Bloom Fertilizer

8/10/2019 Bloom Fertilizer

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Bloom Fertilizer

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 were intoflowering/fruiting, the natural farming method emphasizes Potassium to enhance qualities liketaste and sweetness. To create the fruit extract, well use the same principles we used forHerbaGrow.

How to Make:

1. Collect fruits. Any fruits can be used. In North America, you can use herbs, or weedshigh in Potassium like Comfrey (also a good source of Phosphorus). For the beta-

carotene, yellow/orange plants like Carrots, Squash, Pumpkin, etc. We really emphasizePotassium during this time so those plants high in that element are recommended. In Asiawe use banana, squash, pumpkin, papaya, mango, jack fruit, pineapple. Citrus fruitsshould 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 theplant-specific enzymes, nutrients, etc. Want nice big flowers? Use flowers! Wantto help the budding stage? Use flower buds and after fermentation, use concoctionduring budding time! Ferment small growing fruits if you want to promote fruitgrowth to produce larger fruits.

2. 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.

3. Mash up this mixturedont use hands!4. Add mixture to plastic jug and cover loosely.5. It should ferment for 7-10 days.

TIP:7-10 days is normal for fairly warm (25-30 Celsius) temperatures. In coldertemperatures it might take longer. Dont worry, if you leave it longer no problem.

6. If you start with 1kg fruits+1kg sugar, youll end up with 1.5L juice after fermentation.

7.

Drain the juice after fermentation, into a glass/plastic jug for storage8.

Leave cap off! For first couple weeks to allow bubbling to finish, then cap it.

How to Use:

Add 1tbsp per gallon of water.
http://gilcarandang.com/recipes/calphos/http://gilcarandang.com/recipes/calphos/http://gilcarandang.com/recipes/calphos/


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PlantsApply as a foliar spray or soil drench. Apply during bloom phase and fruiting phase. Can makeseparate 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

Share this:

Henry

April 14, 2013 at 3:20 pm -Reply...

Greetings,

Im a bit confused about 4.Add mixture to plastic jug and cover with a newspaper and

twine/rubberband.. Is the latter suggesting that it should be wrapped with the newspaperand tied with twine or a rubber-band in the plastic tub?

How long is the shelf life of the concentrate? Should be stored at room temperature or inthe refrigerator?

Many Thanks,Henry

o Patrick

April 14, 2013 at 4:05 pm -Reply...

Hi Henry,

Great question, the instructions probably complicate the actual procedure a bit.You just need to cover the container so that wild things like ants dont get in.Dont seal it since gases will be released with fermentation.
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You can store it at room temperature and it will last for years, Ill double check

that with Gil to try and get an exact timeframe but I know its a long time. Oncefermentation is complete it is quite stable. Hope that helps.

Cheers,

Patrick

Henry

April 15, 2013 at 11:17 am -Reply...

Thank you Patrick! Very helpful.

o Shane

June 20, 2013 at 1:47 pm -Reply...

I am wondering if you add water to this mix . I blended my mix and was left witha paste . I added 2 L water to thin the mix, any thoughts

Patrick

June 20, 2013 at 3:21 pm -Reply...

Hi Shane,

Thanks for visiting our site..join the mailing list! Ya that is no problem

adding water, you will just have a little more diluted final product, whichyou can mix in greater concentrations when applying.

When fermentation starts, after you mash the fruits with sugar, it should bea mush, thick and pasty. As it ferments there should be a decent amount ofliquid that separates out, that will be your end product. However,sometimes less fluid is produced because of some cause likeenvironmental conditions during fermentation, ingredients used, etc. its

fine to add water in these cases.

Cheers,

Patrick

Henry

June 2, 2013 at 12:06 pm -Reply...

Hello Patrick,
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Just completed 1st batch of Bloom, fermented 10 days. The one thing that is noticeablymissing is the lack of bubbling. Any problem there, and after the first 5 days I noticed

spots of white mold, which Im pretty sure is a good thing.

I stirred this batch(which I had in a perforated 3 gal bucket)every other day or so.

Many thanks.

o Patrick

June 3, 2013 at 5:29 am -Reply...

Hey Henry, no worries about the bubbling, depending on environmentalconditions you might not have noticable bubbling. There should still be gasproduced but if you have it in a perforated bucket you wouldnt notice that.

Yep, as you assumed the mold is fine no worries there.

You dont need to stir it but thats ok if you do. That might be why you didntnotice bubbling, the stirring allowed better gas exchange to the surface.

Just out of curiosity, what fruits did you use?

Henry

June 3, 2013 at 1:20 pm -Reply...

I used Gils Papaya, Squash, & Banana and added a few stalks and leaves of Comfrey.Patrick how often can this be fed to tomatoes and peppers?

o Patrick

June 3, 2013 at 2:39 pm -Reply...

I dont think there is an upper limit to how often you feed this as long as youdilute it appropriately. I would foliar spray once or twice weekly throughout budand flower stage. I also add some to my compost teas I brew during this phase ofthe season. It isnt super strong chemically, you just need to make sure you dilute

it because of the acidity, byproducts of fermentation, etc.

Lucas

June 10, 2013 at 2:45 pm -Reply...

hi ,it is ok if i use banana, squash, carrot ? or shoul i use banana, squash, pumpkin ?thank you


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lucas

o Patrick

June 10, 2013 at 2:50 pm -Reply...

Hey Lucas, using carrot would be great actuallygood carotene source.

Peter

June 11, 2013 at 6:19 pm -Reply...

hi , congratulations for your page , is very helpful , to make the extract , should i ripe thefruits in little pieces and mix them ? o should we crush the fruits ?

thank you

o Patrick

June 12, 2013 at 3:12 am -Reply...

Hi Peter,

Thanks! Glad youre interested in our site, join our mailing list! Id crush the fruitbefore fermenting. You dont have to do anything, but I think crushing leads to

better fermentation and more juice in the final product.

