By Annie Sholar
Potatoes are an extremely versatile food – they’re delicious fried, mashed, roasted, or boiled, even soaked in water with leaf mold for 48 hours!
Okay, sure — that last idea isn’t necessarily great food for you to eat, but it is extremely nourishing for the microbial life in your soil.
This article discusses JADAM Microbial Solution (JMS) and how just two ingredients can create an amazing biostimulant for your farm.
But first, what does JADAM mean? JADAM means “people that resemble nature,” coined by Korean farmer Youngsang Cho in 1991. He advocates for a low-cost, low-input form of organic management, open information sharing between farmers, and free access to his techniques on the JADAM website.
What is a Biostimulant?
Biostimulants are microbes or other inputs that help spur a plant’s natural metabolism or immune system. Unlike conventional fertilizers, biostimulants do not directly provide the chemical and mineral nutrients a plant needs. Instead, they encourage plant activities that support nutrient uptake or the production of protective compounds. In other words, they support healthier plant growth through a vibrant microbial community in the soil.
Why Focus on Microbial Life in Soil?
If you’re a longtime NOFA member, you’ve repeatedly heard us talk about soil health. That’s because managing and rebuilding your soil is a crucial step towards growing more and more nutritious food from living soils.
A common misconception about transitioning to organic farming is that it takes a long time to return to a conventional level yield. The truth is that simply swapping in organic amendments in place of conventional amendments does result in a loss of yield. But, if you can simultaneously start working to improve your soil biology – reintroducing micro and macro fauna & flora, like bacteria, nematodes, earthworms, fungi and more – you’ll see yields start to improve quickly. That’s because the creatures living under the soil do a lot of work to support plant matter growing above the soil.
For example, microbes help roots fix nutrients and increase nutrient uptake. Microbes sometimes carry nutrients through the roots and into the plants before returning to the soil in a process called rhizophagy. Microbes are also responsible for building healthy soil structure, aerating the soil and allowing water and air to reach plant roots more easily. A lack of microbial communities is one factor that leads to soil compaction.
Microbial-plant interactions also help support plant immunity and lead to harvests with beneficial properties for human health. Laura Decker of microBIOMETER, an affordable, on-site soil microbe test using patented smartphone technology, explains that, in the presence of pathogens, microbes send hormones into the soil and root network. When plants “receive” this hormonal message, they can similarly respond with hormonal signals that fight off the pathogens as part of the plant’s immune response. This plant activity generates antioxidants, which we can eat to support our immune systems!
What do Potatoes Have to do with it?
The JADAM microbial solution takes existing soil microbial life from leaf mold fungus and gives those microbes an environment to thrive and multiply. Keeping the leaf-mold inoculated water covered and warm gives the microbes a comfortable home, and the cooked potatoes provide the right mix of nutrients, such as carbohydrates, sugars, and vitamins, for the microbes to grow. After providing the microbes with a good environment in which to grow and multiply, you can introduce them to your growing area to act as a biostimulant for your plants.
Brew JMS
Gather your materials. You’ll need a 5-gallon bucket, non-chlorinated water, 2-3 cooked potatoes, 1 tablespoon (15 grams) of non-iodized sea salt, a stick or dowel, cheesecloth and string to tie the cloth, a leaf mold, and a bucket cover (such as a garbage bag).
A note on water: Most tap water is chlorinated to kill off the microorganisms that can make us sick if we drink it. But we don’t want to kill microorganisms in our microbial solution - just the opposite! If you have access to non-chlorinated water, like well water or rainwater, use that. If not, dispense the amount of water you plan to use, then either aerate it for 20 minutes or leave it uncovered for about 24 hours to off-gas. This should eliminate the chlorine in the water source. If your water source has chloramine, you should use humic acid (enough to change the color of the water) or citric acid to complex out the chloramine. Off-gassing alone won’t remove the chloramine. |
Find leaf mold in your area: Look for a pile of leaves or sticks at the base of a tree or in a wooded area. You want to use leaves with a white, powdery substance – that’s the mold and the source of our microbes.
Fill a 5-gallon bucket with non-chlorinated water.
Add the sea salt to the water, stirring to dissolve. Place the cooked potatoes and the leaves with mold in a cheesecloth and tie it closed. Place the cheesecloth potato bundle in the water, and agitate or massage the bundle to break up the potatoes. Massage the cheesecloth until the water is cloudy and the ingredients are mixed.
Place a dowel or stick across the top of your 5-gallon bucket, and securely attach the cheesecloth bundle to the dowel so that it hangs suspended in the water.
Cover the bucket and leave it in a warm, dark place for 1-2 days. The solution should start to bubble – that’s the sign that microbes are multiplying!
To use the JMS, strain your solution into another container and dilute at a 1:20 ratio when ready. To apply, thoroughly drench the soil in your growing area as often as once per week.
Experimenting with JMS
NOFA/Mass’s Soil Technical Services and Education Director Ruben Parrilla loves the simplicity of JMS and is excited to experiment with tweaks to this base recipe to see how microbial growth changes.
For example, Ruben added multiple inocula to the mix in his first batch. Next, he wants to experiment by using a specific inoculum in each batch – for example, trying each of these on their own: leaf mold, compost, grass silage, an IMO3 product (Indigenous Microorganisms 3), and no inoculum at all. He will then use a microscope to analyze the diversity in each batch to identify which brew provides the most diversity with the least amount of work and the lowest cost.
Ruben hypothesizes that adding more inocula to one batch is better for achieving maximum diversity. However, as the brewing process selects specific organisms, it could be better to brew multiple batches separately and combine them before application. He encourages others to experiment and says, “I don’t want people to copy my process and then feel disappointed if it doesn’t work. I want to empower people with the knowledge and tools they need to ask questions about the process – what will work for me & my farm? What if I changed the amount of water or leaf mold?” What if? Give it a try!
Measuring Microbial Activity
Ruben's essential tools for measuring the outcome of different experiments are a microscope and microBIOMETER. Both help shed light on the bacterial and fungal growth in a given soil or solution over time.
More Resources
If you’re interested in learning more about using on-farm microscopes and other tools to better understand your soil biology, check out the NOFA/Mass events page for upcoming workshops and webinars, or join them on the first Monday of every other month for bimonthly Soil Health Calls. Also, check out the Healthy Soils playlist on the NOFA/Mass YouTube channel for tons of great sessions on farm microbiology. Contact info@nofamass.org to sign up for a free microBIOMETER to use on your farm in Massachusetts.
Contact info@nofamass.org to sign up for a free microBIOMETER to use on your farm in Massachusetts.
Annie Sholar is the NOFA/Mass Project Manager.
Comentarios