Differences in Soil pH

Many of us are familiar with the general pH designations of acidic and basic when it comes to general science. What some of us might not know is how pH levels can drastically affect the health of plants and vegetation. The optimum range for most vegetation is between 5.5 and 7.0 on the Hydrogen scale, but plants can survive on both ends of the pH spectrum. Let’s review the differences between the two and discuss what sort of nutrients are present in each type of soil.

Plants need nutrients to grow. Nutrients needed in higher concentrations are called macronutrients and include things like nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, and calcium. Nutrients needed in lesser amounts are called micronutrients and include elements like iron, manganese, zinc, and copper.

Acidic soil is widespread throughout the United States due to the fact that most regions in the U.S. receive rainfall year-round in varying levels. As such, most crops do better in slightly acidic soils. Acidic soils are chock full of higher concentrations of micronutrients, but will have a difficult time absorbing potassium, calcium, and nitrates.

Basic (alkaline) soil is found more in areas of the United States that receive less rain on average. Basic soils more heavily feature macronutrients such as the ones listed above, and plants growing in more basic soils will have a difficult time absorbing iron or zinc, for example.

So what happens if you want to grow basic plants in acidic soil or vice versa? Luckily, there are some modifications you can make to the soil. Before anything, get your soil tested professionally or purchase a simple pH testing kit. To increase the pH of your soil (make it more neutral or basic) you can try adding firewood ashes, ground oyster shells, or the most common method of adding ground lime. Ground lime comes pre-ground as an agricultural additive and should be available through the proper retailers.

 

Soils in the southwest can be as high as 9. These high pH soils are loaded with micronutrients, but have nearly no organic matter. Organic matter helps increase moisture retention, nutrient exchange, and biological activity. To lower pH in alkaline soils you can apply acids in liquid or powder form (short–lived effects) or you can increase organic matter(long-term effects) by applying compost, cover cropping, and crop rotation.

An incorrect pH for the plants you are trying to grow doesn’t mean the end of your gardening days. With a few basic modifications to your soil base and some careful planning, maintaining a soil pH will be the least of your worries and you’ll produce strong, healthy plants.

Teraganix is the official EM Technology distributor of North America. From micronutrient fertilizer and garden soil conditioning to probiotic supplements, EM-1 is a new wave of organic technology with a myriad of applications and useful properties for personal and widespread use.

Start a Red Worm Farm - Let Worms Do Your Dirty Work!

What is a Worm Farm & How Can I Use Worms for Composting?
Worm farming, also known as vermiculture, is a method of utilizing worms for composting foods and other organic materials to create nutrient rich fertilizers or hummus. When worms eat the organic materials they excrete waste that is rich in fertile nutrients essential for a healthy garden. Vermiculture is different from most aerobic composting because it can be done inside and it produces a higher quality fertilizer than traditional kitchen composting methods.
 
How do I Raise Worms? Getting Started with Worm Farming
All successful worm farms start with a good worm bin. You can purchase a worm bin online, or simply create your own. When you create your own there are a few easy steps that you will need to follow.

1.    Procure a Vermiculture container. A 5-gallon tub is the most commonly used container when first starting.

2.    Drill several small holes in the bottom of the container. This prevents water from collecting at the bottom of the barrel and drowning the worms. If you are raising your worms indoors, place your bin in a planting dish or clay planting pot to prevent a mess.

3.    Fill your bin with unbleached shredded newspaper. This provides a good source of fiber.

4.    Spread a layer of dirt on top of the shredded newspaper and wet thoroughly.

5.    Cover the top of the bin to prevent light from drying out your compost.  Bins should not be stored in direct sunlight, or excessive heat. Most often the bins are stored inside a house or garage. This allows for the optimal fertilization process.

What Type of Worms Are Best for Vermiculture?
The most common worm used to farm is the Red Wiggler. The Red Wiggler’s ability to reproduce rapidly and consume large amounts of compost makes them ideal for your worm farm. One pound of worms is the recommended amount for your 5-gallon bin. Earthworms are also a good breed to use. They are much larger than the Red Wigglers and have the ability to decompose much tougher cardboards, but don’t reproduce as quickly as the Red Wigglers.

Feeding Your Farm - What Do You Feed Red Worms?
Your worms will eat almost anything you do! Throw in our food scraps like egg shells, fruit peels, grain based foods, and even coffee grounds. When you collect your food scraps we suggest first fermenting them in our Bokashi Recycling System which softens the composted food waste making it easier for the worms to eat. When you feed your worms you want to make sure that you mix their food with some newspaper shreds. Mixing in the food causes the worms to have to do less work and eat faster, and reduces the fruit flies around your bin.

