Bloom Fertilizer

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 into
flowering/fruiting, the natural farming method emphasizes Potassium to enhance qualities like
taste and sweetness. To create the fruit extract, well use the same principles we used for
HerbaGrow.
How to Make:
1. Collect fruits. Any fruits can be used. In North America, you can use herbs, or weeds
high in Potassium like Comfrey (also a good source of Phosphorus). For the betacarotene, yellow/orange plants like Carrots, Squash, Pumpkin, etc. We really emphasize
Potassium during this time so those plants high in that element are recommended. In Asia
we use banana, squash, pumpkin, papaya, mango, jack fruit, pineapple. Citrus fruits
should 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 the
plant-specific enzymes, nutrients, etc. Want nice big flowers? Use flowers! Want
to help the budding stage? Use flower buds and after fermentation, use concoction
during budding time! Ferment small growing fruits if you want to promote fruit
growth 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 mixture dont 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 colder
temperatures 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 storage
8. Leave cap off! For first couple weeks to allow bubbling to finish, then cap it.
How to Use:
Add 1tbsp per gallon of water.
Plants
Apply as a foliar spray or soil drench. Apply during bloom phase and fruiting phase. Can make
separate 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 newspaper
and 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 in
the 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.
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. Once
fermentation 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.
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 with
a 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, which
you can mix in greater concentrations when applying.
When fermentation starts, after you mash the fruits with sugar, it should be
a mush, thick and pasty. As it ferments there should be a decent amount of
liquid that separates out, that will be your end product. However,
sometimes less fluid is produced because of some cause like
environmental 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,
Just completed 1st batch of Bloom, fermented 10 days. The one thing that is noticeably
missing 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 environmental
conditions you might not have noticable bubbling. There should still be gas
produced 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 didnt
notice 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 you
dilute it appropriately. I would foliar spray once or twice weekly throughout bud
and flower stage. I also add some to my compost teas I brew during this phase of
the 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
lucas
o
Patrick
June 10, 2013 at 2:50 pm - Reply...
Hey Lucas, using carrot would be great actually good 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 the
fruits 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 fruit
before 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 switching
from growing chemically to organics and is trying to learn the ropes of growing
organically. 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 and
diluted 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, any
pros/cons? Thanks.
o
Patrick
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 are
fermented, decomposed without oxygen. They will contain many strains of
bacteria, but primarily lactobacillus, the workhorse of the fermentation bacteria.
Other genus of bacteria may be present but most likely in cyst form. In these
recipes, lots of material is added and fermentation takes place, breaking the
material 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/fungi
flourish. 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 are
basically just trying to breed a really high population of bacteria/fungi. Both of
these things are amazing tools in the organic farming kit.
2. You can use these bloom/grow fertilizers with compost tea any way that you
can imagine. You can add it to the tea during brew, or you can add it to the diluted
mixture at the end. When adding it to the tea during brew, I usually add less than I
would if adding later. This is because I dont want the compost tea getting too
acidic and I dont want too many nutrients in it (lowers oxygen levels and can
harm bacterial/fungal growth). So in a 5 gallon tea I might add 1 tbsp bloom and 1
tbsp grow for a balanced tea. Or 3 tbsp bloom if I want a heavily bloom favored
tea. 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 (1
tbsp/gal).
3. You can water with just bloom/grow and no compost tea, but youll be missing
out some on the microbial diversity. Now if you made BIM you could get around
that. Even with BIM though I still like making compost tea, its great stuff and
complements the fermented extractions perfectly.
Great questions Klai, hope you sign up and join our little army of unconventional
farmers!
Patrick
Klai
June 13, 2013 at 7:09 am - Reply...

