Next step for me , Keeping witht he theme of what I can use from my natural environment , I having a go at making this stuff .
Grow Fertilizer
This is the natural farming plant growth formula. This formula is effective not only for the Nitrogen it supplies, but more importantly for the growth promoting enzymes and hormones it contains. Chlorophyll in leaves is not broken down in oil or in water. They require weak alcohol in order to be broken down. Fermentation produces some alcohol as a byproduct, which breaks down leaves and releases those enzymes and hormones. This is an awesome product not only by itself, but when used in conjunction with other nutrients.
How to Make:
This is really a combination of fish hydrolysate and fermented plant extract. Fish hydrolysate is used because it’s high in Nitrogen, a principal element needed by growing plants. It’s also rich in many vitamins, minerals, oils, etc. The plant extracts provide the growth hormones along with essential macro- and micro-nutrients.
How to use complete grow formula:
So now you’ve made your own fish hydrolysate that’s loaded with Nitrogen and trace elements, not to mention fats and oils that will feed teeming fungal/bacterial hordes that’ll protect and nourish your plant; along with your own natural plant extract, full of growth hormones and stimulating enzymes, that will get your plants growing full and green!
Now it’s really up to you what ratio you mix your plant extract and fish hydrolysate. I mix mine 1:1, that is 1 part homemade fish hydrolysate to 1 part fermented plant growth stimulant. But again, everything is relative. The more you know and understand the materials, their active ingredients, the more you will be able to determine their appropriate use. Hypothesize, experiment, report back! Have fun!
Mix 1 Tbsp/gal
This is an awesome solution you can make at home and feed your plants during the bud, flower, and fruiting stages of their growth cycle. During the changeover period from growing to flowering, we use CalPhos to enhance roots and strengthen plants. Now that we’re into flowering/fruiting, the natural farming method emphasizes Potassium to enhance qualities like taste and sweetness. To create the fruit extract, we’ll use the same principles we used for HerbaGrow.
How to Make:
How to Use:
Add 1tbsp per gallon of water.
Plants
Apply as a foliar spray or soil drench. Apply during bloom phase and fruiting phase. Can make separate bloom formulas for each phase.
Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms(BIM) is a fermented microbial solution that can be used for many applications around the farm. It is loaded with microbes, and is a cornerstone of Gil’s Natural Farming method. It’s an incredible tool with a myriad of applications, some of which are discussed below.
How to Make:
The idea here is to collect microbes from natural healthy ecosystems. Different areas have different types of microbes in the soil – for example an old growth forest will have microbes that grasslands don’t and vice versa. To get the greatest diversity of microbes, you want to collect them from as many different habitats as you can. For starters, at least get from forest, grassland, and the boundary area between them.
TIP: Plant-specific microbes! If you are growing vegetables, find areas where natural veggies are thriving. If planting ornamentals, look for areas where wild ornamental type plants are. Also, target nitrogen-fixer plants since they have rhizobium bacterial strains present – legumes, as well as some other plant genuses such as Alder or Bayberry fall into this category.
Here’s how to collect microbes and make BIM:
How to Use:
This is a powerful tool in the natural farming arsenal, with a myriad of applications! It’s a microbial inoculant, so it can be used wherever you are trying to increase/establish populations of microbes – the most basic level of a healthy ecosystem!
Add 1-2tsp per gallon of water.
Plants
Apply as a foliar spray or soil drench. Greatly enhances growth and health of plants by establishing a healthy population of microbes in the soil and on leaf surfaces. Check out the benefits:
Grow Fertilizer
This is the natural farming plant growth formula. This formula is effective not only for the Nitrogen it supplies, but more importantly for the growth promoting enzymes and hormones it contains. Chlorophyll in leaves is not broken down in oil or in water. They require weak alcohol in order to be broken down. Fermentation produces some alcohol as a byproduct, which breaks down leaves and releases those enzymes and hormones. This is an awesome product not only by itself, but when used in conjunction with other nutrients.
How to Make:
This is really a combination of fish hydrolysate and fermented plant extract. Fish hydrolysate is used because it’s high in Nitrogen, a principal element needed by growing plants. It’s also rich in many vitamins, minerals, oils, etc. The plant extracts provide the growth hormones along with essential macro- and micro-nutrients.
- Our grow formula uses 1:1 fermented plant material and fish hydrolysate. Learn to make your own fish hydrolysate.
Instructions for fermented plant extract:
- Find a fast-growing plant in your area. It must be a green-color plant, fresh juicy succulent leaves are best.
- Collect a bunch of the growing tips of the plant. The green leaves give you Nitrogen, the growing tips give you the growth hormones. We try not to wash them for you may wash off those microbes too. We want the photosynthetic bacteria that naturally occur on the leaf surface of these fast-growing plants (phyllosphere microbes).