Cheers,Patrick

Klai

June 12, 2013 at 6:37 pm -Reply...

Hello and thanks for taking your time to gather and put together all these information.This is a wealth of information and was exactly what I was looking for. Im switchingfrom growing chemically to organics and is trying to learn the ropes of growingorganically. I hope you can help. I was wondering if both these GROW/BLOOM

fertilizer works the same as a Organic Compost Tea? If no, can it be used with teas? If so,how? Do I just mix the ferts directly in with tea, or after tea is finished brewing anddiluted with water? Or do I water my plants with tea and ferts separately? And what if I

just water my plants without the compost tea and just grow/bloom fertilizer, anypros/cons? Thanks.

o Patrick


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June 13, 2013 at 5:57 am -Reply...

Hi Klai,

Thanks for joining us! Join our mailing list! Its a great intro to using all these

concepts. I have a post on compost tea in the pipeline, its going to be a great one.

As far as your questions go:

1. These grow/bloom recipes are a little different than compost tea. They arefermented, decomposed without oxygen. They will contain many strains ofbacteria, but primarily lactobacillus, the workhorse of the fermentation bacteria.Other genus of bacteria may be present but most likely in cyst form. In theserecipes, lots of material is added and fermentation takes place, breaking thematerial down into smaller components that are bio-available. Proteins, enzymes,hormones, beneficial chemical compounds are all extracted during this process. In

contrast, compost tea, done properly, is heavily aerated (as much as possible).This creates an aerobic environment in which a high diversity of bacteria/fungiflourish. However you cant add a lot of materials like you do in fermentation

(that would lower the oxygen content and the tea would go bad). You arebasically just trying to breed a really high population of bacteria/fungi. Both ofthese things are amazing tools in the organic farming kit.

2. You can use these bloom/grow fertilizers with compost tea any way that youcan imagine. You can add it to the tea during brew, or you can add it to the dilutedmixture at the end. When adding it to the tea during brew, I usually add less than Iwould if adding later. This is because I dont want the compost tea getting too

acidic and I dont wanttoo many nutrients in it (lowers oxygen levels and canharm bacterial/fungal growth). So in a 5 gallon tea I might add 1 tbsp bloom and 1tbsp grow for a balanced tea. Or 3 tbsp bloom if I want a heavily bloom favoredtea. Experiment adding more, I try to err on the side of caution with these things,Ive burned my plants many times even with organic brews. If you add to the

diluted tea just before adding to that plants, you can add at the normal rate (1tbsp/gal).

3. You can water with just bloom/grow and no compost tea, but youll be missingout some on the microbial diversity. Now if you madeBIM you could get aroundthat. Even with BIM though I still like making compost tea, its great stuff andcomplements the fermented extractions perfectly.

Great questions Klai, hope you sign up and join our little army of unconventionalfarmers!

Patrick

Klai
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June 13, 2013 at 7:09 am -Reply...

Thank you, youve answered my question perfectly. And I just signed up. Anotherquestion:

1. Now since the Grow/Bloom fertilizers are fermented and does not require oxygen,would it be safe to assume one can make multiple batches and store it in a air-tightcontainer for later use (like say next summer when I switch over to organic)?

2. I didnt know what BIM was until you mentioned it. Looks like great stuff. I was

wondering if I can make and use BIM to jump start the beneficial bacteria in my left overorganic soil (4-5 cubic yards) and store it until next year? Will themicrobes/bacteria/fungi/etc still be alive by then? If not, how do I keep it alive? I will bewatering it ever few day with de-chlorinated water, or tea (which is best if possible?). Iplan on throwing some composting worm into the pile of soil too. The longer the soil sits,the better, or no?

3. Lastly, these terms are thrown around in garden forums so loosely, it confuses me. Is ittrue that Bacteria benefits plants in the vegetative stage and Fungi benefits plant onthe flowering stage or did I get it the reverse way around?

I will love to see your Compost Tea recipe. Cant wait. Thanks.

o Patrick

June 13, 2013 at 7:40 am -Reply...

I saw that thanks! Glad to have you on board. There will be lots of greatinformation coming out this year. To answer:

1. Yep thats the great thing about these recipes. Once finished they can all bestored for a long time. They are very stable after fermentation.

2. You can use BIM for that purpose, sure. Thats what its for, boosting

bacterial/fungal populations. If the piles dry out or freeze or something, themicrobes will persist in cyst/spore form until conditions become favorable again.If you have the time, compost tea would be best to water them with. No need touse compost tea every time. Maybe every 5 waterings or so, use compost tea.

Theres no rules just whatever works for you. Worms are great! Awesomecomposters and great for boosting microbe populations. The longer the pile sitsthe better it becomes. More microbes inhabit, more nutrients get broken down intobio-available forms, etc. It ages, aged compost and soil is best! Like fine wine

3. Its true bacteria and fungi are thrown around a lot. From my reading and

discussions, its less about stages of development as acidity. High bacterial


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populations tend to make the soil more basic whereas high fungal populationstend to make the soil more acidic. So plants that like a more acidic soil wouldappreciate higher fungal counts and those that like it more neutral/basic wouldfavor bacterial populations. Another convention Ive heard a lot is fungi fortrees/shrubs, bacteria for grasses/soft-stem. Honestly I dont even worry about it

too much anymore. I try to get as much beneficial bacteria, fungi, protozoa andnematodes as I can into the soil. A good healthy balanced population of beneficialmicrobes will make for awesome plants that require less maintenance.

Henry

June 13, 2013 at 11:11 am -Reply...

Patrick,

I too would love to see your tea recipe!

Klai

June 13, 2013 at 9:50 pm -Reply...

Thanks a lot Patrick, I REALLY REALLY appreciate it. Youve been a TREMENDOUS

help. I feel Ive learned a lot more within a few hours visiting this page and talking withyou; than I did, a whole month and a half asking questions and going through otherwebsites. Youre very informative, simple and to the point. Keep up the EXCELLENTwork. Will be looking out for your tea recipe

o

Patrick

June 14, 2013 at 4:28 pm -Reply...

