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Fermented Seaweed Recipe, IMO3 vs IMO4, Aluminum-Locked Phosphorus

January 15, 2023 · by Drake Weinert

The farm hasn't seen rain in three weeks. Drake is hauling water by truck for the cows and pigs while a weeklong international training class just wrapped, with seven students from around the world, including Pedro and Ben. They chip fallen trees, mix in sugarcane stalks and IMO4, and talk about how modern farming evaporates far more water than a forest does, a point from carbon researcher Mark Cohen that ties into Ernst Götsch's syntropic and desert farming work.

Most of the hour covers fermenting seaweed. Coat fresh seaweed in sugar, pack it tight in a jar, let it sit five days, then pour off the juice and dilute it 1 to 500, about 4 to 8 ml per gallon. Dried seaweed works too if you rehydrate it with a splash of beer first. Pedro and Ben explain that a fermented plant extract (FPE) pulls more out of a plant than juice does, hormones, enzymes, and gibberellin, the growth compound first identified from a soil fungus. Someone also asks about reusing water from hard-boiled eggs for calcium extraction; Drake says to toast the shells longer to dry them out first.

Pedro walks through the ten principles of syntropic farming, humility toward nature, maximizing photosynthesis, diversity, density, cooperation, abundance, and stratification among them, all drawn from watching how a forest layers itself. On the farm, six barrels of fish covered with IMO has turned one pasture green while the rest goes yellow in the drought.

The back half compares IMO3 and IMO4 from the week's class. IMO3 is light, smells like bread, and cools fast, while IMO4, mixed with clay soil, runs denser and held near 130 degrees, needing repeated turning to catch hidden hot spots. Late in the show, Drake and Pedro talk about ferns as a soil indicator, they thrive where aluminum is high, which locks out phosphorus, and explain how KNF inputs and worm castings free it back up.

Questions answered

  • 7:40 What's happening with the drought at the farm? — It hasn't rained in about three weeks, so Drake is hauling water by truck to the pigs and cows.
  • 24:40 Alvin K asks for the fermented seaweed recipe — Coat seaweed in sugar, pack it in a jar for five days, strain the juice, and dilute it 1 to 500, about 4 to 8 ml per gallon.
  • 28:38 Can you use dried seaweed instead of fresh? — Yes, rehydrate dried seaweed with a splash of beer or vodka before fermenting it with sugar, same as dried herbs.
  • 30:10 Do you need to add LAB (lactic acid bacteria) to ferment plant material? — No, LAB is already everywhere, so sugar alone osmotically draws out the juice and starts fermentation.
  • 31:44 What's the difference between FPE and FPJ? — FPE pulls out more than plant juice, hormones, enzymes, and compounds like gibberellin, not just NPK.
  • 33:55 Does saved eggshell-boiling water work for calcium extraction? — Save the water for plants, but toast the shells longer than usual to dry them out before making the vinegar extract.
  • 35:53 What permaculture resources pair well with KNF? — Bill Mollison's book, Dave Jacke's agroforestry work, Allan Savory's holistic management, and Ernst Götsch's syntropic farming.
  • 42:50 What are the ten principles of syntropic farming? — Humility toward nature, maximizing photosynthesis, diversity, density, cooperation, abundance, and stratification, all modeled on a forest.
  • 46:52 Do seashells break down for calcium or chitin like eggshells? — Not sure, try an oyster shell flour, and some seashells may carry a little chitin from mixed-in crab shells.
  • 53:26 What's the difference between IMO3 and IMO4? — IMO3 propagates the microbes and smells like bready yeast; IMO4 activates them into soil, runs denser, hotter, and smells earthier.
  • 58:00 How often did you turn the IMO3 and IMO4 piles? — IMO3 was turned three to four times a day since it cools fast; the denser IMO4 held near 130 degrees and needed repeated turning to find hidden hot spots.
  • 1:05:19 What does it mean when ferns grow in the soil? — Ferns tend to show high available aluminum, which locks out phosphorus even when phosphorus is present.
  • 1:07:43 How does KNF fix a phosphorus lockout from aluminum? — Fungi and bacteria feed worms, and worm castings' humic and fulvic acids bind the aluminum, freeing the phosphorus back up.

Topics: fermented seaweed, imo3, imo4, fpj, fpe, gibberellin, wca, syntropic farming, phosphorus deficiency, aluminum lockout, kudzu, pasture management

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 Countdown & Introduction
  2. 4:30 I Ching Reading: Darkening of the Light
  3. 7:40 Weeklong Training Wraps Up; Drought in East Hawaiʻi
  4. 10:01 Chipping Trees, Sugarcane Stalks, IMO4, Fish
  5. 10:34 Watering Club; Climate and Evaporation
  6. 12:29 Master Cho's Open-Source Presentations
  7. 14:27 Fermenting Seaweed, Microalgae Biofuel, and Kudzu Vine
  8. 16:53 Fermenting Comfrey, Mugwort, Basil; White Mold
  9. 19:50 Climate Change, Evaporation, and Syntropic/Desert Farming
  10. 25:05 Fermented Seaweed Recipe
  11. 29:03 Making Fermented Seaweed from Dried Seaweed
  12. 30:55 FPE vs FPJ; Gibberellin and Mycorrhizal Fungi
  13. 33:55 Eggshells for Water-Soluble Calcium
  14. 35:53 Permaculture Books and Resources
  15. 36:54 Regenerative Pasture Management; Fish Waste under IMO4
  16. 42:50 Ten Principles of Syntropic Farming with Pedro
  17. 49:06 IMO Process During the 7-Day Training
  18. 53:26 IMO3 vs IMO4: Differences and Process
  19. 1:05:10 Plant Indicators; Ferns, Aluminum, and Phosphorus Lockout
  20. 1:10:18 Bonus Question: Message to the World

Transcript

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

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