Vermicompost is compost made as a result of earthworms putting out their casts/ excreta.
When earthworms eat food, they excrete. Their excreta is the vermicompost, but since earth worms die fast, the vermicompost has both the castings and the dead earth worms making vermicompost very rich in nutrients. The nutrients in vermicompost are fixed and can only be used by plants hence cannot be lost by leaching.
Making vermicompost
The materials needed to make vermicompost depend on the scale of production but for backyard farming, even a jerrycan, that is cut open at one end, can be used. This is filled with organic residues.
Get the starting material (earthworms) and put it on the top of one end of the jerrycan. Cover the entire jerrycan with a layer of dry organic matter and water.
The earthworms reproduce and they feed on the organic residues from one end to the other releasing their casts. If all the organic materials have been used up, remove the casts (vermicompost) and put new materials.
The vermicompost produced is suitable for all crops.
Vermiwash
The water that drains with watering (vermiwash) can be used as a fertilizer as well as a pesticide. As a foliar fertilizer or pesticide, the veermiwash is diluted with water in a ratio of 1:1, put in a knapsack and sprayed onto crops.
