Aspects to be considered in worm farming

Dear readers, producers should be clear that agricultural production systems are ecological companies, where nutrients from the resources they produce must be recycled to avoid imbalances in these spaces with the use of unsustainable and polluting techniques. At present, productive development is framed in sustainable development with the objective of improving the quality of life based on the protection of the environment in agroecosystems. In agrotechnics taking into account the aforementioned, for some time we have begun to venture into vermiculture, because we consider that it is an activity of great benefit for agriculture, taking into account that organisms such as Californian red worms are used, for the production of solid and liquid organic fertilizers starting from vegetable residues and manure that they manage to decompose satisfactorily.

In that sense, from our perspective, vermiculture is one of the best ways for waste treatment and fertilizer production, our opinion is shared by researchers such as Ramón, Morejón, Ojeda and Vale (1996), who mentioned that, among the technologies for waste treatment, vermiculture is one of those that offers the greatest advantages for the following reasons:

In function of progressively establishing spaces destined to develop the decomposition process of organic matter in our home a while ago we started establishing in small containers "earthworms" where we place the organic waste from the kitchen to be decomposed by the Californian worms that we managed to acquire a while ago. A few weeks ago, with the intention of starting to collect important data on this activity, we established a structure that has three containers of 1 meter long and 40 centimeters wide, where approximately 2000 Californian red worms were distributed and we hope to obtain a moderate amount of solid and liquid fertilizer, we will share these data with you in approximately 6 months.

In this same order of ideas, we consider that to be successful with this ecological technology for the production of organic fertilizers, the following aspects need to be taken into account

- Organic matter: organic matter is the food and where the worms are going to develop, the biodegradable material that is usually used is the vegetable waste obtained in kitchens, vegetable sales, bovine manure among others, this type of food can be supplied fresh or semi-decomposed, depending on which of the two ways it becomes more feasible for the producer to use it., we particularly like to supply it fresh due to the moisture contribution it offers to the substrate and logically it takes a little longer to decompose compared to semi-decomposed matter.

It is important to be checking the pH of the substrate of the worms, since the organisms do not withstand very acidic conditions, preferably they develop in environments with neutral pH. When starting with a worm farm it is necessary to guarantee that it has the ideal conditions before introducing the worms, a simple and practical test that can be performed is by placing 50 adult worms in a container with the substrate that will be used, at 24 the container is verified and if there are less than 49 live worms it is an indicator that the material used is not optimal for its development, it is recommended in these cases to start a process of semi decomposition of the substrate and then perform the test again.

- Humidity of the substrate: the humidity in the ecosystem of the worms is vital for their development, the humidity should be in an approximate range of 78 and 85 %, if it is not possible to maintain these parameters with the contribution of fresh organic matter, it should be watered weekly depending on the climatic conditions present in the geographical area where they are, in temperate zones the irrigation may be less than in more arid areas. According to Longson (1998), water exerts a regulating effect on the temperature of the substrate.

As for this aspect, it is important to point out that the containers where these worms are established must have drainage to avoid watering and loss of worms due to excess water. When irrigation is applied, the leachate that comes out of the drain is collected and considered as liquid fertilizer, because the water carries away an adequate amount of nutrients and they are concentrated in said solution. Therefore, in agrotecnia within the research that we will carry out we hope to collect information on the nutritional quality emitted in earthworms with different irrigation frequencies.

Dear readers, when substrates with adequate humidity and pH values are maintained, this favors the worms to reproduce and decompose organic matter efficiently, being able to achieve optimal yields as decomposed and leached material obtained for the fertilization of crops.