The Ultimate Guide to Effective Microorganisms for Sustainable Gardening

Gardening is a practical and fulfilling hobby, but it can also be incredibly frustrating — especially when you’re aiming for sustainability. You may face challenges like soil degradation, unpredictable weather, pests, and plant diseases. 

Sustainable methods, while better for the environment, can sometimes feel like a compromise, often leading to lower yields compared to using synthetic fertilizers and chemicals.

However, effective microorganisms (EM) can balance sustainability with productivity in your garden. By incorporating EM into your practice, you can create a thriving, productive garden without compromising sustainability.

This article will explore what EMs are and how they benefit soil health and plant growth. Learn more about EM and how incorporating EM into your gardening routine can help make your garden more sustainable. 

Understanding effective microorganisms (EM)

Do you know that the NPK fertilizer and other chemical fertilizers you’ve been using for your garden are harming the environment? When these chemicals dissolve in water and seep into nearby water sources, they can cause pollution.

Overusing chemical fertilizers also acidifies the soil over time, making it unsuitable for plant growth and thus reducing crop yields. This damages the environment, making your gardening efforts unsustainable in the long run.

But there’s good news: effective microorganisms (EM) offer a sustainable solution.

Perhaps you’re unfamiliar with effective microorganisms (EM), but it’s essential to understand their importance for your garden. EM is key for sustainable gardens, as it enhances soil health and supports plant growth.

What are effective microorganisms?

Effective microorganisms are a blend of live beneficial microorganisms that work synergistically, either directly or indirectly, to produce a variety of substances that can improve soil health, enhance plant growth, and reduce harmful pathogens.

Effective microorganisms consist of multiple coexisting bacteria. They work together to provide available nutrients to the plant. Some examples of these are:

• Lactic acid bacteria: Lactobacillus, Streptococcus, etc.,
• Photosynthetic bacteria: Rhodopseudomonas, Rhodobacter, etc.,
• Actinomycetes: Streptomyces

Effective microorganisms also consist of multiple fungi. They also work together to produce substances to help plants grow. For example:

• Yeast
• Aspergillus
• Penicillium, etc,

In gardening, effective microorganisms are often available in brownish liquid solutions containing these bacteria and fungi.

This liquid is usually diluted with water before being applied to plants. While you can buy commercially effective microorganism solutions, it’s also easy to make your own at home, and this article will guide you through the process.

How does EM work?

Plants need nutrients from the soil to grow, but some nutrients are hard for them to absorb on their own. Microorganisms in the soil help by making these nutrients easier for plants to take up, thus also improving the soil itself.

While plants grow naturally without EM, they often grow slowly due to weather changes, pests, and diseases. Plus, in a garden with limited space, the soil can run out of nutrients quickly.

That’s why fertilizers are often used to boost plant growth. Typically, chemical fertilizers like NPK are used, but they aren’t sustainable in the long term. 

Effective microorganisms (EM) can help solve this problem. EM increases the number of beneficial microorganisms in the soil, which boosts the variety of microbes living there. These microorganisms compete with harmful microbes that can cause diseases, helping to protect your plants.

These microorganisms also make it easier for plants to absorb nutrients by breaking them down into forms that plants can use. 

Effective microorganisms can utilize organic matter in the soil — such as fallen leaves, animal waste (feces or dead body), or even compost you add — as a nutrient source for these microorganisms to break down and make available to plants. This helps plants grow healthier and faster.

Additionally, the process of breaking down nutrients improves the soil’s structure, allowing it to hold more water, which benefits plant health. This can help create a balanced soil ecosystem.

This balanced soil ecosystem supports sustainable gardening, making EM beneficial for sustainable gardens.

Benefits of using EM in sustainable gardening

Sustainable gardening grows healthy, productive plants while minimizing environmental impact. EM plays a key role in boosting garden productivity and benefiting the environment. Thus, learning about the benefits of EM can empower you to make more sustainable choices for your garden.

Enhancing soil health

Applying EM to soil can significantly improve soil structure, enhance nutrient availability, and support beneficial microbial communities. 

Photosynthetic bacteria within EM use sunlight as their energy source to produce substances that fuel the growth of other microorganisms, which can foster the growth of additional beneficial microbes.

These microorganisms generate compounds that help break down soil materials, making nutrients more accessible to plants. When used alongside NPK fertilizers, EM facilitates the transport of these nutrients, making it easier for plants to absorb them.

Furthermore, EM enhances soil structure by decomposing organic matter. By enhancing soil structure, EM can save and bind more water, increasing water availability in the soil. In this way, EM can enhance your soil health.

Promoting plant growth

As mentioned before, EM produces substances that help break down other important substances in plants, so it can help plants absorb nutrients more efficiently. These nutrients increase the function of the plant’s cells, enhancing plant growth.

Additionally, these beneficial microorganisms suppress pathogens, which in turn aids plants in avoiding diseases and pests. 

