Can Someone Explain The Science Behind Em?

[WtFugarwe]

EM is, in the final analysis, concentrated compost tea. The benefit of compost tea as opposed to regular compost is that plants drink their food through their roots, and foliar application can build resistance to blght.<BR><BR>The value of the compost tea lies in its microbes. EM is anerobic, and microbes require an aerobic environment to survive.<BR><BR>I have always made my own compost tea, adding sugar after a day of leaching and using a small aquarium pump to aerate. The addition of the sugar (some friends use molasses) provides a food source for the microbes and their population explodes. I then use as a soil drench.<BR><BR>How ini the owrld can EM work if it has no living microbes?????

[IsaanAussie]

Got to disagree. I am no scientist so stand to be corrected but IMHO you have things backwards. EM is not like compost tea and has a high density of microrganic life. When you buy it, it is stored effectively anaerobically and is inert and is activated when opened and fed.

If your compost is bacterial then even as a tea it will do little for the roots system as it is the fungal organisms that attach to the roots and improve the uptake of nutrients. Bacterial compost gives the best foliar spray results. One thing that should be noted is you really cant harm much with any of the good guy microbes. The only test to tell the difference that you need is smell. If it smells bad then is probably is, recompost it.

There is a lot of excellent background material posted here that may clarify things for you.

Isaan Aussie

[WtFugarwe]

COuld you post the link on Em? I appreciate your response.

Here is my concern: Scroll to the bottom

http://www.finegardening.com/how-to/articles/brewing-compost-tea.aspx

[IsaanAussie]

COuld you post the link on Em? I appreciate your response.

Here is my concern: Scroll to the bottom

http://www.finegarde...ompost-tea.aspx

WTFAW,

I have posted the link to a local EM manual in the topic EM - What is it.

Sorry but I am not sure I understand what your problem is. Glad to add what I can if you can be more specific.

I had a quick look at your reference site and the only thing that I find it doesnt deal with is the volume of air being pumped into the brew. The article focuses on bacterial teas which is fine. I find that fungal teas are very useful for soil drenchs here to prevent a lot of collar rot and root problems. Generally a balanced tea will work in most instances. You can effect the balance by adding sugars for bacteria and proteins for fungus. The best advice your article gives is follow your nose.

One more suggestion is to consider the soil that you have. Mine is basically the result of rice farming. Typically been introduced as landfill. When the rice is flooded the air is excluded from the soil and recent studies I have read suggest that this eliminates microbial activity. There are still nutrients in the soil but not much life. IMHO compost will correct this for gardening purposes.

Isaan Aussie