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by Dennis Copson, Den

My previous article detailed the production of worm castings and worm tea at Legacy Ranch in Campo, CA. One of my favorite topics is the many uses for liquid worm castings in the garden. Today I am writing on the subject of roses, perhaps the most favored flowers on earth and certainly the most discussed. Some refer to them as ?The Queen of Flowers?. I agree.

Roses are perceived to be persnickety flowers to grow ostensibly requiring an inordinate amount of horticultural knowledge and effort. While it is true that they are susceptible to a host of diverse diseases and numerous types of insect attacks and that some folks may be intimidated by these factors, there are ways to assist growing them which make for much easier and more rewarding results.

In my opinion, healthy and robust roses require only four simple things to flourish and produce beautiful blossoms: good soil, plenty of sun, adequate water, and a balanced feeding routine. Perfect these factors and you are home free.

The soil you plant the rose bush in should be light and rich in organic material, somewhat on the sandy side, to ensure good drainage and ease of root development. Avoid heavy clay type soil. Ensure that the planting hole is at least thirty inches deep and the same in width to allow for robust root development.

Placing the rose bush in the proper location ensures the sun part of the process. Before planting, ascertain the sunniest part of your garden or yard and choose that spot. Don't force a rose into a shaded area. Most all of them won't do well there.

Watering well, at least three times a week in the very hottest time of year, is important. Deep watering so that water reaches down to the root zone is imperative. I prefer to draw three to five gallons of tap water and let it sit in a container in the sun for at least eight hours to ?outgas? due to the presence of chloride/fluoride. These are ?salts? and gradually build up harmful deposits in the soil. This applies if you are using city water. If you are fortunate to have a well as a water source you are lucky and most likely can use the water as drawn. An added benefit of natural spring/well water is the minerals dissolved in it.

As for the feeding part of the equation, any worm castings, dry or liquid, used to grow roses are nature's miracle fertilizer. This 100% organic natural product contains abundant nutrient and mineral essentials roses need to thrive. Dry castings dug into the soil around the rose bush are a slow release fertilizer and soil enhancer. However, I have had better results using a ?brewed? liquid worm tea ?blend? consisting of high quality worm castings, Yucca shidigera extract, and pure unfiltered mountain spring water as a foliar spray and root watering application.

Plants have pores (stomata) in their leaves as we have in our skin. They ?breath? through these pores and can absorb the liquid worm castings solution as well. Root feeding is all well and good; it has its place, but foliar feeding is faster and more complete. Within hours of liberally spraying liquid worm tea on a rose, the bush has absorbed the ?food? and is circulating it throughout its system. (Do this in the cooler part of the day: early morning or late afternoon and not in the direct sun of midday.) Results can be seen in days rather than weeks as is the case with soil/root feeding. A weekly regimen of both is perhaps the optimum solution as that works well for my roses.

I ensure I use a liquid worm tea product with natural yucca extract added. Yucca is a ?wetting? agent (surfactant) and essentially makes water ?wetter?. Therefore, the ?blend? is absorbed more readily by plants either in root feeding or foliar use. Yucca also contains natural steroids and these invigorate the plant and may assist in repelling insects.

The worm tea I use is ?brewed? using natural mountain spring water which contains a multitude of essential minerals for the rose to absorb directly and to enhance the soil.

The question of worm castings tea as a disease suppressant and insect repellant is still being debated. Much evidence indicates it to be a factor. High quality worm tea contains natural chemicals, such as chitinase, that insects do not like and will avoid eating or sucking the juices of a plant that is well inoculated with the product. Shidigera yucca extract contains certain natural steroidal elements, such as saponin, which also seem repulsive to insects.

The symbiotic effect of all these factors makes liquid worm castings ideal for all your gardening needs. The combination of pure worm castings, yucca extract, and mountain spring water in a worm tea ?blend? makes liquid worm castings a great tonic for roses!

The bottom line in growing roses is that it need not be as complicated a task as some would lead you to believe. Buy a high quality hybrid rose bush to start, plant it in a sunny location in a good soil mix, water it as needed, and feed it using a quality liquid worm tea blend. Bet you like the results! Your reward will be lush, healthy green leaves, sturdy roots and branches, and ample beautiful and fragrant blossoms.

?God gave us a memory so we would have roses in winter.?

Gardening here in San Diego County and around the country is more than just a week-end seasonal hobby. It is becoming a craze. Homeowners everywhere are devoted to beautifying their yards year round and they are increasingly looking for ways to maximize their efforts. Most importantly, the use of chemical fertilizers and pesticides is becoming less attractive to those who garden. They seek alternative ways to grow their plants, trees, and lawns without the use of toxic pollutants. They are becoming increasingly aware of the adverse environmental impact of these products. Yard runoff flows indirectly to our oceans and seeps into the underground water supply. Chemicals pollute. Thus, people are becoming more ?green? minded. Hence an increasing demand for organic products. Worm castings and worm ?tea? are two of those products.

Worm castings are nature's miracle fertilizer. They are the result of specialized worms eating and digesting an organic source such as manure compost. The end product is worm castings, or more simply put, worm manure. These ?castings? are rich in multiple nutrients and provide plants with a variety of essential elements found in nature that they need to grow. They are also an effective soil enhancer. And most importantly, they are all -natural and toxic chemical free.

In order to see first hand how this process works and how castings develop from a compost pile to market I visited Legacy Ranch for a first hand look. Legacy Ranch is secluded in the mountains of Campo, California about 50 miles east of San Diego owned and operated by long time rancher and horse aficionado, Lonnie Sole. Lonnie is a ?cowboy? in the old fashioned sense and looks every bit like one. Lean and wiry, Lonnie is a no nonsense guy when it comes to ranching. He loves the solitude and beauty of country living. He is at home listening to the coyotes and other wild creatures that roam his ranch by night and attending his horses and Texas long horned cattle by day. Doesn't really like city life at all. Now in his 60's, he still rides horses regularly and his horses know him by sight.