Thank you, youve answered my question perfectly. And I just signed up. Another
question:
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-tight
container 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 over
organic soil (4-5 cubic yards) and store it until next year? Will the
microbes/bacteria/fungi/etc still be alive by then? If not, how do I keep it alive? I will be
watering it ever few day with de-chlorinated water, or tea (which is best if possible?). I
plan 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 it
true that Bacteria benefits plants in the vegetative stage and Fungi benefits plant on
the 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 great
information coming out this year. To answer:
1. Yep thats the great thing about these recipes. Once finished they can all be
stored 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, the
microbes 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 to
use compost tea every time. Maybe every 5 waterings or so, use compost tea.
Theres no rules just whatever works for you. Worms are great! Awesome
composters and great for boosting microbe populations. The longer the pile sits
the better it becomes. More microbes inhabit, more nutrients get broken down into
bio-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
populations tend to make the soil more basic whereas high fungal populations
tend to make the soil more acidic. So plants that like a more acidic soil would
appreciate higher fungal counts and those that like it more neutral/basic would
favor bacterial populations. Another convention Ive heard a lot is fungi for
trees/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 and
nematodes as I can into the soil. A good healthy balanced population of beneficial
microbes 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 with
you; than I did, a whole month and a half asking questions and going through other
websites. Youre very informative, simple and to the point. Keep up the EXCELLENT
work. 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 on
organic gardening this is a great place. Over the course of this year, through the
Flog and new pages, well be covering dry composting, wet composting, bokashi
composting, crop rotation, no till farming, biochar, additional recipes and cover
cropping just to name a few. Many of these articles are already written but are in
the 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.
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 liquid
generated can be diluted with 20 parts of water ,and then we can use 2-4 tablespoons per
gallon 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 several
reasons. Its simpler not to have to dilute it twice, and through practice farmers
here have found 1 tbsp/gal of the pure extract to be effective, and not too much
for 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 be
posts 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 it
has a white layer of mold ,it is ok ?
thank you
Ainerol
o
Patrick
July 3, 2013 at 4:35 am - Reply...

Yep, for sure thats fine, that will happen most of the time with this recipe, theres
no 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 be
very tempted to wring my neck! I was so tired of cutting up the tumeric and the devil said
use the blender, after all you are going to add water, right? So I did. Another thing, I
used 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?
Thanks
Annie 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 these
recipes, just to increase the surface area of my ingredients and help the
fermentation 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.
Also curious whether one could leave the cap on loosely for the last stage of brewing to
keep 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-citrus
varieties actually. The fruits you listed would work fine in this recipe. As far as
the cap goes, I leave the cap loosely on most of my fermentations. The best would
be 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 ones
on 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 more
alcohol 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 my
bloom? Any one know? I have a feling they will love it, but the amount of sugar the
waste conatins might kill off the worms. AND I dont want to experiment on a few
worms too.
o
Patrick
August 6, 2013 at 2:57 am - Reply...

