Nature grows its own plants without extra watering or added amendments. What if you could bring that kind of fertility and resilience to your home garden? In this article we will teach you how to culture indigenous microorganisms to use on your plants and soil.
Watch how we culture and integrate indigenous microorganisms using a five-gallon bucket, leaf-mold soil and a potato!
KNF
Korean Natural Farming (KNF) was developed by Cho Han Kyu in the 1960s. Although KNF contains many techniques and inventions, the foundation relies on the cultivation and integration of indigenous microorganisms (IMO) into soil used for agriculture.
Simply put, KNF uses natural microorganisms that have developed underneath years-worth of layered leaf litter. These microbes are fed a simple carbohydrate (typically rice) that allows them to reproduce significantly. A box of rice is left in an undisturbed forest for 3-7 days to attract natural yeast, microbes and fungi. This is referred to as IMO1.
Once the collection is complete these microbes undergo a preservation process to keep them from dying off. This is referred to as IMO2. Further processing will upgrade IMO2 into IMO3, 4 and 5. These microorganisms are then introduced to the soil where they can replicate the same fertility found in a natural forest.
While IMO collection and culturing is remarkably effective and useful, the process can take significant time and numerous attempts to gain a proper collection. For this reason, we are grateful to be able to use JMS; JADAM Microbial Solution.
JADAM
JADAM Organic Farming was developed by Cho Han Kyu’s son, Youngsang Cho. JADAM simplifies and alters the KNF methods of culturing IMO. Although Youngsang Cho developed these techniques especially for large-scale agriculture operations, we have found them immensely helpful on our smaller scale–especially since it has been a challenge to collect IMO in our bone-dry climate via KNF collection boxes.
The following recipe will show you how you can easily culture and spread indigenous microorganisms into your garden to create a fertile soil with excellent tilth.
JMS Equipment:
5-gallon bucket
Fine strainer (paint strainer or cheese cloth work great)
Watering can
Cover/Lid
JMS Ingredients:
1. Leaf-Mold Soil
2. Potato
3. Salt
4. Water (dechlorinated)
JMS Method
1. Collect leaf-mold soil from below the layer of leaves covering the soil in an undisturbed forest. Be sure to re-cover the soil in the forest so that you don’t leave any ground unnaturally bare.
2. Cook a small potato and cool so that you can smash it by hand.
3. Strain your cooked potato and leaf mold soil through your paint strainer or cheese cloth, while holding it submerged in dechlorinated water. Then add your salt and cover the bucket with your lid. Don’t seal your bucket closed—just cover enough to keep out pests and debris.
- If you don’t have dechlorinated water, hose/tap water works fine—just allow it to off-gas for 24 hours before introducing the microbes.
- Don’t let big chunks of potato or bits of leaf mold soil escape into the water or else you will have to strain them out later.
4. Wait until you see foam form on the surface of the water in the bucket.
- If you don’t wait long enough you won’t get many microbes.
- If you wait too long, the microbes will expend their food source and die off.
- Temperature will speed up or slow down culturing. In warm temperatures (75 – 100 F) the microbes will culture faster; around 36-60 hours. In colder temperatures (55 – 75 F) the microbes will culture more slowly; 72-110 hours. These times are estimates and can change due to a multitude of factors. It is important that you check your JMS regularly — every 12 hours or so — to keep an eye on it’s development.
Ways to Use JMS
- Soil Drench: Pour JMS directly onto bare or mulched soil with no plants in the ground.
- Seed starting: When you saturate your potting soil, add JMS to the water, diluted 1:100 (1 part JMS to 100 parts water).
- Watered into soil with plants: This is the most common way we use JMS. Dilute the JMS 1:10 with water and use it to water your plants. If you apply JMS undiluted into soil with plants growing, you run the risk of burning the roots of your plants. JMS contains very strong microbes.
- Foliar Spray: You can spray JMS on plants (diluted 1:10) to give the stems, leaves, flowers, and fruit microbial health. Be sure that the JMS is thoroughly strained so that you don’t clog your sprayer and so that bits of debris won’t stain your plants.
- Compost Inoculant: Use leftover JMS in your compost pile to give it a boost of microbial activity. If you are doing thermophilic composting, and are reaching temperatures above 110 degrees F, add the JMS once the compost has cooled so that you don’t kill off the microbes.
- Skin Care Product: This is perhaps the most controversial use of JMS. Youngsang Cho claims in his book, JADAM: Ultra Low-Cost Organic Farming, that JMS has been used to treat athletes foot. Soak the affected skin area in JMS for 10-15 minutes. Cho recommends doing this weekly, or as often as you make JMS.
Conclusion
We hope that you feel excited to make your own JADAM Microbial Solution! Although JMS seems complicated, it is very easy to make once you get the hang of it. We highly recommend making this several times over the course of your growing season. It is unlikely you will see immediate changes in your plants from one application. However, JMS is a truly powerful garden amendment—perhaps one of the most powerful amendments you can give to your soil.