Do you need worms

[rary]

I have a wormery and usually chop up any vegetable waste from the kitchen and add it in, but this morning I used a hand blender, and once I was finished it looked very like the material I remove once it has went through the worms, so what do the worms do to the material that the blender doesn't?

[Mr Bones]

A worms digestive system works using bacteria which find their way into the worm casts. The bacteria in the casts are in turn used by plants as food (dead bacteria I think but I could be wrong). Worm casts are three times (or more) nutritious to plants than than before it passed through the worm.
That's how I understand it.

[Jay-ell]

You'll have to experiment and find out. Two sets of identical plants in the same conditions one fed with worm castings and one fed with the blended stuff and a third set fed with neither as a control to compare against

Next year using the same beds another three sets of identical plants this time none of them fed with either just to see if the soils have changed or improved with either treatment.

[Jungle Jane]

Worm castings have been researched luckily we can find out loads online or in books! This is interesting~
Building on previous research conducted by Professor Eric Nelson's research group in the Department of Plant Pathology and Plant-Microbe Biology, Ph.D. student Allison Jack has shown that beneficial microbes in vermicompost can colonize a seed's surface and protect it from infection by releasing a substance that interferes with the chemical signaling between the host and the pathogen.
"We know the microbes are actually adding something the zoospores don't like," Jack said. "Now we just have to find out what it is."
Worm compost can suppress plant disease, regulate nutrients, research finds | Cornell Chronicle

[ESBkevin]

Yes the worm casts have the added bacteria etc. which is readily absorbed by plants. It should be kept moist so it survives storage. Old and dried out castings are less effective.

I sometimes use a blender on my scraps before feeding the worms, it's easier for them to eat since they have little mouths. They also require some grit or sand to grind the food inside.

[rary]

You'll have to experiment and find out. Two sets of identical plants in the same conditions one fed with worm castings and one fed with the blended stuff and a third set fed with neither as a control to compare against

Next year using the same beds another three sets of identical plants this time none of them fed with either just to see if the soils have changed or improved with either treatment.

I don't have the ground space for trying that Jay-ell but I might try it in pots though from the answers provided it shows that there are major benefits for using worm cast, so thanks for the replies folks