← Back to Office Hours
Office Hours

Nematode Balance, Fish Waste Tomato Burn, Macadamia Nut IMO

November 12, 2023 · by Drake Weinert

Drake's cow Julie, a Guernsey, gave birth to a black-and-white heifer calf sired by the neighbor's bull that jumped the fence. The teats were so hard at first that the milking machine would not fit, so Drake's wife hand-milked while they built a pen to manage nursing. Drake's mother, Jennifer ("Bird"), joins the show after finishing his weeklong KNF course. She tasted knfStructure (calcium phosphate) for the first time, comparing a good batch against one she made years ago that came out tasting like vinegar.

Steve, a student from near Melbourne, Australia, brought compacted clay soil back to life with liquid IMO, seeing mushroom fruiting bodies appear around his root zones for the first time. Ginger for making medicine costs him about $90 for two kilos, so Drake suggested he start growing his own.

The group reviews the four kinds of soil nematodes: bacterial feeders, fungal feeders, root feeders (the pest), and predatory nematodes, which eat the root feeders and are the ones farmers need more of. Jennifer's marigold planting did not visibly reduce nematode pressure. A separate story: burying a whole fish-waste trough under a row of greenhouse tomatoes produced huge leafy growth but almost no fruit, about eight tomatoes total, because the excess nitrogen kept roots from forming the soil connections a plant needs to pull other nutrients.

A side-by-side IMO experiment pairs decomposed wood chips and macadamia nut butter against the usual senior horse feed. The mac nut pile heated up fast, needed turning twice in a sitting, and smelled like nut loaf; the horse-feed pile ran 118-120°F and smelled like a bakery, dropping about 10 degrees each time it was turned, down to 95°F. Later, Dr. Hoon Park, the Hilo pediatrician who arranged Drake's early trips to Korea and translated for him there, visits for dinner, and Drake shares that Master Cho is now in assisted living and hard to reach. A closing question covers doing KNF solutions safely as a diabetic: dilute more, mind your intention, and pair sugary solutions with a protein source like fish amino acid to blunt the blood sugar spike.

Questions answered

  • 12:32 How does calcium phosphate (the structure) taste when made right versus wrong? — A properly made batch tasted good, but one made without close supervision came out tasting like vinegar.
  • 15:43 Why is ginger so expensive for a farmer to use in medicine? — Steve pays about $90 for two kilos of ginger in Australia, so Drake suggested he start growing his own.
  • 17:20 What happened after applying liquid IMO to compacted clay soil? — Mushroom fruiting bodies started showing up around the root zone, a sign the soil was coming back to life.
  • 21:30 Why do you want to get rid of nematodes? — You don't get rid of them, you balance them, since every nematode has a role once the food web is complete.
  • 22:47 What are the four types of nematodes in the soil? — Bacterial feeders, fungal feeders, root feeders (the pest), and predatory nematodes, which eat the root feeders.
  • 26:51 What went wrong burying a trough of fish waste under a row of tomatoes? — The plants turned into a leafy jungle with almost no fruit, about eight tomatoes, because excess nitrogen kept roots from forming soil connections.
  • 33:41 What happens when you add macadamia nut butter to an IMO pile of wood chips? — The pile heated up so fast it had to be turned twice in one sitting and smelled like nut loaf.
  • 38:58 How do you judge an IMO pile's progress without lab testing? — Watch the temperature swings and smell, which shifts from sweet and bakery-like early on to more foresty as it dries.
  • 41:25 Why did one spot in the pile turn gray and overheat? — Drake suspects the barn cat used that damp spot as a litter box, adding extra moisture and heat.
  • 45:20 Who is Dr. Hoon Park and what's his role in bringing KNF to Hawaii? — A Hilo pediatrician who arranged and translated Drake's early trips to Korea, exposing Hawaii and the West to KNF.
  • 55:11 What's the latest on Master Cho's health and whereabouts? — He's in an assisted-living home and his wife is limiting contact, so even Dr. Park hasn't been able to reach him.
  • 1:01:43 How can a diabetic person safely use KNF solutions like FPJ, given the sugar? — Dilute the solution more, focus on your intention, and pair it with a protein source like fish amino acid to blunt the sugar spike.

Topics: imo, calcium phosphate, nematodes, fish amino acid, tomatoes, ginger, dairy cow, nitrogen burn, dr hoon park, diabetes

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
  2. 0:44 Welcome
  3. 1:37 I Ching Reading & Reflection: Return
  4. 3:43 Farm Update: New KNF Class, New Baby Dairy Calf
  5. 7:50 Welcoming the Office Hour Folks
  6. 9:04 Jennifer's KNF Training Testimony
  7. 12:32 Tasting the Structure (Calcium Phosphate)
  8. 15:10 Steve From Australia
  9. 18:23 Nutrient Cycle & Jennifer's Greenhouse
  10. 21:30 Balancing Nematodes for Soil Fertility
  11. 26:51 Fish Waste Tomato Trough Goes Wrong
  12. 31:39 Highlights From the November Training
  13. 33:41 Macadamia Nut Butter IMO Pile Experiment
  14. 38:58 Reading an IMO Pile by Smell and Sight
  15. 45:20 Dr. Hoon Park: Bringing KNF to Hawaii
  16. 59:35 Sharing Your Life's Purpose
  17. 1:01:43 KNF for Diabetics
  18. 1:03:58 People Who Point You in the Right Direction
  19. 1:06:14 Thanks, Everyone
  20. 1:07:04 KNF as a Multi-Generational Practice

Transcript

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

Share