Oh it should be great for you worms! pre-digested, they should love it! I feed
mine all kinds of fermented stuffs, although mine are night-crawlers (preferred in
asia), shouldnt make a difference. The sugar content is pretty low after
fermentation microbes ate all the sugar already.
Annie
I kept a little and consigned the bulk to my bokashi compost bin. I read some where
someone poured the remnants of his coke into the worm bin and the worms loved it also
another adds brown sugar to the bin but I wasnt too sure about blooms waste. Thanks a
heap Patrick!
phoenix
Am I right in thinking that this is sort of like the equivalent of apple (or other fruit) cider
vinegar for plants?
Is there a way to tell that fermentation is complete and no alcohol is left in the mixture to
poison plants? I know aeration will wine into vinegar eventually, but am not familiar with
the indications of when its done. Will bubbling start or stop at certain point in the
procedure?
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 an
accelerated version of that process. A small amount of alcohol is ok since this is
diluted 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?
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 have
already 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 to
flower. Bloom really works miracles. I harvested a few tomatoes to-day and they were so
sweet 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 plants
to show signs of flowering, then I will spray them with Bloom. I did banana, pumpkin
papaya, 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 that
potatoes have huge amounts of potassium in them, sweet potatoes would also have the
beta-carotene. Would these be good to include as ingredients? or is there a reason I
should avoid potatoes? Also, Blackstrap Molasses is high in Potassium so it seems it may
be beneficial if liquid sugars are suitable process, so would B.lack-S.trap M.olasses be
good to use? I was thinking banana-papaya-sweet potato with BSM for the sugar? thanks
for your input.
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 our
experience. 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 us
know 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 Department
of 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 the
chitin. 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, is
much more difficult, or involved anyway. Here are the steps:
1. leave chitin source (crab shells, shrimp shells, etc) in compost pile to let critters
clean all meat and such off it.
2. soak chitin source in mild acid (vinegar) to remove calcium. This should be
pretty fast, I just use a day or so anyway.
3. remove chitin and let dry
4. soak chitin in EXTREMELY strong base. Recommended at least 40% sodium
hydroxide. This stuff will burn you if you touch it. Ideally you would heat it at
this stage to 100 Celsius but that makes crazy fumes. I just leave it in solution for
a 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 toxic
stuff. 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 grind
them up, and add this powder to your compost pile. Youll get chitosan eventually
as the microbes break down the chitin to the plant-available form..
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? And
if so, at what ratio? What I failed to ask yesterday, was could you please give any
measurements in metric i.e. millilitres & litres to avoid any confusion between U.K.
gallons, & U.K. tablespoons? Thanks again
Phil B.
o
Patrick
You know I really need to get all the conversions on this site sorted out so were
all on the same page. It annoys me too, here in the Philippines we really use both
systems, 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 and
it will do it right there for you.
You know, I havent used this in a hydro system but it would be very applicable. I
REALLY want to try all these recipes in hydro, its on the to-do list. For ratio, Id
stick to the recommended ratios for these recipes and see how you go. Make sure
you 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 during
fermentation 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 always
err on the side of caution, but a ball-park figure would be a good place to start.It would
be good to make my own nutrient, instead of spending fortunes on Advanced Nutrients
expensive products. I am currently experimenting with a home-made product called
kvas,for a substitute for Voodoo & Piranha, which you might like to Google. It has
many applications, & is very simple to make!
With regard to your pest problem; garden hygiene is very important. Try to clear up
any dead & dying plant material that would provide a hiding place for pests. & keep
surrounding areas clear of weeds, which can also be a vector for infection, both for
insects,viruses, molds & fungus etc., Im probably telling you something you already
know. Im Just trying to be helpful!
o
Patrick
Heh thanks Phil! Yeah, I tend to err on the side of caution and then quickly
progress until I overdo it haha.. Generally this means starting at 1tsp/gal and
working up to several tbsp per gallon or even more in the case of bokashi and
