[Terrapreta] Composting with worms-- another sustainability lessonfrom Cuba

[MFH]

Michael,

 

There is the possibility of some confusion from various quotes on this page:

 

a)       I'm a very firm believer in earthworms and composting worms, with
around 150kg of the latter munching away on cow poo and organic waste on my
farm

b)       The note on David Murphy's book mentions earthworms, not composting
worms

c)       There are substantial differences between earthworms and composting
worms, including:

-          earthworms inhabit from the surface to depths in excess of 1
metre

-          composting worms operate only in the first few inches of the
soil/litter layer

-          composting worms eat their own weight per day, maybe 10 times
more than earthworms eat.

-          both require moist conditions - relatively easily achieved at 1m
depth but not so easy at 5cm. This restricts considerably the use of
composting worms in open fields

-          both require temps between 15 and 25degC, again easier at depth
than on the surface. A mild frost would devastate composting worm
populations

-          if composting worms are short of feed or moisture then they lay
an egg and wither away. The egg hatches when good conditions return.

-          to maintain (and increase) composting worm populations then they
have to be fed. Very few farmers have the capacity to find 1 tonne of
organic waste to feed 1 tonne of worms per day. Obviously setups like
feedlots offer better opportunities.

 

I'm not aware of any acreage agriculture that uses composting worms in
fields. Just the logistics of feeding them precludes this, irrespective of
what can happen if it doesn't rain for a month or the temp drops below
freezing. Certainly the use of worm castings and worm tea derived from
dedicated worm farms is of substantial benefit to soil. Normally these worm
farms are under cover, or if in the open the windrow-style rows have enough
bulk to modify low temperatures.

 

 

So, yes:

-          composting worms can play a huge role in converting organic waste
to useful soil additives, and reduce landfill problems

-          ditto for animal manures and human waste

-          the resulting vermicast and vemicompost are very useful soil
additives

but:

-          I'm not aware that composting worms can play a significant role
in C sequestration

-          however, earthworms can and do. In fertile soil there may be over
1 million earthworms per acre.

 

And:

-          applications of fertilisers, insecticides,  fungicides and
herbicides decimate worm populations and

-          absence or presence of earthworms is the simplest and quickest
test for the health of a soil

 

Herewith a link to an Australian town using composting worms successfully:

 

www.lismore.nsw.gov.au/cmst/lcc002/view_doc.asp?id=3190
<http://www.lismore.nsw.gov.au/cmst/lcc002/view_doc.asp?id=3190&cat=101>
&cat=101

 

And for some more detailed photos:

 

www.lismore.nsw.gov.au/cmst/lcc002/view_doc.asp?id=3191
<http://www.lismore.nsw.gov.au/cmst/lcc002/view_doc.asp?id=3191&cat=101>
&cat=101

 

Max H

 

PS: I'm mixing char with worm castings and letting the mixture stew for a
few months. I'm hoping that this will hasten the integration of the char in
the soil when I later incorporate it, and that the addition of worm castings
will be an alternative solution to having to add artificial fertiliser.

 

 

 

 

 

  _____  

From: terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org
[mailto:terrapreta-bounces at bioenergylists.org] On Behalf Of Michael Bailes
Sent: Wednesday, 7 May 2008 7:40 PM
To: Terra Preta
Subject: [Terrapreta] Composting with worms-- another sustainability
lessonfrom Cuba

 


Just found this interesting Australian site.


Worth exploring.





http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/composting-another-sustainability.
html


Wednesday, May 7 


Composting
<http://leftclickblog.blogspot.com/2008/05/composting-another-sustainability
.html>  with worms-- another sustainability lesson from Cuba 


 

The
<http://another-green-world.blogspot.com/2008/05/compost-cuban-style.html>
English Green Party's Derek Wall dug up (so apt!) this piece by Matthew
Werner <http://www.fadr.msu.ru/rodale/agsieve/txt/vol7/art1.html>  on worm
farming in Cuba for compost week.Worms as
<http://www.webmesh.co.uk/darwinworms3.htm> Charles Darwin insisted are
important critters.

"Food for worms..." can be almost anything as the medieval Church and
Shakespeare's Hamlet have pointed out. Food like...very dead human beings.


Not where he eats, but where he is eaten:
a certain convocation of politic worms are e'en at him. Your
worm is your only emperor for diet: we fat all
creatures else to fat us, and we fat ourselves for
maggots: your fat king and your lean beggar is but
variable service, two dishes, but to one table:
that's the end.

Worms are also highly efficient carbon sequestors. By taking organic matter
underground, the worms reduce carbon release into the atmosphere as carbon
dioxide and worm farming is akin, in my estimation, to such practices as
Agri Char (aka Terra Preta) <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terra_preta>  in
the role it could play -- rather quickly -- to ameliorate global warming.But
no major Vermicompost project has been initiated with that thesis in mind.

David Murphy's book ,
<http://www.searchsa.com.au/review/book_view.asp?id=94> Organic Growing
<http://www.searchsa.com.au/review/book_view.asp?id=94>  With Worms
addresses that possibility in its pages with great verve such that the
irrepressible Peter Cundall <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Cundall>
writes in regard to it: 

"This is an amazing, inspiring book..it should be on the bookshelf of every
farmer, gardener, conservationist, scientist or anyone who comprehends the
environmental dangers now threatening all life forms on earth."

Murphy writes that "...if [the world's agricultural soil] were raised to 5
per cent [organic matter] to a depth of 25 cm, 150 billion tonnes of carbon
dioxide would be sequestered into the soil ".

Healthy soil could sequester up to 350 tonnes of carbon per hectare (Jones
2007), this being equivalent to about 1,285 tonne of carbon dioxide per
hectare removed from atmosphere....This exceeds the estimated 15 billion
tonnes per annum global emissions of carbon dioxide from all sources (Murphy
2005) 10 times over. 

Hence soil represents the largest potential sink (storage capacity) for
carbon - if natural soil quality is restored and maintained -- Sunnyside
<http://www.sunnysideprojects.com.au/invoke.cfm?pageid=46D89123-18FE-8969-82
CDB5B3F8318973>  Projects.

*Yep. Worms are really something to get excited about -- not only as a means
to bed down waste (3% of national carbon emissions) but also as a means to
invigorate the extremely poor nature of Australian soils while helping to
reduce the
<http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/2006/publications/drs/indicator/386/index
.html>  share agriculture plays in our total carbon emissions. -- 16% from
Agriculture (larger than transport-- 13%-- and second only to stationary
energy ).



Trends in carbon dioxide equivalent emissions from the agricultural sector,
1990-2004

 
<http://www.environment.gov.au/soe/2006/publications/drs/images/349/atmosphe
re/figures/medium/a45agriculture-co2-v2.gif> 

Sixty percent of emissions from the agricultural sector come from enteric
fermentation in livestock. These are emissions associated with microbial
fermentation during digestion of feed by ruminant (mostly cattle and sheep)
and some non-ruminant domestic livestock. Emissions associated with
agricultural soils (e.g. disturbance of land by cropping, improved pastures
and the application of fertilisers and animal wastes) and prescribed burning
of savannas also account for a significant proportion of net emissions.

While enteric fermentation is the main driver of emissions from agriculture,
to replace that caloric output with plant foods behooves a major shift in
soil management .

--Dave Riley

-- 
Michael the Archangel
"Politicians will never solve The Problem;
because they don't realise they are The Problem.".
-Robert ( Bob ) Parsons 1995

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