Organic Farming and Organic Gardening Using Vermicompost

Question: What's so great about composting with redworms (vermicomposting)? Why

shouldn't I just use conventional compost on my organic farm or organic garden?

There are two major reasons why vermicomposting is better:

1. Worms convert waste faster! Worms consume three times their weight a week or more.
Conventional composting takes weeks to months to convert organic material to compost
and is very labor intensive. By using worms in a Can-O-Worms or Worm Factory
TM

system, the organic gardener can convert approximately 6 to 8 pounds of organics per
week into vermicompost! By using the K.I.S.S. Windrow Method the organic farmer can
process their farm waste in half the time.
2. Using worms to convert your organic farm and organic garden waste not only takes far
less time than hot composting the material but the vermicompost is far superior to
conventional compost. The worm castings in the vermicompost have nutrients that are
97% utilizable by your plants and the castings have a mucous coating which allows the
nutrients to "time release".

Using the rich 100% organic vermicompost, which you recycle on site, on your organic farms or
organic gardens gives your crops the best fertilizer on the planet.

Here are just a few references about the value of vermicastings:

• Analysis of earthworm casting reveals that they are richer in plant nutrients than the soil,
about three times more calcium and several times more nitrogen, phosphorus and
potassium. (K.P. Barley, Advances in Agronomy, Vol. 13, 1961, p. 251)
• Redworm castings contain a high percentage of humus. Humus helps soil particles form
into clusters, which create channels for the passage of air and improve its capacity to hold
water. Humic acid present in humus, provides binding sites for the plant nutrients but also
releases them to the plants upon demand. Humus is believed to aid in the prevention of
harmful plant pathogens, fungi, nematodes and bacteria. Blueprint for a Successful
Vermiculture Compost System. Developed by Dan Holcombe and J.J. Longfellow 1995.
 • "Vermicompost outperforms any commercial fertilizer I know of." continues [Professor.
Clive A.] Edwards, who began his earthworm research in his native England in the early
1970s before coming to Ohio State. "I think the key factor is microbial activity. Research
that I and others have done shows that microbial activity in worm castings is 10 to 20
times higher than in the soil and organic matter that the worm ingests." Dr. Clive
Edwards, in "Worldwide Progress in Vermicomposting" by Gene Logsdon in BioCycle
October 1994, p. 63.

You can't use too much vermicompost or castings on your plants. Worm castings have been
compared to caviar: "Use as much as you can afford!"

Vermicompost added to any fresh brewed compost tea is proving to be worth its weight in gold,
too!

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