Vermicompost






By Kei Nishimura, Ernesto Gispert, Emile Fiset and Jean Michel





Pierre Faure





Miss Lulu, Miss Paola and Miss Dafne





15/06/10

Index

Content Page



COVER PAGE 1



INDEX 2



INTRODUCTION 3



INVESTIGATION 4-5















We all know about recycling, but do you know about compost? We did a little research and we thought it would be a great way to help reduce the contamination.





Objective: To reduce organic waste by turning it into a fertilizer and at the same time create campaigns in our school to inform about this recycling method.





Hypothesis: Does the Vermicompost help the environment?





Method: We are going to investigate about composting mechanisms in order to put it into practice by creating our own Vermicompost. At the same time we are going to create awareness to the school by posters and by presenting our project.











What is compost?







Compost is a method used to create humus, a natural fertilizer. Fertilizers are used world wide but most of them are not natural, inorganic fertilizers also help the growth of plants but they produce eutrophication, soil acidification, persistent organic pollutants, heavy metal accumulation and atmospheric effects. On the other side, natural fertilizers use humus, an organic fertilization method that increases the water holding capacity and easily absorbs the sun rays. Humus also liberates the compounds for plants from the soil, provides fertilization and improves soil texture quality. Humus is added to the soil by using an organic fertilizer such as manure or the contents of a compost pile. Humus can also be bought it’s not cheap. Organic fertilizer nutrient content, solubility, and nutrient release rates are typically all lower than inorganic fertilizers. The humus can be made naturally, with normal compost or with vermicompost.







Why would a fertilizer be needed?





Land is full of nutrients and minerals which are a plant’s food. After growing a lot of plants on a certain area, the land looses all of it’s minerals and nutrients. Erosion in also a problem. The erosion is the process of weathering and transport of solids in the natural environment or their source and put them elsewhere. It depends on many factors, such as precipitation, temperature, seasonality, wind speed and storm frequency, also rock type, and slope of the land. It usually occurs due to transport by wind, water, or ice. The erosion of soil is principally generated by the destruction of wetlands like swamps, because they work as retainers with the ocean.

If nowadays this is affecting us, imagine the impact it will have in the future and how global warming is then going to destroy us. This brings the reduction of land and the destruction of complete ecosystems.





Where does compost come from?





Prehistoric people discovered that with their animal´s manure their plants would grow faster. Consequently, they started producing it. But imagine that the decomposition of plants it is better than animal´s manure and have more nutrients and more it is more healthy.

In India, Sir Albert Howard a government agronomist developed the actual method of composting using boxes. Anyway, we are not studying normal composting we are studying vermicomposting that is a method created on the 20th century. Vermicomposting is a faster method of creating humus, with the worm´s manure, also it´s proved that have more nutrients than normal methods.

How do we make a Vermicompost?

Materials:

• A worm bin

• Bedding

• Water

• Red worms

• Compost scraps such as waste fruits and vegetables, coffee filters, eggshells, fruit and vegetable peelings









Steps:









Feed the worms weekly. Cutting the scraps into small pieces allows the worms to consume them faster. Bury the scraps under the bedding; rotate where you bury them. You may add more bedding every once in a while.





Place the bin in a shady area, not in direct sun.

Check the moisture when adding kitchen scraps. If too wet, add more bedding; if too dry, add water. Worms like more moisture than you might think. Experiment with moisture levels.



Darkness: Keep the lid on your bin. Worms do not like light and the closed bin will not attract flies.

After two or three months, the worms will have converted the bedding and food scraps into humus.











At the end we got rid of the organic waste and we turned it into humus. This can now be used as a fertilizer. We didn’t expect a big change on the environment but we realized that we did do a lot in our school. If everyone does the same thing and spreads the habit, this could really make a difference. We could reduce the amount of organic waste that contaminates the world and turn it a material that can help us on reforestation, and by helping natural habitats that have been affected by farming, erosion or any event.

Day Seven

Today in the afternoon our blogg will be checked by our teacher, we hope she likes it since we have worked hard on this project. We are a little nervouse since we are a bit delayed and this counts for our grades. But I guess we can only hope for the best.

