All About Vermiculture Technology
With regards to biodynamic farming, people are turning to natural and traditional ways to help keep the soil fertile and organically rich in nutrients. Among the recently developed techniques of arriving at biodynamic farming is vermiculture technology.
In the past, the use of earthworms and their castings or excretions to promote plant growth had been widespread. In fact, ancient agricultural lands in Egypt, North America and Asia were abundant of earthworms, which were known to help spur and maintain overall productiveness of lands. With the introduction of chemical fertilizers as well as the robust requirement for food, agriculturists switched to modern methods and systems of cropping in order to cope with fast demand and consumption.
These days, more and more farmers and agriculturists are reverting to the previous, organic and chemicals-free mode of farming. Putting earthworms into farms and plant plots has become a standard in making sure that plants will grow better and healthier. But due to the adverse climate conditions along with other factors, earthworms beneficial to farming do not easily grow, thrive and propagate. Because of this , why vermiculture has become a significant sector of agriculture.
Vermiculture is the process and technology of artificially cultivating or rearing earthworms for agricultural and productive purposes. Those days are gone when earthworms were regarded and treated as pests and as disgusting crawling organisms. Now, worms are raised to reproduce faster. They’re even fed and given an ideal environment for growth and metabolism.
Earthworms are the only way to attain vermicomposting, which is consequently a method to significantly increase organic and essential nutrients in the soil. The theory behind the operation is that worms’ excretions make the earth richer. Scientifically, vermiculture castings or earthworms’ excretions, when combined with the soil, have seven times more phosphorus, five times nitrate, 11 times potash, thrice the amount of magnesium and almost twofold more calcium than normal soil used optimally for vegetable cropping in the most fertile farming lands. That is definitely much better than what chemical and synthetic agricultural fertilizers can provide.
In a nutshell, the overall advantages of vermiculture cannot be underestimated. Vermiculture worms convert wastes, such as left over foods, tea bags, fruit peelings, vegetable scraps, eggshells and animal manure, into natural matter that fertilizes the soil and provides high humus content. Worms even facilitate entry of oxygen into soil, which in turn helps improve resistance of plants so that there will be natural organic pesticidal features that drive away unwanted insects. There are even earthworm species that can be utilized as animal feed or as extenders to several refined foods.
Through modern vermiculture technology, soil friendly earthworms are assisted in order to reproduce faster and raise their population by 3 to 4 times in a month or two. Businesses focusing on the initiatives prepare and allot facilities perfect for earthworm reproduction and cultivation.
Earthworms are naturally killed by too much exposure to light, particularly sunlight, high and exteremely cold temperatures and dry soil. Thus, vermiculture involves artificially encouraging ideal environments where earthworms are able to thrive.
For more information about vermiculture visit our website http://www.wormfarming.co.za/vermiculture-technology/