worm leachate.
Thanks for the advice! Still need to look up that kvas sounds
interestinganything 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 garden
already (Mango, papaya). Now lots of times birds and other critters partially eat the fruits
before we get to them. By the time the fruit falls on the ground, they are then not edible
anymore/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 use
liters here. (I know the conversion and all) but what I want to do is make 1l bottles
containing Bloom solution. But I want to alter the recipe so that you need to add 1
tablespoon (15ml) to 1L of water. I realize I would need to dilute the entire solution a bit
to make it less strong since its only 1L.
Ive tried calculating it in different ways and asking different people, but no one seems to
know how to calculate this. If you have an idea how to calculate this I would really
appreciate the help
Keep up the great work guys!
Thanks again,
Francis
Patrick
Hey Francis,
First, the fruits on the ground are perfect for fermenting! They are already
inoculated with microbes! put them in a bucket, add sugar, seal it, and youre
good to go. They are actually better than using right off the tree since they already
have 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 be
4 times more dilute than our recipe. So mix it with 3 parts water before you bottle
it 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 1L
molasses. After fermentation this might be 1.5L of bloom fert. Dilute this with
4.5L 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 less
exact 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 fertilizer
or calphos sa mga flowering plants? like adeniums?
o
Patrick
Oo naman, no problem sa tagalog. haha pero konte lang tagalog ko. ok lang
gamitin ang bloom fertilizer sa lahat ng halaman. kung gusto mo, use yung
malalaaking flowers para sa bloom fertilizer i-ferment yung flowers para jan.
Salamat,
Patrick
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 fermentation
last 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 microbial
inoculants 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 bloom
fertilizer. 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 bloom
inoculants, especially on your squash and potato plants. Just follow the recipe as
is and you should be good. Remember its temperature dependent so if its cold
outside 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 large
cooler. It makes for a very good incubation chamber that can hold multiple
gallon jugs. Also nice to be able to set it at whatever temp I want.
Patrick
December 16, 2013 at 8:00 pm - Reply...
Ooo thats very nice Id set it for 35 or so! Great temp for
lactobacillus spp.
Matthew
Hi Patrick,
Im so intrigue with this topic of fermentation and i have a bit of questions to ask you. i
read one of your previous recipes in making the lactobacillus spp. And i did a bit or
research and found all the great benefits of this bacteria. i am current pursuing plant
development within an Aquaponis system. i am a bit curious. i your article about
lactobacillus spp you stated to add lacto at roughly 1L per 700m3 of fish-containing
water. what i want to find out is how often i can add this into my aquaculture and will it
breakdown the fish waste within the system.
secondly this fermented plant juice can i also add it directly into the fish water to provide
the added mineral content to supplement nutrients such as potassium, if so at what
concentration and frequency can i add it at. will i also have to monitor pH also. i know i
asked alot but im eagerly awaiting your response. im currently fermenting some papaya
as 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 much
so 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 rate 1L/700m3 and add more or less
as 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 but
I would start with same as the lacto 1L/700m3, that is extremely dilute it should
be ok.
3. Definitely monitor the pH when you add these! They are acidic at these
application 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 aquaculture
setup. Ive seen lacto used in ponds back in the states and its amazing the fish
explode in size and the water gets super clean, super cool. Im planning to start a
little 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 be
added 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 effect
at all. I like to experiment, I just like to figure out the unknowns. thanks
again for your knowledge but you have to post some pictures of your
crops 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 too
Im 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 we
have not sprayed any chemicals other than molasses some cal nitrate Epsom salts and
potash. I imported a container of condensed molasses solids that ha d been fermented and
turned 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 to
help 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 would
pass on all results. regards brian Stephen australia
o
Patrick
Hi Brian,
Sorry for the late reply, thats really interesting though! Can you point me in the
