Compost Teas: 24 hour, EM, IM, BD & fermented plant extracts

["Ryan, Matthew" <matthew.ryan AT rodaleinst.org>]

Hello All,

I have been following the list serve for a couple of months now and think
that its great that we can share information so easily.  Although I have not
brewed my own compost tea I do plan on it in the future and I have one
question.  Has anyone heard of EM (effective microorganisms) or has anyone
tried to include this in their compost tea recipe.  Kyusei EM is a microbial
inoculant from Japan and has recently been made available to the US.  EM 1
is a combined culture of photosynthetic bacteria, lactic acid bacteria,
yeasts, and actinomyces.  There have been reports of the disease suppression
effects of EM with many crops.  The same basic principals apply as CT,
having beneficials out compete the pathogenic microbes through competition,
predation, antagonism.  

Does anyone have any thoughts or ideas about this?  Also, does anyone (who
understands microbiology / ecology) think that there is any ecological
danger of introducing alien microorganism species from Japan to the US?

BTW, EM is OMRI approved for organic growers. 

You can find some more info about EM at:
http://www.agriton.nl/apnanman.html

Matthew Ryan 
Research Technician 
The Rodale Institute 
611 Siegfriedale Road 
Kutztown, PA 19530
matthew.ryan AT rodaleinst.org
(610) 683-1405