TECHNICAL STUFF
What is Vermiculture?
Vermiculture is the rearing of worms for the purpose of making compost, to improve the condition of soil.
Worms have evolved into efficient, natural composters; they never sleep so are producing compost all the time. In the right environment, they eat and digest between half and all of their body weight in a day (depending on the types of worms, the quality of the plant material and the environmental conditions), converting this plant waste into nutrient-rich worm casts; this process quickly reduces the bulk of the organic waste, by up to about 80%.
Courtesy of: http://www.envocare.co.uk
Vermicompost, or Vcompost
Is the heterogenous mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and pure vermicast produced during the course of normal vermiculture operations. Vermicast, similarly known as worm castings, worm humus or worm manure, is the end-product of the breakdown of organic matter by some species of earthworm.
Containing water-soluble nutrients and bacteria, vermicompost is an excellent, nutrient-rich organic fertilizer and soil conditioner. The process of producing vermicompost is called vermicomposting.
Suitable species:
The earthworm species (or composting worms) most often used are Red Wigglers (Eisenia foetida or Eisenia andrei), but European nightcrawlers (Eisenia hortensis) may also be used. European nightcrawlers are called by a variety of other names, including dendrobaenas, dendras, and Belgian nightcrawlers.
Blueworms (Perionyx excavatus) may be used in the tropics[2].
These species are commonly found in organic-rich soils throughout Europe and North America and live in rotting vegetation, compost, and manure piles. They may be invasive species in some areas[3][4]. As they are shallow-dwelling and feed on decomposing plant matter in the soil, they adapt easily to living on food or plant waste in the confines of a worm bin.
Composting worms are available to order online, from nursery mail-order suppliers or angling (fishing) shops where they are sold as bait. They can also be collected from compost and manure piles. These species are not the same worms that are found in ordinary soil or on pavement when the soil is flooded by water.
Courtesy Wikipedia. For more information go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vermicompost
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