Vermiculture: Savings in the use of fertilizers and improvement of crops
Vermiculture stands out as a system that allows producers to save money due to the reduced use of fertilizers, as well as to allow an improvement in the quality of the crops.
Roberto Verdejo, specialist and producer of worms explained to PortalFrutícola.com that intensive vermiculture can be applied to all types of crops; such as larger trees, fruit trees, shrubs - like berries - and vegetables.
According to Verdejo, in the agricultural industry there is a prejudice that this system is more suitable for small-scale agriculture and organic production; being that it is suitable for any crop that needs some type of fertilizer.
"Intensive vermiculture is not only useful for small family agricultural production, but also for agricultural land of 5, 10, 50 or 200 hectares or more".
The specialist indicated that the above is due to the fact that the main production of this technique is biostimulant, also known as "humified liquids"; besides the humus of earthworms.
Both products are produced immediately when watering the worms, and can be used as fertilizing liquid or foliar.
Verdejo said that the intensive vermiculture allows to improve the production and quality of the crops; as well as doubling the growth of the plants, since the earthworms produce the phytohormone, gibberellic acid.
Some results of this technique showed that the time it takes for blueberries to produce fruit can be reduced; because in a normal way that term is 3 years and through the use of vermiculture you can obtain fruit after two years.
"When performing nutrient analysis on the leaves of a cherry production; these showed the presence of stable nutrients that improved and doubled the size of the leaves; optimizing the quality of the fruit and the resistance of diseases to the tree, "explained the producer.
Another advantage of this system is the savings in fertilizers, both chemical and organic. "You do not need to buy organic fertilizer with worm water," Verdejo said.
Also, the automation of irrigation allows the daily work involved in maintaining vermiculture to be very low.
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