Does anyone top dress soil with worm castings particularly to deter spider mites?

Worm castings have an enzyme called chitin or chitinase that supposedly deters mites, thrips and other bugs.

http://fraleighs.com/feed-your-soil-not-your-plants-part-1-2/

Chitinase enzyme can dissolve the exoskeletons of bugs and the bugs can detect it including spider mites.

I am using predator mites, SNS 209 watering in, watering a little spinosad and also just top dressed with worm castings in an effort to deter spider mites during flower.

Spider mites supposedly leave in 2 weeks.
http://buildasoil.com/blogs/news/8787365-some-really-cool-and-effective-insect-control-techniques-using-earthworm-castings

For those who have not used worm casting soil it is really black dirt.

Anyone wanna revive this dead thread?

Buggered if I know about the worm casting / pest link
Sounds good if the pests don`t like it

but do use worm castings all the time, mixed in the soil & mixed with water & poured on

projectinfo said:

Anyone wanna revive this dead thread?

Click to expand...

The Benefits of Worm Tea
If worm castings are gold fertilizer, then worm tea is liquid gold. Worm tea is a fertilizer, insecticide, and fungicide all in one. According to research work done at Ohio State University, “vermicompost ‘teas’ increased the germination, growth, flowering, and yields of tomatoes, cucumbers, and other crops in similar ways to solid vermicomposts. The aerated, vermicompost ‘teas’ suppressed the plant diseases Fusarium, Verticillium, Plectosporium, and Rhizoctonia.” The same research revealed that worm tea “also suppressed populations of spider mites (Tetranychus urticae) and aphids (Myzus persicae) significantly” and that “they had dramatic effects on the suppression of attacks by plant parasitic nematodes such as Meloidogyne on tomatoes both in terms of reducing the numbers of root cysts significantly and increasing root and shoot growth” (Edwards, et al). This is just one of many studies promoting worm tea as the best all-around amendment for plants.

So couple things:
Some fresh casting will have Hypoaspis mites in it, which will eat spider mites and other bad bugs. Plus bacteria that deters bad bugs as well.

As far as Chitinase it would depend on what the worms where fed. A better option for Chitinase in a top dress would be Crab/Shrimp/Shell Meal or Insect Frass. using other enzymes and bacteria to help break them down will help as well and deter bugs.

"Chitin is a polysaccharide chain of β-(1,4)-N-acetyl-D-glucosamine (GlcNAc) and is found in the cell walls of fungi and in the exoskeletons of arthropods including insects."

"Crustaceous wastes such as shrimp, crab and lobster, are chitinous solid waste of the shellfish processing industry. to select the best substrates for bacterial growth and enzyme activity, different poor and enriched media were investigated, furthermore, the non-dematerialized and dematerialized shells powders of crab, shrimp, prawn and the mixed powders of crab+ shrimp shells and crab+ prawn shells were tested as substrates for and chitinase production by the chitin degrading bacterium Bacillus sp. R2 in a submerged fermentation (SMF) culture. The results revealed that, the tested poor media failed to enhance enzyme production, whereas the tested enriched media promote growth and protein content efficiently, in contrast the demineralized chitinous wastes were generally good carbon and nitrogen sources for growth and chitinase production. The most favorable substrates were demineralized crab + prawn followed by crab + shrimp. The obtained results would certainly encourage the utilization of shellfish processing (Crab and Shrimp Shell) waste for the industrial production of chitinase via submerged fermentation (SMF)."

Sorry cant post links.