jars lyfe

I don't like the idea of the Korean natural farming form on permies. The folks here at permiso are not the authority on natural farming. The Korean natural farming communities don't visit permies. knfsupport.com is where you should be going for answers, not here

FPE is not Korean Natural Farming. It is nomenclature from Effective Microbes (EM), a patented and trademarked product which is a microbial consortium of laboratory cultured microorganism. FPE is nothing more than a glorified plant tea (ie, fermenting comfrey in a vat of water), where you use EM and molasses to break down plant matter. Biodynamic folks use plant teas all the time. My best guess is that FPE breaks down biomass quicker because of the EM: but cellulose and plant-based organic matter isn't that difficult to break down in the first place. You can find more information in the APNAN manual.
https://blog.teraganix.com/2009/06/experimenting-with-em-fpe-fermented.html

LABs, or its laboratory-manufactured counterpart patented EM, breaks down organic matter and assists in unlocking nutrients in the soil matrix. It is used as a foliar spray as preventative measures against airborne pathogens, ie powdery mildew. LABs can be used to get rid of any odors; wet dog, smelly animal pens, cat pee. It can be poured down the toilet for the health of a septic system. It can be sprayed in a compost pile to help speed up the breakdown process. LABs is a marvelous technology that is the gateway to the world of biofertilizers

EM (effective microbes) is a proprietary microbiological consortium. It includes a blend of laboratory cultures of lactic acid bacteria, yeast and purple non sulphuric bacteria. It cannot be made, it was created in the 80s or so by Okinawan microbiologist Dr. Teruo Higa. It refers to a product you buy on a shelf, and it is licensed to be sold in this country by a company called TerraGanix. LABs is made from collecting airborne microbes using rice wash water, then adding 10 parts milk to it. According to the creator of LABs, Korean NAtural Farming, you do not measure pH. Measuring ph is nomenclature original to EM, and people often get confused between LABs and EM and use the terms interchangeably. If you search for my name in the Soil forums, I have provided explicit details on the differences of the 2.

https://permies.com/t/65452/Effective-Microorganisms-purchased-home

https://permies.com/t/65436/stories-microbes

Reading through JADAM, I've come to realize that it is perhaps one of the oldest methodologies of farming in the world. The fertilization regiments are not unlike the fermented leaf mold from 1000s of years ago in India. Very, very old school.

Youngsan Cho went to school as a chemist. His JADAM has natural fertilization and inoculation programs, but his IPM incorporates modern chemistry. JADAM has a wetting agent that you can make, from lye and canola oil, and it basically makes a basic liquid soap. This liquid soap, JADAM WETTING AGENT (JWA)when combined with boiled down plant material from pest resistant plants (artichoke etc), is the JADAM solution for IPM. Insects breathe through their carapace/ shell, and coating them with Jadam Wetting Agent will cause them to drown. The repellent properties of the boiled down herbs is just a bonus. The wetting agent is also broken down by the microbial activity of JADAM Microbial Solution and even the soil.

Jadam also has a nuclear option as a last result. The JADAM Sulfur (JS). Back in the day, sulfur was a disinfecting agent for a lot of things. In Youngsan Cho JADAM, when you're a farmer backed up against the wall with maybe some local fungus disease or PM or something, you spray the jadam Sulfur mixed with the wetting agent. That will disinfect the plant, but leave it vulnerable at the same time, so a JMS is prescribed immediately after a sulfur application.

JADAM is really great. It is so effective and goddang simple. Like, so simple anyone can do it. Many many SE Asian countries, the Phillipines and Hawaiian farmers are taking it up. The only thing wrong with it, is that it is everything that Dr. Ingham advises against.

Josh don't bury the woods chips. Is should be on the to layer. I'd add the compost below your cardboard mulch, the idea is to inject add much microbiology ACD organic matter as you CSB into the clay, with wood chips providing mulch and slow release nutrients/  om

In regards to BIM, I'd say there are other things that would be better to invest yourself into. BIM is a simplified inferior offshoot to KNFs I.M.O. (Indigenous Micro Organisms) and the I.M.O. will produce better results. There are other easy and effective methods that offer alternatives to BIM. I.M.O. is an aerobic collection and composting process, and BIM doesn't follow the same final aerobic processesess. JADAM is an anaerobic system, created by Hankyu Cho's very own son, Youngsan Cho, and the JADAM Microbial Solution (JMS) is a compost tea of leaf mold, potato (for food), and sea salt (micronutrients). BIM appears to be a fusion of a JMS and I.M.O., and doesn't achieve the effectiveness as either, neither does it appear to be based on any apparent scientific reasoning. Overall, I feel the owner of the unconventionalfarmer.com tried to pass off Korean Natural Farming as his own by renaming things and changing the instrutions of the ingredients and pass off BIM as his original system. It works, but not as effective as KNF, and I would say invest yourself into KNFs I.M.O. or JADAM over BIM. Gil, the owner of the website, is a natural farmer from the Phillipines and many farms in the Phillipines, as well as Southeast Asia and Asia, farm similar to these methods. But on a side not, many farms in the Phillipines are adopting JADAM into there farm.