Everything Germinates in the Worm Bin Experiment: Worm Bin Adventures in the Philippines

I keep reading that a lot of seeds "volunteer" inside worm bins supposedly because of all the beneficial bacteria inside the bin.  Supposedly, bad microbes won't infect seeds inoculated with worm castings.   Here in the Philippines, a lot of people are interested in germinating mango seeds. 

Since germinating mango seeds is what got me into gardening again, I have a series of blog posts on how to germinate mango seeds.  But that was before my fascination with worm composting.

A few minutes ago, I pushed aside some material from my worm tray (at this time, the tray has probably about 75% worm castings).  The I put in two Indian mango seeds, a chico seed and a few dozen watermelon seeds.  However, the mango seeds interest me the most.  Oh by the way, I didn't bother to remove the fibrous shell.  Finally, I covered the seeds with the material I pushed aside earlier.

Supposedly, for mango seeds to germinate, they need to be placed in the sunniest / hottest location in the yard.  The seeds should also be kept in a ziplocked bag to ensure high humidity.   The environment in a worm bin is a lot different.  While also moist, worm bins are generally located in cool, dark areas.  Will it work?  I wonder if anyone else in the Philippines has done this test. We'll see in a couple of weeks. 

For me there are three measures of success:  1) the mango seeds germinate at all; 2) the mango seeds germinate within two weeks (it takes longer in the prior method I talked about); 3) my worms don't crawl away follow the introduction of a citrus element inside the small tray.

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