VERMICULTURE MADE EASY

ver•mi•cul•ture[vur-mi-kuhl-cher] noun the use of specially bred earthworms, esp. to aerate soil and convert organic matter into compost; also called vermicomposting

Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture

By Glenn Munroe Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada

Integrating Watershed and Coastal Areas Management

Composting with worms avoids the needless disposal of organic materials while enjoying the benefits of high quality compost. When cared for properly, worms process food quickly, transforming food wastes into nutrient-rich ‘castings’. Worm castings are an excellent fertilizer additive for gardens or potted plants.

“While nature works slowly in the production of topsoil, often over centuries, man, through poor agricultural practices, may deplete this valuable resource within an individual’s lifetime. In the absence of a rich population of soil animals, 500 to 1000 years may be required to create an inch of topsoil. However, under favourable conditions, earthworms, lowly creatures to many people, can speed up this process to only five years. As agriculture, and ultimately civilization, depend on the

Worm Farming ?

“WHAT”… Is Vermiculture?

Appendix D

OACC Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture Page D3

in the photo – See Figure D4), and the other was outside, to the right of the pad.

The windrows were set up in a similar manner to the ones on Holdanca Farms, except that these sat on a concrete base. The same initial error was made: the bedding used at the start of the pilot was aged cattle manure. This resulted in poor initial growth by the worm populations. In addition, the windrow set up inside was too difficult to keep moist. The prevailing wind came in through the open door and dried out the windrow faster than the farmer could water it (since it was inside, it got no rain).

Figure D4: Original inside vermi windrow

By the end of the first summer (2003), the indoor windrow was abandoned and the few remaining worms added to the outdoor windrow. As on the Holdanca Farm, more straw was added to the mix in late summer. This provided better bedding and resulted in better worm biomass development from that point on. The windrow was covered with fresh manure in the late fall and then covered again with a thick layer of straw.

Figure D5 shows the overall biomass increase from start-up to May, 2004. There was a 14-fold increase over the 10 months, from an initial stock of 9.2 kg (including the worms in the failed windrow), to the May estimate of 139 kg. The lack of a winter kill-off similar to what was experienced at Holdanca Farms was probably due to the large amount of very fresh manure added to the pile prior to covering it with the insulating straw.

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Biomass

Figure D5: Biomass Increase, Kipawo

The results from this trial support the findings from the other vermicomposting pilot. They indicate that outdoor windrow vermicomposting is feasible in a Canadian climate. The other key findings from this pilot were:

• If windrows are to be put under shelter, they should be protected from the wind and other drying agents, watered regularly, and kept covered to conserve moisture;

• Fresh manure added in late fall will help provide heat over the winter, resulting in greater worm reproduction and more effective processing.

Fig 1: E. fetida - the compost worm

(as long as it can continue to take in nourishment). Its cocoons (eggs) have been shown to remain viable after having been frozen for several weeks1. In addition, it can take a lot of handling and rough treatment. Perhaps most importantly, like most if not all litter-dwelling worms, the compost worm has the capacity for very rapid reproduction. This is an evolutionary necessity for a creature whose natural environment is extremely changeable and hazardous and whose natural supplies of food are of the “boom or bust” variety. All of these characteristics make E. fetida the natural choice for those who wish to do their vermicomposting outdoors, year-round, in climates with harsh winter conditions.

1.3 Why Bother? An Overview of Potential Benefits and Constraints

Why should an organic farmer be interested in vermiculture and/or vermicomposting? The answers are several and may not apply to all organic producers. In summary, they are as follows:

• Vermicompost appears to be generally superior to conventionally produced compost in a number of important ways;

• Vermicompost is superior to most composts as an inoculant in the production of compost teas;

• Worms have a number of other possible uses on farms, including value as a high-quality animal feed;

• Vermicomposting and vermiculture offer potential to organic farmers as sources of supplemental income.

All of the above will be discussed in detail later in this document. At the same time, the reader should take note at the beginning that working with worms is a more complicated process than traditional composting:

• It can be quicker, but to make it so generally requires more labour; • It requires more space because worms are surface feeders and won’t operate in

material more than a meter in depth; • It is more vulnerable to environmental pressures, such as freezing conditions

and drought; • Perhaps most importantly, it requires more start-up resources, either in cash (to

buy the worms) or in time and labour (to grow them).

1 Experiments at Nova Scotia Agricultural College (NSAC) confirmed that the cocoons of E. fetida can survive unprotected freezing for several weeks and remain viable. This species ability, combined with very high and fast reproduction rates, is what allows these surface-dwelling, non-burrowing worms to thrive in regions with long, cold winters.

