A one-year experiment was carried out in a greenhouse where a maize–tomato–maize cycle was planted in containers with and without earthworms. Our hypotheses were that (i) vermicompost amendments lead to increased plant growth compared to the application of compost and chemical fertilization and that this effect is constant over time earthworm development is higher with compost than vermicompost, due to the chemical stabilization of vermicompost earthworm activity will improve plant growth and yield