After you have set up your bin and added your worms, you need to continue feeding them as they create the compost materials. Remember to add fermented food wastes from your Bokashi Recycling System to speed up the process and create the most fertile compost. After 4-5 months you can collect your compost and restart the process. When you collect your compost make sure to save as many worms as you can and start the process over. Once you start over your worms will continue to reproduce and your farm will be filled with new, healthy worms in no time! 

Improve Tree Health with Fermented Food Waste

So, you have discovered the fabulous Bokashi composting method and you now have a few buckets of fermented food waste. What next?  Instead of buying fertilizer sticks for your trees, why not use the fermented food waste to improve the soil around your trees!?

1. Determine the drip ring
Examine the tree or shrub that you will be fertilizing. The top of the tree is called the canopy and the circumference the branches make is called the drip ring, as that is the area that the branches will literally drip upon. Now look at the ground beneath the drip ring and draw a circle in the ground around the tree.

2. Dig your holes
Divide the circle into four to eight slices, like you would a pie or cake. At the edge dig a small trench along the edge of the drip ring (in the “crust of the slice of pie”).

3. Bury the fermented food waste
Now you are ready to use the food waste as fertilizer. Put a few shovels worth of food waste in the trench, mixing some soil in as you go. You can fill the hole if you have enough soil to keep animals away. If not, just repeat in another spot in a few weeks, making your way around the rest of the tree ring.

4. Cover the food waste
The fermented food waste can attract animals if it is not completely covered. We suggest covering it with 12 inches of soil to ensure animals will not come by and dig it up and eat it to avoid a mess. So, make sure the hole or trench was deep enough and that you have saved all the dirt you dug up.

How does Bokashi composting improve tree health?
Amending the soil helps the trees (and plants around them) tremendously. The fermented food wastes are loaded with all sorts of vitamins and minerals, enzymes, microbes, and nutrients that will feed the plants, beneficial fungi, microbes, worms and insects in the area. The added organic matter will also help with moisture retention and drainage, keeping the soil from compacting. This will also help the roots of the tree be able to grow and expand the canopy. As the roots grow the canopy will grow.

So, adding fermented food waste does quite a bit more than just fertilize the soil. Be sure to keep adding throughout the year and you will see your trees and shrubs become more drought tolerant and grow more vigorously than before!

How To Compost Using Bokashi

Bokashi composting has a number of benefits, including almost no odor (the material has its own smell, but it is not like a rotten smell), limited use of space, and it’s one of the quickest composting methods. Another huge benefit of Bokashi composting is the simple, straight-forward process. It’s faster and requires less work, which is always an advantage. In fact, Bokashi composting can be broken down into three very simple steps:

1. Fill an airtight bucket with food waste and layer with EM-1 Bokashi bran
Collecting food waste is standard in any food composting method, but in the bokashi method, it’s important to use an airtight recycling bin. The Bokashi method relies on fermentation to break down food waste, so keeping oxygen away from the organic matter is crucial. It’s also important to layer or coat your scraps with EM-1 Bokashi bran. EM-1 Bokashi bran is a mixture of organic rice bran, molasses, Super Cera, and EM-1 which will aid in the breakdown of food scraps through fermentation. You can also make your own personal mix using this Bokashi recipe.

One thing to remember is that if you’re fermentation bucket doesn’t have a spigot to drain liquid, you should layer the bottom of the bucket with an inch of EM-1 Bokashi bran to capture all the liquid that will build up.

2. Let the bucket sit for 1-2 weeks
Fermentation is an anaerobic process that starts the breakdown of food waste (the sugars are being eaten by the microbes) and causes it to pickle, leaving behind scraps that are perfect for amending soils. Unlike traditional composting that requires churning and monitoring for green to brown ratios, there’s not much you have to do during the Bokashi compost process.
If you have a Bokashi bucket with a spigot, drain the fluid from the bottom of the bucket every other day or so. You can use this liquid as a fertilizer for any of your indoor or outdoor plants, and all it takes is one teaspoon per gallon of water. If you are using a bucket without any drains, you don’t have anything you need to do.

3. Choose how to use your Bokashi compost
After a week or two of fermentation, your Bokashi is ready to use. You have some options with how to use the end product.

• Add the waste to a compost pile: Burying your bokashi mix in a compost pile will actually speed up the breakdown of your compost.
• Bury the waste: Bury the waste in the soil of your garden and cover with 8-12 inches of soil, where it will break down into rich soil for your garden.
• Feed your worms: This compost is full of live bacteria, which is also great for adding to a worm farm to feed worms.
• Feed your livestock: Bokashi food waste is filled with microbes, vitamins, and amino acids that are incredibly nutritious for livestock.

