Rice hulls for imo3
so for some reason rice hills are way easier to get locally for me than milk run is, I was just wondering if I should still add wood chips?
From the KNF library
From the KNF library
Drafted by Claude from Office Hours and the books
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Sep 2026
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4 sources
The library's IMO3 recipe calls for 1 part wheat mill run and 1 part wood chips by volume, with optional 5% biochar. (Cho's Solutions, p. 18)
Drake recommends mill run as the carbohydrate. It gives the right balance of fats, oils, and carbs. (Office Hours Ep. 31, 31:49) Substrate changes how the microbes grow. Korean practice leans on rice bran, not rice hulls. (Office Hours Ep. 158, 57:08)
If mill run is hard to find, the library lists stand-ins:
- Wood chips, rice bran, ulu, or kalo skins may replace wheat mill run. (Unravelling the Mysteries of KNF, p. 60)
- Pick by what you can get. No studies compare how well each one works. (Unravelling the Mysteries of KNF, p. 60)
So keep the wood chips in the mix. (Cho's Solutions, p. 18) Rice bran is the closest listed substitute for the mill run. (Unravelling the Mysteries of KNF, p. 60)
The library never names rice hulls as an IMO3 substrate. It does not say whether hulls can replace the mill run or the wood chips.
Sources
- 57:08 Office Hours Ep. 158 (Jan 2025) — Seed IMO Collection, Dry-Area Microbes, IMO Turning Machine · “Substrate changes how the microbes grow, and Korean IMO practice always leans on rice bran for that reason.”
- 31:49 Office Hours Ep. 31 (May 2022) — Cucumber Beetle Armor, No-Smell Chicken Coop, Biochar for Dry Soil · “Mill run, the bran left from milling white rice, gives the right balance of fats, oils, and carbs; dog food works as a substitute.”
- p. 18 Cho's Solutions · “IMO3 Substrate by volume 1 part wheat mill run 1 part wood chips optional 5% biochar”
- p. 60 Unravelling the Mysteries of KNF · “wood chips, rice bran, ulu (greadfruit), or kalo (taro) skins may be used in place of wheat mill run”