Wow, great feedback! Im happy to help! Do you mind if I quote you in the

testimonials section (coming soon)? Like I said if you are looking for tips onorganic gardening this is a great place. Over the course of this year, through theFlog and new pages, well be covering dry composting, wet composting, bokashicomposting, crop rotation, no till farming, biochar, additional recipes and covercropping just to name a few. Many of these articles are already written but are inthe edit phase still. I love this stuff and Im happy to devote my free time to this

adventure.

Klai

June 19, 2013 at 5:39 am -Reply...

Sorry Ive been busy but YES you can absolutely quote me in your testimonial section.

Again, thanks.


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John

June 21, 2013 at 3:46 am -Reply...

hi ,im doing the banana squash papaya FPE but im a little confused ,in another gil article

(Beneficial Indigenous Organisms )in the making of bionutrients ,it says that the liquidgenerated can be diluted with 20 parts of water ,and then we can use 2-4 tablespoons pergallon of water , this disolution is rigth ? here is the article

http://tribes.tribe.net/effectivemicro/thread/d6b8fd03-e2c7-4650-a658-51fdf4f013ad

thanks for your time

John

o Patrick

June 21, 2013 at 4:15 am -Reply...

Hi John,

Ha, Ive seen that article floating around a lot over the years. Thats true in the

article there is the step to dilute with 20 parts water. We changed that for severalreasons. Its simpler not to have to dilute it twice, and through practice farmershere have found 1 tbsp/gal of the pure extract to be effective, and not too muchfor plants to handle. Now if you are mixing FPEs youll have to dilute

accordingly but that is a separate topic. Let me know if that makes sense or any

other questions. Thanks for visiting the site! Check out the FLOG, there will beposts on this and other topics coming out soon.

Cheers,Patrick

Ainerol

July 2, 2013 at 4:49 pm -Reply...

hello patrick

we re making the ferment ,20 days from the begining , in the top layer of the ferment ithas a white layer of mold ,it is ok ?

thank youAinerol

o Patrick
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July 3, 2013 at 4:35 am -Reply...

Yep, for sure thats fine, that will happen most of the time with this recipe, theresno problem there. Keep the process anaerobic to keep the molds beneficial.

Karen

July 11, 2013 at 3:49 am -Reply...

Hi Patrick,

what about using the peels of the fruits too? And is it ok to use a high-speed blender (ex:vitamix) to liquify and ferment?

Karen

Annie

July 23, 2013 at 9:11 am -Reply...

Hi Patrick, boy am I glad I am far away from you bec I have a question and you might bevery tempted to wring my neck! I was so tired of cutting up the tumeric and the devil saiduse the blender, after all you are going to add water, right? So I did.Another thing, Iused my hand to mash up the bananas and since the pumpkin was a bit hard, I grated it,will my bloom fail do you think?ThanksAnnie Kuala Lumpur

o Patrick

July 23, 2013 at 2:46 pm -Reply...

What, KL isnt far thats just a short flight away, Im coming to get you! Haha no,no worries Annie thats fine to use the blender. We even recommend it in some

recipes, like the fish fertilizer recipe. I use my blender a lot when making theserecipes, just to increase the surface area of my ingredients and help thefermentation process.

phoenix

July 25, 2013 at 12:49 am -Reply...

Would this work with apples? Persimmons? Plums?

Curious which other non-citrus fruits would be most effective.
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Also curious whether one could leave the cap on loosely for the last stage of brewing tokeep pests out?

o Patrick

July 25, 2013 at 12:37 pm -Reply...

Yes and yes. Non-citrus fruits are best to use, we recommend the non-citrusvarieties actually. The fruits you listed would work fine in this recipe. As far asthe cap goes, I leave the cap loosely on most of my fermentations. The best wouldbe an airlock, but a loose cap works ok too.

phoenix

July 25, 2013 at 12:56 am -Reply...

Oh and it seems like a lot of sugar compared to other fermentation recipes (like the oneson EM-1 websites). Why?

Also, speaking of EM-1, could you substitute EM-1 for molasses or sugar in this recipe?

o Patrick

July 25, 2013 at 12:40 pm -Reply...

I havent talked to Gil about why so much sugar. I assume so there is morealcohol and finally vinegar during fermentation, which substances act as solvents

for lots of good stuff in the fruit. Ill ask Gil about it.

phoenix

July 26, 2013 at 1:06 pm -Reply...

Thanks so much for the prompt replies. I love this site.

Annie

August 5, 2013 at 11:00 pm -Reply...

Was wondering if I could feed all my waste from squeezing out the juice from mybloom? Any one know? I have a feling they will love it, but the amount of sugar thewaste conatins might kill off the worms. AND I dont want to experiment on a fewworms too.

o Patrick


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August 6, 2013 at 2:57 am -Reply...

Oh it should be great for you worms! pre-digested, they should love it! I feedmine all kinds of fermented stuffs, although mine are night-crawlers (preferred inasia), shouldnt make a difference. The sugar content is pretty low after

fermentationmicrobes ate all the sugar already.

Annie


I kept a little and consigned the bulk to my bokashi compost bin. I read some wheresomeone poured the remnants of his coke into the worm bin and the worms loved it alsoanother adds brown sugar to the bin but I wasnt too sure about blooms waste. Thanks aheap Patrick!

phoenix


Am I right in thinking that this is sort of like the equivalent of apple (or other fruit) cidervinegar for plants?

Is there a way to tell that fermentation is complete and no alcohol is left in the mixture topoison plants? I know aeration will wine into vinegar eventually, but am not familiar withthe indications of when its done. Will bubbling start or stop at certain point in theprocedure?

o Patrick


I suppose thats a good analogy though I havent made apple cider vinegar before

and the recipe I found calls for 6 months and no sugar. Maybe this is anaccelerated version of that process. A small amount of alcohol is ok since this isdiluted heavily for use. But you should be able to tell when its gone by the smell

the fermented, sour/vinegar smell is pretty distinctive.

