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Fireweed Pesticide, IMO4 vs JMS, Human Liquid Fertilizer

Drake opens with a listener in New Zealand fighting California thistle in weak pasture. He shows a fireweed study from Hawaii: the plant is toxic to cattle, but you can boil a harvest of it into a Jadam-style pesticide. Seawater strengthens grass minerals, but the real fix is fungal biology. IMO4 grows fungal hyphae that slow the nitrogen cycle, which starves fast-flowering weeds like thistle and lets deep-rooted perennial grass take over.

On IMO collection, Drake says gather from both your local woods, even a rough or "trash" site, and a richer state forest, then combine the batches when you build IMO3. If a site took chemical damage, spray the maintenance solution there Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for a week before setting a collection box the following Sunday. He also covers why JMS (the cheap, quick microbial brew) will not get pasture there alone. It is bacterial. IMO4 is the one that builds the fungus.

A question about adding urea to FAA leads Drake into Master Cho's book on human liquid fertilizer: mix excrement with water at half its weight (600 kg excrement to 300 kg water), add 60 kg of a rice-bran yeast starter, ferment four to five days, top off with water to about three times the solid volume, let it mature over a week, then dilute 30 to 50 times before spraying soil and leaves. He also answers a vinegar question: a paper towel lid is fine, the funky film on top is normal, and avoiding temperature swings (some Japanese makers bury the jar) makes better vinegar.

Drake previews Master Cho's 291-slide presentation on three vital forces, heat, air, and water, and the "once a full stomach, once an empty stomach" feeding principle: don't pre-amend beds, feed as the plant grows. He points a Saudi Arabia viewer to microbialsecret.org episodes 32 and 24 on desert farming, and a nutrient question to Steve Dread's Open Nutrient Project on Potent Ponics.

Questions answered

  • 7:25 How do I combat California thistle taking over pasture where the grass is weak? — Boil harvested fireweed into a pesticide, add seawater for minerals, and build IMO4 fungal biology to slow the nitrogen cycle that favors thistle.
  • 19:27 Best to collect IMO from local woods that look like trash, or drive two hours to a state forest? — Do both, since microbes are still there even in a rough area, and combine the two collections when you make IMO3.
  • 22:14 My woods took a chemical spill 10 years ago. Can I still collect IMO there? — Spray the maintenance solution on the site Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for a week, then set the collection box the following Sunday.
  • 24:19 What happened to the Institute of Natural Farming YouTube channel? — It's still up, Drake found Bridger Logan's channel live on screen, it just wasn't showing up in search for the viewer.
  • 25:50 Will JMS and IMO4 fix the pasture biology behind the thistle problem? — Both help, but JMS alone is too bacterial; IMO4 is what actually builds the fungus that slows nitrogen cycling and favors grass over thistle.
  • 31:31 Does Drake plan to teach KNF classes online? — He has streamed some classes, but real training needs the tactile, in-person experience he can't recreate over the internet.
  • 40:18 Should I add a little urea when making fish amino acid (FAA)? — Drake wasn't certain on urea specifically, and pointed instead to Master Cho's older book on diluted human liquid fertilizer for extra nitrogen.
  • 40:44 What is Master Cho's human liquid fertilizer and how do you make it? — Ferment excrement with half its weight in water plus a rice-bran yeast starter for 4-5 days, top off with water, mature a week, then dilute 30-50x before spraying.
  • 49:02 Is a paper towel enough to cover a vinegar jar, and is the funky film on top okay? — Yes to both; the film is normal fermentation growth, and keeping the jar shaded and away from temperature swings makes better vinegar.
  • 1:02:05 Can IMO be collected in a desert climate like Saudi Arabia? — Yes, Drake pointed to microbialsecret.org episodes 32 and 24 with Sam Bevins on desert farming, and knfsupport.com's searchable office-hour archive.
  • 1:04:15 Is there a list of which nutrients are in which KNF-related foods? — Search the plant name plus "nutrients," or check Steve Dread's Open Nutrient Project on Potent Ponics, which aggregates USDA data by compound.

Topics: thistle, fireweed, imo, imo4, jms, bioremediation, pasture, human liquid fertilizer, vinegar, desert farming

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. 1:43 I Ching Reading: Difficulty at the Beginning
  3. 7:25 California Thistle and Fireweed Bioremediation
  4. 16:10 KNF Farm Course Registration
  5. 19:27 Best Places to Collect IMO
  6. 24:35 Institute of Natural Farming Channel
  7. 25:55 JMS and IMO4 for Pasture Remediation
  8. 31:31 Online Classes vs In-Person Training
  9. 36:20 Hawaii Field Days and Master Cho's Last Visit
  10. 39:39 Parasitic Mushrooms and IMO Collection
  11. 40:18 FAA with Urea and Human Liquid Fertilizer
  12. 49:02 Making Vinegar, Avoiding Temperature Swings
  13. 50:50 Master Cho's "The Farmer's Heart" Presentation
  14. 52:34 Three Vital Forces: Heat, Air, Water
  15. 54:31 Where Fertilizer and Water Come From
  16. 59:06 Full Stomach, Empty Stomach Feeding Principle
  17. 1:02:05 Collecting IMO in the Desert (Saudi Arabia)
  18. 1:04:15 Nutrient Content of KNF Foods
  19. 1:07:34 Thank Yous and Go Fund Me for Classes
  20. 1:09:30 Long Live the Natural Farmer

Transcript

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

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