Why not just replace Recharge with homemade EM1 and castings/compost/guano?
I've heard of EM1 but haven't looked into it too much to be completely honest with you. Difficult process? Worth the trouble?
I used to have a worm bin, but I didn't have a spot to keep it cool during the summers unfortunately. Now that I have a greenhouse with an evap cool wall to keep it cool, I will actually be doing a worm bin again. That being said, you know how long it takes to get a significant amount of EWC. My outdoor has ~400g of soil in use right now, it'd take me a long time to produce that much EWC!
Compost is going to be somewhat difficult to produce until my produce garden starts taking off. I'm in the middle of the desert, so I don't have much outdoor vegetation to compost unfortunately. At the moment I've got all my food scraps composting with some peat moss, but it's the same problem as the EWC in the sense that it would take years for me to produce enough compost for my outdoor needs. I'm working on it, but until I'm able to move to a place that will allow me to have livestock and grow more produce I just don't see it producing a significant amount of compost sadly.
My situation I feel like EWC would produce faster than a compost pile.
I do my best to stay away from guano as much as possible, stuff is way hot and can hurt more than help if you're not careful. Especially the Peruvian stuff
That being said, I had to remove crab meal from my soil due to excess calcium in my well water so I'm going to be top dressing with 0-5-0 guano in another week or so.
Apologies for the book, but that's essentially why I go with Recharge. I know it will NEVER replace quality EWC/compost, but being in the desert in the middle of nowhere it's tough to come by. No farms selling compost, had to spent $7 per cuft of Black Gold Compost recently :/ Recharge is helpful because it just keeps the soil life going in the event of set backs.
Before I moved out here I used to live 5 minutes away from a worm farm. Only cost $20 to fill up a 5g bucket with their EWC. Fuck I miss those people.