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** Note: The same procedure can be followed using any container or place. Step 1: Cover the bottom of the cement ring with a polythene sheet. (Or use the sheet to cover the ground of the area youre using). Spread a layer (15-20 cms) of organic waste on top of the sheet. Sprinkle rock phosphate on top of the organic material (2kgs). Prepare cowdung slurry (15kgs) and add the slurry as a layer on top of the mixture. Fill the ring completely and evenly with the layered material. Paste cowdung or soil over the top of the material. Allow the material to decompose for 20 days. After 20 days, put the earthworms on top. They will find the cracks and enter the material. Cover the ring with wire mesh or gunny bags to prevent birds from eating the worms. Sprinkle water over the whole mixture at 3-day intervals for 2 months, to maintain adequate moisture and body temperature of the worms. * Note: when the compost is ready, it is black, quite lightweight and has a pleasant, earthy smell. Step 10: After 2 months, (or when the compost is ready), remove the ring and heap the material in a cone shape on the floor. Leave the heap undisturbed for 2-3 hours, to let the worms move slowly to the bottom. Step 11: Step 12: Separate the upper portion of the heap. Sieve the lower portion of the heap to separate the worms. They can be used again for preparation of more vermicompost. Pack the compost in bags and store them in a cool place.
Step 8: Step 9:
Step 13:
USING VERMICOMPOST
Which crops should vermicompost be used on?
Vermicompost can be used for all crops (agricultural, horticultural, ornamental and vegetable) at any stage of the crop development. When and how should vermicompost be applied? Agricultural Crops: apply vermicompost by broadcasting when the seedlings are 12-15 cms in height. Irrigate the field(s). Flowers, Vegetables and Fruit Trees: apply vermicompost around the base of the plant, at any stage of development, and cover with soil. Water regularly.
Quantity: How much is necessary to use? General Agricultural Use: 3-4 tonnes ha-1 Fruit Trees: 5-10 kg per tree Vegetables: 3-4 tonnes ha-1 Flowers: 500-750 kg ha-1
Preparation of Vermibed
Vermibed (vermes= earthworms; bed= bedding) is the actual layer of good moist loamy soil placed at the bottom, about 15 to 20 cm thick above a thin layer (5 cm) of broken bricks and coarse sand. Earthworms are introduced into the loamy soil, which the worms will inhabit as their home. 150 earthworms may be introduced into a compost pit of about 2m x 1m x 0.75m, with a vermibed of about 15 to 20 cm thick. Handful-lumps of fresh cattle dung are then placed at random over the vermibed. The compost pit is then layered to about 5 cm with dry leaves or preferably chopped hay/straw or agricultural waste biomass. For the next 30 days the pit is kept moist by watering it whenever necessary. The bed should neither be dry or soggy. The pit may then be covered with coconut or Palmyra leaves or an old jute (gunny) bag to discourage birds. Plastic sheets on the bed are to be avoided as they trap heat. After the first 30 days, wet organic waste of animal and/or plant origin from the kitchen or hotel or hostel or farm that has been pre-digested is spread over it to a thickness of about 5 cm. This can be repeated twice a week. All these organic wastes can be turned over or mixed periodically with a pickaxe or a spade. Regular watering should be done to keep the right amount of moisture in the pits. If the weather is very dry it should be dampened periodically.
They are definitely a gardener's friend helpinf to build good soil through their tunneling actions and deposits of rich worm castings, and improving the soil in such a way that it
maintains
moisture
for
longer.
With their castings, or processed soil that has passed through the gut and out the other end being enriched humus that has an almost zero pH level, this is the pefect food for your vegetables and plants.
Have you always wanted to keep earthworms, but didn't know how to go about it? Or was the thought all too complicated? With this guide to worm farming I will show you how easy it is, and how you can have rich, friable vermicompost within 4 short months that will help to grow vegetables and enrich the rest of your garden.
Don't delay, read this article and start your worm farm today! Vermicompost is vital to good soil. In the previous article on Organic Farming one of the sections dealt with soil and how important having healthy soil is to Organic Farming as a healthy soil equates to healthy vegetables and cattle. One of the main contributors to this process is the lowly earthworm through worm farming.
However, more and more people nowadays are realizing how useful this little animal is. The casts, or the manure that is produced by earthworms, is called vermicompost and the process is called vermicomposting. Vermiculture, therefore is just a fancy word for worm farming.
However, as a rule of thumb earthworms eat 1/3rd to 1/2 of their bodyweight in food, per day. Therefore 2 lbs of earthworms which amounts to about 4000 worms could eat their way through 1lb food per day. The bigger your household, the more garbage you will generate and therefore the bigger your worm farm could be.
