Wormery Leachate

Since getting our wormery a couple of years ago, the best thing we've had from it has actually been the liquid fertiliser - or 'wormery leachate' - that gets produced from all that waste vegetable processing.

The great thing about it is that every day there's a new load built up that comes splashing out of the tap at the bottom. And, of course, it's great for the garden.

For a better quality leachate, you want to try and avoid setting up anaerobic conditions in the bin, so try not to pack down the contents of your bin too much. If you do pack out any areas too densely, you'll soon know because it'll start smelling pretty rank! So keep it all fairly loose in there as much as you can.

Once you've got your liquid, you have to make sure to water it down - I use around a cup to two cups worth to every watering can of water. I've heard about people using a lot more - a ratio of up to 1 part leachate to 1 part water. I wouldn't go any stronger than that!

I use it on my veggies to give them a good nutrient boost. The liquid contains nutrients and beneficial bacteria. Both of these things will help increase your plant's health.

I also use it on the compost heap as a bacterial innoculant - it helps in getting the whole composting process going. In this instance I use it either neat or watered down (depending on whether the heap needs water too or not).

Has anyone else got any other uses for wormery leachate? Has anyone tried its cousin - worm tea? This is meant to be amazing stuff and is made by soaking worm compost in water.