Homemade Lactobacillus Serum

MjMama

MjMama

Well-Known Member
Hi everyone. I've been working on making my own lacto serum, similar to the expensive EM1 product. Sorry if this info has already been shared here.

First, take a 1/4 cup of rice and shake it in 1 cup of warm water until the water gets cloudy.
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This is harvesting the starch from the rice that will attract beneficial bacteria from the air into the water. Strain and keep the rice rinse water, and discard the rice. You can add the used rice to your compost pile so it doesn't go to waste. Microbes and whatnot love rice.

Keep the starchy water in a jar under your sink for a week or two to attract the bacteria we are seeking. After the wait period I drain off and keep the top 95 percent of the water and leave the thick white sludge that has formed at the bottom. We don't need that part.

Now, for every one part rice water, add 10 parts milk. So for 1 cup water it takes 10 cups of milk. Any type of milk is fine. I just filled a mason jar to the top and called that good enough. It doesn't have to be an exact science. Again, let this mixture sit. This time a few days should be all it takes for the milk to curdle. The milk solids will rise to the top and look like cottage cheese.
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Strain out the curds and keep the yellow liquid that remains. Now mix the yellow liquid 50/50 with molasses and you have your finished product that can be stored for up to 6 months.

I use 2-3 tbs per gallon for foliar and 1/3 cup per gallon for soil drench.

The cheese curds can be fed to dogs or added to the compost. My dogs love it and it's great for their digestive health. It's a probiotic for plants and pets.
 
MjMama

MjMama

Well-Known Member
Just like act teas give life to the soil via air loving bacteria, this boosts other anaerobic beneficials in the soil which also helps to break down nutrients and to keep your plants happy. The lactobacillus helps fight pathogens such as PM when used as a foliar and can help prevent bud rot in humid environments if sprayed after a rain.

This is copied from another site. "
Plants – Growth Aid:
When added to water for plants, nutrient uptake efficiency is increased, which increases growth!

  • Improves growth of plants when applied as foliar spray and soil drench. Improves their efficiency in uptaking nutrients so naturally, growth is enhanced. With the use of these microorganisms, the nutrients you spray or drench to feed your plants become more bio-available and easily absorbable by the plants. Technically, you can say that plants do not use organic nutrients directly. Microorganisms convert organic nutrients to their inorganic constituents which the plants utilize. Utilizing microbes, you will notice better plant growth and health.
Disease Resistance:

  • This is a consequence of the increased efficiency of nutrients. More nutrients available at smaller metabolic cost.
  • Lacto suppresses harmful bacteria in food/water that animals consume, enhances their gut flora so that line of defense is working optimally, etc.

Aid Compost:

  • Mix 2tbsp/L and spray on compost pile to improve decomposition. This is a huge topic that will be expanded upon in another post.
Aid Organic Fertilizer:
Add 1-2tbsp per gallon water-nutrient solution. Lacto consumes organic nutrients making them bio-available to plant roots.

  • Plants don’t use organic fertilizer! Microbes break it down to inorganic constituents, and plants take those up. This product makes that process more efficient."
 
MjMama

MjMama

Well-Known Member
Bokashi and grokashi seem to be all the rage in organics right now. The lacto is the cornerstone of bokashi composting, or can be used alone as a soil inoculant or foliar. A bottle of Em-1 soil inoculant costs $30+ and I made this with rice, milk, and molasses for very cheap, and with little effort. I'm no scientist, but this is one of those recipes that is hard to mess up. Everyone should try it.
 
MjMama

MjMama

Well-Known Member
edibleeater said:
Nice thread! I am going to try this. Did it produce any odors in the process?
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I made two batches rcently and let one sit longer than the other. The second batch definitely started smelling funky after it curdled for a few days. But if you don't wait as long as I did, the smell shouldn't be much of a problem. Worst case scenario you could keep it outside in the shade somewhere. I moved mine to the toolshed for the last part of the process when you add the milk.
 
MjMama

MjMama

Well-Known Member
greenghost420 said:
i tried making a batch but got black mold. that normal? i chucked it and am gonna attempt again real soon..
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At what point did you get mold, and how much mold was it? Just a few spots or the whole bottle? During the first stage where you let the rice rinse water sit to attract bacteria it's normal to see a bit of black film form on the surface of the water. And I also got a few spots of mold on top of the cheese curds during the milk curdling stage. Especially in the batch I let sit longer. I don't think the mold will hurt anything but just to be sure I will use some of my second batch that got the mold spots and report back on the effects soon.

If you had the whole thing turn black and moldy I would skip using it but if it was just a few spots, I think it's totally fine.
 
MjMama

MjMama

Well-Known Member
This is the extent of the mold that I had on the top of mine and this is after sitting longer than it needed to. You really only need to wait long enough
for the milk solids to separate, leaving the yellow lacto serum underneath. I got distracted and left it at least a week extra.
image.jpg
 
MjMama

MjMama

Well-Known Member
OrganicSmokeOnly77 said:
Does it matter what kind of rice? you think organic brown rice would work? I don't have any white
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The white rice releases it's starches easier but a longer soak with warm water should get the same results from brown. Just like brown rice takes longer to cook, it will also take longer to make the water cloudy.
 
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