Vermicompost is the byproduct of vermiculture or vermicomposting, a sustainable practice using worms to break down natural elements, like leaves and food scraps, into compost that can aid plant growth.
Marco Adriano, the 22-year-old founder of Urban Vermicomposting PH, promotes this practice to city dwellers because it helps lessen their carbon footprint while producing natural soil enhancers.
According to Adriano, users can maximize the potential of vermicompost through three approaches. The first is to use solid compost and add it on top of plants.
“It has a lot of nutrients, but the benefit of vermicompost is not in the nutrients mismo. It’s more of the good bacteria is more concentrated in the vermicompost. It improves the way plants absorb nutrients,” he said.
Compared to inorganic fertilizers, which focus more on augmenting the soil content, the bacteria from the vermicompost break down available soil nutrients while adding a little more to its composition.
The second method to efficiently use vermicompost is incorporating it in the soil like a potting mix.
Adriano knows the benefits of this approach firsthand because he uses it with his plants in his garden in San Juan, in Metro Manila. Instead of planting them in soil, he uses a mixture of 50 percent vermicompost and 50 percent coco peat.
Lastly, vermicomposters can turn the solid byproduct into vermitea by wrapping it in cheesecloth or an old newspaper before putting it into a bucket of water and adding a teaspoon of molasses.
“Preferable rainwater or aged water because fresh tapwater sometimes has chlorine,” Adriano advised.
After 15 minutes, users can get the liquid version of vermicompost, which they can spray on their plants or the soil.
Many of Adriano’s customers often reside in condominiums in Metro Manila, where they don’t have access to garden soil. Through vermicompost, they can have an unlimited supply of natural fertilizer, which they can also utilize to create a high-quality planting medium to make their plants grow happily and healthily. Patricia Taculao
