Baikal EM1 (Essential Microorganisms) from Ecominded.com

I give this product 9 out of 10 acorns (a number that will likely increase when I get a chance to see how my garden and trees perform!)



I'm really excited to try out these Effective Microorganisms. Above you can see my 1 tbsp of EM1 about to go into my watering can! I'm trying them in a few different trouble spots, detailed below. I plan on updating this review after the growing season is done.


My Son's Garden Bed: We made this three years ago, and it's been decreasing in production. He really want to grow carrots, and he his pea seeds get eaten in the soil. Here is when it was getting built:



And, here I am watering it. The last pictures shows the shells of pea seeds that were eaten by SOMETHING. Maybe these microrganisms will keep that something in check!



Peach Tree with Leaf Curl: Two years ago, my sister-in-law passed this little tree onto me because she has limited space, and it wasn't doing well. So I took it on. I had plans to apply compost tea (big thanks to John for telling me about compost tea for treating peach leaf curl), but life is busy and I never got the compost tea made. The tree's just managed to survive (weirdly enough, it held onto most of its leaves all through the winter). I'm going to try weekly application of EM1 and see if that helps! The second picture is of a plum tree. It seems to also get some sad diseases, and hasn't been groing well. Maybe this will help!



Native Blackcap Raspberries: I've noticed that the native raspberries and blackberries on my property do well in an area for a year or two...and then they start to get some sort of disease or fungus or something that makes them have few/no berries and spots on their leaves. Here's a picture of some of my blackberries this happened to




Applying duck bedding and other nutrients never seemed to help, but maybe EM1 will. Worth a try! I'm going to see if I can save these blackcaps before they also stop being productive.



Garden Bed with Keyhole Compost Bin: Two years ago this was a thimbleberry patch, and then someone wanted thimbleberries, so I gave her this patch, and realized I could grow things here. Last year I grew Raven's flaxseed here,



and during the winter I covered it with bedding....and realized I could stick a keyhole compost bin in it!



This garden will be my husbands black-hued garden (black radishes, black carrots, black beats, dark purple peas and beans, black pansies and black nasturtiums, etc). He's always wanted a black gardens, but didn't think we had room to devote to it--so I said, let's just fill it with edible dark-hued foods! I'm hoping the EM1 and the compost bin will make his garden extra productive for him!



Since this bottle is--obviously--in Russian, it was rather hard for me to read. Thankfully, there's great instructions on Ecominded's website, and I also happen to have a wonderful sister-in-law who is from Russia.  She helped me figure out that the big 40 on the box meant that it was 40 milliliters...which I probably could have figured out if I read the website more carefully, but I had it on my computer and was mixing things up in the kitchen while distracted by kids. I think it would have been really handy if the EM1 came with English instructions tucked into the box.  That way, the info is easy to find and carry with you if you don't have a tablet/cellphone to refer to. The instructions are a bit complicated, especially since they take a few days to complete. You have to remember to add more honey, and you don't know if you need to mix in the honey or not.  I also wish there were instructions for foliar spray concentrations.

Pro tip: use a container that's BIGGER than 1 gallon. I filled up my one gallon...but didn't leave enough room for the whole bottle of EM1. I didn't realize that 40ml would be the whole bottle (I'm American, and ML is not a terribly familiar measurment). ..... and I also didn't realize that I'd need even more space when I had to add in the second batch of honey. Thus why my EM1 is now in two separate containers!

I've really been enjoying using this. I bought a spray bottle and filled with the diluted EM1. It's really easy for me to go out and spritz my peach tree and other trees/shrubs. Already I'm seeing a lot more leaf growth on my peach tree than I've seen in previous years! I'll try to get a picture taken today when it's not raining

I was out spraying the peach tree, and remembered to bring my camera to take some pictures. It's too soon to really be able to tell if I'll have miraculous results, but everything is sprouting and the peach tree is making lots of nice leaves!

So curious about this product.  Cant wait to dive into the posts.  In Iowa, thank goodness for spring!  We have a couple of apple trees that would probably benefit so very much!

Ready to get gardening!
Thank you!!!  

I have read so much on the forum about EM so I really appreciate this thread which explains what it is, what it does, and how to use it.

I now have a much better understanding and when I see a thread about people asking about EM I will know what it is.

Thank you for starting this topic and for all the wonderful links.