The Effen Gee said:
Earthworms that ingest insect matter create an enzyme called kieten*. This enzyme breaks down the hard carapice of insects for digestion. Humand cannot detect the enzyme. Plants "smell like" kieten, insects wont EVER go near your plants. The enzyme is delivered to the castings via a mucus membrane that is left on the casting during excretion.
Man, you were in the right neighborhood...I'm a researcher and you gave me enough to find the rest.
Here it is:
Chitinases are digestive enzymes that break down glycosidic bonds in chitin. Chitin is a tough horny material, (a nitrogenous polysaccharide), which forms the exoskeleton of an insect.
From Donald W. Trotter, Ph.D., Chitinase is a degrading enzyme that eats the material chitin. Here is the fun part.pest insects are made of chitin. Chitinase is formed by several types of microorganisms that are found in the gut of the humble earthworm.
Chitinase producing organisms are theorized to be taken up by plant roots in the water they utilize and are then moved throughout the plant via vascular tissue.
This translocation results in chitinase being distributed into the leaves and other parts of the plant.
When a pest insect such as an aphid, mealybug, whitefly, or any other plant-feeding insect begins taking juices from a plant with chitinase in it they find out the hard way what chitin degrading means.
The chitinase works to dissolve the insect's stomach lining thus disabling the pest.
It dies from the fact that its insides are being slowly dissolved.
There can be no more effective way to control pest insects on plant that this method because insect pests cannot change what material makes up their bodies.
It's very difficult in nature to develop resistance to things that eat you.
Also:
By Authors: Sinha R.K.; Herat S.; Agarwal S.; Asadi R.; Carretero E.
Source: The Environmentalist, Volume 22, Number 3, September 2002 , pp. 261-268(8)
The practice of vermiculture is at least a century old but it is now being revived worldwide with diverse ecological objectives such as waste management, soil detoxification and regeneration and sustainable agriculture.
Earthworms act in the soil as aerators, grinders, crushers, chemical degraders and biological stimulators. They secrete enzymes, proteases, lipases, amylases, cellulases and chitinases which bring about rapid biochemical conversion of the cellulosic and the proteinaceous materials in the variety of organic wastes which originate from homes, gardens, dairies and farms.
The process is odour free because earthworms release coelomic fluids in the decaying waste biomass which has anti-bacterial properties which kills pathogens.
Earthworm action was shown to enhance natural biodegradation and decomposition of wastes (60–80 percent under optimum conditions), thus significantly reducing the composting time by several weeks. Within 5 to 6 weeks, 95–100 percent degradation of all cellulosic materials was achieved. Even hard fruit and egg shells and bones can be degraded, although these may take longer.
And last, but not least:
From: "What Are Worm Castings and Why Are They Beneficial?" by George Hahn
Testing has shown that several microorganisms found in worm castings work as effective repellants for a large array of insects. A key element for insect repellency is the level of chitinase-producing organisms.
Chitinase is an enzyme that will dissolve chitin. The exoskeleton of bugs is made of chitin [so obviously they don't want to hang out where their skeletons will get dissolved!].
Bugs have various detection mechanisms to determine the level of chitinase in plants and soil. Once the chitinase level is high enough, they will leave the area. Worm castings test with a very high level of chitinase-producing organisms.
Also, some elements in worm castings are able to activate the chitinase-producing organisms found inside plants. Once triggered, these organisms multiply to a level that can be detected by the insects.
The repellency effectiveness has been tested and confirmed for white fly, aphids, spider mites and various other bugs.
