F.M.I.L.Y
Well-Known Member
Excellent write MH, thanks for sharing your knowledge!!! I love learningNo worries bro, decided to post it on your thread so everybody can benefit:
First off, Lacto Bacillii is nature's workhorse bacteria and the grower's best friend. Pretty much all the nasty shit is what this little germ helps us with, most significant is turning ammonia and other forms of nitrogen into odour-free and safe nitrates for out plants. As I mentioned it also aides your beneficial fungi, both in rhizosphere (around roots) as well as sprayed on the leaves, it makes HEALTHY plants, FAST.
How to harvest some: Get some brown rice, fill a bowl about 1/4 with rice and top up with water leaving a VERY CRUCIAL air-gap of around 1/3rd depth of the bowl, cover with a lid but LEAVE A GAP open. Leave in a cool place no higher than about 2 feet off the ground, this is where most of these microbes are living.
At 25 degrees, it will take 3-5 days before your 'rice water' goes a bit milky in colour, with bits of fibre floating in it. It might have a bad smell too trust me on that, but this is good, it means your rice water is now microbe-rich. Next step is to isolate and culture the Lacto Bacillii.
Strain the rice-water, and add to a volume of milk 10 times to 20 times the volume of the rice water. Within 2 days you will notice 'curds' in the milk, and at a maximum of 7 days your curds will be floating on top of a yellow liquid. This yellow liquid is your PURE Lacto B culture in liquid form. Once again, try not to seal the milk completely while culturing.
EDIT: The white globs of protein and fat that curd together can either be discarded completely, or added to your normal compost heap. Just strain the yellow liquid off. If a few spots of white curd come along, this is no problem really.
Next step is to ensure the bacteria survive in culture form and keep multiplying, mix your yellow Lacto B SERUM to an equal part sugar-water. RAW UNREFINED sugar only, no bleached white sugar. Sugar Water should be mixed one part sugar to 3 parts water or even stronger.
Mix your PURE Serum with your sugar-water, and you have completed all steps. Keep this mix at 25 degrees C (77F) max, or store in fridge.
For application, mix one part dilute serum to 20 parts water, and spray on leaves and topsoil. You can add some to your regular watering schedule in the same amounts, one part to 20. If going organic, a single innoculation will do, when going salt-based nutes add it with every pure watering. It does NOT burn nor tamper with your EC much. You cannot spray too much on your leaves, if you ever foliar-feed this is the best thing you can do for your plants. It really helps them 'digest' it all very nicely.
In combination with mycos like 'Great White' I think it is called, you will not believe your eyes. Trust me, do an A/B comparison on plants that have Lacto Bacillii treatments to ones that don't
Coco can be a real bitch. Lacto B is our ally with coco growing. And even better when using True Living Soil
All the best, this is a cheap amendment I feel all of us as growers can benefit from. And you might notice a huge reduction in bad moulds and other fungal diseases too, less mites, less aphids, and a more rapid response to changes in feed...
Peace
FM