I made this JLF with green matter like collard greens, oats, winter peas, and some others. Used creek water and a couple handfuls of bought compost. Started it in early 2024 and it’s been outside through winter and summer sealed in a bucket. Still has the anaerobic smell but it’s not as potent smelling as the first year was. Is it still good to use? Thanks!
I've made JS successfully.
ive made JLF successfully. Currently 2 different 4+ year-old batches going.
Ive made JWA with some mixed results, but generally successful
BUT JMS is where i just can't win.
It's been literally four years of me trying over and over and over. I do not give up.
I've tried many different variables and I still can't get it to take.
we live in the countryside so I can go to different forests to collect leaf mold. I've tried collecting away from Pineforest as I've been told that they could be too acidic, which is a little bit challenging where we are since there are pines everywhere. Have read that bamboo can be a great source, but even when I've collected it have a big bamboo area areas. It hasn't changed much of the results.
I've tried buckets from 25 L all the way up to 200 L. As a general rule, I usually use between 45 L and 90 L.
I've tried our well water, springwater from various springs, rainwater. I don't know if there's any real difference but rainwater seems to get the best results which are not really great Results
I've tried potatoes and I've tried potato starch
I use sea salt that is 100% sea salt
I've used an immersion heater and the only other thing I could try is maybe wrapping the tank with a blanket so it's more consistent throughout the tank.
I've tried different types of bags For holding the leaf mold. i've used the Bags to be put in the drain of the sink for collecting food scraps. Bags for keeping onions. I've submerged the bags with a rock and I've hung them in the top. I've just thrown in material and let it float on the surface
I've Tried first putting in the leaf mold and letting it sit for a while to kind of acclimate and then added the salt and then added the potatoes/ potato starch (mixed with boiling water and made into a goo)
Oddly, enough, my first attempt ever doing this four years ago I got a nice ring with a thin bubbling surface. Since then, I've managed to get this a few times, but never as strong as that one. What I seem to be getting now is a column of bubbles that climbs up the wire attached to the immersion heater
It's getting warm outside now in the mid 20s but at night it drops down back to about 15 or 16 so I've kept the immersion heater in. I checked on it every once in a while and it doesn't seem to be getting too hot or too cold
In the beginning, I was trying to keep the temperature between 18 and 25 but now I've tried to keep it between 25 and 35 to see if I would have any results but again nothing significant
I'm at a complete loss and it is incredibly frustrating as you can imagine because I am putting so much time and effort into all of this and JMS is the backbone of everything. I it would be incredibly beneficial for us helping restore and what was once a rice and then for years was just amended addressing the real issues.
, I'm at a total loss none of the suggestions that I've gotten have helped
I am going to try a smaller batch tonight to see if I can get any results. I try probably 2 to 4 times a month if not more often. It might sound insane, but I can't give up!
As for general ratios that I would use:
for a 95 tank
i'm at a total loss, especially considering that in some of the most recent things that have been published. It seems exceedingly less important for cleanliness to be Paramount. You can see now farmers reusing the previous GMS to make new batches, which is something that would work very well in my if I could get this started
I'm at my wits Someone help me.😭😭😭
First pic is of cannabis/horsetail, second is comfrey/mint. Still a lot of smell coming off of the first one. I used it last year and noticed possible disease starting after using 1 cup per gallon once a week for a couple of weeks so I stopped. Gonna try again this year. I also have 50 gallons of traditional JLF brewing the same amount of time. So far I’m not sold on the results, mainly because of spots on leaves. I only use it to water into the ground.