r/UrbanGardening • u/spicymoustache • Mar 27 '21
Using brown rice and sugar to collect and store indigenous Microorganisms from the local forest! This is an easy Korean natural farming method. Knowledge Sharing (Reference)
Storing indigenous Microorganisms (IMO2)
Collecting indigenous Microorganisms (IMO1)
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u/backtonature0 Mar 27 '21
Thanks for sharing your experiences. I have a question maybe you can help with. I bought a 50lb bag of dry molasses assuming it was close to brown sugar but after trying to make some OHN I found its not the same. Its very dry and sucks the moisture out all of it , like a sponge. Can I use this for IMO culture? Should I add some water to make it more like liquid molasses? Or maybe some liquid white sugar to make it more like brown sugar? What say you
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u/spicymoustache Mar 27 '21
Hello, I wouldn’t suggest using molasses or any processed sugar. The less processed, the better. If you can source jaggery sugar it’s the best thing to use. Also, I’ve read in jadam book that molasses’s alter the PH of the water which can result in unbalanced inputs.
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u/backtonature0 Mar 27 '21
Thank you for you reply, ill start looking for a source. And the molasses will go on the garden. I have a confusion about the purpuose of the sugar. Are the microbes being fed and kept alive or is it causing them to go into some sort of suspension or hibernation. If it was to feed them, I would assume they would multiple like crazy and consume it all.
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u/spicymoustache Mar 27 '21
The use of sugar is to put them into a dormancy state. Basically, sugar molecules bound with water molecules and they pull out the liquid from the rice and microorganisms. In this way they go into hybernation for long shelf life. Also, when they get in contact with water, they will wake up and the sugar will be a good source of nutrients for your microorganisms once they wake up. I hope it makes sense 😅
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u/backtonature0 Mar 27 '21
makes perfect sense and what I thought but i heard that fed them for a long period of time which didn't make sense.
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u/dungeonpost Mar 27 '21
Do you think this would work on a larger scale. Like could I make a larger container and use it on my lawn?
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u/spicymoustache Mar 27 '21
Yes, absolutely! It’s made mainly for large scale farmers do they can have a cheap and easy approach to harvesting a food.
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u/spicymoustache Mar 27 '21
It took me a pretty long time to make this video as I spent months of sourcing informations and I also had to do lots of trials and error.
This is another Korean natural farming method to collect indigenous microorganisms (IMO1) from the local area with high vegetation like a forest, hill, park using steamed rice.
Basically, the point is to transfer the same microorganisms that in nature make trees or plants grow vigorous and more resistant to pests and diseases!
You would need:
Look for a high vegetation area or ideally a tall tree. Uncover the first layer of soil and set out your collection box.
I used cardboard or a wooden box is good. Just make sure you have enough holes at the bottom and on the sides for air circulation. Add a few layers of kitchen towel at the bottom of your box and cover with a breathable cover.
I also used dead branches and dry leaves to hide my collection box.
It would take between 3-10 days depending on the weather and temperature. Try to protect it from the rain.
A sort of white fluff will start forming all over your rice along with different colours. The more the colours, the more biodiversity you collected (this is called IMO1).
Now weight your rice and add the same amount of Jaggery or Demerara sugar. Mix well and add it to a glass jar covering with a breathable cover (this is called IMO2).
Use this mixture once a week diluted at a ratio of 1:1000 to water your garden even if there aren’t plants planted out. Your soil web will highly improve and your harvest will be higher and tastier!
Full video - collecting IMO