Earthworm Vermicomposting
A.Vermicomposting
Vermicomposting is the conversion of organic waste into vermicompost by the combined action of earthworm and microorganisms. Vermicompost consists of hormone and enzymes. These hormones and enzymes efficiently stimulate plant growth and discourage plant pathogens. It can be said as good organic fertilizers and soil conditioner.
1. Role of earthworm in vermicomposting
Earthworm are invertebrates which bodies consists of segments, organic matter and they moisturizes themselves via burrows they make. Most species of earthworm reduce plant pathogens and release hormones and enzymes beneficial for plant growth. In recent years earthworm has been significantly used for vermicomposting biodegradable wastes.
The nutrients profile of vermicomposts are:
- 1.6 percent of Nitrogen
- 0.7 percent of Phosphorous
- 0.8 percent of Potassium
- 0.5 percent of Calcium
- 0.2 percent of Magnesium
- 1.75 percent of Iron
- 96.5 percent of Manganese
- 24.5 percent of Zinc
· Some of the best preferred earthworm in vermicomposting
Red wiggler, Indian blue ,African crawler are some of the best species of earthworm widely use in vermicomposting. The main reason behind preference of these worms are based on the basis of casting for garden purposes ,for fishing bait, Environmental reasons and income making.
7 best steps to vermicomposting at your home
Do you know, you can easily prepare vemicompost at your home. You don’t need big yard and big budget for this. All you have to do is, follow our basic instructions given below: Hey what are you looking for!!
Let check out our steps..one by one
Step1:Get your bin prepared.
Get the Rubbermaid bin(you can easily find it in market and online shopping site).Drill the holes in top, bottom and sides of bins .Too much or few holes is beds keep number of holes around 20.Better to buy a bin which is opaque but not clear as worms need dark inside.
Step2:Find a place for the compost Bin
Compost bin should be placed in area which is not visible from outside. Also it is better to keep bin in the shady place. Avoid worms to be too much hot and get excess light.
Step3:Cut up Paper for bedding.
Cut the newspaper into small strips to make bedding for the worms you add. Eggs cartons ,cardboard, straw etc. are also suitable for bedding. Spray paper to keep it moist. Maintain moist consistency of bedding by spraying water at regular intervals.
Step4: Place some Food and Wait
Add a little bit of food and small scoop of dirt and wait about two weeks. The food grows a good crops of microbes on which worms will feed.
Step5:Place Worms
Now simply add Red worms(Eisenia fetida) in vermicomposting bin. They will breed in your bin.
Step6:Feed the bin
Earthworm mostly feeds on the waste material and microbes that break down the wastes. Good foods to put in bin includes fruits and vegetable, coffee grounds, tea bags and crushed eggshells. Avoid adding of too much food. wait and let the food to decompose. When you feed the bin, add new cut up newspaper and spray water if required.
Step7:Harvest the Castings
After some month, there may accumulate some nutrients rich casting which you can harvests from bin and use it as fertilizers in your garden. Inorder to harvest the castings, bring another containers and a plastic bag with holes cut into it. Place the bag over top of that new container. After that put that new containers in the sun and start putting the contents of your worm bin onto top of the bag. Now the worms will burrow through the holes and move into new container because they don’t want to be out in the sun. In this way you can separate casting from the worms. After you finish harvesting, put worms back into the compost bin.
· Benefits of vermicomposts
Some of the main benefits of these vermicomposts are listed below:
1. Acts as nutrient rich fertilizers that stimulate the plant growth.
2. Improve water retention capability of soil.
3. Earthworm decomposes sugar factory residuals into soil nutrients which reduces farmer dependency in chemical fertilizers.
4. Hormones and Enzymes present in vermicomposts reduces plant pathogens and assists healthy growth of plants.
5. Vermicomposts obtained from neem plant is believed to increase yield of brinjal plants.
6. Vermicomposts prepared from paper mill solid wastes is use for fertilizing aquaculture tanks.
Some of the minor disadvantages of vermicomposting are listed below:
- It is time consuming process and quite costly for some people.
- Proper knowledge and high maintenance is required for vermicomposting
- Disturb surrounding by releasing foul smell.
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Hope this article was useful to you in understanding basic concepts of vermicomposts and it preparation methodology. Try it at your home and get benefited
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