Vermiculture worms are best fertilizers for potted house plants. Those small, crawling creatures, which have been disgusting many people since time immemorial, are actually very helpful when it comes to keeping good health and spurring growth of plants. These times, you can generate significant savings from scrapping the need to spend for commercial fertilizers and for services of professional horticulturists and gardeners. If you are keeping house plants as a hobby, you should by this time understand why and how earthworms can be of good assistance to your endeavor.

The use of earthworms for cultivation and maintenance of house plants can be traced back to ancient history. In old Egypt, earthworms were used to boost productivity and fertility of food-producing soil, especially around Nile River, which is noted in history as the cradle and site of early agricultural civilization. From Egypt, the use of earthworms as soil fertilizers spread like fire to Europe and eventually to the rest of the Western civilizations.

In addition, the use of earthworms for potted plants or house plants is a very clear example of how local ecology could benefit from introduction of foreign species of organisms. Did you know that in North America, earthworms were not thriving abundantly until potted plants with earthworms and vermiculture worms were shipped from Europe? A little bit of trivia: Most native earthworms in the region died from the onset of the last Ice Age, about 70,000 years ago.

The US Department of Agriculture has also been coming out with studies about house plants and earthworms. Several findings indicate that presence of earthworm castings in potted house plants is a usual factor necessary for productivity and optimal growth of such plants. Researches commissioned by the agency have been highlighting improved growth of house plants if alive or even dead earthworms are added to the potted soil.