EM•1® Case Study: Tomatoes

EM•1® has been used on tomato fields to reduce disease and increase tomato yield, size and taste. EM•1® is a ready-to-use soil probiotic comprised of Effective Microorganisms. EM•1® increases nutrient cycling in your soil and helps improve drainage, aeration, moisture retention and soil structure. Overall, growers saw a decrease in this fertilizer requirements and cost, while improving yield.

Because EM•1® contains live microbes, it also improves water permeability.

The bugs go to work in the soil, increasing beneficial microorganisms and other organisms, this creates more pores for water and air. The increased permeability can decrease your water usage.

  • INCREASE YOUR PRODUCTION
  • INCREASE YOUR YIELD
  • ​INCREASE YOU BOTTOM LINE​
  • IMPROVE NUTRIENT AVAILABILITY
  • BALANCE pH
  • ​INCREASE ORGANIC MATTER
  • ​IMPROVE MOISTURE RETENTION
  • ​INCREASE BRIX AND NUTRITION

RESEARCH AND RESULTS

La Quebrada del Aji Tomato Farm - Case Study

La Quebrada del Aji” tomato farm in chile has been growing 'Luciana' tomatoes for more than 30 years and successfully introduced EM•1® to combat plant disease and the rising costs of fertilizers that were needed to fight the disease.

In Chile, the cost for tomato production is increasing year by year due to the extensive use of insecticides and chemicals. Approximately 50% of the total cost was going to treatments against Nematodes, Fusarium and Phytophthora disease. These diseases cause forage chlorosis and roots nodules leading to minor yield and plant decay.

At the end of the trial Eng. Ruben Marcos Borques said using EM•1® was 80% cheaper than using conventional chemical treatments and the result was bigger, tastier produce that buyers paid more for at the market.

They started a pilot test with EM from June 2016 until harvest season, from the end of November to January 2017. The test area was assigned to a greenhouse of 1 Ha, using half of the area for conventional farming and half for EM treatment.

The pilot test was divided into two for stages:

Preparation of Soil

This house had a cultivation of forage turnip that was incorporated into the soil and overturned to add more organic matter. Forage turnip was also treated with EM.

Preparation of soil started 1 month before planting.

AEM (Activated EM) was applied to the soil during one month.

Planting and Care

1. Immersion of seedling in water with AEM

2. Application of AEM to the soil and directly into the hole of plantation

3. Foliar application of EM・5

Harvested tomatoes at the EM•1® treated area, were bigger in size and weight against ones from control area. The quality of harvest was excellent and buyers wanted the tomatoes that had been grown with EM•1® because the tomatoes were tastier.

The basket on the left is from EM•1® test, the tomatoes on the right are from the control area.

Tomatoes in the control area were small due to high incidence of nematodes and roots full of nodules..

 Gifu prefecture, central western Japan - case study

In the Gifu prefecture of central western Japan, Yasuhiro Mori was cultivating a strain of tomato plants known as momotaro and achieving an average of four to five tomatoes per cluster. He cleared an area of one hectare of untouched land in the mountains, which he planned to use for further tomato cultivation, but there was a lot of rough terrain and weeds.

His first step was to treat the area using EM because he wanted to improve the soil before planting his first crop of tomato plants. He reported record-breaking yields from his very first harvest. Before, about four to five fruits per cluster was an average yield, but after applying EM•1®the average cluster was seven or eight fruits per cluster and some special cases included 16 tomatoes for one cluster. He was able to harvest these tomatoes until early November as his plants continued to mature and produce lots of fruit.