Cheers,Patrick

Rose


Hi. Can I use pineapple peelings to make the bloom fertilizer?


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o Patrick


They are pretty citrus..We usually dont ferment the citrus fruits. Ill ask Gil about

it though.Cheers,Patrick

Rose


Thanks Patrick. Ill wait for Gils feedback then. I wonder if you havealready started with the hydroponics?

Patrick


I havent started playing with hydro and I dont think Gil has

either..

Annie


Patrick, I used the Bloom on my Yellow Pear Tomato plants as they were ready toflower. Bloom really works miracles. I harvested a few tomatoes to-day and they were sosweet and juicy. I had also applied Bloom on my Mulberry plants and within a few days,tiny berries appeared in droves on the branches. I am eagerly waiting for my other plantsto show signs of flowering, then I will spray them with Bloom. I did banana, pumpkinpapaya, tomatoe and pineapple at one attempt.

Adam

September 2, 2013 at 8:47 pm -Reply...

Hello, after seeing this I decided to research high potassium foods and found thatpotatoes have huge amounts of potassium in them, sweet potatoes would also have thebeta-carotene. Would these be good to include as ingredients? or is there a reason Ishould avoid potatoes? Also, Blackstrap Molasses is high in Potassium so it seems it maybe beneficial if liquid sugars are suitable process, so would B.lack-S.trap M.olasses begood to use? I was thinking banana-papaya-sweet potato with BSM for the sugar? thanksfor your input.


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o Patrick

October 30, 2013 at 8:32 am -Reply...

Awesome comment Adam sorry its taken me so long to reply Ive been away.

Yes, sweet potato would be great, and BSM is the ideal sugar source in ourexperience. Though not sure how the starch content will affect the final output,might be quite alcoholic so make sure you dilute appropriately. Try it and let usknow how it goes! Would love to see how it turns out might have to try it also.

zek

November 8, 2013 at 10:29 am -Reply...

Hi, I am from Malaysia. I am learn about Natural farming fertilizer from our Departmentof agriculture. I want to know how to extract chitin & chitosan from crab and shrimp

using fermentation techniques. If I burn the shell and mix with apple cider, can l get thechitin. Or the shell fermented with brown sugar without burning. Tq.

o Patrick

November 20, 2013 at 9:41 pm -Reply...

This is a great question and a little tricky. Ive worked on this recipe personally.

Getting Chitin is easy, getting Chitosan, the plant-available form of chitin, ismuch more difficult, or involved anyway. Here are the steps:

1. leave chitin source (crab shells, shrimp shells, etc) in compost pile to let crittersclean all meat and such off it.2. soak chitin source in mild acid (vinegar) to remove calcium. This should bepretty fast, I just use a day or so anyway.3. remove chitin and let dry4. soak chitin in EXTREMELY strong base. Recommended at least 40% sodiumhydroxide. This stuff will burn you if you touch it. Ideally you would heat it atthis stage to 100 Celsius but that makes crazy fumes. I just leave it in solution fora month. This is probably less effective but Im limited due to living in an

apartment.5. After 1 month remove chitosan from NaOH and let it dry.

6. Soak this product in weak acid(vinegar) and it should dissolve.7. Apply this at roughly 1tsp/gal

That is the rough recipe anyway. You have to be very careful, NaOH is toxicstuff. I dont recommend making this unless you know what youre doing. It

would be much simpler just to dry out the shells, use a mortar and pestle to grindthem up, and add this powder to your compost pile. Youll get chitosan eventuallyas the microbes break down the chitin to the plant-available form..
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Phil Bradshaw


Hi Patrick.

I wrote yesterday with regard to the calphos. The same applies to this question also.Would this Bloom nutrient be applicable in a hydroponic flood & drain situation? Andif so, at what ratio? What I failed to ask yesterday, was could you please give anymeasurements in metric i.e. millilitres & litres to avoid any confusion between U.K.gallons, & U.K. tablespoons? Thanks againPhil B.

o Patrick


You know I really need to get all the conversions on this site sorted out so wereall on the same page. It annoys me too, here in the Philippines we really use bothsystems, mixed and mashed up. Anyway you know google is great at converting,just type 3.5tbsp to ml or 1.75L to gal or any kind of conversion like that andit will do it right there for you.

You know, I havent used this in a hydro system but it would be very applicable. IREALLY want to try all these recipes in hydro, its on the to-do list. For ratio, Idstick to the recommended ratios for these recipes and see how you go. Make sureyou strain them well! Though flood and drain should be fine.. Anyway Id try

5ml/L of the bloom and work up from there. Keep in mind this depends how

much water you added when fermenting the fruits. If you added water duringfermentation then you can mix stronger amounts here.

Patrick

Phil Bradshaw


Hi Patrick.Thanks for your reply, regarding conversion rates, & yes, conversions are readily

available on the net.What concerns/interests me, is the dosage rates with these home made products. I alwayserr on the side of caution, but a ball-park figure would be a good place to start.It wouldbe good to make my own nutrient, instead of spending fortunes on Advanced Nutrientsexpensive products. I am currently experimenting with a home-made product calledkvas,for a substitute for Voodoo & Piranha, whichyou might like to Google. It hasmany applications, & is very simple to make!With regard to your pest problem; garden hygiene is very important. Try to clear up


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any dead & dying plant material that would provide a hiding place for pests. & keepsurrounding areas clear of weeds, which can also be a vector for infection, both forinsects,viruses, molds & fungus etc., Im probably telling you something you alreadyknow. Im Just trying to be helpful!

o

Patrick


Heh thanks Phil! Yeah, I tend to err on the side of caution and then quicklyprogress until I overdo it haha.. Generallythis means starting at 1tsp/gal andworking up to several tbsp per gallon or even more in the case of bokashi andworm leachate.