If you have very bad soil, after only a few additions of food waste, you’ll be able to start growing plants. If you have established beds, just dig small holes around the plants and add a shovel or two of fermented food waste and cover with soil. You can keep amending your soil year round and eliminate the need for having to purchase fertilizers.

How to Make Bokashi for Food Waste Recycling

Hundreds of years ago Japanese farmers began the process of bokashi composting. Today, it has become a popular way to compost due to its many practical advantages. Unlike other forms of aerobic composting, bokashi utilizes anaerobic process to break down material. For the most effective bokashi mix, you can also incorporate a microbial inoculant like Effective Microorganisms® or EM. EM ferments and accelerates the break down of green waste.



Benefits of bokashi composting over traditional composting:
· Faster than standard composting
· Requires no churning or turning
· Creates rich compost soil
· Significantly reduces foul odors
· Can be used to recycle more types of waste, including meats and dairy

If you’d like to take your composting to the next level by making your very own bokashi check out our recipe below.

Teraganix’s Easy EM•1® Bokashi Recipe:
Cook Time: 20 minutes
Fermentation: 2 weeks (minimum)
Bokashi Ingredients and Materials

The following ingredients and materials are needed to make a 50-pound bag of EM•1® Bokashi. Visit the EM® Bokashi page of our recipes section for instructions on how to make alternative quantities of bokashi.

Ingredients:
¾ Cup EM•1®
¾ Cup Molasses
3-4 Gallons of Water
50lbs Bran (carbon material)

Materials:
1 Large Black Plastic Bag or Airtight Container
Container or Surface to Mix the Ingredients In/On

Directions:
Step 1: Mix one gallon of the water with the molasses until the molasses has dissolved.
Step 2: Add the EM•1® to the liquid and mix thoroughly.
Step 3: Mix the liquid thoroughly into the bran.
Step 4: Test to make sure the moisture level is correct. Squeeze some of the bran into a ball. If it holds shape and no extra liquid comes out, it’s the correct moisture. If it is too dry, add more water and mix thoroughly once more.
Step 5: Once the mixture is the correct moisture, put it into your bag or container. If using a bag, tie the bag tightly, squeezing out excess air. If using a container, press down mixture and cover container tightly.
Step 6: Place the mixture somewhere warm and dry. Let it ferment for a minimum of two weeks.

After the two week fermentation period check the bokashi to ensure that no black, brown or green mold is growing on it. If you see white mold that’s fine as it’s a natural part the fermentation process. Now that you know how to make bokashi it’s time to start mixing. If you have any questions or would like to share your own tips and experiences with bokashi composting, please post a comment below.

Bokashi Composting: Less Labor, Better Results & a Healthier Method Overall

Without a doubt, the easiest way to engage in eco-friendly recycling food and green waste is to participate in some form of composting. Over the past several decades, the practice of composting has caught on with homeowners and eco-friendly individuals all around the world. Its roots, though, are firmly in the agriculture industry. Agriculture has always relied on composting to eliminate green waste efficiently, to create healthier soils, stronger crops, and better overall results. Today, the Bokashi method of composting is favored by farmers and laymen alike because it actually involves less time, fuel costs due to less turning- and therefore less work - than traditional composting. The Bokashi method is faster and helps to return more nutrients to the soil from the green waste that is being decomposed by the process.

Leaving the Dirt Behind: The Benefits of Less Turning and More Pickling Any farmer familiar with the traditional composting knows that waste must be turned quite often in order introduce the oxygen to feed the microbes (aerobic microbes and fungii) that essentially breaks the waste down. Meanwhile, as the waste decomposes, the compost emits foul smelling gasses and attracts various pests.

The Bokashi method, on the other hand, does not use decomposition to break down materials and therefore does not rely on oxygen and thus requires little to no turning. (The main turning is just mixing in the inoculant and water for proper moisture) The first benefit of this is that there is simply less labor involved. You mix the Bokashi, you add the materials to be broken down, and at the end of the process you add it to the garden... that's it.

A secondary benefit is the Bokashi process emits no offensive smell and - because it occurs in an airtight Bokashi bucket - the process does not attract unwanted pests. These two aspects make the process far more appropriate for families in suburban and urban environments. (An alternate version of this can be conducted on a large scale for farmers.)

