What is Effective Microorganisms (EM1)
After my first two posts about bokashi and EM1 I had someone ask me “What is Effective Microorganisms?” I realized I did a really poor job of explaining EM1 previously (sorry!)
Effective Microorganisms or EM1 as discovered in the early 1980’s are a combination of 3 facultative  microbes.  The benefits and some uses of EM1 were covered in my previous article the microbes that EM1 contain are:
- lactic acid bacteria
- yeasts
- purple non-sulphur bacteria
Lactic acid bacteria are well known, they’re used to make yogurt, cheese, kefir and other fermented foods.
yeasts are also well known, they’re used to make beer, wine, liquor and cause bread to rise.
Purple non-sulphur bacteria (PNSB) are the least known of the 3 ingredients. PNSB are commonly found in sediment in ponds, lakes and swamps below shallow, slow moving water. PNSB are phototropic or photosynthetic bacteria. Their purposes in EM1 is mostly in benefiting plants in the garden. PNSB are nitrogen fixing microorganisms and provide food for other soil microbes. They also provide some decomposition of potential toxins that may exist in the environment or fermentation process. To get original EM1 for gardening and agricultural usage click here
Â
EM1 and Bokashi sound like fascinating products! It sounds like off I add EM1 to the distilled grain I am composting, it may accelerate the process. I am wondering how EM1 compares to compost tea: I understand that there are microbes in the tea, but which ones? Thank you for your informative articles.
EM1 is the microbial inoculant, bokashi is the process of usingnit to ferment wastes. EM1 consists of yeasts, lactic acid bacteria and purple non-sulphur bacteria. All are facultative anaerobes.