Thanks for the advice! Still need to look up that kvas soundsinterestinganything to cut out over-priced fertilizers, jeez..

Cheers,Patrick

Francis


Hi guys, first of all, thanks for sharing your amazing work, Ive been reading and

reading, just cant get enough of all the information here.

I had some questions, I live in the Caribbean, so I have some the fruit in the gardenalready (Mango, papaya). Now lots of times birds and other critters partially eat the fruitsbefore we get to them. By the time the fruit falls on the ground, they are then not edibleanymore/starting to rot/smelling funky. Would it be ok to use these fruit also?

My second question is a bit more tricky. Your recipe above is in gallons, but we only useliters here. (I know the conversion and all) but what I want to do is make 1l bottlescontaining Bloom solution. But I want to alter the recipe so that you need to add 1tablespoon (15ml) to 1L of water. I realize I would need to dilute the entire solution a bitto make it less strong since its only 1L.

Ive tried calculating it in different ways and asking different people, but no one seems toknow how to calculate this. If you have an idea how to calculate this I would reallyappreciate the help

Keep up the great work guys!Thanks again,

Francis


17/34

o Patrick


Hey Francis,

First, the fruits on the ground areperfectfor fermenting! They are alreadyinoculated with microbes! put them in a bucket, add sugar, seal it, and youregood to go. They are actually better than using right off the tree since they alreadyhave good populations going, picked up off the soil ecosystem they landed on.

Now for the conversion. So normally you would have 1tbsp per gallon of water.Im just going to say its 4L per gallon of water (its really about 3.79L/gal). So if

you want your bloom solution to be mixed at a rate of 1tbsp/L, then it needs to be4 times more dilute than our recipe. So mix it with 3 parts water before you bottleit for distribution. This way it will be 4 times the original volume, so people can

mix it 4 times the strength, or 1tbsp/L. E.G. you have 1kg fruits so you add 1Lmolasses. After fermentation this might be 1.5L of bloom fert. Dilute this with4.5L water, then bottle it up, hand it out and tell people to mix 1tbsp/L.

Note, you can also mix it with water before fermentation but itll be a little lessexact since you dont know quite the correct volume at that time.

Hopefully I understood your question correctly. Let me know if not. Good luck!

Cheers,Patrick

Tina L.

December 4, 2013 at 3:11 am -Reply...

Hello po! Can i speak tagalog here? ask ko lang po if applicable din yung bloom fertilizeror calphos sa mga flowering plants? like adeniums?

o Patrick


Oo naman, no problem sa tagalog. haha pero konte lang tagalog ko. ok langgamitin ang bloom fertilizer sa lahat ng halaman. kung gusto mo, use yungmalalaaking flowers para sa bloom fertilizeri-ferment yung flowers para jan.

Salamat,Patrick


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Tina L.


Wow youre good at tagalog ha. In fairness to you! Thanks for the info.

Malapit ko na magamit yung bloom fertilizer ko. I started the fermentationlast nov. 24. Im very excited to use it on my garden!

Travis Schulert


Hello, Patrick.

We talked a few days ago about BIM, I would like to know if there is any microbialinoculants I have to add. Right now I have lots of gourds and squash and potatoes going

bad either on the rack or in the fridge. I would like to make all of this into a bloomfertilizer. Some of it is washed, some of it has been sitting out for months in the kitchen,so do they still have the bacteria and yeasts on them or do I need to supplement them?

o Patrick


Hi Travis,

Nope, you dont need to inoculate them with anything especially if theyve been

out for months. You can use them in this recipe. They will be great bloominoculants, especially on your squash and potato plants. Just follow the recipe asis and you should be good. Remember its temperature dependent so if its coldoutside try to do it inside somewhere where its a little warmer.

Cheers,Patrick

Travis Schulert


A heat pad hooked up to a thermostat, and the pad is set under a largecooler. It makes for a very good incubation chamber that can hold multiplegallon jugs. Also nice to be able to set it at whatever temp I want.

Patrick

December 16, 2013 at 8:00 pm -Reply...


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Ooo thats very niceId set it for 35 or so! Great temp forlactobacillus spp.

Matthew


Hi Patrick,

Im so intrigue with this topic of fermentation and i have a bit of questions to ask you. iread one of your previous recipes in making the lactobacillus spp. And i did a bit orresearch and found all the great benefits of this bacteria. i am current pursuing plantdevelopment within an Aquaponis system. i am a bit curious. i your article aboutlactobacillus spp you stated to add lacto at roughly 1L per 700m3 of fish-containingwater. what i want to find out is how often i can add this into my aquaculture and will itbreakdown the fish waste within the system.

secondly this fermented plant juice can i also add it directly into the fish water to providethe added mineral content to supplement nutrients such as potassium, if so at whatconcentration and frequency can i add it at. will i also have to monitor pH also. i know iasked alot but im eagerly awaiting your response. im currently fermenting some papayaas we speak and im excited to try it on my tomatoes plants. thanks in advance.

o Patrick


Hi Matthew,

Thats great youre getting into this, its good stuff! As far as your questions go,here are my thoughts. I havent played around with aquaculture applications muchso Im not the best at these recommendations.. Im going to err on the side of

caution and hopefully itll work well for you..

1. You can add the lacto as often as you feel its necessary. Yep, itll break down

the fish waste in the system. Start with that rate1L/700m3 and add more or lessas you see fit. It shouldnt do any harm to the fish at that application rate no

matter how often you add it.2. Yep you can add fermented plant juices to the system for sure! They will also

have great lactobacillus populations. As far as application rateI dont know butI would start with same as the lacto1L/700m3, that is extremely dilute it shouldbe ok.3. Definitely monitor the pH when you add these! They are acidicat theseapplication rates they should be fine but Id still watch just in case.

