Asked by davejamesbrightbard ·February 27, 2021 ·14.9k readers

IMO in the tropics

Hi, I am ready to start collecting IMO in my local area. I live in Central America and there is a lot of bio diversity in plants and animals in my area, especially fungal activity. I have some big old trees on and around my land but my concern is in the wet season most of the leaf litter and decomposing matter gets washed in to the river which has me believing the richness and quality of the collection would be lacking the same diversity of for example an old forest IMO collection. Am I correct in believing this?

microbes-indigenous-collection tropics

From the KNF library

From the KNF library Drafted by Claude from Office Hours and the books · Sep 2026 · 6 sources

Drake's sources give a test for a good site. Look for ground undisturbed for at least a year, with deep leaf litter or white mycelium visible in the soil (Cho's Solutions, p. 16). Healthy bamboo or banana stands with deep leaf litter are named as good sites (Office Hours Ep. 20, 44:00). Drake has also said microbes are still there even in a rough area (Office Hours Ep. 52, 19:27).

Rain is where the sources split. Cho's recipe says not to collect IMO in the rainy season, and to avoid moist areas (Cho, Recipe, p. 11). Another source says a good farmer makes many IMO2 from different locations and in varied weather (Cho's Solutions, p. 17). If you collect in rain, one farm covered its box with leaf litter and a bucket with holes to keep rain water and animals away (Unravelling the Mysteries of KNF, p. 57).

The library does not compare washed-out tropical land with old forest, and it does not say whether wet-season litter loss lowers diversity.

Sources