mix based on your recipe using Bokashi compost, which supposedly kills seeds in the fermentation process. Thank you!
Thanks for watching! I'm glad the info was able to help out a little. I think some small-scale tests are always a great way to learn & to try new things! xD
Very interesting. About how long can worm castings provide sustainable growth before they break down and have to be replaced? Thanks
VERY informative, well done sir! I tip my hat to you & thank you
great comparison......I am inspired and plan to improve my potting mix with your information ......thanks al.
+Bill Kimp - Thanks for your support Bill!
Fantastic presentation. ANY commercial fertilizer will feed your plants. Some are better than others. Composting feeds the soil, the soil feeds the plant. Both methods require an investment. One is "wallet works", the other is sweat equity and time. When its all said and done, I have more sweat than cents. And I too prefer to orchestrate a bio-culture investment vs. buying into a never ending cash and resource withdrawal system.
Excellent pros and cons Wayne. Thanks for sharing! I find that having multiple options is always a good thing. In the end tho, we need to decide what is best for us within our current circumstances. :-D
Thanks in return. Subbed ya' !
i just love your channel.
+shakaama - Thanks for your support! xD
I loved this! I am interested in Aeropnics, mainly because the lettuce grows 3 times faster. The air ratio has something to do with it as well. But I would really love a "compost tea" that would be organic. Unfortunately the "Master Blend" champions everything else. I can't wait to start my own farm and experiment. A "Multi-ponic farm" using many different methods. There is no shortage of dirt, if I could grow organic in dirt with some special organic blend that can even compare to Master Blend I'd rather go organic! Keep up the good work. I'm a new subscriber! :)
Helpful video and a fair test. Thank you.
Thanks Ron! :-)
What did you do to the pine needles? Did you grind, shred, chop, etc? How small of a particle would you recommend the pine needles be reduced to? Thanks!
OAG
+OldAlabamaGardener - Hi friend! I used my chipper / shredder to shred them up. They were probably around 1/2 inch long. At that particle size they seemed to add nicely to the texture of the mix. But by only using 25% of the volume, I didn't observe any signs of serious nitrogen draft.
Thanks!
Thanks for asking this question! I'm in the pnw, and if there is anything we have plenty of, it is pine needles!
Follow up question: did you shred them and/or use them green or dry? I assume dry for both, but you know what they say about assumptions!
Hi Al,
I did buy a bag of MG plant food In between your video (paused it and went to store) I am building my soil with aged horse manure, wood chips, leaf compost and tons of worms underneath. I have no separate worm bin.
My requirement for MG is only for cucumbers and zucchini that somehow are not taking off, I am a 100% agreed with use of worm casting and compost mix for a long lasting supply of natural fertilizer and plant food. I commented on the worm casting experiment to please let us know how the plants behave after transplant.
Thank-you for sharing your insights & personal experience! I hope your cucumbers & zucchini start to take off for you. When I performed this experiment, it was in the Winter. So once it was over, I simply chopped up the lettuce and had tacos! xD
Nice work and thank you. I suspect the pine needles helped to increase oxygen and reduce compaction. Similar results may have been achieved with perlite and/or vermiculite.
Thanks Michael! I was thinking the same thing. In this instance the pine needles were a poor man's replacement for the perlite / vermiculite materials. Something I could use from a local resource in more of a survival situation. I enjoyed this (and the earlier) test because it forced me to think of my seed starting in a more self-reliant manner.
thank you so much.
Basically never buy miracle grow. I jus set up a worm bin. Good informative video.
First of all I want to say I really appreciate the time and thought you put into these experiments, if more people did videos on stuff like this there would be a lot less confusion in the gardening world, so great job.
However, when it comes to seed starting mixes I think most people do use them for germinating seedlings and then transfer them to a different nutrient rich potting mix after and your test doesn't really match how people use the product. I think a better test would be to test the germination success rates (at least 30 seeds for each sample) and add more samples to include sterilized soil by either the oven or boiling water. That should provide a better answer how the MG mix stacks up to a sterilized method vs a "beneficial bacteria" method and which gives more successful germination (the key question). Also you might consider a soil pH reading in the future as that might provide more insight on the subject.
