Planetous Guide to Composting
Vermicomposting
Vermicomposting takes a lot less time and effort to receive the results as there is no turning, no leachate and nothing else to observe or take care of. All you need is a box with worms and a worm friendly environment. The only thing that makes this method less popular among households is the aversion towards worms.
Vermicompost has an array of benefits as far as nutritional value of the product and time taken to compost is concerned. It turns out that vermicompost is richer in easily absorbable nutrients. It’s easier to manage as you need not to turn it or monitor its temperature.
Vermicomposting at homes
Vermicomposting is easy to set up; all that you need is a bin divided into two compartments with either one of them laid with some damp shredded paper bedding for the worm. Make a layer of soil and wet waste in this compartment and leave the bin to decompose for a few days i.e. 3 day to two weeks. Now, add some worms to the bin depending on your scrap load. For example, 1000 worms will need about 250 grams of waste daily to feed on. As soon as one bedding is finished composting, start the setup in the other compartment so that worms shift to that compartment and you can dig out the compost from the first one.
Benefits
Vermicompost has an array of benefits as far as nutritional value of the product and time taken to compost is concerned. It turns out that vermicompost is richer in easily absorbable nutrients. It’s easier to manage as you need not to turn it or monitor its temperature. Besides, it’s a much faster process than conventional composting. Although vermiculture is quite popular in agriculture industries, at homes we are not able to reap out its benefits as it is less popular.
Tips
Vermicomposting is a method where worms actively help to decompose decayed matter. Therefore, make sure that you wait for the scraps to decay before you add the worms. Besides, a good amount of bedding material should be added frequently with the fresh scrapes as it keeps the bin aerated which the worms would appreciate. And as a point of common knowledge, we all know that worms love dark, so the worm bin should be opaque to maintain it dark inside.
Compost Guide References:
1. Barbara Pleasant , Deborah L Martin, 2008; The complete compost gardening guide,Storey Publishing; Illustrated edition.
2.