Cured Vermicompost

Details

Worm castings made in covered beds fed on cow dung and farm crop residue and nothing else, then cured for a further thirty days after the worms come out. The curing is the product. Compost that is still working is still consuming: it holds a high carbon to nitrogen ratio, it goes on decomposing once it is in the pot, it pulls nitrogen out of the soil around it to do that, and it gives off heat and ammonia while it does. That is what burns a root and kills a seedling that was perfectly healthy the week before, and it is why raw or part-cured material sold as cured is the cheat that matters here. It is a cheat with an obvious motive, because curing is a month of occupied floor space that earns nothing. The number that separates finished from unfinished is the carbon to nitrogen ratio, and a seedling bioassay confirms it, since immature compost visibly suppresses germination in a tray. Both are run on every lot. The second move is bulk. Compost sells by weight and soil costs nothing, so red soil, sand, ash or coir dust gets blended in, and a bag that is a third filler still looks and pours exactly like compost. Total organic carbon shows it up, because filler has none to contribute.

• Cured a further 30 days after the worm phase, carbon to nitrogen ratio under 15, tested per lot
• Seedling bioassay per lot, so immature material cannot reach you
• No soil, sand, ash or coir dust bulked in, total organic carbon tested
• Feedstock is cow dung and farm crop residue only
• No city waste, no sewage sludge and no slaughterhouse material
• No chemical fertiliser blended in, no urea and no DAP
• Weed-free, because the feed is hot-composted before it ever reaches the worms
• It smells of earth and nothing else. Compost that smells sour or of ammonia is not cured, whatever the bag says
• Screened to 4 mm, so it is finer and lighter than raw farmyard manure and goes further than the bag looks