IMO Temp Buddy, Biochar in the Tropics, Seed Torture Testing

Drake opens with a chick update — 16 chicks now, fed one grated boiled egg and one chopped bamboo leaf per bird daily before their regular feed, in a pen sized up as they grow their first feathers.

He shows his homemade IMO Buddy: an ESP8266 microcontroller with waterproof temperature probes and a buzzer that alarms past 120°F, built for about $30 in parts.

The bulk of the show walks through a Master Cho video from a field visit in Muju. Cho explains turning volcanic rock into soil with oxygenated water and microbes; Drake contrasts that with his own old, washed-out red ash soil, which needs seawater remineralization instead. They cover biochar as the key mineral-storage tool in tropical soil, and Cho's claim that planting and laying over rye can build three centimeters of soil in a year versus 200 years naturally.

Drake closes on Cho's seed-toughening method — holding rye seed at 104°F for an hour, then freezing at 26°F for a month before planting — and invites farmers to email sues@pureknf.org to join a KNF research project this year.

Questions answered

7:48 What do you feed baby chicks? — One grated boiled egg split among 16 chicks, plus one chopped bamboo leaf per chick, fed for three to five minutes before their regular feed.
9:53 How big should a chick pen be? — Start at three feet by three feet and expand to six by three feet as they grow their first feathers.
12:55 How do you monitor IMO pile temperature with an alarm? — Drake built an IMO Buddy from a $3 ESP8266, temperature probes, and a buzzer that beeps if the pile goes over 120°F, for about $30 in parts.
28:56 How do you turn volcanic rock into fertile soil? — Add oxygenated water and microbes and volcanic rock dissolves fast into rich soil, but Drake's old, washed-out red ash soil needs seawater remineralization instead.
32:34 Why is biochar so important in the tropics? — Biochar absorbs and stores minerals so microbes can pull them in and out like a warehouse, acting as the tropics' terra preta.
34:14 How fast can you build new soil? — Naturally one centimeter takes 200 years, but planting and laying over rye with IMO can produce three centimeters in a year.
36:47 Do rye roots really grow as deep as Master Cho says? — Drake only finds roots going shallow in practice, though Cho says invisible hairy roots reach one meter down.
39:41 Where can farmers find more biochar resources? — Search 'biochar' on Drake's YouTube channel for Josiah Hunt's talks and microscope footage of fungus growing through biochar.
43:56 How do you toughen up rye seeds before planting? — Master Cho's method: hold seeds at 104°F for one hour, then freeze them at 26°F for one month before planting.
49:06 How can farmers get involved in KNF research? — Email sues@pureknf.org to join a KNF research project this year.

Topics: imo, biochar, chickens, chicken feed, seed soak, volcanic soil, soil building, terra preta, esp8266, cover crops, rye, remineralization

KNF Office Hours is a free live Q&A every Sunday at 9 AM HST. Bring your question to pureknf.org/learn/questions or join live.

IMO Temp Buddy, Biochar in the Tropics, Seed Torture Testing

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