Lumbricus Rubellis Earthworms or Red Worms Although there are hundreds of different species of earthworms, there are about 4 main categories 1) 2) 3) 4) The The The The of Garden Native African Red earthworms: Worm Nightcrawler Nightcrawler Worm
The garden worm is the large worm that you will see in your own gardens, especially after the rains have visited. They have a small section of their body that seems to have a wider band. Although they may be plentiful in your garden these are not good worms for your composting venture.
The native nightcrawler is another earthworm variety that is no good for your farms because it is a slow breeder and doesn't like his habitat disturbed so a rather fussy worm that is best left alone.
The African nightcrawler is a close relative and again is a slow breeder and not worth keeping. The red worms are those that are well sought after by fishermen and worm farmers alike, therefore also known as the manure worm. Although there are two types of red worms, the Lumbricus Rubellis is the worm you want. It is able to consume large amounts of household garbage, reproduces quickly and doesn't mind having his habitat
disturbed
from
time
to
time
when
you
want
to
harvest
the
castings.
Although they are not very large in size, adults only reaching 3 inches on average, which is different to some of the other worms, like the African nightcrawler whose average length is 5 inches, although can reach up to a foot in length, these little manure worms reproduce every 7 days.
Some of the slower breeds of earthworms only reproduce once every 2 years. The red worm is mature at 9 months but can start mating as early as 2 months old and has a lifespan of 15 years.
So you can see, that the red worm is definitely the species to buy when setting up your new worm farms. Not only will this be a good choice for your garden, but these wrigglers are very popular with fishermen too, which is another sideline that you can venture into in order to maximize profits.
Fishermen like them because they do not drown while in the water, continue to wriggle to attract the fish whilst on the hooks and don't loose their color either. However, with millions of wrigglers being sold each week around the country, you will need to have a fairly large population of worms first before you decide to set yourself up as a supplier of bait to fishermen. Bags of worms are packaged from the 100s to the 1000s depending on the type of demand.
What Size and Type of Composting Bins are Best for you when you Start a Worm Farm?
For each 500 g (1 pound) of food waste produced each week, you will need at least 30 cm squared (1 ft squared) of composting bin space. Therefore choose the size of the composting bin, or composting tumbler that is appropriate for your size family. As a benchmark for 2-3 people you should have composting bins measuring 60 x 60 x 30 cm stocked with 1 kg of worms. Worm bins can be either:
However, a note on wooden bins which are not as durable as the other 2, probably lasting no more than 3 years due to the moisture content in the soil, and they need to be made from wood that is untreated and not from cedar, redwood or similar woods that have a heady smell.
Worms finish composting the materials in the bottom tray and then migrate to the one above. When a sufficient number of worms have migrated, the worm compost in the bottom tray can be collected and should be relatively free of worms. These bins provide an easier method of harvesting, as they do not all have to be emptied out.
* Earthworms dont like the sun and they will immediately start digging down into their new home. If you dont have the sun shining for this exercise you may find that most of your worms have crawled out of the bin and left for greener pastures! The worms can be bought commercially, including over the Internet. * Now cover with two handfuls of soil to the bedding in each bin to supply "roughage" for the worms. Adding crushed eggshells provides not only roughage but also calcium for the worms, and it lowers acidity in the bin. Powdered limestone will also reduce the soil acidity, but don't use slaked or hydrated lime as this will kill your worms. Now put the lid down on the bin.
* Get your food scraps that you have been saving up. The best scraps are fruit and vegetable peelings, fruit skins, apple cores etc. If you want to help your worms along, some of those scraps could be liquidized in a blender to quicken the process. Additions such as cow, sheep, pig or chicken manure is a bonus, but it is not a necessity. If you keep rabbits then you should think of keeping earthworms as rabbit manure is perfect for them as long as you meet two conditions; 1) Don't feed manure to the worms if the animals from which the manure comes have been dewormed, as this will kill your worms. 2) Treat your rabbit manure first by sprinkling the droppings with limestone powder for 24 hours. This neutralizes the acidity levels in the urine. * Coffee grounds, tea leaves and coffee filters can all be fed to your worms. * Meat is important to your worms as they are a good source of nitrogen. However, the problem with adding meat to your bins is that it will quickly spoil and smell. In order to minimize the smell, chop the meat scraps up small, and mix them with sawdust before adding to the bins. * Chicken mash should be fed to your worms to give them a boost for both propagation and fattening up if you are wanting to sell them off to fishermen. Just sprinkle some chicken mash on top of the beds. You will soon know just how much your worms will take down however, don't overfeed as the soil can turn soil very quickly.
In setting up your worm farm avoid feeding the worms the following: Rotten foods, fats or dairy products, citrus,
Too much fat prevents the earthworms from breathing properly as they breathe through their skin. Also avoid using too many watermelon skins as they really dont have a lot of nutritional value for the earthworm and they also disrupt the moisture levels of the compost.
If your lawns have been sprayed with any weed killer avoid feeding these clippings to the worms.
