Follow ups is a place to answer or clarify students inquires or questions from our Compost Presentation or other related topics.
Barbara asked can tomatoe plants be put in the compost pile?
Answer: Regardless of the type of compost pile you have(Hot,Cold etc) it is not recomended to compost tomatoe plants. The reason is tomatoe plants can have viruses or disease in the plant that you can not see. This can show up in your compost and spread to your vegetable/perennial gardens or other places in your landscape.
Also it is not a good idea to compost Dahlias for the same reasons.
It is a good idea to use IPM (Intergrated Pest Management) practices to scout for pests,disesaes and ozone damage before using your plants in your compost pile.
Sam asked what are the NPK values of worm castings.
Answer: USA Department of Agriculture states that on average EWC contain approx. 5 times the exchangeable Magnesium (Mg), 7 times the available Phosphorus (P), 11 times available Potash/Potassium (K), and 1 and a half times the Calcium (Ca) found in fine top soil.
And these nutrients are in a state that can almost instantly be used by your plants, as they need it.
The N-P-K and trace elements vary hugely depending on what the worms are fed. Store bought EWC, u don't know what NPK ratios your getting, but if you make your own, you can get feed them certain foods to achieve the desired NPK ratios, a long process, but a useful one if your in to saving the planet.
There are websites on Worm Farming/Cultivation, Google them and some tell you what foods to feed your worms to achieve said desired NPK ratio,
Generally they are lower in N than P K but it all depends on the species of worms and what they are feed. For example, rubicon worm poo has NPK values of 1.77%nitrogen, 1% phosphoric acid, .5% soluble pot ash, 3% calcium, 1% magnesium.
Usually worm castings are 0.1-0-0, but the benefit comes from improved soil aeration and the introduction of beneficial microbes.
We welcome your follow ups to our follow up answers......
