Bokashi Part 2

Someone did say they sometimes use a spray of EM1 rather than bokashi.

They recommend only extending the EM1 once so it is probably better to use EM1 and molasses to make the bokashi. It takes only one cup of each plus water to make 50 lbs of bokashi.

As alwyas, Eric will let us know if this is not correct (or if it is).

katiebear

Actually, I spray with AEM if I run out of the bokashi bran.

doccat, activated EM or AEM refers to the extended EM solution that you make from the original stock bottle solution (or "mother culture"). I use the original stock solution plus water and molasses to make the bokashi "bran" (or grounds if using coffee). I use the AEM to water and spray on my plants (diluted), clean the bathtub, pour down the drains to keep them open, spritz the kitty litter after scooping, and to spray in the bucket with each addition of kitchen scraps if I've run out of the bran.

Ah ha! The light finally went on in me little brain. Now I get it....so I can use just the EM1 and the molasses and only add the bran if I want Bokashi bran then? Don't know why I am having such a hard time getting my mind around this.....I may have blockage? LOL

Sounds like you need some microbes to open the pipes! LOL!

LOL - if only it were that easy!

Too true, LOL

Activated EM1 is (for one gallon): 3/4 cup EM1 Microbial Inoculant, 3/4 cup molasses, and 116oz warm water. Mix in a plastic container with a screw on lid (fill to the top, or leave very little room in the container) and let sit in a warm place for 7-10 days.
People who make kambucha or beer are very familiar with the process.

Bokashi (50# bag): 3/4 Cup EM1 Microbial Inoculant, 3/4 cup molasses, 2-3 gallons water. I normally put in a large garbage bag and squeeze all the air out, tie, and let sit for a minimum of two weeks to ferment. I never bother with drying the bokashi before using it.

Bokashi simply means "fermented organic matter" in Japanese. When you use it for food waste recycling, you will often use a bucket to has a sieve in the bottom to collect the leachate. This leachate is loaded with enzymes, microbes, and various nutrients, making it a great plant food. It is used at a rate of 1 tsp per gallon of water and fed to plants usually once per week. Depending on how the foods you add to the bucket, there will be variables in the amount of liquid that is produced.

We are working on getting some videos of the entire process online.

(follow the directions for both these recipes on www.emamerica.com for details)

Thank you for the clear and concise directions, Eric. That really helps a lot!! ;O)

Okay, totally dumb question here:
For fertilizing my plants (indoor and outdoor) what's the difference between using my diluted bokashi-juice, or some EM innoculant (diluted)?
Does it just depend on what I have on hand, or is there a real difference?
Thanks in advance.

Hi Doc,
I hope that helped. I didn't realized it wasn't clear until I saw your post. Please do not hesitate to ask any questions. I have been at this since 1996, so I can forget a couple things along the way in explaining...especially in writing.

I think a lot of the EM Technology™ is hands-on. EM America will be working on designing some classes on this stuff. I have done a handful in the past and really enjoy speaking engagements about this.

Thanks again, Eric. For those of us who are just beginning it does get confusing. The subject is far more complex than appears on the surface. Frankly, I'm totally fascinated with the whole idea. I've passed the information along to a friend of mine who is part of the Friends of the Rapphanock River here. There are concerns about various contaminants getting into the watershed from run off in higher areas. I know they've been exploring additional ways to help combat this and I think using EM1 might be a solution to some of the problems.

The juice vs the EM1:
EM1 contains vitamins (B-complex and A), enzymes (all enzymes are produced by microbes), trace minerals (40 from molasses), and amino acids. Let's not forget that it also contains live microbes from three genus: Lactic Acid Bacteria, Yeast, and Photosynthetic Bacteria. It does not have significant nutrient value for plants. Therefore, some type of fertilizers are needed to feed both the microbes and the plants.

"The Juice" contains enzymes, microbes, trace minerals, amino acids, vitamins, nitrogen, potassium, phosphorus, and a variety of other nutrients from foods. It also has lots of carbon. The juice is not stable as it contains a high amount of organic matter and can spoil rather fast when exposed to air over an extended period of time. It is very concentrated and can burn plants when used in too high a concentration. It is often diluted at 1,000:1, or a teaspoon per gallon of water. It is usually applied only once per week. However, if you are in the habit of watering daily, just dilute at 7,000:1.

