Recipe For Making Your Own Effective Micro-organisms

Here is the recipe for Effective Micro-organisms we heard about from Ron Berezan at the last meeting. If you missed the meeting come next month when Kitty Clemens will be talking about Bokashi which also uses EM. Ron will be talking about Biochar again at the next Homesteading Workshop at the end of March.

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A Recipe for Home-made EM

EM (Effective Micro-organism) is a beneficial microbial inoculant with a wide range of beneficial uses for soil, plant, animal, and human health. Originally developed in Japan, the formula for EM has been protected as “proprietary information” for many years. However, small farmers in Central America and other parts of the world have discovered how to make EM from locally occurring populations of beneficial microbes, particularly the facultative anaerobic bacteria and yeasts found on the surfaces of decaying leaves on the forest floor. This recipe comes from Cuba where EM (known there as “Micro-organismo Efficiente”) has undergone extensive research, trials and popularization amongst the campesino population.

For a 5 Gallon batch:

Gather together:  

• one 5 gallon pail of diverse leaf litter from a local forest (at varying stages of decay)
• approximately 3-4 Kg of oatmeal, or chopped straw, or rice husks or other fine carbon material
• 1-2 litres of non-pasturized milk or 750 ml of plain yogurt
• 1-2 litres of molasses

Mix all of the above ingredients together on a sidewalk or other smooth surface. Add non-chlorinated water (ie rain water) to the mix until it holds together well in a ball but does not ooze out when squeezed. Pack firmly into a five gallon pail filling right to the top. If you have extra space, add newspaper or balled up plastic bags to make sure no air is present. Seal the lid on the bucket firmly.

DO NOT DISTURB FOR 20-30 DAYS.

After 20-30 days, open the bucket. It should smell very yeasty and earthy. Now create the “mother batch of EM” by adding 1 part of the mixture to 5 parts non-chlorinated water into another bucket. (The solid mixture can put in a burlap bag suspended in the water). Stir in .5 parts molasses and .5 parts yogurt or milk to activate the batch. Leave for another 2-3 days. The liquid can then be further diluted with 3 parts water to 1 part mother batch. If you have not used a burlap bag when making the mother batch, strain the liquid before applying it. Apply in a watering can, spray bottle or through a low-pressure sprayer. Left over solids can be added to the garden or into the compost.

Here is the link for building your own biochar burner.

http://www.biochar-international.org/sites/default/files/1G_Toucan_TLUD_for_Biochar.pdf