dragon-flies-on-pondThose who make their own sourdough bread or wine already know about fermenting microbes such as lactic acid bacteria and yeasts.

We can even make our own sourdough starter by capturing the wild microbes that are present everywhere in our environment, including the air.

Fermenting microbes are often referred to as facultative anaerobes because they can live at normal oxygen concentrations, in completely anaerobic environments, and everywhere in between.

They occupy a very unique niche in the ecology and produce many important products that benefit the whole soil based web of life, such as vitamins, antioxidants, hormones, enzymes, lactic acid, alcohol and antibiotics.

Fermenting microorganisms are plentiful in leaf litter, hence the typical brewery-type odour of leaf mould.

They can also be purchased as “EM”, “Efficient Microorganisms”, “Biosa” and others. They can be sprayed onto the soil or directly onto plant surfaces, with great benefit to plant and ecosystem health.

Fermenting microorganisms are widely used in some Asian countries, but not yet well known in other parts of the world.


We go much deeper into this topic in our online course, which you can discover here:

Organic Master Gardener Online