+askiro jaro - Thanks for the feedback & extra ideas! I don't know if I'll do much more testing with sterilization. For me, the germination testing is of particular interest. I could increase the sampling size to try to create proper statistics. But I think that it would be extremely important to test more plant types as well. There could be varieties that are more sensitive to osmotic stress. It would be really useful if I was able to identify those seed types.
I'm glad I actually read the bag on the MG. I had never really noticed those instructions after all these years. Perhaps other gardeners hadn't realized them either. If they were putting the mix into flats and trays and going straight to the garden (without supplementing), then they may have been disappointed.
Excellent. thanks.
Let's see if I get an answer after 6 years. :) In you 1st Pot of 50% compost and 50% worm compost, what is the "compost you talk about that is mixed with the worm compost? Is it just a normal bought compost or actually just a soil ( potting soil)? Hope I get and answer .
woah....so good and reflective of our human health
I agree! Thank-you for watching. :-D
great video! thanks for the info... love worm casting.... works great =)
+kyle bustos - Hi Kyle! Thanks for watching. I'm glad you enjoyed the video. xD
I have literally at least 9 inches of pine needles under my trees. I didn’t realize how good for my plants. How do you get worm castings
Thanks for watching! By brother had gathered the pine needles from my Bubba's house. :) I bought some composting worms years ago (red wigglers). I've been using them to make worm castings ever since. More on that here: ua-cam.com/video/fuW7IAFkZ78/v-deo.html
great experimental videos... any difference in flavour?
Hi Gary! I don't recall any difference in flavor. But I was mainly focusing on growth, so I hadn't paid serious attention to how each specimen tasted. Thanks for watching!
Thank you so much. I'm new to this and your channel has been such an invaluable treasure of info... if I don't have my compost or worm castings ready what would you recommend I use as the planting soil or mix to start my first above ground garden.. Thank you again!
Hi Connie, thanks for watching my video! What you decide to use for your garden would depend on a variety of factors. Your budget and your plot size are 2 big things to consider. Some people find square foot gardening to be a great start. I had great success building SIP totes. Are super simple option would be to build a raised bed and have a delivery of 50/50 topsoil mushroom manure. It all depends on your resources and your goals.
Albo, what about taste? More subjective than size, I grant you but pretty important. Do the more vigorous growers taste better too?
Great experiment!
Thank-you! :-D
That's awesome info . Thank you.
Thanks Ramona! xD
I just started my seedlings last night using your technique ( worm castings only) several seeds. Fingers crossed I hope they will all be successful. Thanks again!
Thank you for your video. I am trying the same thing right now :)
Awesome! Thanks for watching Mathew. :D
I love all your videos and I am subscribe to your channel. I was wondering what kind of compost are you using? Is it just from least in yard clippings or maneuvers extra?.
+Frank Jaquez - Hi Frank! Thanks for your support by subscribing to my Channel. :) The compost I used was homemade. It was all plant & vegetable based with no manures. I used a Jora 70 tumbling composter and then sifted it with a sieve.
+AlboPepper - Drought Proof Urban Gardening
Thank you so much.
Thank you
How about adding some sort of rock dust to the worm compost? What results do you think it will have? And thank you! Because of you this is my first year starting a small garden and buying worms for composting.
+Edward de Almeida - Hi Edward. Both rock dust and worm compost can vary in composition. Rock dust might have the potential to help due to its effect on cation exchange, its ability to alter pH and its high level of silicon. But it would depend on how much was added and on whether the worm compost was actually deficient in some way. I don't really know what the effect would be. However, it would certainly make for an interesting test! ;-)
Brilliant.
Question: Do you pasteurize your compost, worm castings, leaves etc. before you use it for seed starting?
did you fertilize at all beyond what went into the original mix? I would be curious the results if you applied equally through bottom watering a comprehensive fertilizer. Would the medium matter if you fertilized? You could include more mediums like one with sand, one with crushed rocks, etc.
