How to make IMO-1/ IMO-2/ IMO-3
(Soil use only, hydroponics not recommended)
Organics is all about feeding the soil, not the plant. If you are new to organics and want to dive in further than just mixing your “Gaia green’ in with your promix hp creating a healthy soil food web is where youre going to want to begin. The book “teaming with microbes – by Jeff Lowenfels & Wayne Lewis” is a great place to start your learning. If it wasn’t for this book, I wouldn’t have learned about half the stuff that has taught me even more which I am now sharing with you.
In “true natural farming” or “KNF” they discourage the use of pre-bottled microorganisms and encourage the use of indigenous microorganisms. The reason behind this is because the IMO’s existing indigenously are aged, strong because they have been cultured in nature vs in a bottle/lab. IMO’s harvested from different areas, climates (sunny vs shaded, hot vs cool temps etc), height collected from, on a hillside etc. It is recommended to collect IMO’s from all of these areas and use a combination for the best effect.
Materials –
– Steamed brown rice – rice should not be too wet/sticky, left over rice works best for culturing aerobic bacteria.
– Wooden box/ bamboo box – must be natural wood/bamboo etc.
– Coffee filter/paper towel
– String/zip tie
– Sugar – unrefined brown sugar (jaggery) is preferred.
– Glass jar
Collection –
– Take wooden box roughly 12”x8”x4” about ½ “thick, fill with steamed leftover/partially dried rice. The moisture content is what attracts the microbes; however, we don’t want it too wet. Make sure to allow some room between the lid and the rice to allow some air flow. Remember we are aiming for aerobic bacteria’s, anerobic bacteria will get collected with lack of air.
– Excavate a spot in the soil about 2” deep the same size as the box, place box in hole and cover with leaves from surrounding area, this protects against stray animals and rain.
– At 20 degrees Celsius it will take roughly 6 days to farm the microbes in the box. If temp is 30-35 degrees, it will only take 3 days.
– After this time and the rice is covered in the IMO, transfer into a glass jar. (Clay is traditionally used)
Congratulations you have successfully farmed your IMO-1, continue to the next step for IMO-2
IMO-2
Materials –
– Whole unrefined brown sugar/ jaggery
– IMO-1
Preparation –
– Mix in jaggery at a 1-1 ratio. For example, if you put 1lb of IMO in the jar you will put 1lb of jaggery
– Cover jar with coffee filter/ paper towel and thread/ rubber band and store in a cool dark place.
Congratulations you now have IMO-2, continue to the next step for IMO-3.
IMO-3
Materials –
– FFJ
– FPJ
– IMO-2
– Rice bran
Preparation –
– Mix with rice bran at a 2-1-1-1 ratio IMO-2-rice bran-FPJ, FFJ to make IMO-3
Storage –
Best to store in clay or glass jars with a coffee filter over the top and an elastic band holding it tight instead of a lid. Keep in a cool dark place for no longer than 2 months, toss if a bad smell begins to occur.
If your IMO dries out it just means it has entered a dormant state of sleep. Rehydrate slightly to bring back.