I had been reading about EM or effective microbe in gardening and it seems to be good. I was just wandering if it is that good why has it not really catch on in the farming or gardening world ... I maybe be wrong. EM is also the main component in Bokashi composting. Anyone here use EM in your plants?
I had to look up EM and I found out it is a anaerobic fermentation of certain micro organisms. EM is also a brand name. I do not use EM or one of the rival products. I brew my own microbial mix. I however usually use compost or especially lombricompost to brew aerobic bacterias to inoculate my plants and feed my soil.
Hiya KK-- I used EM for two years and applied it topically as well as the root-feed method. I imagined that I noticed a small degree of enhancement, both to the plants and their harvestable products. In my experiment I did not deem the improvement remarkable enough to continue.
Sorry for the late reply, I was a little to busy organizing a trip and did not check in often enough. Odif, I'm sorry that I did not add a link to explain what effective microbe - EM is. From what you mentioned I think what you meant is compost tea, right? Thanks for your comment. Thanks for your translation Fatbaldguy. Sjoerd, thank you for your personal experience input, most appreciated. I guess I'll give this a pass!
Well KK--there is no harm in experimenting yourself. You have different plants, soil and weather than here. You could do a double blind study and see what you think.
Oh! OK did not thought of it that way, will give it a try after I come back from our Japan trip. In the mean time I'll start my brew.
Yes KK I brew compost tea. This year is the first year that I brewed compost tea, I have used it twice and I am very impressed with the results. I researched EM a bit and one of the main ingredients is lactobacillus. I came accross an interesting article about lactobacillus and bees.The article stated that bees, before chemical farming and monoculture, when collecting pollen also collected bacterias (specifically lactobaccilus) which help in the breakdown of the pollen. So EM may also have a beneficial effect on bees.
I was going to say,KK--that not only did I use the EM on seedlings and adult plants but i also regularly dumped a beker-full on my compost pile. I imagined that I saw some signs of activation. I was not sure, but I did that for two years anyway. I wish that the results were more noticeable. I still throw my comfrey and nettle tea on the compost from time to time...if that activates it or not is questionable; however having said that, the minerals that this tea has really does make the compost very rich for my plants. That was a good observation that Odif has.
Thanks for the info Odif. Yes I understand that compost tea is beneficial for the garden but I had never used it. I only use compost in my mini farm and because of the warm and humid weather here the compost breaks down quite fast. With the compost as a mix in the ground and as a mulch I guess that should be adequate. But if there is some way to make the compost richer and keep the earth alive then it would be interesting. Sjoerd thanks for the info about your compost pile. Yes I think that would be helpful since the EM is used in Bokashi Composting but it is a totally different concept totally. Anyway I'm going to try. I'm starting the EM on a diy basis by following this site http://theunconventionalfarmer.com/recipes/lactobacillus-serum/ but I am having difficulty in getting connected to this site. Anyway most of the sites are doing it the same way. Keeping my fingers crossed ...
I started my comfry last fall for making compost tea. it is a teeny tiny clump at this point, but I sure hope it spreads quickly. I hope the full sun spot that can be rather dry is a great spot.... I also bought a blend of bacterias and a mycorhyzoria dip this Spring to try.
Good for you KK---I shall be VERY interested in discovering your results. Great news Carolyn--I hope that you will have noticeable improved results with these things you are going to try. Please keep me posted on your observations.
Carolyn, maybe they could have decided to terminate their site and move on to elsewhere like facebook. If you are interested you can watch this