Hope that helps. Let me know how it goes! Im dying to start an aquaculturesetup. Ive seen lacto used in ponds back in the states and its amazing the fish


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explode in size and the water gets super clean, super cool. Im planning to start alittle aquaponics setup but its low on the priority list these days ..Patrick

Matthew


Thanks Patrick. I will surely add it at the rate you suggested it should beadded and Ill let you know the results of it. heck if its working so go Ill

even start to up the concentration of the rate to see if there is any ill effectat all. I like to experiment, I just like to figure out the unknowns. thanksagain for your knowledge but you have to post some pictures of yourcrops for us to see. Im dying to see your garden

Wendy


my question is what happen if you do not diluted well?

not for leaf but for root

o Patrick

December 29, 2013 at 9:06 pm -Reply...

Its too acidic for roots if you dont dilute well. There may be other factors tooIm not sure there but definitely the acidity would be harmful.

brian stephen

January 5, 2014 at 5:21 am -Reply...

hi love reading your site , I have a few thousand macadamia trees here in Australia wehave not sprayed any chemicals other than molasses some cal nitrate Epsom salts andpotash. I imported a container of condensed molasses solids that ha d been fermented andturned into granuals from vietnarm well it worked great it passed our quaranteen as

organic, it was fantastic, but now we are having trouble buying more, you may be able tohelp me simulate the process and come up with a simaler product that I could do on farm.I am fermenting rice water at the moment , all idears would be welcomed and I wouldpass on all results. regards brian Stephen australia

o Patrick



21/34

Hi Brian,

Sorry for the late reply, thats really interesting though! Can you point me in thedirection of any literature on that stuff you got? Id be interested in seeing what

its all about. Is it like solid molasses waste, byproduct of molasses production? I

know thats used in Asia when molasses isnt available its a little lower insugars but more concentrated in vitamins/minerals. That can be fermented andbroken down using theAspergillus nigerorganism, which is a very commonfungus. If I were you I would try and find the nearest molasses plant and ask forsome of the solid waste, though processing there is probably different than hereand they may not produce it. Once you have the solid molasses waste, you canplay around with fermenting it.

Hope that gives you some ideas. Let me know if you have any documentation onit, Im curious. Cheers,Patrick

Patrick


also, man, thats allotta macadamia trees! grown organically, that isawesome.

Gaston


Thank you so much. This is amazing. I am really enjoying this.

o Patrick


Thats awesome Gaston Im glad youre enjoying it!

brian stephen

January 15, 2014 at 5:49 pm -Reply...

great to get your reply bring up Vedan Enterprises Vietnarm and the fert is VEDAGROthey have liquid and granuals I bought the granuals and I must say it worked great, butnow a third party has rights to import into Australia I dont like. my import licencerequired the name of the bacteria that they used and proof of how they destroyed it inmanufacture the bacteria was LACTOBACILLUS we have easy aces to molasses andmangoes and fruit and veg scraps we also feed a couple of marema dogs we use a lot of


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boild rice, I just tried a rice water and milk and added molasses at the end smells lovley Irely need to make a concentrated mix as with the rice water one it is a 20 to 1 mix I use10 thousand liters of water to spray 2000 trees, we are not totaley organic ,we never spraychemicals for bugs onley molasses we have to use a little roundup once a year, we have100 sheep that roam around the trees, as for fertilizer I would use the vietnarm vedagro if

it was easey to buy like before , fertilizer in Australia is very expensive, I feel I couldmake my own that would work as well as vedagro I just need some help from people likeyou, at the moment I mix 1000lit water add 2kg vedagro 2kg cal nitrate 2kg potash andsulphate Epsom salts , this mix will do about 200trees I hose the trees so I realey do theground as well, I have the mix for em1 em2 em3 em4 I will do a mix and try . I could goon for ever regards brian Stephen PS greatfull for any advice.

o Patrick


Hey Brian,

Wow, lots of stuff going on there. Lets see. I have some feedback anyway..

1. I looked up vedagrosuper interesting product. Its a byproduct of MSGproduction which is interesting. MSG production can be done many ways, but Ithink this company is just using molassesjust taking straight molasses,fermenting it, extracting the MSG, then drying the byproduct and pelletizing it.There are other methods to produce MSG they might be using though, someinvolve fermenting another carbon source like wheat gluten, corn gluten ordefatted soybean meal. Others involve adding a little ammonia. Any of these

would produce an excellent fertilizer as byproduct of MSG production. Theirvedagro is pretty high in Nitrogen so maybe they are adding ammonia duringfermentation. In any case, I think you can make your own fertilizer that is just asgood. Looks like vedan has an unlabelled version of vedagro Im not sure if yousaw that alreadyhere.

2. As I mentioned I think you can make fertilizer that is just as good as Vedagro.If you want to make your own fertilizer, youll want to order the ingredients in

bulk. Look for the cheapest bulk molasses that you can get. Sounds like you havea cheap source for that so thats good. Then look for fish. If you live close to the

coast thats much easier, haha. Its normally pretty easy to find fish parts all thewaste junk from the fishing industry like guts, bones, heads/tails, etc. Visit thenearest fishery area and try to source that cheap there.

So now you would have lots of molasses, fruit/veggie scraps, and fish parts.Ideally you would ferment fruits, veggies, and fish all separately. The veggie andfish fermentations will be mixed and applied together as a grow formula, whilethe fruit fermentation will be applied as a bloom formula. You can follow thoserecipes to make all of those. Basically use the lacto, in this volume you could use
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as little as 2ml/L, to ferment the ingredients. Use 1 part ingredient(fish/veggie/fruit), 1/3 part molasses, 2 parts water with the lacto mixed in tokickstart it. Ferment that for 3-4 weeks and then there you gomix thefish/veggie fermentations together before you use.

If you cant separate the fruits/veggies thats fine just ferment them together. Forthe bloom formula just leave out the fish fertilizer. For the grow formula use bothtogether.