But perhaps the biggest benefit of Bokashi is one that directly deals with nutrients that result from the process. Rather than breaking down the compost into a dirt-like substance, the Bokashi method of composting actually pickles the green waste during the process. This preserves a great deal more nutrients than traditional composting, and makes the waste more readily available for worms, beneficial fungi, and future crops. The resulting nutrients from the wastes become “slow release" nutrients, meaning the nutrients are more stable and will last for longer durations. The nutrients are tied up into vitamins and amino acids as well as in the actual microbes themselves. With more nutrients retained during the process, Bokashi composting actually benefits future crops by allowing them to be healthier, more resilient, and more fruitful.

Summary of the Advantages to Bokashi

• Easier, faster and less labor intensive than traditional composting
• Highly scalable – you can use the Bokashi method in an apartment or a commercial farm
• Does not result in foul odors – making it ideal for people living in more urban environments.
• Produces higher quality, “slow release” nutrients for gardens and farms.
• It can be used to recycle a variety of wastes that cannot be composted, including meat and dairy.

Bokashi composting allows for more nutrients to be returned to the soil, all while requiring less time and labor than traditional methods. In a world that is becoming more focused on natural ways to provide nutrients, rather than synthetic chemicals that perform the same task, it's easy to see why Bokashi itself is becoming so widely implemented.

The History of Bokashi & How It Works

TeraGanix Food Waste Recycling kit

Bokashi composting is not only an ancient practice, but it is also an excellent alternative to traditional aerobic composting. No one is 100% sure exactly where bokashi first originated, or the precise steps in its evolution that brought it to the system we have today, but there are respected theories that tie this tradition to northeast and central Asia. One thing is for certain: bokashi composting is ideal for modern society.

Bokashi is a powder made from bran used in anaerobic composting. This type of composting has several key benefits for the average Joe. A traditional compost heap is a requires a significant amount of work to keep properly maintained. Compost needs to be monitored, turned, aged and sifted... not to mention the pungent smell of compost is off-putting for many people.

Today's EM Bokashi compost eliminates the work, pests and smell associated with decompostion based composting. The practice is believed to have its earliest roots in ancient Korea. Through Korean composting traditions and new scientific research, compost engineers were able to design what we know as bokashi today. Korean natural farming encourages the growth of certain natural indigenous microorganisms (IMs). These IMs are generally cultivated in cooked rice, milk or another media. Surprisingly similar to the way yogurt is created and maintained, a single culture can be kept alive and producing starters for compost heaps for generations.

EM Bokashi is made with Effective Microorganisms®, or EM•1® Microbial Inoculant. EM•1® is mixed with molasses, water and bran and fermented. The EM•1® ensures a consistent finished product. Effective Microorganisms® was discovered by a man named Dr. Teruo Higa in Japan. Dr. Higa has a doctorate in agricultural research and fruit tree cultivation from Ryukyus University in Okinawa, Japan. Like many great discoveries, EM® came about through an accident -- Higa threw out some waste from his experiments with microorganisms and found the surrounding plants began to flourish.

The EM® that Dr. Higa found in his waste pile was not the EM® that we see today. The current batch of EM•1® took a degree of refining before becoming the product sold today. The current EM•1® Microbial Inoculant mostly consists of lactic acid and phototrophic bacteria as well as yeast.

EM Bokashi came shortly after the EM® concentrate in 1982 and was combined with a special airtight bucket to be easily used in homes and schools. Since that humble beginning, Bokashi has spread to over 120 countries around the world.

Bokashi requires a high carbon media on which the microorganisms colonize. The media of choice today is wheat bran or rice bran. Bokashi starters are sold in a dried form and are mostly used in home composting. The method does not produce the smell of normal composting. The sealed container encourages a pickling process, preventing the materials from rotting, and keeps out pests such as insects.

Because EM Bokashi can be used in tight quarters and in sealed containers, it is ideal for people who want to compost in a small living space. The most common application is using an EM Bokashi bin in a household kitchen. The homeowner can dump kitchen scraps and vegetable matter into the bin and spread a layer of EM Bokashi mix over top of the scraps.

The EM Bokashi awakens in this nutrient-rich environment and the microbes quickly begin to grow. While they grow, they ferment and break down the organic (lignin and cellulose) components of the kitchen scraps in the bin. This causes the food scraps to pickle, mainainting their original shape, but preparing them to final breakdown in the soil. A liquid can be drained out of the Bokashi Bucket Fermenter and used as compost tea, which is a liquid fertilizer useful for growing plants. If the user has no desire to make use of the compost tea, the material is perfectly safe to be drained down a sewer line.

Once the Bokashi bin is filled with alternating layers of bokashi mix and food scraps, is full it is then left to ferment for a couple of weeks. When this time is up, the contents are then buried six to eight inches under the soil and left to finish breaking down. Microbes, worms, and insects in the soil digest the materials into humus in as little as two weeks. This is all done without the tools and work associated with traditional composting!