These microorganisms can produce auxin, which acts as a signaling molecule to help defend plants against pathogens and also supports the plants’ growth.

Reducing environmental impact

Since EM increases the nutrient availability for the plants and reduces the likelihood of diseases and pests, in turn, it can reduce the need for chemical fertilizers and pesticides, which harms the environment.

Additionally, even after they die, the microorganisms in EM contribute organic matter to the soil, further benefiting plant growth. EM also saves and binds more water, which can help with sustainable practices. 

Thus, EM helps reduce environmental impact and supports more sustainable gardening practices.

How to use effective microorganisms in your garden

Knowing about EM is not enough without having actionable and scientifically-based insight to apply this to your garden successfully. Here’s how you can use EM in your garden:

Making your own EM

While there are several commercial EM products available that you can easily dissolve, you can also make your own at home:

1. Rice has microorganisms and components that are good energy sources. Start by placing 1 cup of rice in 1 L water in a 4 L bucket, stir it, and lightly cover it with a lid (ensure a tiny space for air). Then let it ferment in a cool, dark place for 5-7 days.
2. Move the fermented rice to the 20 L bucket and add 10 L milk to enhance the nutrient content. Then ferment the mixture for another 5 to 7 days, allowing the microorganisms to grow even more with these added nutrients.
3. While waiting for the fermentation, you can prepare the molasses, which will provide essential nutrients for the microorganisms to grow. To make it, follow these steps:
   1. Heat water in a pan until it boils.
   2. Add brown sugar to the boiling water and stir until fully dissolved.
   3. Turn off the heat and let the mixture cool until it thickens. Your molasses is ready!
4. Meanwhile, the fermentation process with the milk and rice will produce both curd and liquid. Discard the curd and keep only the liquid.
5. Mix 4 teaspoons of molasses into the liquid and let it rest for 5 days before using.
6. If this batch makes more EM than you need for a small garden, you can reduce all the ingredients proportionally.
7. Then, when you want to apply it to your garden, dissolve the EM solutions first into water.

If you prefer using commercial EM, simply dissolve it in water before applying it to your garden.

Applying EM to your garden

Once your EM is ready, you can easily apply it to your garden, just like you would with conventional fertilizers.

To apply EM, you have a few effective options:

Regular use of EM

Blend dissolved EM into your compost, which serves as a ‘food source’ for the microorganisms. Allow it to sit for two months before adding it to your soil. You can give this as your plants’ fertilizer after planting or every time the soil in your garden is reduced, or give it every one week.

When to apply EM

You can water your plants with a dissolved EM solution, ideally in the morning or evening.

Avoid applying it in the afternoon, as the fermentation process can produce heat. You can apply the solution directly to the soil or onto the leaves every two weeks.

EM for pre-planting soil preparation

Before planting your plants, mix the dissolved EM solution with compost and soil. This method is great for preparing the ground when planting new plants.

Maintaining and storing EM

To keep your EM solutions effective, proper storage is key. Store the activated EM solution (dissolved EM) in an airtight container at a temperature between 20°C and 25°C.

It should be stored for only 10 to 14 days, or until the pH level reaches 3.7, which you can check using a pH meter. If you don’t have a pH meter, simply store it for no longer than 14 days. During this period, the microorganisms are in their growth phase, which helps maintain their effectiveness.

Integrating organic urban farming techniques

Using effective microorganisms is one method to achieve sustainable gardening that produces productive plants while minimizing environmental impact. There are additional techniques that can reduce environmental impact while increasing your garden’s productivity:

• Composting. Use your food and organic waste as compost in your garden. This acts as an organic fertilizer, boosting your garden’s productivity while making it more sustainable. You can also combine composting with EM for even better results.
• Rainwater harvesting. This technique involves collecting, storing, and using rainwater for watering plants, especially during dry periods. It provides a reliable water source and supports sustainable gardening.
• Permaculture. You can also implement permaculture principles, designing your garden to mimic natural ecosystems, and encouraging sustainability and biodiversity.
• Crop rotation. Rotate or change the plants you grow in the same area each season. You can flip the soil so the top layer goes underneath and the bottom layer comes up. This helps reduce weeds and pathogens by depriving them of sunlight.

 Read more: Savor, Scrap, Soil: From Food Waste to Compost

In conclusion

Maintaining a healthy and eco-friendly garden can be challenging, especially when you want good yields but aren’t sure how to make it sustainable. Fortunately, using effective microorganisms can help solve this.

EM not only improves the quality and productivity of your garden by enhancing soil health, but it also supports sustainable practices as it’s safe for the environment. 

Incorporating EM into your gardening routine is simple. Just dissolve it and apply it to your soil or plants, or even use it in composting. Additional practices like crop rotation can further boost sustainability.

Give EM a try and start building your own sustainable garden.

If you would like to see more resources on sustainable gardening, check out the Household Management Science Labs. The lab uses the research of the Institute for Life Management Science to produce courses, certifications, podcasts, videos, and other tools. Visit the Household Management Science Labs today.

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