Day Six

We have been told about the future of this project. We didn´t think it would be taken seriously, but apparently we will be presenting it to "ayuntamiento". We cant believe this has gone so far, but this also means we have more responsabilities.

Day five

Today we did some new posters in class. We took them to the office so they could check them. Apparently we will present them to the hole school as soon as they are approved. The sooner people start bringing the organic trash, the sooner we will continue with the compost.

day four

today ernesto started with the investigation he had done in the phase 1 he is very responsible he had investigated about the compost trash examples:
fruit residues and egg shells.

Day Three

We made posters to spread the word in school about compost so that every kid gets interested in the activity of composting. The posters were rejected by the office so we are gonna start new posters tomorrow and we are going to go to elementary school and ask for compost trash.

Day Two

Today as we asked people about the compost, we recieved a compost manual from a guy who workes here. It is a great source of information and it helped us get a good idea of what awaits us. We learned everything we needed to learn, about the things we needed and what we had to do to keep the worms alive.

Day One

We had our doubts about the compost bins, we thought the worms had died. But today we decided to go and check it out. We arrived at the bins and at first sight it seemed as if nothing lived there. We took a stick and we searched through the compost. We found tons of worms and we got very exited. We also found woodlouses so we investigated in the internet and we found out they are acctually good for our compost.

photos

red worms of a vermicompost

phase 1 investigation

Vermicompost
BY Ernesto Gispert Lopez, Kei Nishiumura, Emile Fiset and Jean Michel Armenta
Phase 1
Objective: create organic fertilizer through knowing the vermicompost and report to the community about it.
Erosion of soil
Causes
It depend on many factors, such as precipitation, temperature, seasonality, wind speed and storm frequency, also rock type, and slope of the land. The erosion is the process of weathering and transport of solids in the natural environment or their source and deposits them elsewhere. It usually occurs due to transport by wind, water, or ice. So imagine if now it’s affecting us in the global warming it will destroy us. Is generated by the destruction of wetlands like swamps, because they work as retainers with the ocean.

Consequences
This brings the reduction of land and the destruction of complete ecosystems.

Fertilization methods
Organic
The humus is an organic fertilization method that increases the water holding capacity and easily absorbs the sun rays. Humus also liberates the compounds for plants from the soil and provides fertilization and improves soil texture quality. Humus is added to the soil by using an organic fertilizer such as manure or the contents of a compost pile. Humus can also be bought directly, however the expense is prohibitive if going to be used in a large area and needs treatment. Organic fertilizer nutrient content, solubility, and nutrient release rates are typically all lower than inorganic fertilizers. The humus can be made naturally, with normal compost or with vermicompost.

Inorganic
The inorganic fertilization produces eutrophication, soil acidification, persistent organic pollutants, heavy metal accumulation and atmospheric effects.

Composting history

Prehistoric farming people discovered that if they mixed manure from their domesticated animals with straw and other organic waste, such as crop residues, the mixture would gradually change into a fertile soil-like material that was good for crops. Composting remained a basic activity of farming until the twentieth century, when various synthetic fertilizers were found to provide many of the nutrients occurring naturally in compost


It was in an underdeveloped country—India—that modern composting got its big start. Sir Albert Howard, a government agronomist, developed the so called Indore method, named after a city in southern India. His method calls for three parts garden clippings to one part manure or kitchen waste arranged in layers and mixed periodically. Howard published his ideas on organic gardening in the 1940 book An Agricultural Testament.

Vermicomposting
Vermicompost is the product or process of composting utilizing various species of worms, usually red wigglers, white worms, and earthworms to create a heterogeneous mixture of decomposing vegetable or food waste, bedding materials, and vermicast.

Materials:
• A worm bin
• Bedding,
• Water,
• Red worms
• Compost scraps such as waste fruits and vegetables, coffee filters, eggshells, and fruit and vegetable peelings

What will we do?

we expect that we can change the world through the example of doing a compost

we can make the difference through time emile and jean michel will show us the importance of recycling, because the world is going to hell.

what is a compost?

A compost is formed

by descompocisión

of organic products

and this used to fertilize

the soil.It is a process

in which doesn`t involving the

hand of man,

Recycling is 100% natural.

source http://www.animales-en-extincion.com/composta-que-es.html

objective

We want to show the world the importance of composting and making it a habit.