Skip to main content
← Back to Office Hours

Gray IMO, Protector Overuse, Chicken Feed Ratios

Drake opens with an I Ching reading on opposition, then recaps teaching Korean Natural Farming to a Hawaiian mamaki tea cooperative, showing them the disgustingly cheap microbe solution and canned food made from banana flowers and tree spinach. He shares a photo of dry-farmed tomatoes grown next to horsetail, and one of white mycelia bridging compost mulch down to soil mycelium.

Farmer questions cover troubleshooting: gray, dusty IMO can mean actinomycetes or just normal drying out, and OHN (KNF medicine) is not required to keep making IMO. White hairs on FAA three days in are normal — seal the bucket and leave it two weeks to six months. Dr. Park's story on lactobacillus and his stomach surgery comes up, alongside a warning that dumping too much whey or protectors without food for them lets the microbes turn corrupt and steal from indigenous soil life.

Drake doesn't think structure in the weekly maintenance solution shuts down mycorrhizae at normal dilution rates, and lays out chicken feed ratios: fill feeders and adjust until birds finish right before the next feeding, with IMO-4 up to 10% of the mix. He covers making solid protectors from rice bran, raising turkeys and guinea fowl on brown rice like KNF chickens, and answers on the mossy tree recipe, using a kombucha scoby for vinegar, grass carp for fuel, and searching old office hours on knfsupport.com for desert IMO collection tips.

Questions answered

  • 25:43 IMO collection came out grayish and dusty, not black — is it bad? — Could be actinomycetes, which smell like wet asphalt, or it could just be drying out, which is normal.
  • 28:47 Haven't bought OHN (KNF medicine) — worth still making IMO? — Yes, nothing in KNF is absolutely required; medicine just helps digestion and immune system, use what you got.
  • 30:59 FAA made three days ago has white hairs on it — is that a problem? — That's normal, seal the bucket and don't open it again for two weeks to six months, opening it lets the gases out.
  • 36:07 Can river salmon or trout replace ocean fish for making fuel? — Any protein source works, river fish is fine, it may just run a bit oilier than ocean fish.
  • 36:58 Neighbor is dumping 30 tons of whey a week on fields — is that too much? — Too many protectors without food for them will turn corrupt and start stealing from your indigenous microbes, balance with manure or compost.
  • 39:09 Does structure in the weekly maintenance solution stop mycorrhizal feeding? — Drake doesn't think so at normal dilution rates; over-nitrogen from chemical fertilizer is what shuts mycorrhizae down.
  • 43:30 How much food should go into the maintenance solution and IMO-4 for chickens? — Judge it by when the feeder runs dry and adjust up or down; IMO-4 can be up to 10% of the feed.
  • 45:47 How do you make solid KNF protectors (lactobacillus) from rice bran? — Moisten rice bran with diluted lacto serum under 50% moisture, seal airtight for two weeks until it smells sour.
  • 47:23 Can turkeys or guinea fowl be raised the KNF way with brown rice? — Yes, feed them only brown rice the first three days, keep it available two weeks, then add eggs and bamboo before switching feed.
  • 48:55 Is there a substitute for brown rice in chick rearing? — Look for another grain with a hard, non-digestible hull like brown rice has, maybe unhulled wheat, though Drake hasn't tried it.
  • 50:18 Where can I buy a physical copy of the recipe book? — Drake has five black-and-white copies for sale now, ships nationally, with more printing planned for international orders.
  • 50:55 What's the recipe for treating mossy trees? — Mix seawater, IMO, and ground oatmeal, which makes the IMO sticky so it clings to the moss on the tree.
  • 54:00 What's the difference between FFJ and FPJ? — Drake doesn't distinguish between them, both are canned food, timed to the plant's growth stage instead.
  • 55:35 Any tips for collecting IMO in the desert after repeated failures? — Search old office hours at knfsupport.com under the office hours search bar, where desert IMO collection has been covered before.
  • 59:53 How soon will microscope changes show after applying IMO-4 and soil solution? — About one week, with biology well established in the top inch of soil after a month of weekly soil-formula waterings.

Topics: imo, lab, faa, fish amino acid, knf protectors, ohn, mycorrhizae, brown rice, chickens, mamaki, mossy trees, actinomycetes

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 Intro and Welcome
  2. 1:28 I Ching Reading - Opposition
  3. 5:50 Mamaki Tea KNF Class Recap
  4. 13:11 Disgustingly Cheap Microbe Solution
  5. 19:41 Dry Farmed Tomatoes With Horsetail
  6. 21:36 Mycelia in the Compost Pile; Humic Acid
  7. 26:12 Grayish Color in IMO Pile
  8. 28:51 Do You Need OHN for Propagated IMO?
  9. 31:04 FAA Has White Hairs — Leave It Alone
  10. 34:03 KNF Protectors Heal Stomach Issues — Dr. Park's Story
  11. 36:41 River Salmon for Fuel; Overuse of Protectors
  12. 39:38 Structure in Maintenance Formula and Mycorrhizae
  13. 41:39 KNF Food vs Cheap Fertilizer
  14. 43:33 Chicken Feed Ratios With IMO and Maintenance
  15. 46:00 Solid KNF Protectors From Rice Bran
  16. 47:45 Turkeys and Guinea Fowl the KNF Way
  17. 48:34 Brown Rice Substitutes for Chick Rearing
  18. 50:48 Book Copies, Mossy Tree Recipe, Vinegar Scoby, Carp Fuel
  19. 54:13 FFJ vs FPJ; Fermented Seawater
  20. 55:37 Desert IMO Collection; Searching KNF Support

Transcript

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

Share