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IMO Application Rates, Root Knot Nematodes, JADAM Fertilizer Ratios

Drake opens with the I Ching hexagram for clinging fire, then shows off a new IMO pile monitor he built with an ESP8266 board and Home Assistant. Four temperature probes track air, core, bottom, and side of the pile, log history, and text him a warning at 118°F and an overheating alert at 120°F.

He walks through the KNF book's soil foundation numbers: apply IMO at 3 pounds per 100 square feet, or about 1,200 pounds per acre, as a light dusting for gardens or a donut ring around trees. Drench with the soil foundation formula (food, cleanser, medicine, structure, protectors, minerals) at 2,000 gallons per acre, watering just the top quarter inch of soil, repeated weekly for two to four weeks. He also confirms fermented plant juice does not need super-saturating once strained — it is already saturated and keeps improving for about three years.

A viewer asks whether high fat content buffers rising pile temperatures. Drake isn't sure about fat, but says carbon, like wood chips or biochar, is the known buffer. He revisits his "screw your soil" trick, drilling holes into red clay with an auger and packing them with IMO and bio mix to give roots a path, and compares auger options from cheap hand drills to a $500 earth auger.

For root knot nematodes, he recommends IMO4 to bring in predator nematodes rather than a nematicide, and weekly foliar IMO teas for leaf spot. He covers Young Song Cho's JADAM fertilizer recipe — base fertilizer from wild grass, crop residue, and manure, then three additional fertilizers using microbe solution (MMS), seawater and phylite, food scraps and human waste, and fish or bone meal, each at increasing dilution. He closes on the two balances in farming: microbial versus fertilizer nutrition, and above-ground versus root growth.

Questions answered

  • 9:30 How does the ESP8266 IMO pile temperature monitor work? — Four probes (air, core, bottom, side) feed Home Assistant via ESP8266, log history, and text him at 118°F warning and 120°F overheating.
  • 16:34 How do you calculate IMO application rate for one acre? — Apply 3 lbs of IMO per 100 sq ft, about 1,200 lbs per acre, then drench with soil foundation formula at 2,000 gallons per acre.
  • 22:49 Do you have to super-saturate FAA once it's strained and ready? — No — it's already super-saturated from the sugar and fish waste, and it keeps improving for about three years in storage.
  • 23:36 Would high fat content in an IMO3 substrate buffer rising pile temperatures? — Drake isn't sure about fat, but says carbon — wood chips or biochar — is what buffers rising pile temperature.
  • 27:52 What is the 'screw your soil' method for heavy clay? — Auger holes into clay soil and pack them with IMO and bio mix so roots get oxygen and nutrients to reach into.
  • 37:50 What's the minimum time gap between structure sprays in transition to veg? — Every day is the minimum; recommended frequency is every 7 to 11 days, misted at 25 gallons per acre.
  • 44:34 What do you do about root knot nematodes and wilting plants? — Apply IMO4 — root knot nematodes are the favorite food of predator nematodes, so aerate soil so predators can move in.
  • 46:58 How do you deal with leaf spot and viral-looking disease? — Spray IMO teas weekly on the foliage; feeding the plant good microbes beats trying to kill the disease.
  • 49:08 What's in Young Song Cho's JADAM base fertilizer? — Wild grass cover crop, crop residue, and herbivorous livestock manure, soaked in water and diluted before use.
  • 50:42 What's the first additional JADAM fertilizer application? — Microbe solution (MMS) diluted 10 to 100, plus seawater and phylite minerals diluted 30 to 300, irrigated into soil.
  • 52:13 What's in the second and third JADAM fertilizer applications? — Food scraps, urine, and human waste diluted 50 to 500, then fish, bone meal, and calcium fertilizer at the same dilution.
  • 54:25 Is it good to dump IMOT into a flooded wetland after rain? — Probably — it's the same microbes native to that area, just cultivated and fed before going back.
  • 56:26 What are the two balances Master Cho talks about in farming? — Nutritional balance between microbes and fertilizer, and balance between what's above ground and the roots below.

Topics: imo, imo4, faa, jadam, mms, root knot nematodes, leaf spot, phylite, biochar, clay soil, tomato, esp8266

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: The Clinging Fire
  2. 9:30 IMO Pile Temperature Monitor (ESP8266 + Home Assistant)
  3. 16:34 Calculating IMO Application Rate Per Acre
  4. 21:15 Soil Foundation Drench Formula and Timing
  5. 22:49 Super-Saturating Fermented Plant Juice
  6. 23:36 Fat vs Carbon for Buffering Pile Temperature
  7. 27:52 Screw Your Soil: Augering Clay Ground
  8. 37:50 Structure Spray Timing in Transition to Veg
  9. 41:44 Intro to the JADAM Book and Madag
  10. 44:34 Root Knot Nematodes and Predator Nematodes
  11. 46:58 Leaf Spot and Viral Disease
  12. 49:08 JADAM Base Fertilizer Recipe
  13. 50:42 JADAM Additional Fertilizer Dilutions
  14. 54:25 Dumping IMO Into Wetlands
  15. 56:26 The Two Balances in Farming
  16. 1:00:14 Next Week: JADAM Natural Pesticide Preview

Transcript

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

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