Indigenous Microorganisms (IMOs) - Japan - ARI - How to Collect

page developed by Rina Tanaka, ARI Volunteer

submitted August 2020

Collecting IMOs - The ARI Method

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Preparing to collect IMOs from the forest soil

Three stages of IMO

Making IMO 1

Here, we present two methods for making (collecting) IMOs. Actually, there are many methods, but the general idea behind them is the same. What is important is to find a method that works well in your local environment.

Method 1

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Prepare cooked rice, split bamboo, and string.

Note: Any cooked starch or sweet fruits can be used as a substitute for rice; for example, cooked corn, grain, potatoes, or mangos. The starch serves as food for the IMOs and attracts them.

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Lightly pack cooked rice in the split bamboo.

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Tie the two bamboo halves together at the ends with a string.

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Dig a hole about 20cm deep in a forest and put the bamboo tube in it.

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Cover the bamboo tube with forest topsoil (the soft soil under fallen leaves in a forest; also known as humus).

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Put a plastic sheet on top of the soil to prevent rain water from flooding the bamboo tube and to help you find the bamboo later! If you don’t have a plastic sheet, you can put a layer of fallen leaves!

Method 2

Depending on where you live, you may find that method 1 does not work well. For example, when we tried using method 1 to collect IMOs in Tanzania, ants in forest soil ate up the rice before microorganisms could grow. Therefore, we came up with a slightly modified method that does not involve burying rice in the forest. This is method 2.

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Collect forest topsoil (humus) from the forest, and put it in a plastic bag.

Make rice balls and put them in the plastic bag with the humus.

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Hang the plastic bag containing the rice balls and the humus in the shade. Avoid direct sunlight!

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The mouth of the plastic bag should remain open during this time so the IMOs can breathe.

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Using method 1 or method 2, after 1-2 weeks you should find white, fuzzy mold (called leaf mold) on the rice. This is IMO 1.

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Scrape the rice with mold into a jar to keep it. Although it will last for a few days, it is better to use it quickly to make IMO 2.

We use IMO 1 to make IMO 2. By adding sugar to IMO 1 the number of IMOs increase.

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Place IMO 1 and crude (brown) sugar into a jar. The amount of crude sugar and IMO 1 should be about equal (50/50 ratio).

Cover the jar and shake. Keep the jar in a dark place.

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After 2-3 days, there will be black liquid (with some remnants of rice) in the jar. This is IMO 2.

Making IMO 3

We use IMO 2 to make IMO 3.

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Prepare the the following materials:

1 container of soil

1 container of rice bran

1 jar of IMO 2

Dump the soil and rice bran onto the ground and mix together (keep the pile in a mountain shape).

Make a dent on the top of the pile and pour in the IMO 2.

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Add water with a watering can as you mix the soil, rice bran, and IMO 2.

How can you tell what the right amount of water is?

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Grab a clump of the mixture in your hand and squeeze it.

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If water drips between your fingers, there is TOO MUCH water.

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If the mixture crumbles when you open your hand, there is NOT ENOUGH water.

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If you can make a ball of the mixture by squeezing it with your hand, it has the appropriate amount of water (about 60%).

After mixing, cover the pile with something (cloth, burlap sacks, straw, leaves, but NOT plastic) to secure air flow and protect it from direct sunlight.

After a few days, you will find a lot of mold on the surface. As fermentation proceeds, the mixture will produce heat.

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Turn the pile once or twice a day. If the temperature goes over 50°C, the microorganisms could die, so the pile should be turned to cool it down.

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Finished! Depending on the climate of where you live, the fermentation process takes about 7-10 days in the summer and longer in the winter. When the mixture stops producing heat, it is ready for use. We call this IMO 3. IMO 3 can be stored in bags, with the mouth of the bag remaining open.

How to use IMOs

We rarely use IMO 3 directly. Since IMOs increase quickly if plenty of food and comfortable living space are provided, we only need a few handfuls of IMO 3 to ferment a pile of organic matter. In addition, materials that contain IMOs such as bokashi or tsuchi-koji can be used to replace IMO 3. This means that we can throw in a few handfuls of old bokashi instead of IMO 3 to make new bokashi. Using IMOs continuously in such a way saves us the trouble of collecting IMOs from the forest every time we need them.

Here are some ways we use IMOs at ARI:

Tsuchi-koji

VIDEO - How to Make IMOs

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2S4d_Rsad1E

Step by step demonstration of how ARI makes IMO1, IMO2, and IMO3

Note: I am having some problems uploading this video. If you can't watch it IN SCRAPBOX, just click the link to watch it in YouTube. Hopefully that will work!

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