direction 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 in
sugars but more concentrated in vitamins/minerals. That can be fermented and
broken down using the Aspergillus niger organism, which is a very common
fungus. If I were you I would try and find the nearest molasses plant and ask for
some of the solid waste, though processing there is probably different than here
and they may not produce it. Once you have the solid molasses waste, you can
play around with fermenting it.
Hope that gives you some ideas. Let me know if you have any documentation on
it, Im curious. Cheers,
Patrick
Patrick
also, man, thats allotta macadamia trees! grown organically, that is
awesome.
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 VEDAGRO
they have liquid and granuals I bought the granuals and I must say it worked great, but
now a third party has rights to import into Australia I dont like. my import licence
required the name of the bacteria that they used and proof of how they destroyed it in
manufacture the bacteria was LACTOBACILLUS we have easy aces to molasses and
mangoes and fruit and veg scraps we also feed a couple of marema dogs we use a lot of
boild rice, I just tried a rice water and milk and added molasses at the end smells lovley I
rely need to make a concentrated mix as with the rice water one it is a 20 to 1 mix I use
10 thousand liters of water to spray 2000 trees, we are not totaley organic ,we never spray
chemicals for bugs onley molasses we have to use a little roundup once a year, we have
100 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 could
make my own that would work as well as vedagro I just need some help from people like
you, at the moment I mix 1000lit water add 2kg vedagro 2kg cal nitrate 2kg potash and
sulphate Epsom salts , this mix will do about 200trees I hose the trees so I realey do the
ground as well, I have the mix for em1 em2 em3 em4 I will do a mix and try . I could go
on 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 vedagro super interesting product. Its a byproduct of MSG
production which is interesting. MSG production can be done many ways, but I
think this company is just using molasses just 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, some
involve fermenting another carbon source like wheat gluten, corn gluten or
defatted soybean meal. Others involve adding a little ammonia. Any of these
would produce an excellent fertilizer as byproduct of MSG production. Their
vedagro is pretty high in Nitrogen so maybe they are adding ammonia during
fermentation. In any case, I think you can make your own fertilizer that is just as
good. Looks like vedan has an unlabelled version of vedagro Im not sure if you
saw that already here.
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 have
a 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 the
waste junk from the fishing industry like guts, bones, heads/tails, etc. Visit the
nearest 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 and
fish fermentations will be mixed and applied together as a grow formula, while
the fruit fermentation will be applied as a bloom formula. You can follow those
recipes to make all of those. Basically use the lacto, in this volume you could use
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 to
kickstart it. Ferment that for 3-4 weeks and then there you go mix the
fish/veggie fermentations together before you use.
If you cant separate the fruits/veggies thats fine just ferment them together. For
the bloom formula just leave out the fish fertilizer. For the grow formula use both
together.
For 10,000L, you would mix 40-80L of fertilizer to get the right concentration. Id
start with 40L and see how it goes, work your way up from there. So youd be
doing 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 was
the fulvic acid , the high nitrogen content was what made me buy it, it was $400 aud
landed 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 another
substance that could replace the milk, we aussie have trouble understanding some of your
measures, please correct me if I am wrong, say I have 6kilos of veg wast, now I would
add 2kilos of molasses, this would give me 8 kilos in total weight, now I add this where I
get lost sorry, is it 16kilos of water, how much lacto would I add to ferment, can i put a
pressure valve on top of my fermenting chamber. once again many thanks brian Stephen
we will send you some macas when we start harvesting
o
Patrick
Hey Brian,
This is for veggie fermentation? For the veggie and bloom fermentations, the
original recipe doesnt call for adding water. Weve added water and the
hydrolysis helps the fermentation but you dont need that much just 1:1 with
water would be fine, so 8 kg of water, or 8 L in other words. For fermentations I
just add 1 tbsp per L (15ml per L), but that is just me. You could add 5ml per L
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 when
you harvest.
ElsieHoreb
Hi Patrick
Thanks for your earlier replies on Calphos and using cocopeat as substitute for wheat
bran.
I have made calphos, lacto serum, fermented fruit extract using papaya only as I could
not find pumpkin and squash then.
