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Re: nitrogen fixing bacteria / soil tea
EM has two fungal species. A yeast (well, maybe two yeasts actually. And yes, yeasts are fungi) and Aspergillus oryzi. Neither are outstanding soil citizens.
BUT, some of the products made by anaerobic fermentative bacteria certainly do help form microaggregates. So, there is clearly benefit from getting some bacteria, ANY bacteria, established in a really sick soil. Making the glue to form microaggregates is a critical first step.
But, does this inoculum get you all the way to where you have to go to grow healthy plants? NO.
And certainly NOT the diversity one needs.
Please, get the concept of the WHOLE foodweb firmly in your mind. Move beyond this limitation that somehow bacteria are the only microbes.
We need bacteria, AND fungi AND protozoa AND beneficial nematodes AND herds of microarthropods.
Dr. Andrew Moldenke has documented that there should be 200,000 microarthropods in a healthy grassland soil. When you dig up your front lawn, it isn't truly healthy until you have a community of microarthropods that you can find when you pull up a shovel of soil. What do these guys eat? Fungi.
No springtails? Lacking earthworms? Better work your way down the foodweb until you start building at the right place. If the soil is really bad off, adding fermentative bacteria can really help. But don't get stuck there. You then have to build beneficial aerobic bacteria, then fungi, then protozoa, then.... yep, the whole foodweb.
If you add EM, and you see a noticeable improvement, what does that tell you about the health of your soil? It was really bad off. If you add EM, and you don't see a benefit, what does that tell you? That your soil was healthier than that first half-step.
It's the twelve-step program to get people off pesticides. Join pesticides-anonymous now. :-)
Elaine Ingham
President, Soil Foodweb Inc.
www.soilfoodweb.com