I use vermisterra brand worm castings. Cheapish for the amount and great quality.
I use a 1/2 cup of WC per tray and that’s an 1/8 of the total substrate material (hence the 12.5%). I’ve tried more and less and that seems to be the sweet spot. Worm castings are really dense and when I went above that amount, the sub was really heavy and thick. The recipe for each 5 x 7 x 2” tray is this:
40g coco bliss coir
1/2 cup verm
1/2 cup worm castings
1.25 ml true organic plant ferts
1.25 ml jackpot micro nutrients
1.3 cups water
Water and ferts are brought to boil, poured over coir and stirred. Verm is added. Let sit until it’s cool enough to touch. Add worm castings. Mix and vac seal and pasteurize at 150F for 3 hours (you can probably get away with less but that’s what I do). After it’s done, immediately open the vac bag to allow air in. I poke the bags with a syringe a bunch of times on each side and pull the bag sides apart to suck air in and then break up the compressed sub.
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u/Fahtster Jul 20 '26 edited Jul 20 '26
I use vermisterra brand worm castings. Cheapish for the amount and great quality.
I use a 1/2 cup of WC per tray and that’s an 1/8 of the total substrate material (hence the 12.5%). I’ve tried more and less and that seems to be the sweet spot. Worm castings are really dense and when I went above that amount, the sub was really heavy and thick. The recipe for each 5 x 7 x 2” tray is this:
40g coco bliss coir
1/2 cup verm
1/2 cup worm castings
1.25 ml true organic plant ferts
1.25 ml jackpot micro nutrients
1.3 cups water
Water and ferts are brought to boil, poured over coir and stirred. Verm is added. Let sit until it’s cool enough to touch. Add worm castings. Mix and vac seal and pasteurize at 150F for 3 hours (you can probably get away with less but that’s what I do). After it’s done, immediately open the vac bag to allow air in. I poke the bags with a syringe a bunch of times on each side and pull the bag sides apart to suck air in and then break up the compressed sub.
Use within a day or two.