[ThaiPhoon]

EM is effective micro organisms. Basically a group of synergistic microbes in a bottle. EM can be sprayed onto plants and soil(when properly diluted) to increase the concentration on beneficial microbes. EM can be used to create fermentations of various mixtures of organic wastes. Bokashi is a japanese term for fermented matter. EM is used to make this bokashi. There are some recipes in this thread and many more info can easily be found using Google.

[jaykush]

Is it the microorganisms that were laready inhabiting the fruits? Or are you using the fruit to create conditions that favor certain micro-organisms??

there are probly some in the materials used as almost any material has microbes on it or in it. but the EM are specifically bred microbes. i know yarrow and nettles have beneficials in them already so thats why i started with them.

ive NEVER done this method with fruit. so i dont know what to expect. a lot of the nutrients in plant matter are water soluble. the same doesnt go with a chunk of pineapple. ive made pineapple extract but a different technique was used.

[sophisto]

Originally Posted by jaykush

there are probly some in the materials used as almost any material has microbes on it or in it. but the EM are specifically bred microbes. i know yarrow and nettles have beneficials in them already so thats why i started with them.

ive NEVER done this method with fruit. so i dont know what to expect. a lot of the nutrients in plant matter are water soluble. the same doesnt go with a chunk of pineapple. ive made pineapple extract but a different technique was used.

What method was that?

[G33k Speak]

Thanx for the replies, let me ask it a different way.

I understand EM = essential micr-org's.... but every receipe I find for "brewing EM' seems to include the step of 'adding EM' , which seems to predispose me to possesing EM.

so, Q's:
1)Do I have to buy a 'seed' culture so I can start my little brew factory?
OR.. can I make my own EM mix/culture from what I have on hand?

2) Is everyone's EM pretty much the same? or are there different 'EM's??
someone mention 3 componet mix versus the standard 5.

I started a lacto b cuture today from the instructions here, but I wanted to clarify a point on it- is it soley the wash water?? or do you leave any of the rice in the mixture? I ask because the recipe mention the rice bran.

Thanx again for the help.

[sophisto]

Originally Posted by G33k Speak

Thanx for the replies, let me ask it a different way.

I understand EM = essential micr-org's.... but every receipe I find for "brewing EM' seems to include the step of 'adding EM' , which seems to predispose me to possesing EM.

so, Q's:
1)Do I have to buy a 'seed' culture so I can start my little brew factory?
OR.. can I make my own EM mix/culture from what I have on hand?

2) Is everyone's EM pretty much the same? or are there different 'EM's??
someone mention 3 componet mix versus the standard 5.

I started a lacto b cuture today from the instructions here, but I wanted to clarify a point on it- is it soley the wash water?? or do you leave any of the rice in the mixture? I ask because the recipe mention the rice bran.

Thanx again for the help.

I plan on straining it like they suggested. Rice bran left over could be good for use in a tea afterwards maybe? Fungal food source??

[jaykush]

What method was that?

its in this thread. you posted it. bionutrients. it seems more suitable for more solid or chunky materials. ive only used plant matter i crushed and ripped into tiny pieces for FPE's. most nutrients in plant matter are water soluble.

[ThaiPhoon]

G33k Speak: yah man you need to get the EM culture - unless you are able to cultivate all of the microbes yourself? I dunno, but for me its easy to buy the EM...a little goes a LONG way!
Where I am there are 2 types of EM one is the one invented by Dr. Higa from Japan, that carries the official EM logo. The other is made here in Thailand at the Kyusei nature farm. It is made the same way. The Thai brand is half the price of the Imported stuff! Both work well. I would look for an EM logo usually a green circle with a bunch of smaller ones around it. I'm sure a google image search would help ya out...I know that in Canada it is sold under the brand name Biosa...There are many different concoctions that can be brewed from EM including high antioxidant health drinks! I think the eminfo webpage contains that info...

