Product Recipes
For ongoing health management of food crops, gardens, and lawns, I generally end up coming back to the same formulas. Granted, I often do a soil test once a year and use specific products until I have the nutrient ratios balanced and I also play around with refractometers and other fun tools to zero in on the most important products to be using at any given time, but for day to day optimization of health, I often use the same basic recipes. I've outlined them below.
Which products to use?
Choosing which products to use can be a daunting task. They all look so interesting, and many of them seem to be fairly similar. If you've read my product recipes article, you'll have seen that I use them all, because they all bring distinct and incredible benefits (that's why I sell them), but I'd like to summarize here the key differences between them for those who want to start with just a couple of products.
Making Activated EM (AEM)
Effective Microorganisms (EM) can be activated so that you end up with approximately 20 times the original amount. This is definitely not necessary, but it is often done to save money. It also helps to awaken dormant microbes. Application rates are the same either way.
All about Bokashi
What is bokashi?
Bokashi is traditionally a fermented substrate such as rice bran or wheat bran, but it can also be made with many other kinds of waste materials such as sawdust, manure, other grain scraps, etc. It is fermented (kind of pickled) by mixing it with effective microorganisms (EM). It has traditionally been done to make use of the above waste materials, which are transformed into the some of most incredibly beneficial organic matter possible for the garden.
Products in Composting
Almost all of my products are excellent to incorporate into compost, but there are a few that come to mind as being at the top of the list. They will not necessarily make a poorly built compost into a good compost, but they can greatly increase the speed of decomposition and improve the final product:
Video 1 - Activating EM
This is a video that shows you how to activate your EM.
Video 2 - Biostimulants
In the following video, I discuss the most important biostimulants.
Compost Tea Videos
Here are some videos through a microscope of compost tea made with my compost. They were made by Tim Wilson, who has more longer, narrated videos on his website, www.microbeorganics.com.