Hi! No, for this series of tests I did not use any fertilizers or supplementations at all. The reason was, I wanted to see how I could start my own seedlings without relying on any retail nutrient inputs. Basically, if all the stores were to shut down today... how would I be able to do my gardening? It was fun though because now I've determined that I can just use my homegrown worm castings for ALL of my seed starting! :D
great job !!!!! keep good work coming.
+Fred McCorkle - I appreciate the support. Thanks Fred!
This is a fantastic experiment. Wonderful results. I love how soil biology wins! I'm listening to a book on audible called "The Hidden Half of Nature" by David Montgomery. Its complicated and fascinating, all about the history of microbiology, in the soil, in medicine, in our bodies etc. Those humongous plants in a biologically vast environment from the start will have such a better chance against pathogens when you get them outside. GOOD STUFF.
Thanks so much for watching and sharing your interests. I agree that microbiology is quite fascinating! :-D
I would give 1000 likes if it were possible! Great video!
Seed starting mixes are not a typical growing media. They are supposed to be fine, sterile, low nutrient, and able to hold the right moisture before transplanting... Not important for most veggies but important for some sensitive seeds. I would bet the difference in leaves with the pine needle sample is due to a pH difference which causes a different ratio of nutrients.
However I would not by MG starting mix myself. I would use a mix of peat and fine perlite/vermiculite depending whether they need light to germinate. A sterile media works but is not suitable to a home grower. While working in a greenhouse or a commercial setting unsterile conditions can lead to major losses.
Even just pre-sprouting in pure vermiculite would be an easy way to get fast germination. Afterwards, seeds could be transferred to a more fertile mix.
Add a full dose of Miracle Grow and watch what happens.
I use worm castings from my garden with Marine Cusin and insect frass and azomite brah
We’re the pine needles dried or fresh?
They were dried.
I like it very good
Thanks Michael!
Do you PH compost tea ????
slightly stressed plants are higher in antioxidants
That's a good point to keep in mind. Water stress in herbs can produce stronger essential oil concentrations.
What kind of pine needles Green or brown?
+John Carey - Hi John. They are brown, fallen on the ground already. I show them in this video: ua-cam.com/video/K7Ekhc28qu8/v-deo.htmlm59s
I gotta defend the seed starting mix tho, it did what it promised
it was the biggest when u started the seeds, the poor growth after that is most likely low concentration of nutrients as seeds cant tolerate as high concentration as adult plants but once are developed need more
not that I would buy it as its most likely cheap peat moss medium with nutrients added, for seeds i would prob go coco something or just throw them to what I have if its just plant that gonna be eaten
also there is nothing wrong with going with sterile environment, u just need to add controlled mycorhyzae and bacteria culture back, with compost and worm casting u cant control what is inside and have to hope the healthy culture is there, nonetheless it kinda doesnt matter if ur growing at home that much too especially if u have healthy compost
What if i add mushroom soil ?
Mushroom compost works well in outdoor beds. I used it here: ua-cam.com/video/4PJZd6yy_R0/v-deo.html Perhaps you could get it to work in a potting mix too? Not sure.
🤩😍
Try feeding your finished hot compost to your worms.
Thanks for the tip Ace!
37.5% Worm castings?? That'd have been some serious weighing practices LOL
Watch out, next time Miracle Gro won't be sending seed starting mix in that bag :D
heheh Yeah, I just had to put in that .5%. That single bag of MG seed starting mix has lasted for years. But it's the last one I'll ever buy! Never again. ;-)
Are you gonna do an experiment on Potting mix too?? :)
In some of my earlier tests, I was messing around with potting mix formulations, built from base components. Currently, I don't plan on doing a retail mix shoot out. One test I'm doing right now is in some 5 gallon bucket SIPs. I'm trying a few different potting mix approaches. Look for those results later in the Summer! :-D
I'm not familiar with this "soil sterilization" method but it sounds like a goof or worse. Perfect environments? Isn't this why we have kids that can't be exposed to peanut butter, cats, dogs or critical thinking? I remember mom scolding me because she found frogs, some still alive, in a pair of my pants while doing laundry. It's ok to make a mess or two but it seems that perhaps it's necessary for survival..