Questions:
1. I now have found pumpkin and squash. Can I combine them once the pumpkin and
squash are fermented or should I just leave them in separate jars and only mix them
during the application ?
2. My cucumbers are flowering and fruiting a lot but the leaves are turning yellowish and
pale green. Have added bloom fert to the soil only. Should I foliar spray instead ? Why
would 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 the
water 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 ? Also
the leaves are turning pale yellow.
Thanks for your help. I never get tired of reading articles from this site. They are really
interesting and I love to ferment haha
Elsie from Malaysia, KL
o
Patrick
February 4, 2014 at 10:10 am - Reply...
Hi Elsie from KL,
I dunno if I mentioned this already but you know I lived in Penang for 6 months
some years back best food ever. Roti canai is probably my favorite food in the
world, 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 same
time, chances are your plants are low on Nitrogen. Thats normal during bloom
but you can add nitrogen if you want, like fish fertilizer.
3. Hmm thats an interesting question. I would be cautious how often do they
drain the reservoir. Or rather how often do you add fresh water? If the ferts are
sitting there in it, you can get some bad stuff growing.. but you can try it and see
how it goes, start very dilute and build up.
4. Yep, if youre ready for bloom and the cabbages are . You want your
cabbages to bloom? Oohh, some kind of chinese cabbage right? Im thinking in
western terms..
5. for the leaves, nitrogen probably. For the fruiting good luck, its hard to get
some plants to bloom in the hot humid weather. You can try fermenting fruits and
use 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 then
added some molasses could i use this as my lacto mix for my fertilizer mix and at what
rate 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 part
molasses. Normally you would dilute that 1:20 with water and THEN add 1tbsp/L
of that to fermentations. But you can use the pure serum no problem. You dont
need to use as much obviously haha but theres no upper limit you could use it
the same rate as the diluted form youd just get more microbes in there.
We avoid citrus since the strong acidity can unbalance the little ecosystem youre
creating. The fermentations will get acidic anyway, but through the actions of
fermentation 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 in
the 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 a
foliar spray,& at the same rate the nutrient tank of a flood & drain hydroponic system. I
hope this helps.
Regards.
P.B.
o
Patrick
Thanks Phil,
I was wondering about that. I figured the acid-base reaction undertaken in the
recipe should create a fairly neutral solution, for you it seems it has! Acidity and
dissolved solids arent issues so go for it! I think the application rates of the
original recipe will be great!
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 to
the extraction solution.Making it a total 25 mls per litre.
My thinking being,that the higher concentration would make a stronger extraction.(?)I
tell you this, in case anyone might want to replicate the process. I hope I am not being
pedantic!
o
Patrick
Haha awesome info Brad keep sharing. I hope it goes well you will have to keep
us informed how it goes.
brian stephen
hi Patrick, we have just finished making 40 litres of searum . 3, litres rice wash ferment 5
days remove top and bottom fats and waste, add 10to1 milk we put it in 20lit drums with
pressure valves and fermented for 7 days, the finished searum smell good and is a nice
yellow colour , we have added 1/3 molasses I thought this would mean we could store out
of a fridge, we did this in a small experiment and the plants are growing fine , I was
hoping 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 20L
fish waste.
Normally we add 1:1 sugar. So you are fermenting the 10:1 milk/rice wash
mixture. At the end you drain the fluid which is your LAB (lactic acid bacteria).
Then you match that volume with molasses, or in weight of sugar if youre using
sugar. 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 a
week 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 before
applying. 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 both
foliar 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..haha
2. 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. What
do I need to do, SOS?
3. Am going to ferment seaweed by mixing them with brown sugar this weekend since
the results are so encouraging. I bought one whole sack of dry seaweed from a Chinese
grocery shop. Let you know the results when ready.
4. Am also going to try to do ginger garlic extract + chili; those fungus had better go
away, 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 those
fermented stuff. This is getting very interesting. Only disappointments are with the
veggies they dont grow much except for cabbage. Once I figure out how to drain
water off the self watering water reservoir, I am going to try to add the fermented stuff to
test 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,
