I'm helping me wife with a biology experiment for her class and jumped right in on it because I was very curious as well.

We made up 4 soil mixes for seed starting on 2/1/2010. We're germinating bush bean seeds in as identical conditions as possible and then noting the differences in germination and early growth.

Each mix consists of the same base materials with this ratio -

sifted Sphagnum pete moss:Vermiculite:Perlite:Fertilizer (4:2:1:1)

The 4 different mixes are as follows:

1) The control has an extra portion of pete. (unknown N-P-K)

2) Worm castings (unknown N-P-K)

3) Fish Fertilizer (5-1-1)

4) Standard 10-10-10
{{gwi:219907}}From Loris_Bio_Experiment-2010

I had to go on a business trip, so I missed getting photos of the first germination, but it was the worm castings that germinated first followed by the control 2 days later.

After the third day the fish fertilizer mix began to develop mold. No germination to date and at least 2 different molds have grown.. one green and another white fuzzy type. Looks like this right now:

{{gwi:219908}}From Loris_Bio_Experiment-2010

The 10-10-10 has yet to have any bean seeds sprout. It looks the same as day 1:

{{gwi:219909}}From Loris_Bio_Experiment-2010

11 days later the control VS the worm castings:

{{gwi:219910}}From Loris_Bio_Experiment-2010

15 days later the control VS the worm castings:

{{gwi:219911}}From Loris_Bio_Experiment-2010

Notice that the beans grown in the worm casting mix have produced taller plants with larger leaves and all 3 bean seeds sprouted faster there than in the control.

We can pretty much rule out any germination happening at all with the fish fertilizer and 10-10-10 mixes.

Just thought I would share our experiment so far.