The juice, since it is loaded with microbes, can also be used to clean out drains, but its best use is as a fertilizer for plants. The fermentation makes the nutrients bio-available, meaning the plants can uptake them right away without any conversion process necessary. This is why there is such a tremendous growth response when it is used.

Let me know if this makes sense. Don't be shy in asking. I won't get upset that you're asking.
Eric

How does Boskahi work with or is it a moot point with products like Messenger? Which is being highly touted for roses and other plants. I think I understand how it works, sounds much like using vaccination on a human being. It evidently "fools" the plant into thinking it's being attacked and causes the plant to respond with an increase growth habit? Some of that I'm still not clear about. I have no hesitation about using both juice and the final product in, on and around my veggies, but I'm not too sure about the Messenger. They haven't convinced me it fits in with using organics and especially on food crops. The flowers aren't such an issue. I'm not a wild eye purist, but we have worked long and hard at using only organic methods on our crops, fruit and nut trees and I'd like to do that with my new flower beds as well. Anybody who says you cannot successful grow fruits and nuts organically is full of it. Yeah, manure. It does mean some extra work and you have to pay carefully attention to your growing season and the health of your trees. But it can be done! Getting off her soap box, now.....LOL

Here's a video on the Seto Inland Sea clean up in Japan:
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6597063111588271889&q=effective+microoranisms&total=29&start=20&num=10&so=0&type=search&plindex=5
This video show just some of the possibilities with this technology. River cleanup is fairly simple as EM•1® Microbial Inoculant can just be added to the river water. You do have to find the source(s) of the pollution and deal with them as well. EM•1® Microbial Inoculant is most effective when treating as far back in the system as possible, giving the microbes as much time as possible to do their work.

Thanks Eric, I'll pass it along. I'm a firm believer and donate to this group, as I truly believe in what their doing. I just haven't joined because I don't have the time to devote to this along with some of the other things I'm doing. I'm taking picture of my houseplants on B juice to my next Master Gardener meeting. That is called throwing a cat among the pigeons. Got a fair amount that don't do organics, because they are mainly growing flowers. A picture is worth a thousand words!! grin

Eric, we have a small pond and haven used fertillizer on the plants yet and I'd rather not. Can we substitute EM for fertilizer there and still have flowers? By small I mean 4' x 8', 14 inches deep.

Several years ago, I began staying away from products that come from "science" and solve problems that naturally-derived products handle just as well.

I looked at this stuff up here: http://gardening.about.com/od/gardenproblems/gr/Messenger.htm What bugs me is that the ingredients are not listed. They may be available through the manufacturer and/or on the packaging, but I didn't investigate too far.

Disease is caused by many things, most problems are caused by poor gardening practices. The Rodale Institute and ACRES USA have tons of information available for people to learn indicators and organic solutions.

Hi doc,
I don't see the fit in growing flowers and not doing it organically. I never had issues/problems with growing gorgeous organic gardens. Compost and bokashi (both made with EM1 Microbial Inoculant) were key components to this working... You can lead a horse to water....

A water pond...
EM1 Microbial Inoculant will help maintain water clarity. Nutrient needs for plants should be met. You will want to find the volume of the pond in gallons (or ounces if it is really small) and divide it by 10,000 to figure out the amount of EM•1 Microbial Inoculant you'll need on a monthly basis. It is safe for fish too.

It would actually be good to add some fish since their food and waste will be food for the plants.

I'm on the radio again with the Easy Organic Gardener, talking about Effective Microorganisms™.

I know that the chlorine in tap will not affect our product, EM1, but I cannot comment on other company's products.

I am working on setting up a bokashi-making workshop in Truth or Consequences, New Mexico on April 26th around 12 noon. We're still firming up the schedule and location.

We'll make Wheat bran and Rice Bran Bokashi and also show how to make a compost pile into a Bokashi pile. We haven't set a time, place, or price yet I should have more info tomorrow or Thursday.

Anyone nearby that would be interested in coming???
Eric

I wish I could afford it, I'd love to come :)

I'm Dmailing tucsonjill to see if she can make it to your Tucson Whole Foods demo.