[G33k Speak]

Many thanx Thaiphoon-

so what do I ask for when I go to my local Asian stores??

The clerks don't always have the best Engrish, and I'm not sure how to getsture for 'essential mirco-organisms.

Onne last Q- is there a difference in the version for people, as opposed to the plant nutrient?? or is all the same??

Can I use the beverage version as my starter culture??

Thanx again!!

[G33k Speak]

"Using the ordinary to cultivate the mysterious power of beneficial indigenous microorganisms
Like a cut-rate magician, Philippine farmer and scientist Gil Carandang teaches farmers how to use cheap vodka, generic brown sugar, milk, rice and local soil to harness local microorganisms as invisible workhorses on their farms.

By Lisa M. Hamilton


Gil Carandang: Full-time farmer, Fulbright scholar, and passionate advocate for empowering farmers to harness the indigenous life of the soil right on their farms.



Who wouldn’t be suspicious? Right from the get-go this workshop is promising cure-all concoctions that bring new life to everything they touch. The potions work in ways that are difficult to explain and impossible to actually see. The man conducting the affair is fast-talking and charismatic—he even lives in a far-off land. The whole thing smells like snake oil.

Here’s the catch: Gil Carandang, this crafty man from the Philippines, is not trying to sell us anything. In fact, he wants us to buy as little as possible—that’s the point of this seminar. The lesson that’s officially on the agenda is the same as the event’s formal title: “Cultivating Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms.” But what’s really being taught here, the true objective, is the empowerment of farmers.

By learning how to cultivate microorganisms, growers become able to meet their needs with what exists on the farm and can stop buying amendments from chemical companies (purveyors who, some might argue, are the real peddlers in modern farming). The technology was born of ingenuity, but it has spread by financial necessity, primarily among farmers in developing countries for whom agricultural chemicals are painfully expensive....:

from the Rodale people!! cool article.

dub dub dub dot newfarm.org/features/0404/microorgs/index.shtml

[jaykush]

hey g33k speak, that info is posted here multiple times, but its all good. a nice read for sure.

this is my favorite part
“It’s ten dollars,” Carandang says, “but you don’t need to buy it. Just make your own. I guarantee it will be better.”

also a few parts i think need mentioning.
"Last year, I saw Dierks’ brews as they came to life in his potting shed. They weren’t pretty, mostly soupy brown liquids in jugs and buckets, but the life inside them was astonishing. He went to give me a smell of one, labeled “Root Brew,” only to find the bottle cap had been sealed on by liquid seeping out from inside. He wrenched the plastic bottle between his hands, pulled, and bang! The cap popped off and liquid exploded all over the shed.

We stood there for a moment, our bare arms and faces and shirts brown and wet, Dennis holding what had become a sated volcano, calm but still dribbling out lava. “If this were chemicals we would be totally poisoned right now,” he said, “not to mention out of a lot of money. But that’s the beauty of it. Instead, your skin feels soft. It feels alive. And it’s free. I haven’t been this excited about farming for 25 years.”"

when doing all of my fpes i MAKE SURE to poke some holes in the top of the bottle i use. i am also a victim of the exploding bottle. mine was with compost tea, but still the same goes with fpe. if you are making them you will notice bubbles, now i dont know what they are made of they are some sort of gas im guessing. well in a sealed bottle you can only guess what happens next. compost tea or FPE is not a nice thing to get in your face and mouth, but the good thing is like the article said, ITS FREE! or at least cost pennies at most.

i also like this which is crazy stuff! shows how awesome lacto is. for outdoor growers the benefits would be massive from this. plus i love foliar spraying.
"Similarly, when sprayed on plants, L. bacilli will digest the biomass on the leaves and stems—dust, for instance, or mud—thus making that free food available to its host."



on another note my fpe's of dandelion(doesnt smell as good as yarrow) and yarrow are done. time to add them to the compost pile, some plants and the veggie garden. and smoke some sun rips!!