Knowledge Base

Indigenous Microorganisms

IMO

Microbial culture · Master Cho · KNF

Wild soil microbes trapped on rice, fed sugar, bulked with bran, then married to your own soil — the living engine that builds fertile ground.

SoilAll stages
Moderate to make
7–30 days ferment
1:1000 dilution
microbes, soil-life, decomposers supplied
＋ Start a batch from this recipe

Dilution calculator

Dilution 1:1000

Enter a water volume to see how much to add.

Ingredients

  • Hard-cooked (leftover) rice1 wooden boxful
  • Jaggery / brown sugar1 part by weight (equal to IMO-1)
  • Rice bran or flouras needed for IMO-3
  • Field / crop soil + red fine (anthill) soil1 part (equal to IMO-3)

How to make it

  1. Step 1

    Fill a wooden box with hard-cooked rice no deeper than 3 inches, cover with plain paper, and set it in a forest or leaf-mold-rich spot for 3–5 days to catch wild microbes — this is IMO-1.

  2. Step 2

    Mix IMO-1 with an equal weight of jaggery (1:1). Cover with paper and rest 3–5 days — this is IMO-2.

  3. Step 3

    Dilute IMO-2 1:1000 in water and mix into rice bran to 65–70% moisture (lumps when pressed, loosens when shaken).

  4. Step 4

    Heap the bran 30–40 cm high on a soil floor (never concrete) and cover with straw.

  5. Step 5

    Turn the heap when it reaches 40–50°C; keep it below 70°C. In 5–7 days white spores cover it — this is IMO-3.

  6. Step 6

    Combine IMO-3 1:1 with soil (half crop soil, half fresh mountain/red soil), heap under 20 cm, cover 2 days — this is IMO-4.

  7. Step 7

    Adjust IMO-4 to 65–70% moisture with NF inputs at 1:1000, add seawater, and inoculate the field.

What it is

IMO is a chain of four cultures that captures the wild microbes already thriving in your local soil and multiplies them into a soil-building input. You catch them on rice (IMO-1), feed them sugar (IMO-2), bulk them up on rice bran (IMO-3), then blend them with your own earth (IMO-4). The microbes decompose organic matter into plant food and produce antibiotics, enzymes and lactic acid that suppress disease.

On the Nutritive Cycle: IMO is a soil input and the backbone of Natural Farming. You don't feed the plant — you nurture the soil, and the soil nurtures the plant. IMO-4 conditions the ground; the earlier stages seed every compost and treatment.

When to use it

  • Soil conditioning — spread IMO-4 to build fertile, healthy, disease-resistant ground.
  • All stages — dilute NF inputs at 1:1000 to feed and maintain IMO diversity year-round.
  • Diversity matters — collect from all four field directions, plus mountain, valley and sun/shade sites, to include the tough microbes.

Materials

  • Wooden box (natural wood / bamboo / cedar), hard-cooked leftover rice, plain porous paper
  • Jaggery — equal weight to IMO-1
  • Rice bran, paddy straw, and a shaded soil floor
  • Field soil, plus red fine soil from an anthill / termite mound; seawater

How to make it

  1. Catch IMO-1. Fill the box with rice under 3 inches deep, paper it, and set it in a forest for 3–5 days (2–3 days above 30°C). Move the microbe-covered rice to a clay jar.
  2. Feed IMO-2. Mix 1:1 with jaggery, cover, rest 3–5 days. Black mold means you waited too long.
  3. Bulk IMO-3. Dilute IMO-2 1:1000, mix into bran at 65–70% moisture, heap 30–40 cm, cover with straw. Turn at 40–50°C; after 5–7 days white spores form.
  4. Marry to soil (IMO-4). Blend IMO-3 1:1 with soil (half crop, half fresh), heap under 20 cm, cover 2 days.

Signs it worked / troubleshooting

  • ✅ Good: white spore colonies and a pleasant, fragrant smell when finished.
  • ⚠️ Heap over 70°C = nutrients lost to air → turn it to cool it down.
  • 🚫 Black mold on rice = over-fermented → discard and recollect fresh.

How to store

Keep IMO-3 in ventilated jute or cloth bags on a bed of straw, stacked 3 layers high, shaded and cool — drying to 20–30% moisture just means the microbes are dormant. Re-wet IMO-4 to 65–70% with NF inputs just before use.

Related

FPJFAAOHNLABMMBokashiLoess Powder