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Pig Feed Ratios, Madag Pest Recipes, Pasture Drenching

Drake opens with a farm tour on Google Earth, showing rotational grazing paddocks and two drench tanks on his Hawaiʻi dairy. A 275-gallon tote filled with rainwater in about a day during recent storms. One tank runs milking-parlor manure mixed with lactobacillus out a two-inch pipe onto a weak pasture; a second tank drenches decade-old fish amino acids onto another hillside field.

A viewer from Nigeria asks for the IMO, LAB, and corn stalk ratio in pig feed. Drake digs through two of Master Cho's books without finding a set recipe, then answers from memory: IMO can run 10 to 20 percent of the feed, LAB just keeps it moist, and corn stalks can make up 10 percent or more. He used to soak banana stalks in FPJ and feed them at 30 to 40 percent of the diet, though he's been lazy about fermenting feed lately. He also covers alpaca rotational grazing (graze the top third, then move on), pegs 5 percent as a saner biochar level for chicken feed than 20 percent, and confirms IMO4 usually runs 10 to 20 percent of chicken feed.

The rest of the show finishes Master Cho's Madag pest list, all recipes scaled to 500 liters of water. Rice bakanae seed disease: soak seed in cold water with sulfur for 48 hours. Rice water weevil: soap, sulfur, and canola oil to spread a film on the paddy surface. From there the soap-and-herb ratios escalate by pest, from 5 liters soap and 5 liters Jerusalem artichoke herb for mites and aphids up to 10 liters soap and 15 liters Korean pasque flower root for stink bugs and thrips. Slugs and snails call for 3 liters soap plus 1.5 kilos of sodium hydroxide, handled with heavy caution. A preventive version swaps in 20 liters of microbe solution (IMO4T) with the herbs and soap.

Drake closes with a red clay slurry (2 kilos clay, aerated, plus 10 liters soap and 5 liters sulfur) for winter pest control on fruit trees, a microbe-and-sea-salt soil drench for nematodes and verticillium wilt, and notes on minerals: Himalayan pink salt or straight seawater near the coast, glacial rock dust inland. He wraps up recommending banana FPJ, with a nod to mint FPJ, for taro, banana, and sugarcane maintenance sprays.

Questions answered

  • 16:54 What ratio of IMO, LAB, and corn stalks goes into homemade pig feed? — IMO can be 10 to 20 percent of the feed, LAB just keeps it moist, and corn stalks can be 10 percent or more of the diet.
  • 27:17 What else has Drake used for pig feed besides corn stalks? — He soaked banana stalks in FPJ and fed them at 30 to 40 percent of the pigs' diet, though he's fallen off fermenting feed lately.
  • 28:41 How should alpacas be rotationally grazed? — Graze them quickly on the top third of the grass, move them along, and drop IMOs a few days ahead so regrowth is better.
  • 29:26 Is 20 percent biochar in chicken feed too much? — Drake would lean toward 5 percent, but says if 20 percent is working, keep doing it.
  • 31:46 Would Drake podcast with Dr. Shane Simonsen's zero input agriculture show? — Heck yeah, he'll podcast with anybody, though he hasn't published an episode himself since 2021.
  • 31:46 Is IMO4 one of the ingredients in chicken feed? — Yes, IMO4 usually makes up about 10 to 20 percent of the chicken feed.
  • 34:40 How does Master Cho treat rice bakanae seed disease? — Soak the rice seed in cold water with sulfur for 48 hours, rinse thoroughly, then sprout as normal.
  • 37:03 What treats rice water weevil damage? — Mix soap, sulfur, and canola oil so the pesticide spreads as a film across the paddy's water surface.
  • 43:55 What's the recipe for mites, whitefly, and aphids on tangerines? — 500 liters of water with 5 liters of soap and 5 liters of Jerusalem artichoke herb.
  • 49:00 What kills tougher larvae like diamondback and cabbage moth? — 500 liters of water, 8 liters of soap, and 15 liters of Jerusalem artichoke herb, more soap for hairy, hydrophobic larvae.
  • 58:09 Is there a preventive spray instead of just killing pests? — Yes: 500 liters water, 20 liters microbe solution (IMO4T), 5 liters Jerusalem artichoke herb, 5 liters ginkgo herb, 3 liters soap.
  • 1:02:27 What's the winter pest control treatment for fruit trees? — A red clay slurry, 2 kilos of clay per 500 liters of aerated water, plus 10 liters soap and 5 liters sulfur, brushed on thick.
  • 1:04:03 What treats soil nematodes and verticillium wilt? — A microbe solution drench with sea salt and zeolite, though Drake admits the book's ratios confused him and points to the book directly.
  • 1:07:49 What mineral source works if you're not near the ocean? — Glacial rock dust or other rock powders are a good substitute for sea salt when seawater isn't available.
  • 1:09:16 What FPJ should be used for taro, banana, and sugarcane maintenance sprays? — Use banana FPJ, it's the easiest, and Drake also uses mint FPJ on his taro.

Topics: imo, lab, fpj, pig feed, chicken feed, biochar, alpaca, madag, sulfur soap spray, rice bakanae, nematodes, glacial rock dust

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 I Ching reading: Decrease
  2. 1:48 Community check-in and welcome
  3. 8:48 Google Earth farm tour and pasture drenching
  4. 16:54 Q: IMO, LAB, and corn stalk ratio for pig feed
  5. 21:34 Searching Master Cho's books for the feed recipe
  6. 27:17 Pig feed answer and banana stalk trick
  7. 28:41 Rotational grazing for alpacas
  8. 29:26 How much biochar is too much in chicken feed
  9. 31:46 Podcast invite and IMO4 in chicken feed
  10. 34:40 Madag: rice bakanae seed soak and rice weevil fix
  11. 39:21 Madag recipes 3-6: fungus and mite sprays
  12. 49:00 Madag recipes 7-9: moths, hoppers, stink bugs
  13. 56:29 Madag recipes 10-11: slugs and preventive spray
  14. 59:47 Madag recipe 12: all-purpose pesticide
  15. 1:02:27 Winter clay pest control for fruit trees
  16. 1:04:03 Soil drench for nematodes and wilt
  17. 1:07:49 Mineral sources: Himalayan salt, glacial rock dust
  18. 1:09:16 FPJ picks for taro, banana, and sugarcane
  19. 1:10:28 Sign-off

Transcript

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

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