This message was edited Apr 15, 2008 10:49 AM

GM,
The demo is in Tempe, not Tucson.

I will be teaching a Raw and Fermented Foods With EM•1® Microbial Inoculant course through Pima Community College on May 22. Registration is done through the college. I think the fee ifs $45.

I am planning on videotaping the bokashi thing and will have it up on Google Video soon after I get back and edit it.

Oh dear! Looks like I confused my T words.
Do you have a future demo scheduled for the Tucson area?

No, the Wild Oats store in Tucson have not totally converted to Whole Foods Markets yet so our products are not in there yet.

For you Texans, I will be at the World Wellness Weekend: http://www.worldwellness.org/Index.asp. I am going to have about 15 minutes to speak on the stage as well!

Later in the year, I will be at the Raw Spirit Festival in Sedona. I think it is in September...: http://www.rawspirit.com

Eric

hey Eric yours is during the day? or is it at night?

as the day passes don't let you get into the night stuff that starts t 8pm

I am not sure when I'll be going on. I will be going on with Rich Tyson. Rich is writing a book and will be presenting on various health and healing technologies. He recently learned of EM Technology™ and in love with it as he sees the far-reaching possibilities.

Eric noted:

The juice is better applied to the soil. It could possibly burn the leaves.

Thank you, Eric! I'll just mix up my batch and drench the soil around the plant.
But EM1 CAN be used as a foliar spray, right?

Yes, EM1 can be used as a foliar spray.

Has anyone used EM composting on a larger than kitchen scale? Right now, when we weed we use a two bucket system - pernicious in one bucket, compostible in the other - imperfect, but fairly accurate. But it leaves me with the problem of getting rid of the pernicious. I am assuming that I could put them to pickle, and render them compostible.

What I am thinking of doing is using an old water butt as a larger scale bokashi bin - it has a screw on lid, but I will have to lower the spigot and set up some sort of grid in the bottom (my bokashi bucket has this, and I am assuming it is necessary to keep the 'pickling material' out of the liquid). Would this work? And if so, how do I work out proportions of EM bran to green matter, and do you have any suggestions about setting this up?

Hoping you agree this would work - looking forward to your comments.

Laurie, you may want to consider making an EM fermented plant extract from the pernicious weeds. This will pickle the weeds to the point they will not sprout and give you a plant extract that can be used as fertilizer.

You can download a free copy of the APNAN Manual booklet from the link below. That will give you the recipe for the plant extract as well as information on other larger scale applications.
http://www.apnan.org/EM_Application.htm

We use both the Happy Farmer bucket with a strainer at the bottom, and a regular 5 gallon building contrators bucket with no strainer. Both seem to work as well. The Happy Farmer bucket with the spigot does provide the option of drawing off the innoculated leachate to use as a liquid plant food, but the other ordinay bucket works just as well in terms of pickling the Bokashi. Your old water butt will probably work just fine. Please do post photos if you convert it.

I have a similar problem because I have lots of sawdust to compost. I have been trying in regular buckets without a grid and spigot just because I didn't want to spend the time putting all that together. I always do things the hard way.:) Now I have a paint bucket (cleaned out) with a hole in the bottom of the side and a faucet like you would use on the outside of the house for a hose. There is a llittle screen thingy on the faucet to get any particles missed by the other screen inside the bucket. But I haven't come up with the grid yet. I have nylon screening I can use, but I need something stiff to support it and something to hold the screen off the bottom of the bucket. I hope this all makes sense.

GM it seems like the solids waiting to be composted would clog the drain and you wouldn't be able to get the juice out. Is that not a problem?

I was just concerned that my Bokashi bucket says to continue to draw off the leachate during the fermenting process - which seems to imply that its best not to let it sit in its own juices. So I thought I would improvise a grid system and move the spigot down to allow me to do that.

I will print out the manual GM has given the reference to, and will 'go boldly forth' into that Bokashi world - I just hate wasting good weeds!

I think they tell you to drain off the juices because it's awesome fertilizer, not because it's not good to leave it in the bucket.

LOL about "wasting good weeds". According to what I've read, it's pretty hard to mess it up.

many thanks silverfluter (musician?) - having reread the initial instructions about it going wrong, the idea of having an enormous water butt full of putrfying semi pickled weed just slowed me down abit.