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IMO Timing, Chick Egg Feed, and Cassava Planting

November 9, 2025 · by Drake Weinert

Office hours mixed stories with soil science. Drake described a pig-industry education day in Puna where thousands showed up to eat smoked meat but only seven or eight came to learn, a sign that farming won't take root until the agriculture underneath pigs, papaya, mac nut, sweet potato, and banana gets fixed first.

He walked through cassava as one of the fastest returns in farming: one stick planted in the ground can into 20 to 30 pieces, then multiplies again toward roughly 900 from there, with almost no labor once it's established. Keep it away from pigs, which will dig it up and eat it.

The main technical segment covered IMO, Indigenous Microorganisms. Collection takes 5 to 14 days depending on temperature, then 3 days purifying in sugar, then roughly three weeks total building it into a substrate like rice bran or horse feed, kept under 120°F while turning. Spring is the best season to collect, fall is second, summer next, winter hardest, though Drake showed a video method for collecting indoors in cold weather using leaf litter, rice, paper, and straw. He recommends beginners make basic KNF ferments like FFJ before attempting IMO.

On the farm cam, Joe and Stephen demonstrated an IMO bath and fed five-day-old chicks their first boiled egg, about an eighth to a quarter of an egg per chick, grated fine to mimic mother's milk, followed by chopped bamboo. Mark and Thomas also talked rotational grazing on a four-day move and a chicken pink eye case that improved after a lactic acid bacteria (LAB) solution was applied.

Questions answered

  • 16:55 What's an easy Hawaiʻi crop almost nobody grows? — Cassava — stick a cutting in the ground and walk away, just keep it away from pigs, which will dig it up and eat it.
  • 22:11 Is farming really worth it as an investment? — Drake says his cattle herd doubled through simple management, and one cassava plant can multiply toward roughly 900 pieces in two planting cycles.
  • 25:59 Why won't a standalone pig co-op work in Hawaiʻi? — Because the mac nut, papaya, sweet potato, and banana industries under it are already failing from poor soil, so pigs have no feed base to stand on.
  • 29:49 What's the fastest way to add value to a harvest? — Turn raw crops into a shelf-stable product, like thin-sliced, properly dried bananas, since no one wants a whole stalk of sugarcane but everyone wants the juice.
  • 36:21 How often should broilers be moved in a rotational system? — Drake moves his animal pens every four days, not four times a day like some growers do.
  • 37:04 What cleared up a chicken's pink eye? — A lactic acid bacteria (LAB) solution applied to the eye, following up on last week's question from Thomas.
  • 41:50 How long does it take to make usable IMO? — About three weeks total: 5 to 14 days to collect, 3 days purifying in sugar, then roughly two more weeks building it into a substrate kept under 120°F.
  • 42:35 What's the best season to collect IMO? — Spring is best, fall is second, summer is next, and winter is hardest.
  • 46:10 Should a beginner start by making IMO? — No — make basic KNF ferments like FFJ first and only move to IMO once those feel routine.
  • 46:54 Can IMO be collected in cold weather? — Yes — bring the forest indoors using leaf litter and dirt in a box, moisten it, and cover it with paper and straw.
  • 49:03 How much boiled egg do you feed baby chicks? — About an eighth to a quarter of an egg per chick starting around day five, grated fine to mimic mother's milk.
  • 51:14 Why let chicks frenzy over their food? — The scramble to reach it builds their lung capacity and strength, not just fills their stomachs.

Topics: imo, cassava, chick feed, boiled egg, lab, pink eye, rotational grazing, pig farming, soil restoration, value adding

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.

In this episode

  1. 0:00 Welcome and I Ching: Splitting Apart
  2. 6:33 Smoke'em Festival Pig Talk Turnout
  3. 12:29 A Stranger's Life Changed by Natural Farming
  4. 13:24 Restoring Depleted Soil at Laupāhoehoe
  5. 16:55 Growing Cassava in Hawaiʻi
  6. 17:41 Second Tuesday Meetings Start in Hilo
  7. 19:59 A New Calf on the Farm
  8. 22:11 Cassava as a Fast Investment
  9. 25:59 Why Pigs Need an Agriculture Base First
  10. 29:49 Value-Added Farm Products
  11. 33:39 Soil, Grass, Then Ruminants
  12. 36:21 Rotational Grazing and a Chicken Pink Eye Fix
  13. 37:54 IMO Demonstration with Joe and Stephen
  14. 41:50 How Long IMO Takes to Finish
  15. 46:54 Collecting IMO Indoors in Cold Weather
  16. 49:03 Feeding Baby Chicks Boiled Egg

Transcript

Auto-transcribed with Whisper. Click any timestamp to play from there.

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