Asked by livingsoil ·January 11, 2019 ·14.5k readers

IMO collection in winter old growth forest or use indoor soils?

I asked this on the facebook page too. Can i grab some IMO in Michigan now to indoor inoculate and increase life ? Do I have to wait for warmer temps? Do I grab IMO from inside or outside? High of 33 degrees today. I am brand new here so not sure how to do a winter start or if my indoor soils would be a better starter source for IMO? 20 gallon container indoor worm farm and maybe 150 gallons of indoor unfrozen organic living soil method with zero prior KNF know how. tons of outdoor top layer frozen urban worm farm and living ( as much as the microbes and worms are alive in these temps in 5' high piles?) organic compost and potting soil. Outdoor piles only covered by maybe 8" thick of fall leaves. No roof to keep snow off but almost no snow this year. has been warmer and a lot of rain. South East Michigan to be exact. I do have access to larger indoor worm farm with a couple hundred gallon living soil area aprox. and much more living soil mixes. When I say living ( not sure what microbes are there but I don't use synthetics or chlorinated water etc. Distilled and RO.

I am thinking that the bottoms of my outdoor piles should have worms in them. I know they were there with the earlier warmer temps and rain but we have had lows in the teens for about 5 days.

These compost piles are several years old with new organic matter piled on top as I got it. 50% leaves and grass. a small fall cut of grass and leaves piled on top. my point is I believe there should be no heat generating from a decomposition as new organic matter greens are not being added. indoor yes, outside no. Worms doing very well inside, at least as well as they can without KNF methods. Plants are not doing what I know they could and need to establish consistency in the system and endurance through the entire growing cycle.

From the KNF library

From the KNF library Drafted by Claude from Office Hours and the books · Sep 2026 · 8 sources

Drake says you can collect IMO in winter. Do it indoors, not in the frozen piles.

Bring the forest indoors. Put leaf litter and dirt in a box, moisten it, and cover it with paper and straw. (Office Hours Nov 2025, 46:54) Master Lee runs an indoor IMO setup so you can collect microbes even in cold months. (Office Hours Ep. 156, 58:22) Drake's own indoor video uses forest leaf duff and collection boxes. (Office Hours Ep. 30, 6:55) Outdoors, 50°F is already too chilly. Bury the leaf mold at least 20cm deep and insulate it. (Office Hours Ep. 31, 11:19)

Cho's text says the rice freezes in winter. Bring the leaf moulds into a greenhouse and put bottles of warm water in them. (Cho, Recipe, p. 12)
Expect collection to take more than 10 days in winter. (Cho, Recipe, p. 12)

Moisture matters, and the library's answers differ. One says wet the mix well, because letting it dry out stops microbe activity. (Office Hours Ep. 104, 26:46) Another says keep it damp like forest duff, not soaking. (Office Hours Ep. 66, 47:06) Cho warns that too much moisture makes an anaerobic condition. (Cho, Theory, p. 51)

The library does not say whether your indoor soil or compost piles can stand in for forest leaf litter.

Sources