More than four years ago, Lonnie got the idea of producing worm castings for commercial sale. I believe he did so out of curiosity, somewhat from the challenge, but mostly due to his growing concern over the use of polluting chemicals and their effect on the increasingly fragile soil and limited fresh water supply of our good earth. ?My worm castings and ?tea? are nature's miracle for growing beautiful flowers, plants, shrubs, trees, and lawns safely without toxic chemicals. Plants love it; insects hate it? says Lonnie.

It has not been an easy journey. He started from scratch and has built his operation into a major endeavor. He now estimates he has millions of worms ?working? for him. It is an intensely interesting operation and one full of details and watchful care.

Worms can be finicky little creatures. The wrong temperature in the beds, inappropriate food, or any little annoyance can send them scurrying away. And you don't want to see your investment leaving home. Constant vigilance is required to feeding, moisture content of the compost, and the well being of the worms themselves.

Presently, Lonnie and his workers have three old converted chicken barns that house his worms and the castings. He has installed sprinkler systems and various pieces of equipment to minimize labor. However, worms require an intense amount of attention. There are lots of hand tools around, too.

He begins by laying out windrows of moistened composted horse manure. Each is about four to six feet wide and the length of the barn, about 200 feet or so. To this he adds his specialized worms, India Blue. They begin work immediately eating and digesting their favorite food. More compost is added to the top of the row as required and as the worms consume what they had initially been fed working their way from the bottom to the top of the windrow. Within four to six weeks they have converted a row of compost to rich and valuable worm castings. It is now harvest time.

Harvesting castings is done largely by hand. A new windrow of composted horse man-ure is laid down adjacent to the first. Feeding and watering of the initial windrow is terminated. The worms, seeking food and water, migrate from the first windrow to the new one rather rapidly. What is left in the first windrow is the sought after results of the eager worms ?work?, rich and beneficial worm castings along with the eggs left behind to hatch later and replenish the stock.

Once the castings are harvested, they are moved to the processing barn where they must be screened. This process removes the clumps that may contain eggs and any uneaten hay or the like from the castings. The final product is a dark, rich, brown, granulated, soil - like material. That is the sought after nutrient rich plant food. It has no obvious odor except that of the forest floor or a rich humus soil.

Worm castings may be bagged for direct sale or mixed with a compost to use as a planting medium. They are an excellent natural fertilizer and soil enhancer, 100 % organic, and becoming increasingly more popular in the organic gardening movement.

Last year Lonnie began a process of brewing a ?tea? with his castings. This is a liquid form of dry castings using natural spring water and other organic ingredients. He brews this concoction for about twenty-four hours in special tanks. He has developed a unique product and it is presently on the market under his own label, ?Nature's Big Bud Liquid Worm Castings, Premium 100% Organic Liquid Plant Food ". He also sells to other independent distributors, farmers, and commercial plant growers. His product is high in microbial content attributed, according to Lonnie, to his use of pure, high quality worm castings, the natural mountain spring water and other organic ingredients he is reluctant to discuss. Trade secret. But I know that natural yucca extract is one of them. His ?tea? is becoming a widely sought after gardening product.

His use of natural unfiltered mountain spring water makes his product unique. He may be the only brewer doing so. This water, straight from a natural spring on the property, is pure and full of essential minerals unlike city water. It contains neither chemicals nor additives. That may be one of the keys to his product.

Recently, it has become apparent that hydroponics enthusiasts are finding ?worm tea? a highly proficient and effective medium for their method of growing plants. More interest in this is found in the literature of the soiless method for plant propagation and cultivation.

Lonnie swears by his ?tea? and he is not alone. A brief surf on the Internet and one can view hundreds of sites pertaining to worm castings and worm ?tea?. These informative and interesting sites all have one thing in common to the gardening buff: they are gleeful in their endorsement of worm castings and worm ?tea?. Testing has shown these unique organic and natural products to be highly beneficial. Many noted soil experts are further studying the phenomena, but most agree that there is merit in the claims even though they don't necessarily know exactly why. There is increasing evidence that worm castings and worm ?tea? assist in insect control also. It is strongly believed further testing will prove that out. However, there is little dispute that worm castings and ?tea? work! And work well!

Lonnie is currently working on a new product which will be composed of worm castings, composted horse manure, and dry yucca extract. He hopes to market it soon and initial tests have shown it to be an excellent planting medium. Also, he touts natural yucca extract as good for the soil and plants and will soon begin marketing that as well.

I spent many hours with Lonnie discussing his love of his worm farming efforts. Several things were evident. Lonnie knows worms. He loves producing a product that is going to help people garden more efficiently and in a manner friendly to the environment. He is not an environmental fanatic, but he knows that chemical free gardening is preferable and somewhat inevitable. The transition to ?go green? gardening is here and it is real.

Lonnie loves the land and by all accounts, the land loves Lonnie. His worms are promoting a healthy, chemical free environment and that comforts him.

Me, too!

(Written by Dennis Copson, Oceanside, CA. Contact him at denniscopson@cox.net. More information about Nature's Big Bud Liquid Worm Castings is available on their website, www.naturesbigbud.com.)

Article Source : Pg. 101

Dennis Copson has sinced written about articles on various topics from Gardening. Major Dennis Copson, USMC (ret.), served twenty plus years in the USMC. He was raised on a farm in Belfast, Maine where ?organic? gardening was extensively practiced. Dennis became an avid garden buff at a young age and has continued to advocate the natu. Dennis Copson's top article generates over 480 views. to your Favourites.