For 10,000L, you would mix 40-80L of fertilizer to get the right concentration. Idstart with 40L and see how it goes, work your way up from there. So youd bedoing the fermentations in 200L barrels which is a reasonable size.

I know this is more work and might not make sense economicallybut its so

much fun!!

Hope that helps, let me know if any questions, and let me know how you proceed!Cheers,Patrick

brian stephen


well I cant thank you enough Patrick I must say the vedagro did work wll I thought it wasthe fulvic acid , the high nitrogen content was what made me buy it, it was $400 audlanded in Australia a ton the equivalent here in Australia would be $1200 a ton. I will

start you recipes asap. I have fermented a small batch of rice wash and milk. is it anothersubstance that could replace the milk, we aussie have trouble understanding some of yourmeasures, please correct me if I am wrong, say I have 6kilos of veg wast, now I wouldadd 2kilos of molasses, this would give me 8 kilos in total weight, now I add this where Iget lost sorry, is it 16kilos of water, how much lacto would I add to ferment, can i put apressure valve on top of my fermenting chamber. once again many thanks brian Stephenwe will send you some macas when we start harvesting

o Patrick


Hey Brian,

This is for veggie fermentation? For the veggie and bloom fermentations, theoriginal recipe doesnt call for adding water. Weve added water and the

hydrolysis helps the fermentation but you dont need that much just 1:1 withwater would be fine, so 8 kg of water, or 8 L in other words. For fermentations Ijust add 1 tbsp per L (15ml per L), but that is just me. You could add 5ml per L


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and itd be fine, or 500ml per L and be fine. I just think 15ml is a good amount not too much or too little.

Sorry for the late reply hope this helps. Cant wait for the macas, write me whenyou harvest.

ElsieHoreb


Hi PatrickThanks for your earlier replies on Calphos and using cocopeat as substitute for wheatbran.

I have made calphos, lacto serum, fermented fruit extract using papaya only as I couldnot find pumpkin and squash then.

Questions:

1. I now have found pumpkin and squash. Can I combine them once the pumpkin andsquash are fermented or should I just leave them in separate jars and only mix themduring the application ?

2. My cucumbers are flowering and fruiting a lot but the leaves are turning yellowish andpale green. Have added bloom fert to the soil only. Should I foliar spray instead ? Whywould the leaves turn yellow pale green ?

3. Can I add bloom fert into my self watering water reservoir (for most of my veggies) ?or should I do foliar spray and soil drench ? And also can I add fish amino acid to thewater reservoir ?

4. My cabbages look quite good, shall I add bloom fert to induce flowering ?

5. My apple custard plant flowered but only a few form fruits, what should I add ? Alsothe leaves are turning pale yellow.

Thanks for your help. I never get tired of reading articles from this site. They are reallyinteresting and I love to ferment haha

Elsie from Malaysia, KL

o Patrick

February 4, 2014 at 10:10 am -Reply...

Hi Elsie from KL,
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25/34

I dunno if I mentioned this already but you know I lived in Penang for 6 monthssome years backbest food ever. Roti canai is probably my favorite food in theworld, but those laksas are pretty awesome too. Ok for your questions:

1. Yep, for sure you can combine them after they are all fermented, thats how it

should be done.

2. If they are turning pale from the bottom of the plant up or all over at the sametime, chances are your plants are low on Nitrogen. Thats normal during bloombut you can add nitrogen if you want, like fish fertilizer.

3. Hmm thats an interesting question. I would be cautious how often do theydrain the reservoir. Or rather how often do you add fresh water? If the ferts aresitting there in it, you can get some bad stuff growing.. but you can try it and seehow it goes, start very dilute and build up.

4. Yep, if youre ready for bloom and the cabbages are . You want yourcabbages to bloom? Oohh, some kind of chinese cabbage right? Im thinking inwestern terms..

5. for the leaves, nitrogen probably. For the fruitinggood luck, its hard to getsome plants to bloom in the hot humid weather. You can try fermenting fruits anduse that to encourage them but its tough sometimes here in asia..

Great questions. Keep reading and keep fermenting

Patrick from Manila

brian stephen


hi just a couple of questions, i fermented some rice water and finished off with milk thenadded some molasses could i use this as my lacto mix for my fertilizer mix and at whatrate now it is diluted a little with molasses, also why is citrus not a good product to use.regards brian stephen

o Patrick


Im not sure I follow that sounds like the pure serum 1 part LAB and 1 partmolasses. Normally you would dilute that 1:20 with water and THEN add 1tbsp/Lof that to fermentations. But you can use the pure serum no problem. You dontneed to use as much obviously haha but theres no upper limit you could use itthe same rate as the diluted form youd just get more microbes in there.


26/34

We avoid citrus since the strong acidity can unbalance the little ecosystem yourecreating. The fermentations will get acidic anyway, but through the actions offermentation bacteria. Making it acidic by adding citrus can destabilize it early..But try it! Youll know by the smell if its worked or not.

brian stephen


sorry one more question can i shorten the fermenting down from 3 weeks, brian stephen

o Patrick


Yes, you can use before 3 weeks but it wont be as far along so keep that in mind.

I would use as a soil drench in that case rather than foliar spray, just because inthe soil the ingredients can be consumed more easily by microbes.

Phil Bradshaw


Hi Patrick,after 23 days of the extraction process, I filtered my Calphos. I added 24 mils to 4.5 litres(1 imperial gallon) of rain water. There are no dissolved solids in rain water, so it doesnt

register on my C.F. meter & is pH neutral (7). I tested the end product. The result was

zero on my C.F. meter, with a pH circa 6. I use the liquid indicator solution.So I think, even at your original recipe, that the calphos is entirely safe to use, both as afoliar spray,& at the same rate the nutrient tank of a flood & drain hydroponic system. Ihope this helps.

Regards.P.B.

o Patrick


Thanks Phil,

I was wondering about that. I figured the acid-base reaction undertaken in therecipe should create a fairly neutral solution, for you it seems it has! Acidity anddissolved solids arent issues so go for it! I think the application rates of the

original recipe will be great!