OACC Manual of On-Farm Vermicomposting and Vermiculture Page 2

maintenance of a fertile topsoil it is in our best interest to encourage earthworms in their soil building activities. Long before the invention of agricultural implements, earthworms ploughed the soil, mixing, tilling and building topsoil as they burrowed through the earth.”

Macdonald Journal 39(10), 6-8 Oct. 1978

Vermiculture (or vermicompost-ing), is the process by which worms are used to convert organic materials (usually wastes) into a humus-like material known as vermicompost. Organic waste is ingested, enriched and expelled by earthworms. The waste (worm castings) exit as dark, nutrient-rich compost, which is then used to enrich garden soil. Unlike regular composting, vermicomposting is faster, odorless and can be done indoors. It also contains a higher percentage of necessary nutri-ents, such as nitrogen, phospho-rus and potassium. The earthworm also secretes substances in the intestinal tract that make the nutrients more easily absorbed by plants.

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Vermicompost is an ecofriendly natural fertilizer prepared from biodegradable organic wastes and is free from chemical inputs.

• Vermiculture improves nutrient availability. Worms feed on plant debris (dead roots, leaves, grasses, manure) and soil. Their digestive systems concentrate the organic and mineral constituents in the food they eat, so their casts are richer in available nutrients than the soil around them. Nitrogen in the casts is readily available to plants. Worm bodies decompose rapidly, further contributing to the nitrogen content of soil. Research shows that worm casts release four times more phosphorus than surface soil. Worms often leave their nutrient-rich casts in their tunnels, providing a favourable environment for plant root growth. The tunnels also allow roots to penetrate deeper into the soil, where they can reach extra moisture and nutrients. Earthworm tunnelling can help

“WHY”… should I practice vermiculture?

DID YOU KNOW THAT?

incorporate surface applied lime and fertiliser into the soil.

• Vermiculture facilitates better drainage. The extensive channelling and burrowing by earthworms loosens and aerates the soil and improves soil drainage. Soils with earthworms drain up to 10 times faster than soils without earthworms.

• Vermiculture improves soil structure. Earthworm casts cement soil particles together in water-stable aggregates. These are able to store moisture without dispersing. Research has shown that earthworms which leave their casts on the soil surface rebuild topsoil.

• The process of vermicompost-ing tends to result in higher levels of plant-availability of most nutrients than does the conventional composting process.

• Vermicompost greatly ex-ceeds conventional compost with respect to levels of ben-eficial micro-organisms.

• Vermicomposted organic wastes have beneficial effects on plant growth.

• Whether they are used as soil additives or as components of horticultural soil-less media,

• vermicomposts have consist-ently improved seed germi-nation, enhanced seedling growth and development, and increased plant productiv-ity much more than would be possible from the mere conversion of mineral nutri-ents into more plant-available forms.

• Vermicompost includes plant-growth regulators which

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“HOW”… Do I Practice Vermiculture?

First, the worms:• Two of the worms used most

often for vermiculture are the California Red Worm and the Africa Red Worm.

• Worms breathe through their skin, which is very delicate.

• Determining the type of substrate to breed worms in is critical, due to their delicate skin. Substrate can be com-posed of different types of manure (pig, chicken, cow), agricultural waste, kitchen waste, etc.

• The worms do not have teeth, so they require soft foods or semi-decomposed food.

• It is recommended to let the waste sit for 10 to 145 days before you put in the worms. This way they are not dam-aged. It is best to wait until the color of the waste changes from light green to dark green or greyish brown, the smell is less intense, and the tempera-ture has lowered from 60 to 30 degrees centigrade.

Second, the site for the nursery or breeding place:• The worm nursery can be in

many different places: patios, terraces, wooded gardens, outdoor passageways, etc. It can be situated directly on the ground or on paved floors and inside of small, medium, or large, receptacles. Cardboard boxes are not recommended,

as the worms need moisture. Some people place the nurser-ies under rabbit cages as this takes advantage of the rabbit waste and improves sanita-tion.

• The nursery can be of dif-ferent sizes, dependent on resources available, the need for humus, and the availability of organic materials to provide to the worms.

• A sufficient amount of water is needed to irrigate the worms. Good drainage from the soil and protection from the sun and rain is also necessary.

• As worms do not have teeth, they suck soft or semi-de-composed material. They do not eat glass, metal, plastic or other hard materials that are difficult to decompose. They have some natural enemies like ants, hens, and rats.

• Worm food is organic ma-terials, such as animal and household waste. The amount of food and frequency of feed-ings are determined by the worm population. A simple way to gauge the food needs is to study the surface. Re-cently excreted humus has the appearance of coffee grounds and if it is observed from a distance, it will look like small cigars. When the majority of the surface looks like this, it is an indication that the worms should be fed again. For a population between 10,000 and 15,000 worms , a 10 cm layer of food should be added every ten days. The food must be spread out evenly.

