I'm a lurker on the list for AD since it is something I'm interested in
but cannot devote time to at this point. We do however, run a good
sized vermi-composting operation, selling both the worms and the
castings (earthworm excrement) from them.
You cannot expect to see a lot more total nutrients in a compost after
the worms have been through it but you can expect that the nutrients
present will be in a much more available format to the plants. You also
get a large amount of soil biology, enzymes, etc. from the worms'
digestive systems that will be of great benefit to plants.
If nutrients are your only aim, then vermi-composting is not the answer,
but if you are looking at the whole soil system and interested in
stimulating the life in the soil while adding the nutrients, then
composting with earthworms is very worthwhile. Vermicompost has it's
biggest benefit on the more valuable crops and crops that need living
soils.
Hope this helps,
Tim
On 11/15/2010 8:23 AM, [email protected] wrote:
Not to answer this, but to expand a bit.....
Is there documentation backed by laboratory research that tells the
"fertilizer values" of the digested solid wastes resulting from methane
production? Would the vermiculture add to those nutrient values?
Thanks.
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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Northampton, NB
Canada
Ph: 506-325-3850
Fax: 506-325-3890
_______________________________________________
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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/
