How to make an Indigenous Microorganism (IMO2)

bury your cooked rice under the bamboo groove, then cover with dried bamboo leaves

Find a good spot to capture your indigenous microorganism (IMO). When you say indigenous, it means is it found locally. Your bamboo groove, and forest floors away from human traffic are two perfect spot to get them.  Your IMO are your farm’s good guys, so you try to multiply them to fight the bad guys. Bad guys are the microorganisms that cause plant’s diseases, putrefaction of composts, foul smell of livestock’s wastes.

Here’s how I do it.

1. One-half kilo of rice will yield  1 kilo cooked rice. Make sure you cooked it hard, with less moisture.

2. Place in a bamboo stump then cover with Manila paper and seal with plastic to protect from rain.

3. Bury half-way under the bamboo groove  or shady forest floor for three (3) days on sunny days and five (5) days on rainy days. Make sure it is also covered with dead leaves. IMO especially thrives on dead bamboo leaves.

4. After 3 days, open your containers and you will notice white molds on top of the rice. Other colors like orange are a good sign that you caught the good ones. A large presence of black and green molds means you had to start the process all over again. This is your IMO1.

5. Weigh your finished rice with molds and add the same amount of molasses, mixed thoroughly. You are feeding your IMO so they will further multiply.

6. Cover with Manila paper, or any plain paper will do. Seal tighly and store on a cool, dark place for seven (7) days.

7. After 7 days decant the liquid from the mud-like sludge. This is your IMO2, looking like a witch brew. It is because your good guys are alive!

do not cover the IMO for a few days more after harvest, unless you want it to burst up your ceiling!