Well-Fed Diversity = Healthy Soil: KNF in Scientists' Words

How do Cho's solutions line up with what soil scientists now say about biodiversity, root exudates and fungi?

Drake Weinert's slide talk, in English, right after Joe McGinn: 'Well Fed Diversity is Healthy Soil' (subtitle: the scientific effectiveness of CGNF solutions). The slides are photos of talks at the Hawaii Farmers Union state convention by Gabe Brown, a soil restoration speaker and a USDA soil scientist; most aren't legible in the frames, so numbers are as Drake read them. Cho doesn't speak. These are Drake's readings of other people's work, not Cho's teaching.

• Food (FPJ) in a prescription — Where a growth-stage prescription says FPJ, you can use two FPJs, half and half, for different effects. Comfrey grows well in Hawaiʻi and is full of nutrients. (Drake, spoken; no dilution given here.)
• Steering Microbes (IMO4) with mulch — Same IMO4 everywhere; wood chips push it fungal (slower lettuce, good for fruit trees), grass clippings keep it suited to lettuce. (Drake, spoken.)

1. Work on the rhizosphere, the soil right around the root, not the whole field

   Instead of correcting pH across a field with calcium or seawater, the plant exudes sugars that shift pH in that micro-region, low to take up iron or aluminum. Diverse microbes work with the roots to build it.

   ▶ 1:04:06 As spoken

2. Microbes (IMO) = biodiversity; tell a scientist that and you're speaking their language

   Benefits listed from the USDA talk: breaking disease cycles, more soil organic matter, more nutrient cycling.

   ▶ 1:05:55 As spoken

3. Food (FPJ) = concentrated root exudates, made by fermentation

   Polycultures feed diverse soil life with diverse exudates. Drake's claim: IMO on the surface plus FPJ from several plants (sweet potato, comfrey) gives a monoculture above biodiversity below. He put this to Gabe Brown, who asked how; Drake answered 'fermentation'.

   ▶ 1:07:55 As spoken

4. The microbes in soil weigh as much as livestock

   Slide of cows: the equivalent weight of microbes in 2.3 acres, as Drake read it. 'We actually have the cows grazing under the ground.'

   ▶ 1:09:29 From the slides

5. Protect and feed soil life; KNF also introduces it

   Microbes (IMO) and Protectors (LAB) introduce microorganisms. Then always feed: Food (FPJ), Cleanser (BRV, acids that dissolve and balance), Medicine (OHN). 'We always need food plus medicines.'

   ▶ 1:10:22 As spoken

6. In a drought year (2 inches of rain instead of 7) the cash crop alone failed; with five cover crops it held

   Slide from the convention. Drake says IMO4 gives the same effect without the polyculture; he showed no trial of his own.

   ▶ 1:12:38 From the slides

7. Keep soil covered: bare soil is an open wound and weeds are the scab

   Mulch is a band-aid; a living cover crop is always good.

   ▶ 1:14:14 As spoken

8. Gabe Brown's soil test: 281 units of available nitrogen against about 2 for a tilled USDA-organic neighbour

   No-till low diversity and no-till medium diversity with synthetics scored in between. Gabe Brown: no-till, high diversity, no synthetic fertilizer, livestock, nothing thrown on the soil for 20 years. Units weren't given; tested in Temple, Texas.

   ▶ 1:16:33 From the slides

9. Mycorrhizal fungi build soil aggregates, so collect Microbes (IMO) from rich forest

   Rice left on a table gives 'cotton candy' mould, not the soil-building fungi.

   ▶ 1:18:38 As spoken

10. Drake's reason for Cho's low-temperature rule for IMO: you're growing fungi

    High heat shifts the fungal-to-bacterial ratio toward bacteria. Drake's explanation, not Cho's words.

    ▶ 1:20:07 As spoken

11. Most fertilizer, whatever its form, goes through microbes before the plant

    Slide. Kill the soil life and fertilizer works less each year.

    ▶ 1:22:22 From the slides

12. Why FPJ is like a root exudate: no heat, no pressure, bound in sugar

    Only the natural heat of fermentation; only osmotic pressure, which pulls juice out without rupturing the cell wall; sugar preserves it and becomes more food once diluted.

    ▶ 1:27:42 As spoken

13. Cho recommends different FPJs for different growth stages; you can mix two, half and half

    Drake treats FPJ as food. Calcium, calcium phosphate and Fuel (FAA) are what 'change what's happening'.

    ▶ 1:29:07 As spoken

14. Drake: deficiencies are mostly fixed by feeding and re-inoculating the biology, not by a specific FPJ

    With enough diverse IMO4 you shouldn't have deficiencies.

    ▶ 1:30:46 As spoken

15. The right fungus-to-bacteria ratio depends on the crop

    Fast weeds are bacterial; old-growth forest is fungal; crops want the middle. Hawaiʻi soils are very fungus-deficient, so more fungus in your IMO is almost always better. Drake isn't sure of Elaine's exact figures.

    ▶ 1:32:58 As spoken

16. In a mixed planting with crops at different stages, alternate the growth-stage sprays week by week

    In Korea a greenhouse is all one crop at one stage, so the formulas fit. Drake's practice so far: one week push growth, the next push flowering. He says he isn't the expert on it.

    ▶ 1:37:17 As spoken