Benefits of Vermicompost - How can Vermicompost enrich your soil

What is Vermicompost?

Each and everyone of us know about vermicompost. It is a type of compost that is created by earthworms. It is 100% natural fertilizer and is an excellent source of nutrients for plants. Generally earthworms (also called soil engineers) ingest the vegetable and soil materials together and in their digestive tracts, all of these materials turn into that precious nutrient rich materials. These materials, also called castings improve the physical and chemical conditions of soil. These castings contain more nutrients than decomposed materials and also supply nutrients to plants immediately. The most valuable thing about earthworms castings is these castings contain no harmful substances and it is 100% organic. In this era, most garden lovers buy worm bins for vermicomposting to make their garden look more healthy and beautiful. In this post I will focus mainly on the benefits of using vermicompost.

Worms casts - environmental management

Which materials are the best for vermicomposting?

There are several benefits of vermicompost and anything that is natural is an excellent choice for making vermicompost. You can use plant leaves, straw, husk, weeds, agricultural residues, papers for making vermicompost. Besides potential organic wastes like livestock wastes, poultry waste, food wastes etc can also be used. (You can also know about types of vermicomposting from here). Adding these wastes into your worm bin can be useful because these are also considered as the food for them. It should also be remembered that there are several factors that may affect the growth and lifestyle of earthworms in soil and I have posted about this earlier. But before starting to make vermicompost, you need worm bin, worms, water and proper supply of nutrients for them.

What are the benefits of vermicompost?

Before going for the benefits of vermicompost. Please visit my another post on "Influence of earthworms on soil fertility status" because there is a vast discussion on earthworm activities and its influence on soil fertility status. Comparing to the normal garden compost, vermicompost is far more better for controlling plant growth, enriching soil nutrient status, improving soil biological, chemical and physical properties.

Benefits of using vermicompost.

1. The casts of the worms contain macro and micro nutrients and are rich in Nitrogen, Phosphorus, Potassium and Sulfur - the four vital elements for plant growth and this is the first benefit of vermicompost. A crucial element like phosphorus which is also called a double critical element remains in unavailable form in most of the time. In acidic soil, this element gets bound with Aluminum and Iron. In alkaline soil, this element gets bound with Calcium. Vermicompost neutralizes the pH of the soil which increases the availability of phosphorus. Vermicompost has the super ability to increase the growth of the plants and to suppress the pest population. The casts also improve soil structure by increasing total porosity, aeration capacity, water retention capacity, increasing other microbial activity and maintaining soil ecology.
2. Vermicompost make the cultivation and farming practices environmental friendly. Because it reduces the use of chemical fertilizers like Urea, TSP, MOP, DAP etc. As a result there is a lesser chance of nutrient loss due to erosion and water pollution. These chemicals can enter into the groundwater through leaching and can contaminated our drinking water. They can also enter into the water reservoirs by soil erosion and can result in eutrophication. Eutrophication deteriorates water quality by damaging its chemical and physical properties. I have posted about eutrophication. You can click here to know more.
3. Vermicompost acts as a soil conditioner which is responsible for improving soil structure. Since the casts of earthworms improves the activity of microbial activity and the activity helps binding the soil particles together, vermicompost can be considered as a very useful soil conditioner.
4. Sometimes seeds get rot before germination due to pathogens. Conventional treatment is used for making the seeds more resistant to pest and pathogen attack by pre-treatment. Vermicompost enhances the germination rate of seeds. This is a very useful benefits of vermicompost in your crop field.
5. Soils like heavy clayey texture or sandy texture have much problem in plant available water. Clay soils have higher water retention capacity than sandy soils but due to lower infiltration rate, runoff occurs which results in soil loss. On the other hand, sandy soils have higher infiltration rate. This higher rate causes leaching loss of nutrients. Using vermicompost can overcome these problems. It can reduce the loss of nutrients through leaching and runoff.
6. Vermicompost helps in removing the polluted materials like hydrocarbon, heavy metals, pesticides etc. As it is environmental friendly, it can do everything to protect the environment. To vermicompost can be an excellent choice for soil and environmental management.
7. We generally dump our food wastes at random. We can use the wastes for vermicomposting. So, it can also contribute in reducing the food wastes. Besides, the odor of kitchen wastes is foul. It is unhygienic and pollutes air. Using these wastes in a compost bin can reduces odor. In addition, the final product can smell better. It is more or less likely the smell of the Earth.  

Conclusion

These are the main benefits of  vermicompost on an agricultural field. Vermicompost has multiple ways of enriching the soil. Really using vermicompost instead of chemical fertilizers can reduce environmental pollution. Do you think vermicompost can be a great alternate way to enrich your garden, reduce the use of pesticides and chemical fertilizers? Please comment below.