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However, please note:Working with worms is a more compli-cated process than traditional com-posting:• It can be quicker, but to make it

so generally requires more labour; • It requires more space because

worms are surface feeders and won’t operate in material more than a metre in depth;

• It is vulnerable to environmental pressures, such as freezing con-ditions and drought;

• Perhaps most importantly, it requires more start-up resources, either in cash (to buy the worms) or in time and labour (to grow them).

So: Be patient. Biological fertilizers can take more time than chemical fertiliz-ers in generating benefits to the soil. One difference between the biologi-cal and chemical fertilizers is that the former take longer to show results but generate beneficial effects on the ground, while the latter produce results in a short time but add nothing to the ground.

increase growth and yield.• Vermicompost applications

suppress the incidence of the disease significantly.

• Vermicompost can be consid-ered as an alternative to pesti-cides or alternative, non-toxic methods of pest control.

• The worms used for vermi-culture live in moist environ-ments, avoid the light, and subsist on both inorganic and organic materials. For these reasons, they are excellent for soil recuperation.

• Vermiculture does not use complicated technologies and makes use of organic materi-als from urban waste, indus-trial processes, etc.

• Organic matter known as “hu-mus” or “casting” is in great demand on the world market.

• Vermiculture can serve as an effective and economical way to control solid organic waste.

• Vermiculture can be carried out by anyone, regardless of education level. It is a relatively simple process. It is very “low tech” and as a result provides products in very large demand on the world market at good prices.

• Vermicompost is superior to most composts as an inocu-lant in the production of “com-post tea”, a liquid produced from compost using a brewing process. Compost tea greatly improves plant growth and has all the other benefits of compost.

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Third – the nursery:After selecting the site and obtain-ing the initial batch of worms:1. Put down a fine layer (5-10

cms) of manure, agricultural waste, kitchen waste, etc.

2. Moisten with water (but not excessively so).

3. Put in the worms - 1 shovel of worms (2 - 3 kg), including the food, uniformly distributed over 1 square kilometre of surface

4. Water the surface and cover the nursery. The worms should flee from the sun and move down into the lower levels.

5. Maintain the moisture at an appropriate level on a daily basis (avoid drying out or flooding).

6. Allow some time to pass (15 to 20 days, sometimes less) and you will see some small black or dark brown clumps, which is humus. Once the worms appear at the surface, this indicates they are hungry. At that point, you should add another layer of food 10 cms deep.

7. Repeat the previous steps as often as needed to achieve the desired depth in the receptacle.

Things to watch:

IrrigationIrrigation helps to achieve a suit-able level of moisture in the soil. This can be achieved manually or with an automated system. If equipment to measure the mois-ture level is not available, you can measure the moisture by squeez-ing a handful of the substrate. Drops of water should escape from your hand, but if there is a drip, that indicates there is exces-sive moisture. If no water escapes, that means that there is not enough moisture. During particu-larly hot periods, irrigation can be

used to maintain the adequate temperature by increasing the fre-quency but reducing the volume of each watering.

Process Worms should be moved to a new plot or receptacle when the population exceeds 20,000 per square metre. To do this, it is rec-ommended that a screen be used to sift out the worms. If the plot will continue to be used as a worm nursery, one can alternate the placement of the screens to only cover 50% of the area. A layer of food should be desposited on top of the plot, at a depth of about 10 centimetres. In about three to four days, the worms would have come up to the fresh food and one can remove the screens, separate the worm from the organic materials, and move the worms to the new plots.

Attention to the areaThe area should be kept neat and free of spare items and weeds.

Harvesting The humus should be harvested when the plots are approximately 60 centimetres tall, which nor-mally is after about three to four months. The worms should then be moved to another area and the humus from the plot collected. Great care should be taken not to contaminate the humus with soil. In order to do this, it is recom-mended that you should not col-lect deeper than five centimeters from the floor of the plot.