Now tell me which are the best tasting ones????
Definitely the larger, greener plants. The healthier they looked, the better they tasted.
manures*
If you had all the time in the world you could test 5 plants for each setup, and put the best plant of the series vs the best in the other series, because a champion plant can grow better in the worst conditions than a turd plant in perfect condition. 🤣
Or the test could be run over and over, multiple times and the results could be aggregated.
Your burning your plants
This is not a fair test. Your MG mix ran out of nutrients. Same would happen if you kept using your organic mix over and over without recharging it. Vast majority of your commercial market uses chemical fertilizer because of economics and it works for them. Organics is more expensive for a reason. This test and your conclusions are highly misleading.
No way Dan. My organics were FREE: ua-cam.com/video/fuW7IAFkZ78/v-deo.html And every year I'm gathering more and more.
The MG seed starting mix is a gimmick. Plain and simple. It's sold in small bags at a premium price and requires quick supplementation. This is by design - to draw people into buying additional products. Meanwhile I've purchased 2 cu ft bags of regular MG and was able to use that for seed starting just fine. But the price for the volume was a FRACTION. This test was super fair. Miracle Gro simply ripped me off.
AlboPepper - Drought Proof Urban Gardening - Free is a relative term. There is time, labor, and knowledge involved in making compost. I don't think you disagree that organically produced food costs more for a reason. I've done everything from organics to mittleider to hydroponics and each has its benefits and draw backs. I would not say one method is vastly superior to another as your test would seem to indicate. MG is not a bad option for people starting gardening.
BTW I use their starting mix from time to time because it is sterile and I'm too lazy to put a pan full of mix in the oven to kill the fungus and gnats. $4 is not going to break my bank.
My test might seem to indicate any number of things. What statements did I make that you are contesting? What did I actually SAY that you disagree with? This video was 2nd test that was part of a 3 video series. If you are looking for the intended objectives in this video, then watch the 1st two.
As for fungus gnats, the worst problem I've ever had with fungus gnats was back when I used to use the MG products indoors. I never pasteurized my homemade mixes. And I never had issues with gnats. This video was not about lazy gardening. It was about selecting sustainable products that were locally available to me.
AlboPepper, starting on 10:14 you are comparing apples and oranges. You compare a grow that ran out of nutrients vs one that did not then go into why it was better with organics. How is that fair? Why not grow MG version as instructed and explain time and cost for both then compare? My guess is you will get similar results except MG version would cost $ while your organic version would cost labor which you can convert to $ at people's discretion.
Gotcha. I know lots of people that have used MG seed starting mix but didn't actually follow the instructions. At 7:00 I was helping people out by directing them to those instructions. My results show what people can experience if they fail to do so. I didn't misrepresent the product. I spelled it out.
The reality is that the MG seed starting mix doesn't hold up over time. It might be weak, allowing for faster or improved germination (at least in theory). But in my tests, I was able to get plants that both germinated AND grew well over the long haul using castings. If the MG couldn't compete, then that's too bad I guess. At least people know what to expect.
This test and the other one was a demonstration of how someone can salvage their own components to make a self-reliant, sustainable mix from local resources. You need to watch the 1st video for context: ua-cam.com/video/K7Ekhc28qu8/v-deo.html All retail products both synthetic AND organic could become unavailable if our supply lines were to fail. This showed how I was able to scrape together resources, even in a worst case scenario, allowing me to grow some seedlings. Did you watch the 1st video?
As a by-product of these tests, multiple things came to light, including the effects of nitrogen draft and also the questionable need for soil pasteurization. But I also personally saw the foolishness of buying MG seed starting mix. That has become quite clear to me. I've tried many MG products. Mixes, liquid feeds ( ua-cam.com/video/pkVl3Wg0kHY/v-deo.html ) Osmocotes. But I'll never buy their seed starting mix again.
Instead, I've grown awesome seedlings by relying on my castings. The amount of work involved is irrelevant to the context of these videos. I definitely will encourage people to look into cycling their own nutrients and not relying on 100% nutrient imports. I hope this video demonstrates how worthwhile the effort can be.
Thank you