# Breeding Beneficial Bacteria and Microbes



## specialkayme (Nov 19, 2008)

In looking and searching the multitude of beneficial bacterial, fungi, and microbes available (Mayan Microzyme, Myco Madness, Voodoo Juice, Piranha, and Tarantula, to name a few) and after being amazed at the enormous prices, I was wondering if it would be possible to actually breed your own bacteria?

I'm not actually talking about creating your own bacteria, more like buying one package of Piranha, then introducing it into an environment that allows it to thrive, and multiply. This way you could take half of the 'offspring' and use it on your plants, leaving the other half there to reproduce again. Any thoughts on if this is possible? And if so, how would one be able to do it?


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## Seamaiden (Nov 19, 2008)

Dr. Earth and Happy Frog are two dry fert sources of many beneficial microbes, and I think they're fairly priced (relatively, organic does seem to be more expensive at this point). But, if you like, it can be done. Search organics for Ohsogreen's posts, I'm sure he's spoken about culturing microbes before in teas.


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## 1kooguy (Nov 19, 2008)

Keep it simple MG potting mix,bag of gardenlime,bag of perlite,some superthrive,and some miraclegrow liquid houseplant food.Then when its time to "BUD" ,bat turd and kelp.


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## GoodFriend (Nov 19, 2008)

you can bubble a big tea of them organic goodies, but tbh i don't know exactly how long you could stretch it for (i generally had some bubbling for a few days before using it all...)

i've always used soil secrets earth nectar and earth ambrosia

very fairly priced, and def has a lot of microb action going on

if i was still doing soil grows i'd def use it again!


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## GoodFriend (Nov 19, 2008)

1kooguy said:


> Keep it simple MG potting mix,bag of gardenlime,bag of perlite,some superthrive,and some miraclegrow liquid houseplant food.Then when its time to "BUD" ,bat turd and kelp.



... 
thats simple?

simple is 100% perlite w/ gh 3 part micro and bloom. 2 teaspoons of micro: 1 teaspoon of bloom per gallon of water for veg

reverse the ratio for flower


as simple as it gets!


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## specialkayme (Nov 19, 2008)

Yeah, I'd have to say that Hempy buckets with the Lucas formula is just about as simple as it gets. 

I prefer coco as my medium. If I was growing in soil I really wouldn't be too concerned about adding bacteria. And I've actually never used them in any of my grows, but mainly only because of the price. I havn't seen earth nectar or earth ambrosia before though ....

I'll look into Ohsogreen's posts and come back with what I have found out, if anyone else is interested.


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## Jonus (Nov 19, 2008)

"and after being amazed at the enormous prices"

What was the price of the AN product/s that gives you the bacterial, fungi, and microbes...


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## GoodFriend (Nov 19, 2008)

that's what i love about the EA/EN stuff...

10-20 bucks for bottles of the both of them to last ya a while...
check it out on ebay, best prices there straight from maker!


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## specialkayme (Nov 19, 2008)

I think Voodoo Juice was going for about $80 a liter, Piranha and Tarantula were both around $45 or $50 for 130 g, Mayan Microzyme was $35 for 8 oz, and Myco Madness was about $50. I don't remember how much was in it though. Why do you ask Jonus?

I did a search for Ohsogreen's posts in the organic section, and got about 144 different threads all about shit! Literally, cow shit, bunny shit, bat shit, you name it. Haha, I just wasn't really expecting so many posts about shit. Anyway, I've walked through about 10 threads of his so far, and can't find anything about bacteria cultures. Can anyone point me in the right direction? I'm trying, just can't find what I'm looking for.

And yes Lumberjack, I'll look into the EA/EN stuff. Sounds good and cheap, but how does it compare to the AN products? They are crazy over priced, but have way more microbes, fungi, and bacteria than any other brand I have seen, which is why I would really like to be able to buy just a little bit and breed my own, if at all possible. That way you can just buy one 50 g package and never have to buy any more ever again, ideally at least.

I'm also looking into Super Plant Tonic stuff that Ohsogreen is bragging about. Every try it Lumberjack? I wonder how it adds up. It's super cheap, but usually the cheaper the product the lower the quality ... although certainly not always.


