Every Korean Natural Farmer needs to know how to Apply KNF Microbes and IMO to the soil for it is the starting point of building a fertile soil foundation. Indigenous micro organisms properly applied will build inches of resilient, fertile, drought tolerant soil in a matter of months.
Once you have made good KNF Microbes it’s time to put them into your field and build a living soil foundation teaming with a full soil food web.
KNF Microbes are like concentrated compost that when you apply. They are very strong and must be properly applied. The process involves watering the KNF Microbes with foods to wake the biology up to go to work making the soils soft and fertile. Because the microbes are concentrated, not much are needed. Simply a light dusting (roughly 5lbs per 100sqft or 1200lbs per acre) will put the microbes into the soil where they will begin to live.
Soil Foundation Presentation Slides pdf
Soil Foundation Audio Recording part 1 mp3
Soil Foundation Audio Recording part 2 mp3
Soil Foundation
use natural farming solutions to create a naturally fertile environment
by drakew@gmail.com
Natural Farming Soil Foundation Recipe.
Solutions needed for an area 100 Square Feet.
- • 5 lb of IMO#4
- • 2~5 lb bio-char
- • 15 gal oxygenated water
- • 4 gal natural water containing
- • 2 oz Fermented Plant Juice
- • 1 oz Oriental Herbal Nutrient
- • 1 oz Fish Amino Acid
- • 1 oz Brown Rice Vinegar
- • 1 oz Lactic Acid Bacteria
- • 20 oz sea water
Method to Build Soil Foundation
Applying IMO and building soil foundation can be a 2-4 week process depending on the condition of your soil. This recipe is used any time major soil disturbance occurs and the need to reestablish indigenous biology become apparent, typically once in the beginning of the season.
With significantly damaged soil, the following is an example of applying Soil Foundation over 4 weeks.
- Week 1
- • Spread IMO#4 mixed with biochar
- • Water 4 gal mixture “to cover” IMO
- • Water 15 gal of oxygenated water
- • Week 2
- • Repeat 4 gal and 15 gal mixtures
- • Week 3
- • Repeat 4 gal and 15 gal mixtures
- • Week 4
- • Repeat 4 gal and 15 gal mixtures
- • End of Week 4
- • Sow seeds or transplants
- • Water with remaining soak solution
- • Do not irrigate for first 3 days
Theory of Soil Foundation
• Promote root growth
• Roots grow on oxygen
• Support beneficial (aerobic) Microorganisms
• Release “fertilizer” on demand
• “Hard start” prepares plant for life
• More nutrition as plant seeks further
• Less weeding; more beneficial “weeds”
• Think of soil as an energy field
• Chemical, biological lenses may be myopic
• Energy is grand unifying principle of universe
• You are a knight; Microbes do farming
Rational for Components
• IMO #4 & BioChar
• Fermented Plant Juice
• Oriental Herbal Nutrient
• Fish Amino Acid
• Lactic Acid Bacteria
• Brown Rice Vinegar
• Ocean Water & Oxygenated Water
IMO#4
• Provides “advanced” workers to the soil
to assemble present nutrients in plant
assimilative form
• Positively energizes soil energy field
• Virtually stretches roots millions of miles
• Suppresses bad nematodes and ciliates
• Balance fungal and bacterial to prevent
weeds
• Enhances soil immune system with
micro-diversity
BioChar
• Housing and Storage for microbes
• Acts as a battery to the soil energy field
• Enables microbes to store toxins and
prevent plant uptake
• Activates the natural moisture cycle to
eliminate irrigation
• Lets plants grow to their full potential
Fermented Plant Juice
• Provides food to microbes
• Raises energy level of soil to enable
higher plant forms to take root
• Hormones and enzymes activate
microbes to optimize for growth
• Complete fertilizer mimics nature of fruit
and plants rotting on the ground
Oriental Herbal Nutrient
• Provides medicine for the microbes
• Stimulates Aerobic microbial growth
• Suppresses Anaerobic microbial growth
• Helps maintain vigor in the system
Fish Amino Acid
• Provides replication and building material
• Amino acids are the building blocks of life
• Nitrogenous forms very close to nature
• Very potent activator of life
Lactic Acid Bacteria
• Provides emergency workers and
welcoming crew
• Aerobic and Anaerobic behavior enables
depth penetrating ability to prepare soil
for more sensitive microbes
• Help to balance soil energy field and
restore homeostasis
• Friendly with other microbes; can
dominate if over applied
Brown Rice Vinegar
• Provides the key to unlocking “stuck”
nutrients
• Flips energy field from acidic (negative) to
alkaline (positive) upon metabolization
• Frees up environment for change
• Old can be used properly
• New is given a space to accumulate
Ocean Water
• Provides trace nutrients to land
environment
• Heals with ying yan energy balance
• Restores damaged land over-saturated
with chemicals
Oxygenated Water
• Provides oxygen to roots and transmits
nutrients to plant
• Higher state of energy than normal water
• Can carry nutrients in colloid suspension
• Breaks down rock nutrients
• Ground water 0%; rain 8%; BMW 16%
General Insight
• The soil foundation is the most
important part of natural farming, so take
your time and do it right
• Wood makes a great soil substrate/
additive; encourages fungal activity
• Only 4% of the plant’s composition
comes from the soil
• 99% of the plant’s immune system is
determined by the soil
Insights from Gil Carandang
• Where there is food, there will be life;
Where there is low stress, there will be good life;
When stress rises the good life becomes the food
• There are many ways to get the “same” end
result; The path seems to determine the quality of
the journey, not necessarily the destination
• Farmers must feel knowingly confident in using
the materials abundant in a given situation to get
to at least one acceptable destination
Insights from Leon Ridzon
• Understanding carbon is fundamental to farming
• Carbon’s ability to filter the soil is a necessary component of clean
nutritious full potential food that gives rise to advanced life forms
• Toxin is defined as anything present in the environment in greater
quantities than necessary to facilitate the production of life
• Processing toxins burns up the good carbon in the soil; lowers the
overall carbon “battery” life runs on
Insights from “Bread from Stones”
• Rock minerals build healthy strong farmers; Manure builds lazy sickly
plants and the farmers and animals that eat them are weak
• Chemical fertilizer and manure acts as toxins if added directly to soil
• Never see heaps of manure in nature. Always small events. Grazers will
move on to mitigate exposure to pathogens, worms and disease.
• Process with worms or compost before introducing to the soil
Insights from Elaine Ingham
• Beneficial microorganisms tend to be aerobic
• Bacteria to Fungus ratio is very important in determining which plants
naturally want to grow in soil
• Plants feed microbes something very similar to bread in exchange for
nutrients, making mill run ideal for propagating beneficial microbes
• Anaerobes produce alcohol which attracts bad guys like ciliates
• Just-in-time solubilization of minerals for plant uptake near root zone
6 Month Soil Recovery
Korean Natural Farming Setting
Korean Natural Farming Setting
Soil Foundation
• Natural Farming Recipe
• Method
• Theory of Soil Foundation
• Rational for Components
• Insights & Examples