- Weigh the amount of material you’ve collected and add roughly half that weight in sugar.
- Put in a clay jar or plastic container.
- If fermenting a large batch, put a large rock on top of the material to push it down into the bottom of the container. After at least 5 hours, remove the rock, and cover the container with a newspaper/cheese cloth/etc and secure with string/rubber-band.
- If fermenting a smaller batch, you can add water. Add at least enough water to cover the material but if you want to add more no problem.
- Keep container out of direct sunlight. Solution will be fermented in approximately 7-15 days (depending on temperature).
- After that time, drain the liquid and put in plastic bottle, leaving 1/3 empty so organisms can breathe.
- DON’T TIGHTEN lid for at least 2 weeks or so. Wait till tiny bubble disappear and then close the container tightly.
- Note: if you observe un-dissolved sugar in the bottom it means fermentation did not go to completion. Add a little water to reactivate and leave lid off for a few days.
- To use on it’s own, mix 1Tbsp/L or 4tbsp/gallon.
- Apply as foliar spray in morning or evening when temp is lower . During the middle of the day when sunlight is highest, the plant stomata are closed (to preserve moisture), thus the intake of our foliar spray becomes difficult and less effective.
- Plant material can be used as animal feed or compost.
- Extract should have a sweet, sour, and even alcoholic smell and taste. Yes, you can taste it no problem but make sure to smell it first! Make sure it doesn’t smell foul – in that case you screwed something up and will have to start over. It should keep forever technically. Will be progressively more vinegary but no problem.
TIP: This recipe is for your generalized growth promotant. If you want something specific to your plant type, use your plant type in the recipe. If growing tomatoes, use the growing tips of a tomato plant!
How to use complete grow formula:
So now you’ve made your own fish hydrolysate that’s loaded with Nitrogen and trace elements, not to mention fats and oils that will feed teeming fungal/bacterial hordes that’ll protect and nourish your plant; along with your own natural plant extract, full of growth hormones and stimulating enzymes, that will get your plants growing full and green!
Now it’s really up to you what ratio you mix your plant extract and fish hydrolysate. I mix mine 1:1, that is 1 part homemade fish hydrolysate to 1 part fermented plant growth stimulant. But again, everything is relative. The more you know and understand the materials, their active ingredients, the more you will be able to determine their appropriate use. Hypothesize, experiment, report back! Have fun!
Mix 1 Tbsp/gal
- Apply once per week or as necessary
- Apply as foliar spray in morning/evening
- Apply as soil drench anytime
- Mix with BIM for enhanced effectiveness
This is an awesome solution you can make at home and feed your plants during the bud, flower, and fruiting stages of their growth cycle. During the changeover period from growing to flowering, we use CalPhos to enhance roots and strengthen plants. Now that we’re into flowering/fruiting, the natural farming method emphasizes Potassium to enhance qualities like taste and sweetness. To create the fruit extract, we’ll use the same principles we used for HerbaGrow.
How to Make:
- Collect fruits. Any fruits can be used. In North America, you can use herbs, or weeds high in Potassium like Comfrey (also a good source of Phosphorus). For the beta-carotene, yellow/orange plants like Carrots, Squash, Pumpkin, etc. We really emphasize Potassium during this time so those plants high in that element are recommended. In Asia we use banana, squash, pumpkin, papaya, mango, jack fruit, pineapple. Citrus fruits should generally be avoided. Recommended “best” combination here in asia is a 1:1:1 mix of banana, squash, papaya. In the west it could be banana, squash, pumpkin.
TIP: if you are growing tomatoes, add tomatoes to the fruits to ferment! Get the plant-specific enzymes, nutrients, etc. Want nice big flowers? Use flowers! Want to help the budding stage? Use flower buds and after fermentation, use concoction during budding time! Ferment small growing fruits if you want to promote fruit growth to produce larger fruits.
- Mix fruits 1:1 with sugar. E.g. if you gather 1kg of fruits, mash them up with 1 kg sugar (brown sugar being the best), or 1L of molasses.
- Mash up this mixture – don’t use hands!
- Add mixture to plastic jug and cover loosely.
- It should ferment for 7-10 days.
TIP: 7-10 days is normal for fairly warm (25-30 Celsius) temperatures. In colder temperatures it might take longer. Don’t worry, if you leave it longer no problem.
- If you start with 1kg fruits+1kg sugar, you’ll end up with 1.5L juice after fermentation.
- Drain the juice after fermentation, into a glass/plastic jug for storage
- Leave cap off! For first couple weeks to allow bubbling to finish, then cap it.
