The natural way of farming using worm castings or vermicompost

The 4th international conference on slow- and controlled-release and stabilized fertilizers followed by the annual world exhibition for high-tech agricultural inputs and technology will be held in Beijing in early April this year. It can be predicted that there will be many new products and technologies shown in the fertilizer industry.

Recent edition Nov/Dec 2015 of the New AG International magazine questions: “Has greenhouse technology passed its optimum point?” Now, very few growers can afford to buy the resulting advanced growing installations, or take advantage of all the novel capabilities and maintain the plants using high-tech chemical fertilizers and pesticides.

Can the natural way of farming without chemical fertilizers and pesticides produce the feasible yields and revenues using the high quality of organic fertilizers? The answer is “Yes”.

According to the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA), the earthworm is certainly one of the most beneficial organisms you can have in your yard. Worm castings or vermicompost are the best natural slow- and controlled-release and stabilized fertilizers provided by mother nature that will improve your soil for healthy plant growth.

Compared to conventional composting with high temperatures or thermophilic composting, vermicomposting is an aerobic process (living only in the presence of oxygen) with a relatively low temperature at room temperature (mesophilic) that will not destroy the nutrients and microbial activity in the finished product. The advantage of vermicomposting is that organic wastes can be broken down rapidly by compost worms which result in a stable nontoxic material called worm castings or vermicompost.

Vermicompost is different from common compost, mainly because it is richer in nutrients and beneficial soil microbial activity. It will make up the microbial communities which exist within the compost worm castings, that can play an important role in the production of plant growth regulators (plant hormones and fulvic/humic acids).

Recent research shows that vermicompost also has suppressive effects against plant pathogens. Vermicomposting is free from human pathogens and it has been proven safe for the environment and community.

Vermicompost is an excellent all natural odorless plant foods, which can provide remarkable benefits for your soils and plants such as:
• Improving soil condition (aeration, water holding capacity)
• Increasing soil fertility (slow release organic nitrogen and other nutrients)
• Strengthening fibrous root system
• Promoting vigorous plant growth
• Producing tremendous yield (flowers and fruits)

The photos above are the trial of using vermicompost and vermicompost tea on organic hydroponic cucumbers in the greenhouse. The application of vermicompost will increase the number of the above-ground leaves and below-ground roots significantly. A consistent and interesting trend for trials with plants grown in container media shows that the best response occurs when vermicompost constitutes only 10 – 20% of the volume of the mix.

Please contact us at http://www.burnabyredwigglers.com if you need worm castings or vermicompost for your plants and to learn more about the technology to apply it indoor and outdoor from your own resource-organic waste.

– Bintoro Gunadi

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