Vermi wash

Image & Info courtesy : vknardep.org

Vermiwash is a liquid that is collected after the passage of water through a column of worm action and is very useful as a foliar spray. It is a collection of excretory products and mucus secretion of earthworms along with micronutrients from the soil organic molecules. These are transported to the leaf, shoots and other parts of the plants in the natural ecosystem. Vermiwash, if collected properly, is a clear and transparent, pale yellow coloured fluid.

The basic principle of Vermi wash preparation is simple. Worm worked soils have burrows formed by the earthworms. Bacteria richly inhabit these burrows, also called as the drilospheres. Water passing through these passages washes the nutrients from these burrows to the roots to be absorbed by the plants. This principle is applied in the preparation of vermiwash. Vermiwash can be produced by allowing water to percolate through the tunnels made by the earthworms on the coconut leaf - cow dung substrate kept in a plastic barrel. Water is allowed to fall drop by drop from a pot hung above the barrel into the vermicomposting system. But barrels are not a must for Vermi wash preparation. Vermiwash units can be set up either in barrels or in buckets or even in small earthen pots.


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