Drying To dry the humus, it should be spread out on a clean cement or pavement surface outdoors, and protected from the sun and rain. The height of the humus being dried should be low, in order to permit aeration. The final mois-ture level of the product should

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An Example of How It Is DoneTo start the worm farm, gardeners drill ¼ inch holes into a wooden bin, usually an old dresser drawer, and fill it with bedding. Bedding con-sists of straw, paper, and/or dead leaves and lawn clippings. The bin is placed on blocks and a small tray is placed under the bin to catch any fluid or worms that may escape. The bedding is thoroughly moistened but not saturated with water. The gardener then adds 1 pound of worms to the pile. Red worms are the most popular type of worm to use, as they are able to quickly process waste in castings. Garden worms will not work in the worm farm, as they will not work fast enough and will die in the process. The top of the bedding is thinly layered with organic waste, such as rotten fruits and vegetables, and the worms begin eat-ing. For one pound of worms, ½ a pound of waste is added to the pile daily. A second bin is drilled and filled with organic waste. This bin is placed over the first. The gardener adds all organic waste to the upper bin. As the worms consume all waste in the bottom bin, they will slowly make their way to the upper bin in search of more food. The gardener can then harvest the castings in the bottom bin without accidentally removing any worms. The second bin is then placed on the bottom and the first bin is moved to the top once all castings have been removed. The gardener starts the process over by adding more organic waste to the new bin on top. Whenever full, the gardener pulls the tray that was placed beneath the bins and uses the fluid inside as a natural, liquid fertilizer.

be below 40%. If it will be spread mechanically, the moisture level should be at 30%.

Sifting The type of sifting depends on the purpose of the humus. Gener-ally for fruit and perennial trees, screens with a sieve of 6 mm should be used. For horticulture, ornamental plans, and other seasonal crops, the sieves should range between 2-3 mm.

Storage and ConservationIt is very important for the humus to maintain its properties. Experi-ence has indicated that the humus should be stored in plastic bags or other materials that limit the exchange of gas. Its bulk storage should be under a roof or covered in order to limit a deterioration of its chemical and/or biological characteristics. Under these condi-tions, humus can be stored up to nine months. Although not recom-mended, outdoor storage can maintain the characteristics of the humus between 3 and 6 months, if it is well protected from sun and

rain, and maintains an approxi-mate humidity level of 40%.

What to do with the humus?The humus must be used as soon as possible. After three months it begins to lose its properties and benefits. It should be mixed well with the soil.

Problems or common errors in vermiculture development1. The width of the plot used in

the first stage should not be more than one meter. Larger plots often result in farmers walking on them in order to carry out the tasks related to vermiculture.

2. Depositing a substrate of more than 10 cm of height is a common problem. All efforts should be made to ensure this level is at 10 cm.

3. Too high or low moisture lev-els of the soil is problematic. For this it is recommended that the plot be under a roof or have some other protection from the sun and rain

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For further informationplease contact:

Caribbean Environmental Health Institute

P.O. Box 1111, The Morne,Castries, Saint Lucia

Tel: (758)-452-2501/1412;Fax: (758)-453-2721

E-mail: cehi@candw.lcwww.iwcam.org

Vermiculture in practice:

The Rey-Novoa Family’s farm in the San Juan district, Cienfuegos, CubaIn December 2003, when the Rey-Novoa family moved to the San Juan district of Cuba, there was an invasion of a weed known as “Marabou” which covers the ground in an impenetrable mass and is the worst plague affect-ing agricultural development in that country. One of the methods used to salvage the land and protect the soil while simultane-ously improving the soil quality was vermiculture or the produc-tion of worm compost. Under the GEF-IWCAM Project, this was among the practices taught in soil conservation workshops. This has been extremely successful and has led to other farmers doing the same thing.

References:El Desarrollo De La Lombricultura (Vermi-cultura): experiencias dela familia Rey-Novoa.Jesús M. Rey-Novoa, MSc. Lic. Sociología, Agricultor, Especialista del Centro de Estu-dios Ambientales de Cienfuegos.

Altieri, M.A. (1987): “Agroecology: The Scientific Basis of Alternative Agriculture”. Westview Press, Boulder, CO.

Gupta P.K. 2003 Why vermicompost-ing? In: Vermicomposting for sustainable agriculture, Agrobios (India), Agro House, Jodhpur, pp.14-25.

Ismail S.H, Joshi P and Grace A. 2003. The waste in your dustbin is scarring the envi-ronment – The technology of composting, Advanced Biotech (II) 5: 30-34.

Shewta, Singh Y.P and Kumar U.P. 2004. Vermicomposting a profitable alternative for developing country, Agrobios (II) 3: 1516.

Singh D.P. 2004 Vermiculture biotechnol-ogy and biocomposting In: Environmental microbiology and biotechnology (Eds. Singh, D.P. and Dwivedi, S.K.). New Age International (P) Limited Publishers, New Delhi, pp. 97-112.

Worms Eat My Garbage: How to Set Up and Maintain a Worm Composting System; Mary Appelhof; 1997Mother Earth News; Worms!; Barbara Pleasent; Jun/July 2008UNCO Industries: A Venture Into Vermi-culture!The Vermiculture Process | eHow.com http://www.ehow.com/how-does_5242257_vermiculture-process.html#ixzz1Xwvjsorm