EUGENE, Ore. – There is some new cutting edge science helping plants grow stronger and faster, and it all stems from worm poop.
It’s now being primarily used in the marijuana industry here in Eugene, and soon to be all over the Pacific Northwest.
Joseph Walker, who is originally from Junction City, has spent more than 4,000 hours perfecting his worm poop fertilizer formula. Along the way, he has won several awards and is getting national attention.
“I never thought I would make my living off worm poop, but you just never know,” said Walker. “You just have to take what comes to you and run with it.”
He is a 22-year-old entrepreneur, student and worm guru. Walker is the founder and CEO of Omni Earth, an organic worm-castings fertilizer company.
The BYU student initially started his research while working for a lawn care company, seeing drastic results from this fertilizer.
“I read books on the subject, research articles from all over the world, interviewed PhD’s of biology, of world sciences,” said Walker. “I even took two part time jobs as a soil analysis technician to really dig deep, pun intended.”
“On average, each client saved about 80,000 gallons of water per lawn, which, as a visual, that is a standard size swimming pool,” said Walker.
At that time, Walker began to start thinking of what markets could benefit from an organic fertilizer, immediately thinking of his home state of Oregon and the rapidly growing marijuana market.
Doron Fletcher is a marijuana grower consultant, and has been using the product for a few months now.
“The best thing that we have found so far that is morally on the right page, and get great results,” said Fletcher. “I’m really hoping the flood gates will break open and as the worms keep doubling their population, I will really start to provide some pretty large suppliers.”
Walker will be flying to Texas next year to compete for the “Global Student Entrepreneur Award” against other students around the country.
credit:cwlasvegas.com