In Acres USA they have an article about Natural Farming with Indigenous Microorganism (IMO), which has to do with  microbes.  From what I read it was lower cost but produced more desirable crops. Has anyone tried this?  If so any suggestions?  Do I need to tailor this around what I'm trying to grow/where I live? Or is this like a one size fits all type thing?

Yes!
I meant to start this post.

I have been using wood duff as an amendment in my own gardens since before I can remember. Always had that idea somewhere in there "black stuff means good for plants".

Only recently have I started brewing.

Only one thing to report. If you let it sit for a while it starts to stink something awful- the longer you sit it the worse it smells. Give it a good whirl around for several minutes and be amazed at the vibrant, green, sweet, storm-like smell. Does this mean it is becoming more anionic?

I forgot the ingredients, didn't feel like wasting rice, so I just dumped in, cleavers... about 5 pounds, 20 gallons of water... waited 3 days, a gallon of wood duff and 10 more gallons and later that night about a quart of goose blood.

Brewed for 3 days, applied, will report what happens.
Keep in mind that this is nothing what they prescribed, I just had the ingredients and felt like putzing around and getting shit done.

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I seem to have misplaced my copy of Acres, I seem to remember that it had several internet links. Would you be so kind as to post these for us?

Caitlin Elder wrote:
In Acres USA they have an article about Natural Farming with Indigenous Microorganism (IMO), which has to do with  microbes.  From what I read it was lower cost but produced more desirable crops. Has anyone tried this?  If so any suggestions?  Do I need to tailor this around what I'm trying to grow/where I live? Or is this like a one size fits all type thing?

Hi Caitlin,

From the article the original land was in very bad shape so the large scale introduction of IMO was necessary in order to get things going again. I think if your land was in much better shape that by simply applying recommended permaculture techniques you would encourage the IMO. 

Of course it all depends on your situation. It would matter what you are trying to grow; if say you wanted to grow a clover for fixing nitrogen but none of the IMO that attach to the clover for fixing nitrogen was already in your soil. In that case it can be easier to simply buy inoculated seed that introduces both at once.
What the article describes is a cheap essentially free way of gathering up local IMO, breeding them up to large concentrations and then reintroducing them where needed. Alternatively you could purchase products which would do the same thing if that was necessary because of scale or economy. paul stamets and Fungi Perfecti would be a good place to start if that was your option. I personally have played around with a few of their products and certainly noticed an increased root production.
I think except for cases of medium-heavy to extreme soil remediation or certain specific situations it would be more beneficial on a larger scale to not do things that kill IMO off and to do things that would benefit them instead. No till and not using artificial fertilizers and pesticides being the most beneficial as these three are the single largest destroyers of all micro-organisms.

Think of introducing IMO as just another tool for the toolbox. It is Natural Farming that is the true benefit. Of course Natural Farming requires micro-organisms in the soil for the full benefit to be realized. But once established and properly maintained through Natural Farming/Permaculture practices the IMO would symbiotically thrive without any additional input from us.

Jeff

Emile Spore wrote:
Give it a good whirl around for several minutes and be amazed at the vibrant, green, sweet, storm-like smell. Does this mean it is becoming more anionic?

The net charge of a solution is neutral in most cases, if it's part of a galvanic cell it can be cationic or anionic (depending on its position, relative to the cathode and anode) but if it's in a bucket you can bet that nothing you can do to it will make it more cationic or anionic.