Monday, December 5, 2011

Basement Gardening: Vermiponics

If you have been following along with my budget minded hydroponics project, you have probably wondered whether buying nutrients really qualifies. For $20 a quart, I've been wondering that too. Rest assured that my long range plan does not include purchasing nutrients. I plan to add vermicompost (i.e. worm castings) to my deep water culture beds in place of the expensive hydroponics nutrients. I simply started with the nutrients to validate that the other parts of my system (lights, aeration, etc.) would work properly.

I have a spare deep water culture bin that I'm not using at present and a spare air pump so it's time for a vermiponics experiment. Rather than starting my project by putting the worms directly in the bins, I'm going to let the worms reside in the vertical worm bin tray system I have been using for a few years, and place the worm castings in a paint strainer bag inside the aerated deep water culture bins. I think it will work, but I won't know for sure until I try it. I love experiments!

Stay tuned for future updates.

No comments:

Post a Comment