Hyung-tae Kim from Geochang. Crop: Greenhouse strawberries. Area: ≈ 0.28 acres. 3rd year of no synthetic pesticides used.
Through hands-on experience, it was found that rather than sticking to a fixed timeframe, it is far more important to visually check the fermentation status and adjust it according to the farm's environment and control schedule. For JMP in particular, rather than excessively increasing the amount of molasses or leaf mold soil, maintaining a stable temperature and allowing sufficient culturing time led to much more vigorous microbial activity, which translated into stable pest control results.
Because Mr. Kim had experience culturing microorganisms from the past, making JMP did not pose any major difficulties. In the early days, right after he sprayed JMP, cabbage white butterfly caterpillars that got hit by the spray dropped right off, making him marvel at its high efficacy. However, when he checked back a short while later, those caterpillars had disappeared somewhere. When he asked Dr. Youngsang Cho about it, Dr. Cho explained that this can happen if the JADAM Microorganism Solution (JMS) is not cultured properly. Since then, he has paid much closer attention to culturing JMS.
Other farmers said it takes 20 to 24 hours, so to speed up the process, he tried adding some molasses, more leaf mold soil, and even Heuksari compost. However, even after 20 hours, rich bubbles did not form. Since he only needs to spray once a week, there was no need to be constrained by time. He left it alone and kept watching, and after 36 hours, the bubbles were boiling over. He concluded that it is best to culture without being obsessed with time, adapting the process to one's own pest control schedule.
Because coil immersion heaters break down or burn out once or twice a year without fail, he custom-built and used a separate temperature controller. This keeps the temperature consistently regulated and eliminates fire hazards. He continuously uses the leaf mold soil pouch until it becomes too heavy with accumulated sediment to lift; only when it gets that heavy does he discard the contents and refill it. He does not clean the JMS culture container either, simply filling it back up with water over the leftover microbial sediment to reuse it. Culturing this way still yields a highly active microbial solution where the bubbles do not easily break once they form.
- Making JMP: https://www.jadam.kr/news/articleView.html?idxno=16765
- Watch Video (4 minutes)
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FAQ: Quick Fact
Q: Is it absolutely necessary to limit the JADAM Microbial Pesticide (JMP) culturing time to 20–24 hours?
A: On-field experience shows that visually checking the bubble status and microbial activity is far more critical than sticking to a set timeframe; allowing ample time according to the farm's schedule yields a much more stable control effect.