27/34

Thanks for the feedback Phil I appreciate it. Cant wait to roll out the forum and

get members like you on there

Thanks,Patrick

Brad


Hi again Patrick,I made a slight adjustment at the beginning.Adding a further 5 mls of phosphoric acid tothe extraction solution.Making it a total 25 mls per litre.My thinking being,that the higher concentration would make a stronger extraction.(?)Itell you this, in case anyone might want to replicate the process. I hope I am not beingpedantic!

o Patrick


Haha awesome info Brad keep sharing. I hope it goes well you will have to keepus informed how it goes.

brian stephen


hi Patrick, we have just finished making 40 litres of searum . 3, litres rice wash ferment 5days remove top and bottom fats and waste, add 10to1 milk we put it in 20lit drums withpressure valves and fermented for 7 days, the finished searum smell good and is a niceyellow colour , we have added 1/3 molasses I thought this would mean we could store outof a fridge, we did this in a small experiment and the plants are growing fine , I washoping to use 100mil searium to 20lit fish wast. brian

o Patrick


Hi Brian,

Yep, 100ml of the pure serum(LAB+molasses/sugar) should be plenty for 20Lfish waste.

Normally we add 1:1 sugar. So you are fermenting the 10:1 milk/rice washmixture. At the end you drain the fluid which is your LAB (lactic acid bacteria).


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Then you match that volume with molasses, or in weight of sugar if youre usingsugar. Then you can store it outside the fridge. If you are using less sugar Id

probably store in a fridge or use within a month or so. If you are using it within aweek or so you can use much less sugar, maybe 1:10 ratio instead of 1:1.

Lacto works really well with organic fertilizers, helps break them down beforeapplying. It is also perfect for getting a good fish fertilizer fermentation going,like you are planning.

Elsiehoreb


Thanks Patrick for the replies. Plse ignore the previous post.1.Just an update, I used calphos and bloom fert (papaya) on my apple custard plant bothfoliar feed and soil drench I have 5 additional small buds formed haha ; fingers crossed

that the total of 8 buds will turn into lovely fruits. Cucumbers are also improving..haha2. I used bloom fert on my ciku (sapodilla) plants after using the fish ferts and calphos.The tree which is barely 3 feet tall (on the ground) has probably no less than 30 flowers.Hope to get them successfully turn into fruits. PLEASE HELP.cant lose them. Whatdo I need to do, SOS?3. Am going to ferment seaweed by mixing them with brown sugar this weekend sincethe results are so encouraging. I bought one whole sack of dry seaweed from a Chinesegrocery shop. Let you know the results when ready.4. Am also going to try to do ginger garlic extract + chili; those fungus had better goaway, I am coming ..5. I will also do the coco peat (wheat bran) bokashi. Looks like my store room is going

to be full in no time!!!6. My mango trees (5 of them) and papaya trees (7 of them) are all showing good results.Many new shoots just sprout out from the formerly barren mango trees. Used all thosefermented stuff. This is getting very interesting. Only disappointments are with theveggies they dont grow much except for cabbage. Once I figure out how to drainwater off the self watering water reservoir, I am going to try to add the fermented stuff totest these veggies. Very diluted like what you said. Will report results.7. Good to hear you have been to Malaysia; our food is very nice leh?8. Thanks once again Patrick. I am hooked.

Elsie

o Patrick


Hey Elsie,
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29/34

That is awesome, you have a ton going on there which is great to hear about! Imjust going to get your questions here..2. that is awesome, Im surprised a tree that small is blooming. You might removesome of the flowers so they dont take energy from the others..also apparently

sapodilla can flower year-round but only fruits twice per year so dont be

surprised if no fruit this round I guess..lets see though, exciting!6. Veggies are tough, they need lots of sun, but high temps can be roughespecially if youre growing foreign varieties.Tons of water, thats helped me.. Ifyou can figure out how to drain the reservoir, use the ferts and then drain it 2 dayslater and see how that goes.

Yep, best food ever, I really sincerely missed the food after I left, was craving itso often the first few years after leaving..

brian stephen

February 5, 2014 at 2:39 pm -Reply...

thank you Patrick, I will add more molasses and make it 1/1, we will put down fish andvegie this week, we have just spread 20ton of lot feed manure, it was composted and thelot feed is connected to a meatworks so it has a few other goodies in it as well,would it beworth while fermenting some , a light shower of rain on it and you can really see whereyou applied it brian

o Patrick


Hey BrianIf you want to ferment some you can, it will make it that much morebroken down.. Id say make a large pile, mix in water/sugar/lacto and then coverthe pile with tarps to keep it anaerobic. The mix for that inoculant would be like5ml lacto per L, 15ml molasses per L, something like that. Really dilute since youdont want too much acids/alcohols produced through fermentation there.

But if it has been composted already its just fine as is, you dont need to ferment

it, its just fun to play around that way. Try fermenting some and putting that in aseparate part of the orchardtrial area.

Gaston


Hello Patrick

I live in a country where winter is cold and long and my neighbour has a magnificentornamental crab apple tree that produces tons of tiny little apples and of course at the end


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of winter they are all shrivelled up but they are still there. For some reason the birds andwildlife dont go for them. I was wondering what would happen if I used that as a sourceof fruits for making a bloom fertilizer? I would expect the natural sugars in the fruitswould have fermented on the tree if you know what I mean? In your opinion, would therestill be enough in there for making something worth using out of it.

Thanks in advance.

Gaston

brian stephen


I thought fermenting some would make a nice liquid solution, our weather here is up anddown hot super dry or too wet, we have 100 sheep that roam the trees, so I want to feed

the ground as well as trees, just read a report on sheep and onion growing in new zelandand they used em1, em1 came from japan, 1/litre em1 1/litre molasses 200lit water insealed drum ferment till ph drops under 4 then this is call

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