That is awesome, you have a ton going on there which is great to hear about! Im
just going to get your questions here..
2. that is awesome, Im surprised a tree that small is blooming. You might remove
some 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 rough
especially if youre growing foreign varieties. Tons of water, thats helped me.. If
you can figure out how to drain the reservoir, use the ferts and then drain it 2 days
later and see how that goes.
Yep, best food ever, I really sincerely missed the food after I left, was craving it
so 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 and
vegie this week, we have just spread 20ton of lot feed manure, it was composted and the
lot feed is connected to a meatworks so it has a few other goodies in it as well,would it be
worth while fermenting some , a light shower of rain on it and you can really see where
you applied it brian
o
Patrick
Hey Brian If you want to ferment some you can, it will make it that much more
broken down.. Id say make a large pile, mix in water/sugar/lacto and then cover
the pile with tarps to keep it anaerobic. The mix for that inoculant would be like
5ml lacto per L, 15ml molasses per L, something like that. Really dilute since you
dont 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 a
separate part of the orchard trial area.
Gaston
Hello Patrick
I live in a country where winter is cold and long and my neighbour has a magnificent
ornamental crab apple tree that produces tons of tiny little apples and of course at the end
of winter they are all shrivelled up but they are still there. For some reason the birds and
wildlife dont go for them. I was wondering what would happen if I used that as a source
of fruits for making a bloom fertilizer? I would expect the natural sugars in the fruits
would have fermented on the tree if you know what I mean? In your opinion, would there
still 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 and
down 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 zeland
and they used em1, em1 came from japan, 1/litre em1 1/litre molasses 200lit water in
sealed drum ferment till ph drops under 4 then this is called secondary solution, mix
1/litre secondary 1/litre molasses in open top drum with 200liters of water for 24 hours,
then this was used as followers 2/liters mix 2/liters of molasses in 1000liters water and
this did 2 ha pasture, ps macadamias are ready will be drying and cracking possibley next
week, give me a mailing address so I can send you some brian
o
Patrick
Hey Brian,
The sheep around the trees is an awesome practice in itself as long as you have
the space for it. There is a very interesting talk I watched on this topic, Ill just put
the link here.
The main workhorse in the EM-1 is lactobacillus, you can get a lot of the same
effect by using lacto in the same kind of application. You can also make your own
BIM, which is like homemade EM-1. I would encourage you to make BIM from
the macadamia trees and use that on your land the way they did EM-1. You would
put the traps for collecting BIM microbes around the base of the trees, up in the
canopy of the trees, buried down a bit where the tree roots are, basically get
macadmia-specific microbes from as many habitats as you can around the trees.
Also put traps in grassy areas to get grass-specific microbes. You can use this
BIM + lacto you have made already, with molasses and water your pastures with
this, should be awesome for your grass and trees. If you have the time and
inclination, it would be a great project for you orchard.
I sent you an email with my address. Hope to get some awesome macadamia
nuts!! What a treat, thank you so much!
Patrick
Sebastien JOLIVET
Hi Patrick,
Sorry for my english, Im french
As you live in Asia, I would love to know if you have already used the fruit Noni
(morinda citrifolia) that you have normally in your country.
Its supposed to be very high in potassium and many other nutrients.
I did one try but Im not sure to be success because I still have the smell of the fruit (this
fruit has a very bad smell by the way). I let it ferment during more than 2 weeks and I
live in French Polynesia so temp is between 25 and 32C.
When Ive collected, it still have 2/3rd of mashed fruits in surface and 1/3rd of liquid,
could it be normal?
Thank you very much for your site, its really interesting, I love it!
Cordially
Sebastien
o
Patrick
Hey Sebastien,
Ah bonjour Sebastien! Comment ca va? Jetudie francais mais je ne parle pas
francais now hahaha A long time ago..
Anyway what an interesting fruit! I dont think Ive seen it around here but I will
have to look for it from now on, Im sure its here in the Philippines somewhere.
With regard to your question:
What you can do is drain off the liquid and put it in a sealed container. That is
your first extract. Then take the remaining solids, and add 1/3 sugar to those by
weight. So if you are left with 3kg solids, add 1kg sugar or 1L molasses
(preferably molasses). Mash that up very well and let that ferment for 2-4 weeks.
Then this is your second (stronger) fermented extract. Voila!
Cheers,
Patrick
Pamela