When worm farmingmake sure that you have enough moisture in your bin, without it getting too wet, and making sure that the compost is alkaline rather than acidic. You should turn the bin contents over on a regular basis, its best to do this every 3 days. Your worms require 4 things to exist: i) Oxygen ii) Moisture iii) Food Scraps iv) A dark place to live If all requirements are met your worms will live quite happily in their new environment and will also procreate. Adult worms produce three cocoons a week and each cocoon will contain at least three baby worms and sometimes ten or more. Every three months the worms should be harvested or separated from the castings. Make sure that your soil never smells sour. If this happens it means that the soil is too wet. If it smells sour then add calcium carbonate, also known as garden lime very different to ordinary lime which will kill your worms, crushed egg shells, dirt, sand, or more newspaper to soak up that excess moisture. So how wet should your compost be when worm farming? - About 75% moist. What exactly does this mean? I can already hear you ask. Well, if you take a handful of matter
and squeeze it hard you should only get about a drop or two of liquid. This is just how your worms like their environment and will be quite happy to stay. No only will they be happy to stay they will also multiply. If conditions are good, you will double your worm population in six months. If the worms become crowded and you do not remove any, then worms will slow down their reproduction.
Knowing When and How to Harvest the Vermicompost for your Worm Farm
Smaller scale worm bins are harvested in a variety of ways, and the length of time it takes for the process to be completed really depends on a whole range of variables including the size of the container to start off with. In all cases, harvesting should begin when the bedding and consumed food has turned a rich dark brown. It should be moist and crumbly, with a consistency of coffee grounds.
After about six weeks, you will begin to see worm castings (soil-like material that has moved through the worms' digestive tracts). Castings can boost plant growth, since they are rich in organic matter and the nutrients plants need to thrive, and are pulsing with biological activity that will bring life to your soil eco-system. After about 4 months it will be time to separate the worms from the compost. If you have a non-continuous or undivided container, it is more difficult to harvest the worms. However, this situation is certainly not impossible. Take the contents and turn it upside-down on a piece of plastic such as a ground sheet or a tarpaulin. Because the earthworms are photosensitive, if this is done on a sunny day the worms will start burrowing down, and then it is easy to start scraping the compost from the top, waiting in between for them the move downwards. Wait 20-30 minutes before starting to scrape off the top layer of compost. If, however, you are the impatient type, get yourself a fine meshed sieve, the type they use in construction yards, if your compost heap is fairly large, or a large household
sieve will do. Sieve the compost until you have finely granulated composted on one side, and your worms in the other to start the process all over again. Dont be lazy and put the worms into your soil along with the compost. Its not that the worms will damage your plants in any way, but red worms are not worms that will survive for any length of time in such soil. In nature, this type of worm lives in mild climates in the leaves on the forest floor or in manure piles. Be on the lookout for worm eggs. They are lemon-shaped and about the size of a match head. They are shiny in appearance, and are light brown in color. The eggs contain between two and twenty baby worms. Although it is time consuming, you may want to return the eggs to your bin so they can hatch and thrive. Another way to harvest the compost during worm farming is to move the compost to one side of the box and add fresh bedding and food to the other side. Then only bury food on the new side. In six weeks, the worms will have migrated to the new bedding and you can harvest the finished compost, and replace it with new bedding.
Now that you have all this Vermicompost how are you going to use it?
You can use your vermicompost straight away or store it and use it later. It will be good for about a year. Mix it into the top six inches of soil in your garden and around your trees and plants. You can also use it as a top dressing on outdoor plants or sprinkle it on your lawn like you would as if you were top-dressing. Vermicompost makes great nutrient-rich mulch so is perfect for areas that dont get lots of rain for moisture retention.
For indoor plants, you can safely mix vermicompost with your potting soil. You can place the castings 1/4 inch down into the soil, and repeat every 2 months. Unfortunately, worm castings can contain quite a bit of salt which is not a problem when you add them to your garden, but when you add them to container plants make sure that you water your plants well to wash away any excess salt that might build up in the soil. Just make sure that you have removed all worms and eggs from the compost as they will not survive in an indoor pot.
If you are planting new shrubs, roses, or fruit trees in your gardens you can add a couple of handfuls of worm castings to the bottom of your holes before planting.
You can also make a "compost tea" or liquid fertilizer to feed to your plants with worm farming. An easy recipe is to add two tablespoons of worm compost to one quart of
water and allow it to steep for a day, mixing occasionally. Water your plants with this "tea" to give them a boost. Of course you can make compost without worms too as long as you have some rotting material and lots of bacteria bugs. But do you know the optimal carbon to nitrogen ratio for this? Visit our Simple Life to find out more about the ratio and find other interesting worm composting links on the site, or just read about their very interesting site on how they changed their lifestyles.