Wiggle Room - Vermicomposting and Worm Castings in Connecticut
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Controlled Trials With Worm Castings 

In order to test the true effect of our worm castings, we've carried out numerous controlled growth trials. Throughout all these trials, all factors were kept the same except the soil. The water regimens, light exposure, location, temperature, etc. were all completely identical during each trial. The only difference was the presence of Wiggle Room Worm Castings. Our results are below and they surprised even us.
​Test Trial 1 - Seedlings under grow lights
Test Trial 2 - Raised beds with various planting mixtures
Test Trial 3 - Comparing our castings to competitors
Test Trial 4 - Shelf-life test


​Research

Vermicompost and Vermicompost Tea are gaining popularity and are working their way to the forefront of organic farming
  • According to Dr. Elaine Ingham, an avid Vermicompost and Vermicompost Tea advocate who holds a PhD in Microbiology, "in the last couple of years 420 papers in the scientific literature about compost tea have documented that the biology works really well and is adequate to deal with apple scab, Botrytis, mildew, leaf curl, all of these problems."

The use of Vermicomposting can greatly reduce the amount of waste going into and filling landfills
  • "As much as 50%-60% of the total wastes that are disposed into landfills are organic waste. If these were turned into materials useful in agriculture and horticulture, there would be great savings in primary plant nutrients and metabolic energy," [2].

Vermicompost is a safer, more efficient, and more cost effective substitute to chemical fertilizers and pesticides
  • A study carried out by Rajik K. Sinha et al. and published in the Agricultural Sciences journal showed Vermicomposts can promote growth 30-40% over chemical fertilizers at a price-point 50-75% below them [1].
  • While chemical fertilizers can't be used in water protection zones or spa localities, vermicompost can be used anywhere due to its lack of any negative environmental effects [3].
  • While chemical fertilizers don't improve soil quality and simply salinate and firm the soil, vermicompost prevents soil firming, improves soil structure, and restores microbial life [3].
  • Chemical fertilizers are often washed away and must be reapplied while vermicompost, due to high levels or organic matter, remains in the soil, giving plants continued access to the supplied nutrients [3].
  • While chemical fertilizers simply replenish nutrients and don't act as growth stimulators, "vermicompost beneficially influences the growth of roots due to the abundance of enzymes, microorganisms and other components of vermicompost" [3].
  • Industrial fertilizers are only able to add select nutrients to the soil while "the application of vermicompost has a positive impact on the intake of nutrients and partially reduces the intake of hazardous elements by plants" [3].

Vermicompost works better than other conventional composts and fertilizers
  • Sinha et al. showed Vermicompost is able to boost growth 50-100% over conventional composts [1].
  • "Vermicompost is as much as 60-70 times more efficient than conventional manure" [3].
    • Vermicompost also contains 4-5 times as much organic matter as peat or manure [3].

[1]  Sinha RK, Agarwal S, Chauhan K, Valani D (2010) The wonders of earthworms and its vermicompost in farm production: Charles Darwin’s ‘friends of farmers’, with potential to replace destructive chemical fertilizers from agriculture. Agricultural sciences 1:76–94
​[2] Edwards, Clive A., Norman Q. Arancon, and Ronda Sherman. Vermiculture Technology: Earthworms, Organic Wastes and Environment Management. Boca Raton, FL: CRC, 2011. Print.
[3] Červená K, Lyčková B, Kučerová R (2013) Vermicompost—an effective natural fertilizer. In: Proceedings in EIIC-The 2nd electronic international interdisciplinary conference

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Wiggle Room LLC
​325 Lafayette St.
Bridgeport, CT 06604
info@wiggleroom.org
(203) 858-8829
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