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There are easy ways to add microbes to your soil that won't break the bank and instead are extremely effective. All it takes is a trip into nature and using your observation skills to find these microbes. There are a few different ways to collect microbes, including putting out a collection box using cooked rice and letting it sit for a few days to allow the microbes to colonize the rice. JADAM teaches a simpler version of this that may be easier and a little more timely. JADAM teaches collecting Leaf Mold, which is decomposed leafs. This litter is covered in microbes. The leaf mold is your starting material and your inoculate for the rest of the process. Mixing this leaf mold with some minerals, food for the microbes and water, in a container, brings the birth of JADAM Microbial Solution, also known as JMS. JMS is an anaerobic solution using leaf mold, as the inoculate, in the absence of air. This makes the process extremely cost effective because it does not require a bunch of equipment and can be done anywhere. All you will need is a container, water, potatoes, seawater or sea salt, a few other things we will discuss later and a few days. Some people ask, ‘what about the bad microbes or all the anaerobic microbes,’ JADAM doesn't believe in a dualistic approach like most modern approaches, where there is a line dividing good and bad. JADAM believes microbes are all workers and they work together. Instead of narrowing the pool of microbes we can expand them and incorporate all, because different microbes may have an impact on different nutrients that are available. “Good and Bad,” is something we have created, and in nature microbes live in balance, all the microbes we consider bad are there and yet, they do not cause us problems until things become imbalanced. Even to much “good,” can cause problems when not in balance. Lets talk a little bit about what you will need and how to make JMS Materials
*JADAM also provides in his book the measurements of all these ingredients to make bigger batches. For most home gardeners and small scale gardens 4 gallons of concentrated JMS will be diluted 1:10, making 40 gallons of applicable solution. Step by step
Sit back and let the microbes do their magic and colonize the water using the minerals in the seawater and potatoes as food. There are other food sources you can use, but potatoes help maintain an even pH, without lowering it like sugar may. How do you know when its ready?Keep an eye on the bucket, it may take a few tries until you are able to dial in the timing perfectly for your garden. You will want to use it when the activity reaches its peak, you will see the bubbles continue to grow. This will give you about a 12 hour window to use the solution. JMS does not keep well, so use it all up. During the winter the bubbles will be smaller and during the summer it will seem more active. You want to use the solution before the foam circle that forms breaks. Application rates-Dilute JMS 1:10 for soil drenching -JMS can be used undiluted in areas that do not have plants, but will burn roots of established plants if used this way, due to the extremely high numbers of microbes. -Use JMS when preparing soil, before planting or as your planting. JMS can also be used during transition into fruiting to help make nutrients available for your crop. -JMS can also be used weekly to help maintain soil health. Just remember that your JMS will only be as diverse as your leaf mold. Helpful videos
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Fish Amino Acids, known as FAA, in the natural farming community is a fermented fish product that pulls from knowledge of ancient farming practices. For hundreds of years farmers and Native Americans would bury fish around the outer edges of the drip line of plants and saw amazing results after the microbes in the soil broke down the fish. FAA is created in the spirit of many ancient technique. Unlike fish emulsion, this has everything in it. FAA is created by taking fish waste, all the parts we don't eat and fermenting it with brown sugar for at least 6 months. The fish slowly breaks down in those 6 months and becomes more micronized with age, which means it gets better with age. Ideally we would use deep sea water fish. Natural Farming incorporates the use of indigenous microorganisms (IMO) (Park and DuPonte 2008) and fish amino acid (FAA) to increase N availability in soils and improve crop yields while sustaining water quality (Weinert et al. 2014).
How to use FAADuring Vegetative growth this can be applied through foliar spray or soil drench. During flower do not apply using foliar if you're growing a smokeable product (edible food is ok). If your plant looks sick, use it sparingly, remember just like us when we are sick, we don't like to eat heavy food. This can be sprayed or added to a drench solution weekly to biweekly for best results. Avoid spraying during full sunshine, as this may cause the plant to burn. FAA is best applied later in the day or early in the morning. Application Rates
ConsiderationsIf your plant is “fat or overgrown” then go lighter on the FAA because it seems that amino acids and nitrogen are not needed at the time. If your plant is “skinny” consider adding more FAA to help fatten the plant. We are ultimately looking for balance in nutrition. With natural farming less is more. We are not working on feeding the plant, we are feeding the microbes and giving them the tools they need to help grow a successful crop. This supplement can be used during flower as needed. This is where you take your mindful eye as an observer and observe your plants in their environment to see what they may need more or less of. How to make it yourselfThe idea behind natural farming, is you as the farmer taking back the power of not relying on others or products to produce quality food or medicine. This is why we are helping by spreading the information that was shared with us. Farming should not be expensive, so making these products on your own can be cost effective in the long term. We carry a limited stock of FAA for those that want to get started right away without waiting a year. To make Fish Amino Acids you only need a few ingredients. (1)FISH (we use fish waste collected from fisherman or fish processing locations to aid in reducing waste). (2)Brown sugar. (3)IMO4 (or any IMO you have on hand). (4)OHN (which can be purchased from us if you don't have any made yet) (5) Time! This will ferment for 6months - 1 year, the longer the better up to a year. (6) Bucket with a lid, or any other closeable container. (6) LOVE, the most important ingredient in natural farming. HOW TO MAKE IT (1) Collect you supplies. (2) Weigh your fish. (3) Weigh out equal weight brown sugar to fish. (4) Mix fish and brown sugar into bucket. (5) Add a splash of OHN (don't ask how much, just add a little). (6) Sprinkle of IMO (this will help with the break down of the fish and reduce any smell). (7) Top with small layer of brown sugar to aid with smell. (8) Close the container and forget about it for at least 6 months. (9) After 6months you can begin pulling the liquid. (Pulling liquid prior to this would not be beneficial as you will only get liquid that was pulled out of the fish by osmotic pressure and not the fermentation). (10) Strain, bottle and use as needed. How to videos that may be helpful |
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