Vermiculture , the raising of louse , has been around for as long as anglers have essay a steady supply of bait for their fishhook . Vermicomposting pertain to using dirt ball to convert organic matter to compost . In a sense , vermicomposting is as old as life on satellite Earth . Aristotle , Charles Darwin and other percipient of the innate world have praised the industriousness of the low earthworm in creating hoummos out of decaying constitutional thing . Using bins to create a controlled system of vermicomposting is a relatively recent phenomenon that traces its origins to a handful of pioneer .

Time Frame

Michigan biology instructor Mary Appelhof go far at the musical theme of home vermicomposting . In 1972 , she realized she want to continue composting in winter month despite living in a northern climate , and ordered 1 pound of red wiggler worms , or Eisenia fetida , from a sweetener dealer by mail service order of magnitude . She created a shallow binful in her basement , load up it with bedding and append her intellectual nourishment scraps . By the end of the wintertime , they had have 65 lbs . of garbage and produced insect compost that resulted in telling veggie in her garden .

Significance

In 1973 , Appelhof described her method acting in a two - page flier entitled " Basement Worm Bins Produce Potting Soil and Reduce Garbage , " which she sold by mail for 25 cents . In 1979 , Appelhof came out with a four - varlet brochure call " compost Your Garbage with Worms . " Her book " Worms exhaust My drivel , " was published in 1982 . The book sold 100,000 copies , and a 1997 revision sell 45,000 more .

Types

Appelhof popularized minuscule - scale worm bins made of wood or credit card and holding as little as 2 or 3 cubic feet of bedding . In the 1970s , soil ecologist Clive Edwards began parallel investigations in his aboriginal England at the Rothamsted Experiment Station before relocating to Ohio State University . Edwards examined the potential of larger - scale operations , called continuous flow systems , capable to reclaim greater volumes of organic rubble and keep it out of landfill . The Netherlands , as well as England and Canada , began large - graduated table vermicomposting in the 1970s , mark environmental engine driver Rajiv K. Sinha in a scholarly theme published in " The Environmentalist . "

Potential

In the Wake Island of innovator work by Appelhof and Edwards , vermicomposting now attract global interest group . The Organic Agriculture Centre of Canada in Nova Scotia , for representative , explore cold - climate worm compost . The Bhawalkar Earthworm Research Institute in India examines its potential for ameliorate poor soils and lessening waste matter streams . Italy , the Philippines , Thailand , Australia and Israel now practice large - exfoliation vermicomposting , Sinha writes . In the United States , life scientist Rhonda Sherman of North Carolina State University coordinates conference on vermicomposting and gather all-embracing entanglement resources for the populace .

Fun Fact

A 2009 article in the New York Times , " Urban Composting : A New Can of Worms , " made many more American readers aware of the electric potential for even flat dwellers to try vermicomposting .

References

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