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## Jonus (Nov 20, 2008)

The only thing I can add if you intend to make up your own micronutes or active fungi....is to test it out first on some plants outside to get the dilution right. I've stood in a few grow stores listening to horror stories of dying plants and the problem ended up being them feeding their plants some home brewed mix that was fantastic in every way except for the fact they should have diluted it 1 ml per litre rather than pouring it straight on.


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## Seamaiden (Nov 21, 2008)

I've been using Super Plant Tonic, a live wet culture/brew of microbes. It's very good stuff. I keep it going and extend its life by adding back a wee bit of water and keeping the lid loosely capped.

To brew a live tea here's what I do: 
Filtered water
2T molasses/gal
1/4C worm castings/gal
Inoculation of myco's (I'll use 1-2T SPT _or_ something like Dr. Earth, NEVER Happy Frog again because it uses bone meal, and bone meal tea smells like gack.)

I don't have an air pump, so I don't aerate it, I mix it vigorously for a few minutes each day, and it works very well. This I'll either water in directly, or mix down. As I use some up, I add some back to keep it going. As long as I keep using molasses in it, it smells a bit like beer. I've kept my teas going for weeks this way, drawing off and adding back at the above ratios. I'm probably nowhere nearly as good as Ohso, but I'm workin' on it!


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## wyteboi (Jan 31, 2010)

I know this thread is old but, I am going to update it as soon I can. This is a very good question for folks trying to do organics the _right_ way. Organics is not about marketing hype and 20 bottles of food you can brew/make yourself, for a very small fraction of the cost of the big name bottles and when you do it yourself the ingredients are fresher. (which is always better with true organics)
I am going to use a microscope and put some of these beneficial bacteria's to the test against casting and compost teas.
Of course my test will not be 100% accurate because as of now i do not know which species are which (by looks) but i should be able to see which ones have more activity then others........


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## Wetdog (Feb 1, 2010)

wyteboi said:


> I am going to use a microscope and put some of these beneficial bacteria's to the test against casting and compost teas.
> Of course my test will not be 100% accurate because as of now i do not know which species are which (by looks) but i should be able to see which ones have more activity then others........


LOL, save the looking.

If you use worm castings, especially fresh castings, there are tons of beneficial bacteria already in it. Add 1tbl of molasses/gallon of tea while bubbling it, and it will wake them right up.

I also make my own bokashi bran, some for my own form of bokashi, but the majority is used for worm food.

EM-1 concentrate (Efficient Micro Organisms) ~$20/qt shipped. The real beauty of it is, after MUCH digging, I found that you can make 1qt of 'activated' EM using 1oz of the concentrate. So you get 8 gallons from the quart.

All you need to make 10 lbs of the bokashi bran is 1 oz of the 'activated' EM, not the concentrate, so 1qt of the concentrate will literally make tons of the stuff.

Bokashi bran is just inoculated wheat bran which I get locally for $12.50/50lb bag. Cost like ~$17 for a 2lb bag online.

It's also used as animal feed, but I just can't seem to get my cats to eat it. The worms seem to love it though.

It's a start.

Wet


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## wyteboi (Feb 1, 2010)

Wetdog said:


> LOL, save the looking.
> 
> If you use worm castings, especially fresh castings, there are tons of beneficial bacteria already in it. Add 1tbl of molasses/gallon of tea while bubbling it, and it will wake them right up.
> 
> ...


Thats another nice fuckin post wet ! 
Now i am gonna be in the books for hours reading on bokashi bran. (no big deal i just get intensive when i wanna know something.)


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## indoorman (Feb 2, 2011)

Quantum Growth the best beneficial microbes you can use. I bought through a manufactures rep. douglas speed.com and now I just use hid Hut and add it to my order. Screw making a bunch of powder spore formers when you can get liquid living stable microbes with no hassle. this is a consortisum of 19 strains all beneficial to the plant and their not spore forming. Spore forming miccrobes go dormant in stress conditions. Quantum microbes are living in the bottle they working 24/7 as soon as you add them. Happy growing, means happy banking. Indoorman


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## xivex (Feb 3, 2011)

Plant success granular myco spores with beneficals and vitamins and low nute levels is pretty nice. Plant sccess is the maker of great white, but you can buy their granular for like $17. Used it every 2 weeks this cycle. Great stuff.


