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Fish & IMO Pasture Remediation, Dead Avocado Revival, Jadam Interview

June 30, 2024 · by Drake Weinert

Drake flies a drone around the farm to show pasture recovery. Patches remediated with buried fish plus IMO are lush and thick; untreated ground next to them is thin and weak. He's now applying about 25 gallons per acre, roughly 50 gallons total on a 1.7-acre section. A rain-and-manure catch tank off the milking barn roof feeds a 2-inch pipe that drenches the pasture below. Dairy cow Julie is rotated through banana-patch paddocks, and bananas are slowly recovering from bunchy top. On a stand of avocados marked for removal, Drake explains the trees are starving for oxygen because they were planted with amendments packed into the hole with no airspace; digging out and opening airspace is bringing them back instead of cutting them down.

Viewer questions: a transplanted gold globe squash that slumped over came back after a calcium and foliar spray. Heavy rain is generally good for crops, but fruiting tomatoes can get overmoistened, so keeping calcium up helps prevent splitting. On fencing, Drake runs a 10-mile electric fence controller with posts every 15-20 feet and two hot lines for internal paddocks, keeping only the farm's perimeter in metal. Painting the plastic fence tape helps protect it from UV so it lasts longer.

The back half covers Pure KNF Foundation member content — new micro-documentaries including John Caverly — then returns to the Jadam recipe book (slide 25-26) before playing an interview with Sung Seol Yoon (Ray) of Jadam. Ray explains Hawaiʻi's mix of traditional, plantation, and chemical farming mirrors problems seen worldwide, and that natural farming beats chemical agriculture on cost, environmental impact, and yield because farmers make their own inputs from manure, leaf mold, rock dust, and urine — buying only sulfur, caustic soda, and caustic potash for soap-based inputs. He also covers why conventional farmers struggle to switch to certified organic, and points listeners to jadam.kr (en.jadam.kr in English) where all the information is posted free.

Questions answered

  • 12:37 How do you fix an overgrazed, patchy pasture? — Bury fish and apply IMO across the ground; treated patches green up fast while untreated spots next to them stay thin.
  • 17:41 Can a dying avocado tree be brought back instead of cut down? — Yes — dig out the amendments packed into the planting hole and open airspace so roots get oxygen; leaf drop is usually an oxygen problem.
  • 19:55 What do you do with roof runoff and manure from the milking barn? — It collects in a catch tank, then runs out a 2-inch pipe to drench the pasture below whenever the tank fills.
  • 32:56 A transplanted gold globe squash wilted, and is heavy rain bad for tomatoes? — A calcium and foliar spray revived the wilted squash; rain is usually fine, but fruiting tomatoes need calcium kept up or they can split.
  • 33:41 Is there video of the drone sprayer in action? — Some clips exist on the channel, but Drake can't safely film while he's flying it himself.
  • 34:28 What kind of fence keeps the cattle in? — Plain electric fencing — a 10-mile fence controller, posts every 15-20 feet, and two hot lines strung between them.
  • 42:14 Does painting electric fence tape help it last longer? — Yes, covering the plastic tape with paint protects it from sun damage and extends its life.
  • 49:44 Why does Hawaiʻi matter so much for natural farming worldwide? — Hawaiʻi has traditional farming, plantation history, and heavy chemical use all in one place, so it mirrors agricultural problems seen across the globe.
  • 53:02 What's the biggest difference between natural farming and conventional chemical farming? — It's environmentally friendly, very low cost since farmers make their own inputs, and still effective with strong roots and high yield.
  • 54:41 Do you have to buy any inputs, or can farmers make everything themselves? — Almost everything comes free from on-farm materials like manure and rock dust; only sulfur, caustic soda, and caustic potash for soap are bought.
  • 57:02 Why do conventional farmers struggle to switch to organic? — Certified organic inputs cost more than chemicals, the methods are hard to learn and labor-heavy, and yields often drop before it pays off.
  • 1:03:33 Where can farmers find Jadam's information for free? — It's all posted at jadam.kr, with en.jadam.kr for the English site, and new videos go up most Sundays.

Topics: imo, fish amino acid, jms, jadam, rotational grazing, electric fencing, banana bunchy top, water-soluble calcium, avocado, dairy cow

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: Pi hexagram
  2. 7:07 KNF recipe book back in stock
  3. 10:15 Farm drone tour begins
  4. 12:37 Remediating pasture with fish and IMO
  5. 17:41 Reviving dead avocado trees
  6. 19:55 Manure and rain catch tank for drenching
  7. 24:52 Rotational grazing the banana patch
  8. 32:56 Gold globe squash, calcium, and rain on tomatoes
  9. 34:28 Electric fencing setup for cattle
  10. 35:21 Pure KNF Foundation member documentaries
  11. 41:26 Metal perimeter vs electric interior fencing
  12. 43:02 Jadam recipe book, slide 25
  13. 49:44 Ray (Sung Seol Yoon) Jadam interview begins
  14. 53:02 Natural farming vs chemical farming
  15. 57:02 Why organic farmers struggle to switch
  16. 1:03:33 Where to find Jadam resources for free
  17. 1:06:58 Sign-off, join Pure KNF for full video

Transcript

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

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