Vermiculture:
It is a human engineering that recycles organic remainders producing a natural fertilizer and also
rich protein meat animal, aside from other uses as live bait for the fishing. For it the Red
worms of California are used since they are a species specially adapted to live in conditions
of High Density and captivity.
Obtained Humus is a product with an excellent quality to be used as natural and ecological
fertilizer. Of this form it is the instalment recommended for ecological agriculture, since
it does not produce chemical contamination of lands where it is used.
The vermiculture is a technique that every time has more adepts because it contributes
with a solution to the existing problem about how to eliminate the remainders of cattle operations,
avoiding the contamination.
For a vermicultive the means are due to prepare where they will seed worms, the type
depends on culture that thinks to mount. It can be: caretaker, commercial or investigation
and depending on that, is needed a correct dimensioning of worms to be used. Also, the amount
of remainders available in the installation or close to it and how easy can be administered
to the worms, is an important factor for the success of the vermiculture.
A vermiculture on great scale has to be done using beds similar to the ones used in vegetables
cultures, 1,2 mts wide and 3,00 mts length, but with enough free space between 2 beds, in order
to give to the people involved in the culture maintenance enough space to work and also for vehicles,
because vibrations don't allowed a normal worms reproduction. As well, is important to have a good
drainage to avoid water in beds at times of rain. In the feeding it is used a mixture of dung as
nitrogen source with complement rice husk, coffee, soya or any type of vegetal material rich in
cellulose. Once those materials are mixed, is needed to wait for the first fermentation process
around 1 to 3 months (depending weather), and as result we obtain our compost, with a temperature
around 25º C and PH around 6,5 to 7.5. After this process, we can introduce a small number of worms
and control for 5 days if they start to produce humus or they leave the compost. If worms start with
the process, we can introduce the rest of the worms to the compost. Maintenance activities to
be done are only control humidity in beds around 80%, temperature between 16-28º C and PH 6.5 to 7.5. Also is
needed to control some possible predators in beds like frogs, birds, mice and ants that persecute worms
as base of his feeding.
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One calculates that the population duplicates every 3 months, that means, if we initiates
our production with 300 worms by square meter, to the year are due to have about 4,000 individuals.
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