Skip to main content
← Back to Office Hours

IMO 3 Rice & Soil Tips, Compost Pile Turning Tools

Drake opens with the I Ching hexagram for revolution, then spends the first stretch of the stream walking through a rewrite of the pureknf.org website, which now runs as one combined platform instead of several patched-together sites.

Gabriel emailed photos of his IMO 3 batch for feedback. Drake liked the leaf litter (collected from what looked like apple or oak trees) and the basket, which was about two-thirds full with a nice cover. He flagged two fixes: use white rice instead of brown, since the bran on brown rice keeps the starch from breaking down right, and add a bit more soil to the mix. The rice was about 500 grams, cooked al dente, organic.

Later, a viewer asked about turning a compost pile that had been stacked too high. Drake looked at a few powered options: a corded electric cultivator around $300, a gas-powered weed-whacker tiller attachment around $169, and a battery-powered tiller around $1,000 that comes with four 6-amp-hour batteries, an 18-inch tilling width, about 10 inches of tilling depth, and a steel handle for durability. He leaned toward the battery tiller as the one actually sized for turning a real pile.

Questions answered

  • 15:00 What rice should you use for IMO 3, white or brown? — Drake said use white rice, not brown, because the bran on brown rice keeps the starch from breaking down right.
  • 15:36 Is the leaf litter and soil mix right for IMO 3? — Drake said the leaf litter looked good but he'd add a bit more soil to the mix.
  • 16:10 How full should the IMO 3 basket be, and does it need a cover? — Drake said two-thirds full with a nice cover on top is right where it should be.
  • 51:21 My compost pile got stacked too high, how do I turn it? — Drake said to even the pile out and started looking at powered tools to make turning it easier.
  • 52:06 Will a corded cultivator or a weed-whacker tiller attachment turn a compost pile? — Drake said a $300 corded cultivator or a $169 gas weed-whacker attachment might just irritate the pile instead of really turning it.
  • 52:51 What size battery-powered tiller works for turning a compost pile? — Drake recommended a roughly $1,000 battery tiller that comes with four 6-amp-hour batteries and an 18-inch tilling width.
  • 54:18 What tilling depth and build features matter for a compost tiller? — Drake said look for about a 10-inch tilling depth and a steel handle for durability, sized for landscaping-scale piles.

Topics: imo, imo3, rice, leaf litter, soil, compost pile, tiller, cultivator, weed whacker

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 I Ching: Devotion to Truth Enables Revolution
  2. 5:19 Welcomes: Belgium, Maryland, and More
  3. 6:03 Pure KNF Website Rewrite Update
  4. 13:00 More Hellos, IMO 3 Teaser
  5. 14:13 Gabriel's IMO 3 Email and Photos
  6. 15:00 Rice Choice for IMO 3: White vs Brown
  7. 15:36 Leaf Litter and Soil Ratio for IMO 3
  8. 16:10 Basket Fill Level and Cover for IMO 3
  9. 51:21 Turning an Overstacked Compost Pile
  10. 52:06 Corded and Gas Cultivator Options
  11. 52:51 Battery-Powered Tiller Pick
  12. 54:18 Tilling Depth and Handle Features to Look For
  13. 55:03 Milwaukee vs Ryobi Sign-Off Banter

Transcript

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

Share