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Soil Testing Worm Castings with microBIOMETER®

Green Country Worms is a small worm farm located in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma. Their main focus is producing high quality worm castings. They started vermicomposting in 2008 when they received their first pound of compost worms. 12 years later they still love composting with worms and are fascinated with the worm castings they produce.

About a year ago they discovered their customers wanted proof of the quality of their product. While they could make claims about their worm castings, their customers wanted to see actual data. They periodically sent their castings to a certified lab to be tested, however, this is costly to do on a regular basis.

They love microBIOMETER® because it is affordable and it gives them a quick census of the microorganisms in their castings. They learned early on that a simple NPK soil test did not give them the data they were looking for. Being research minded they were also happy to find out that microBIOMETER® is involved in various university studies to demonstrate it's validity and reliability as a soil testing instrument.

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Green Country is currently using microBIOMETER® to compare worm castings that are produced with high quality malted barley. They feed malted barley in some of their worm bins and not in others.

Stay tuned! We will post the results of their experiment once it is complete.

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How do fungi improve soil quality?

Fungi increase soil aggregation and soil organic carbon. The increase in soil aggregation is attributed to glomalin, a substance that fungi make and coat themselves with that helps them stick to the soil. Glomalin stays in the soil giving it texture long after the fungi die. The texture glomalin contributes prevents erosion and creates porosity that improves filtration and oxygenation of the soil. The increase in soil carbon is due to the fact that fungi have a higher C:N ratio than the nitrogen rich bacteria and so when they die they are the main contributors to stored soil organic carbon.

Six, J., Frey, S. D., Thiet, R. K., & Batten, K. M. (2006). Bacterial and fungal contributions to carbon sequestration in agroecosystems. Soil Science Society of America Journal, 70(2), 555-569

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Quotes, facts and research.

Have unwanted weeds in your garden?

June 13th is National Weed Your Garden Day!

Check out these Six Tips for Effective Weed Control.

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