Dear Theo and readers,
The people using vermiculture with biogas digestate claim that it
further improves the fertilizer value of the compost. When I visited a
village that was using the system, we met a commercial coconut grower
who was prepared to pay in cash the equivalent of $60 per tonne for the
compost from the vermiculture unit. The farmers claim an increase in
production of 30% over three years of using the compost, as well as
improved quality of the produce (rice, millet, ginger, potatoes,
vegetables, coconuts and betel nut trees). The growers said they saw is
a much reduced drop of immature nuts from coconut and betel nut trees
when they used vermiculture compost.
The digestate is added to dry biomass material (leaves, grass, old grass
mats etc.), so the liquid is absorbed into the compost. The mix is
allowed to aerobically compost for about 3 to 4 weeks before the worms
are added. This process allows a much increased amount of compost than
is available from just the digestate and it allows the liquid component
of the digestate to be absorbed.
In India, when the digestate is used on its own, the liquid often
evaporates, with a loss of nitrogen in the form of ammonia. The
digestate is usually left in a lagoon until it is required, as it needs
to "mature" before it can be used. Absorbing the liquid component in
dry biomass allows the nitrogen to be retained.
The vermiculture material is kept moist with water, to give the worms
the right conditions. Excess water is drained off and the liquid can be
used as a foliar feed. It is claimed that it repels pests and improves
plant health.
Regards,
David F
On 11/11/2010 23:09, Theo Bijman wrote:
Dear readers,
Referring to the question about vermiculture. Why should you want to
use vermiculture when you have already digested solid waste that could
be applied to the fields directly? With raw manure, I could see the
advantage, as you would get a somewhat dry, concentrated and easy to
apply organic fertilizer, without the acidifying effect of manure. Is
it the reduction in volume that is an advantage? Or are people used
to using vermiculture organic fertilizer and do not know the usage of
digested solid waste? Maybe somebody has some thoughts about this. Do
you apply liquid waste to the composting heaps (the liquids which
remains when separating digistate into solids and liquids?) to keep it
moist?
Thanks
Theo Bijman
Matt and listers, Hello,
There are two projects in South India doing vermiculture of digestate:
SKG Sangha and VK-Nardep that have been highlighted on the list, as
they both won Ashden Awards. There are videos available for both
projects, although the one for VK-Nardep is a sequence of still
photographs taken at the time of the judge's visit.
The Ashden Award links are: www.ashdenawards.org/winners/skgsangha
<http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/skgsangha>and
www.ashdenawards.org/winners/vknardep
<http://www.ashdenawards.org/winners/vknardep>. A direct link to SKG
Sangha is: www.skgsangha.org <http://www.skgsangha.org>and to
VK-Nardep is: vknardep.org <http://vknardep.org>.
Regards,
David Fulford
On 11/11/2010 01:33, Matt Lorig wrote:
There was a project mentioned on the list (maybe a year or two ago)
about a vermiculture project using the digestate from a biogas plant.
I think it was in India. I think they were using sawdust to soak up
the water and composting it for a period of time and then introducing
the worms. I can't find the link now. Does anyone remember what I'm
talking about? Or does anyone have any info about vermiculture
combined with biogas?
Matt Lorig
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>
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--
********************************************************************
Dr David Fulford CEnv MEI, 15, Brandon Ave, Woodley, Reading RG5 4PU
[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>, Tel:
+44(0)118 326 9779 Mob: +44(0)7746 806401
Kingdom Bioenergy Ltd, www.kingdombio.com <http://www.kingdombio.com>,
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to UNSUBSCRIBE or Change your List Settings use the web page
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for more information about digestion, see
Beginner's Guide to Biogas
http://www.adelaide.edu.au/biogas/
and the Biogas Wiki http://biogas.wikispaces.com/
