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Asked by ellenlapenna ·January 20, 2022 ·19.1k readers

KNF for Rapid Ohia Death

Aloha and thanks for creating this forum, Yesterday, both kinds of fungi associated with ROD were discovered through lab tests in a wet area of Ka’u. The man who took samples said he had heard KNF might be helpful and I did find one article about this (Hawaii Tribune, maybe). I’d love to know any specific tips or details about your experience or even theories regarding using KNF to potentially help trees resist this threat. Thank you very much, E

Top answer

Drake Weinert L4 Instructor · provisional Foundation · Jan 20, 2022
Restoring and strengthening the indigenous soil biology around the 'ohia tree keeps the trees from being overrun by the symptoms of ROD. Other solutions made from plants from the native forest help to feed the trees as well. The key is to establish a schedule to nurture the trees using KNF solutions, and finding effective ways to help the forest.

From the KNF library

From the KNF library Drafted by Claude from Office Hours and the books · Sep 2026 · 5 sources

Drake's library points to LAB and Maintenance Solution for ROD. Spread the LAB microbes and Maintenance Solution. (Office Hours Ep. 40, 50:54) Drake calls the approach pretty basic and says searching ROD on his YouTube channel brings up several ROD videos. (Office Hours Ep. 40, 51:04)

Drake's general reasoning for LAB is that they colonize first, so bad microbes have to fight through trillions of good ones. (Office Hours Ep. 21, 53:40)

To make LAB:

  • Wash rice in filtered water. Leave the rice wash uncovered for 24 hours. (Student's Manual, Basic Course, p. 17)
  • Pour the light yellow liquid into jars and add milk to 2/3 full. (Student's Manual, Basic Course, p. 17)
  • Wait 48 hours, or until curds and whey separate. Pour off the whey. (Student's Manual, Basic Course, p. 17)
  • Stir in an equal volume of brown sugar for a shelf-stable protector. (Office Hours Ep. 67, 1:02:23)

The library gives no ROD dilution rates, no Maintenance Solution recipe, and no test results on 'ohia. Drake's ROD videos are the place to look for those.

Sources

Also discussed on Office Hours

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