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## CaptainCAVEMAN (Feb 3, 2011)

https://www.rollitup.org/dwc-bubbleponics/361430-how-breed-your-own-beneficial.html

Here's a thread I found a while back, though I have not tried it.


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## Wetdog (Feb 3, 2011)

You could also check out www.fungi.com

MycoGrow Soluble is ~$8 for 1oz delivered and will make 12 gallons of solution. The beauty of it is, only ONE application is needed.

Wet


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## Heisenberg (Feb 6, 2011)

Wetdog said:


> You could also check out www.fungi.com
> 
> MycoGrow Soluble is ~$8 for 1oz delivered and will make 12 gallons of solution. The beauty of it is, only ONE application is needed.
> 
> Wet


Mine 1oz packet is still nearly full and I've already made more than 12 gal. Great deal and great quality.


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## TheLastWood (Feb 7, 2011)

Zho by botanicare is relatively cheap and I love it. The 20$ pouch treats 28 plants 2x


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## DankByNature (Feb 8, 2011)

I like the Epsoma's Biotone Starter Plus, which has many beneficial bacteria, endo and ecto mychorrizhae, and humates and other soil ammendments (Feathermeal, Dehydrated Manure, Bone Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Greensand, Humates, Crab Meal, Cocoa Meal & Sulfate Of Potash Magnesia). I usually get the 25lb. bag for $40 and use 4 cups of the product per bale of soil; so a 25# bag goes along way.


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## goodguys3 (Jul 25, 2013)

AN's piranha and tarantula supplies beneficial fungi and bacteria. Piranha specially developed for root growth and tarantula for plants growth. Ultimately both are root enhancing products. AN offers money back guarantee. So their product should be good


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## Dgringo69 (Jul 29, 2013)

Compost tea. Compost tea. Compost tea. Read up on them! I won't get too detailed here because there is a sea of info out there. Stop wasting your money on all of these expensive products! You need to look no further than one double handful of compost, 2tbsp of unsulphured molasses and 5 gal of dechlorinated water. This is the simplest form of a compost tea and there are lots of other organic goodies that you can add to tweek your tea. You will need a $15 aquarium pump and an air stone as well. Your initial cost will be around $30 but you can literally make hundreds of gallons of compost tea for this price. The tea will be alive with a large number of bacteria and fungi and will be way more diversified than any product on the shelf. 5 gallons of tea can be diluted to make 25 gallons of usable product or can be used undiluted. Happy growing


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## blackrecluse (Sep 7, 2013)

I always pre treat, or cycle my water with microbes before introducing it into the rhizosphere.
A pinch of EWC and or living dirt into a 5 gallon bucket. bubble for 24 hours.
You know you have successfully grew aerobic bacteria if a slime is coating everything. I also noticed aerobic bacteria prefers a ph over 7.
Anerobic bacteria and fungus prefer a lower PH.

My water goes in between 6.5 and 8 *max nutrient, no nutrient.
I used a 50/50 coco/organic peat soil.
My ph issue does seem under control now.
The roots are always super fuzzy, thick, and bright white. Thats new.


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## Fuzzywuzz (Sep 7, 2013)

You should also look into using Rootshield (thrichoderma) and Met52 (metarhizium) for disease and pest control.
They are rather expensive though.


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## wyteboi (Sep 8, 2013)

Fuzzywuzz said:


> You should also look into using Rootshield (thrichoderma) and Met52 (metarhizium) for disease and pest control.
> They are rather expensive though.


or just make your own as all the other posts suggest. way cheaper , way more alive , way fresher...ect....




soil


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## Trousers (Sep 8, 2013)

you guys should check out the organic section.

It is not all dirty hippies and weirdoes and there is a lot of great information that can free you from the expense of store bought nutes.


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