About Vermicompost
(in more detail)
Vermicompost is a finely divided peat-like material with a high porosity, aeration and drainage; and good water-holding capacity. It has excellent structure, suppling a balance of minerals, and improving plant nutrient availability.
The chemical composition of vermicompost is determined by the degree of earthworms activity and the composition of the organic waste that they processed.
Vermicompost contains much larger populations of bacteria, fungi and actinomycetes compared with those in conventional thermophilic composts. Its physico-chemical and biological properties make it an excellent organic fertiliser, potting mix amendment or soil amendment.
Vermicompost added to soil carries to the root zone a rich compliment of :
- soluble plant nutrients and growth enhancing compounds; and
- a diverse and populous consortium of microbial life; and
- a substrate of organic matter holding a storehouse of nutrients that are not lost to rain and irrigation.
Hence plants are delivered an ongoing, reliable food source when bacteria and microscopic fungi feed on the organic matter, releasing some of the nutrients to the soil and storing others for their own energy and reproduction.
When nematodes and protozoa in turn feed upon them, the nutrients stored in the bacterial and fungal bodies are released to the soil in a plant-available form.
When we feed organic matter to the soil, the soil life feeds nutrients to the plant.
Further, unlike soluble plant fertilizers, the nutrients stored in organic matter and the bodies of the microbial life are not lost through irrigation to contaminate ground water. Hair-thin fungal tentacles, called hyphae, wrap about soil and organic matter particles in their search for food, forming aggregates that are the basis for good soil structure. Thus, both the fungi and the organic matter are held in the soil. Bacteria exude sticky glues that enable them to cling to solid particles of mineral and organic matter, ensuring they too remain in the soil and, like the fungi, aid in the formation of aggregates.
However, nutrient retention and cycling are not the only benefits of using vermicompost. Inoculation of soil with the rich and diverse microbial life present in vermicompost protects the roots of plants from disease and attack by root-feeding organisms. This is due to the diversity of organisms ensuring that all organisms present has a predator, no one organism in the root zone is easily able to reach populations sufficient to cause significant damage. Plant roots exude foods that encourage colonization by microbial life beneficial to the plant, reducing the number of possible infection points. Many microorganisms exude compounds inhibitory to pathogenic organisms, further reducing the chance for pathogen blooms sufficient to cause plant damage.
Hence when vermicompost and the microbial life it supports is added to the soil, the increased complexity and diversity of organisms in the root zone suppress disease and pests. Interestingly, it is not only in the root zone that vermicompost demonstrates the ability to suppress pest attack. Vermicompost contains a compound called chitinase. Chitin, a component of the exoskeleton of many insects, is damaged by chitinase, so its presence inhibits some insects.
In summary, vermicompost is the most valuable product that you can introduce to your garden and pot plants.