good morning! id like to ask if my BLOOM will be a failure if there are some onions
and some lime juice in the mix? i have some left over salsa, that i would like to mix with
the overripe mangoes, banana, papaya, and cucumbers. is it okay to include them in the
mix?
o
Patrick
Hi Pamela,
It kinda depends how much of the salsa you are adding. You can add a little bit no
problem, but if its half salsa you might have some issues with the fermentation!
Just because the lime juice is acidic and too much might disrupt fermentation.
Cheers,
Patrick
Dan
March 24, 2014 at 4:29 pm - Reply...
Hi, Ive just done a small batch using Gils banana, squash, papaya recipe. I mashed the
fruits separately and then put them all in the same bucket then added the molasses, its
been left it 14 days so far and was going to strain today. But reading through the the posts
I noticed that in response to ElsieHoreb who mentioned about fermenting fruits
separately, you sayYep, for sure you can combine them after they are all fermented, thats how it should be
done.
Could you elaborate on why it is better to ferment the fruits separately as it doesnt
mention anything about this in the original post, and is there likely to be issues with the
fertilizer I have made, such as acidity or such?
o
Patrick
March 24, 2014 at 10:46 pm - Reply...
Hi Dan,
Well, when fermenting different things, they can be unstable during fermentation
but generally the final product is very stable. So the rule of thumb is to ferment
different things separately, and then combine them when they are all fermented.
For this recipe, using these fruits, its not a big deal and we usually ferment them
all together. But for other recipes, like ginger-garlic, we really recommend
fermenting them separately, youll see that in the directions.
You should have a great fermentation with them all combined dont worry.
Cheers,
Patrick
Edward Kahororo
April 15, 2014 at 4:14 am - Reply...
Thanks for you timely guidance
Kerri
April 21, 2014 at 8:20 am - Reply...
Patrick,
Im loving this website! So much good information that I just cant get enough of. My
husband laughs at me because I talk about your recipes so much Ive started referring to
you and Gil on a first name basis. I already have my fish fertilizer brewing and Im
about ready to start on a neem extract.
But I have a quick question regarding the Bloom recipe: I live in Uganda and we have a
lot of avocados here. Can I substitute these for, say, the pumpkin and papaya, since these
arent in season right now? I can also get bananas, mangoes, carrots, passion fruit, and
even tomatoes, though I dont know if these would be good or bad to add since theyre so
acidic. Can you give me some recommendations?
Thanks so much for your help and for making this unconventional farming method
available to the rest of us. This knowledge is priceless!!
Kerri
o
Patrick
May 6, 2014 at 10:02 pm - Reply...
Hey Kerri,
Glad youre enjoying our site! Sorry for the late reply, busy days here.
So, the avocado should be an excellent addition to the bloom recipe. All the fruits
you mentioned should work well, though limit overuse of tomatoes since the
acidity could disrupt the fermentation process they are still fine to use in
moderation. I like using lots of bananas since they have the Potassium, and carrots
for the b carotene. I like using mangoes too since they are such a prolific producer
good hormones. You can see everything has a place if you want to use it. Dont
worry too much, just use what you have thats cheap, have fun, experiment, you
know how it goes..
Cheers,
Patrick
Darrell
May 16, 2014 at 8:20 am - Reply...
Hey guys I have been using this organic gadening stuff for a while now with great
success! I tried to make my own bloom formula for the first time but after 10 days of
fermentation there was very little strainable liquid. there was a small collection of white
mould spots on the surface with just a hint of green in a couple places. I followed the
recipe to the letter. I decided to add about 6- 8 ounces of water to the mix and stirred it in
and loosely covered it to sit for a couple more days. Did I not add enough molasses at the
start of the process? I started with roughly 1 kg of mashed fruit and I added roughly 1 L
of molasses. daytime temperature this time of year is high 20s and well above freezing at
night. Should I start a new mix or do you think i can salvage this one?
o
Patrick
May 19, 2014 at 10:58 pm - Reply...
Hmm the green mold isnt ideal but its OK for your garden, just dont breathe in
or drink the stuff. You shouldnt have to restart. You added a lot of sugar which is
good, but most likely the mold started due to the cooler temps not warm enough
for bacteria to acidify the ferment before mold colonized. You can try adding a
little vinegar at the start of next fermentation if you still have cool temps, that
should help the bacteria get the upper hand. In any case white mold is great, just
the other colors we like to avoid.

Bloom Fertilizer

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Bloom Fertilizer

Strengthens plants during flower/fruiting

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

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

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

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

as little as 2ml/L, to ferment the ingredients. Use 1 part ingredient

February 24, 2014 at 6:16 pm - Reply...

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