How to Use:
Add 1tbsp per gallon of water.
Plants
Apply as a foliar spray or soil drench. Apply during bloom phase and fruiting phase. Can make separate bloom formulas for each phase.
- Strengthens plants during flower/fruiting
- Enhances flavor and sweetness in fruits
- Performs the same function as commercial bloom formulas but is 100% organic, does not burn plants
- Mix with BIM(.5tbsp of each) and apply together to leaves/soil
Beneficial Indigenous Microorganisms(BIM) is a fermented microbial solution that can be used for many applications around the farm. It is loaded with microbes, and is a cornerstone of Gil’s Natural Farming method. It’s an incredible tool with a myriad of applications, some of which are discussed below.
How to Make:
The idea here is to collect microbes from natural healthy ecosystems. Different areas have different types of microbes in the soil – for example an old growth forest will have microbes that grasslands don’t and vice versa. To get the greatest diversity of microbes, you want to collect them from as many different habitats as you can. For starters, at least get from forest, grassland, and the boundary area between them.
TIP: Plant-specific microbes! If you are growing vegetables, find areas where natural veggies are thriving. If planting ornamentals, look for areas where wild ornamental type plants are. Also, target nitrogen-fixer plants since they have rhizobium bacterial strains present – legumes, as well as some other plant genuses such as Alder or Bayberry fall into this category.
Here’s how to collect microbes and make BIM:
- Cook a carbohydrate source to use as the attractant. Rice, barley, wheat, oats, etc should work no problem, most often rice is used here in Asia.
- Get a wooden box or perforated plastic box and fill bottom with rice. The rice should not be too deep, around 1 inch usually, otherwise it will take too long for all the rice to become infected. Don’t pack the rice, leave it loose to allow airflow. The whole idea is to create more space for the microbes to infect – the surface area of the rice.
- Mark side of box with date and intended location.
- Cover box with something that’s breathable – nylons stretched over, or newspaper, just something to keep big critters out – secure with string around top of box.
- Dig a little depression in the desired location, a place with undisturbed soil where a healthy population of native microbes is likely to flourish.
TIP: In forest, look for areas where leaves build up and mold. In grassland, look for areas where grass is most thriving.
- Place the box in the depression and loosely cover with the dirt and leaves around it.
- After 5-10 days (depending on temperature), the first colony of microbes you will notice are white molds. Then different colors like yellow, green, black, etc if you leave it much longer. Generally we harvest when it is in the white mold stage. Disregard rice if black molds have formed on it, this is generally a sign of non-beneficial microbes. In nature when there is plenty of food the beneficial microbes dominate. When there is less food, the opportunistic, non-beneficial microbes tend to dominate.
- At this time, remove container from habitat and transfer rice to a plastic container/jar, and mix with sugar
- Mix 1:1 with sugar. E.g. 1kg cooked rice with 1kg sugar/molasses(molasses is great and cheap)
- Mash up the mixture with gloved fingers until it’s mashed but don’t overmix or you’ll destroy all the mycelia
- Cover this mixture for 3-7 days.
- When it is quite liquid, add 3 parts water.
TIP: 1kg=1L, so if you start with 1kg cooked rice, you’ll add 1kg sugar and then 6L water to that
- Leave this diluted mixture for 7 days. Cover the top with something air permeable just so animals don’t get to it – cheese cloth, nylons, newspaper, etc
- You should end up with a mud-like juice. Strain the liquid out of the mixture into a glass jar but don’t seal the top – let it breathe until bubbles in the bottom stop forming.
- After you stop seeing bubbles forming in the jar, seal it up
- Now you have your microbial inoculant for that ecosystem
- Repeat the above steps for each area you are collecting microbes from. The more ecosystems you collect from, the better!
How to Use:
This is a powerful tool in the natural farming arsenal, with a myriad of applications! It’s a microbial inoculant, so it can be used wherever you are trying to increase/establish populations of microbes – the most basic level of a healthy ecosystem!
Add 1-2tsp per gallon of water.
Plants
Apply as a foliar spray or soil drench. Greatly enhances growth and health of plants by establishing a healthy population of microbes in the soil and on leaf surfaces. Check out the benefits:
- Transports food to roots
- Builds a healthy ecosystem from the ground up. This is an invaluable job and the greatest benefit of this serum.
- Aids disease resistance – fights pathogens, occupies spaces that could otherwise go to harmful bacteria/molds.
- Aid composting – massively enhances compost – there will be a whole separate post on this concept
- Aid organic fertilizer. Add to your nutrient solution, microbes break down organic nutrients into bio-available forms that plants can utilize directly. Another key feature
-- be back soon -- I say to the boys . 
. -- undated -- 
