Fat Tree, Empty Fruit: The IMO5 Ring at the Drip Line

Master Cho Han-kyu, interpreted by Kim Chang, Founder of Korean Natural Farming (Janong)

Master Cho spoke Korean, with an interpreter. We translated every Korean line again and checked it, so you read what he said, not only what the room heard.

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This part runs from 0:00 to 37:10 of the session video. Keep watching and the next part plays on.

Cho opens with plans: next time he wants to walk farms and diagnose crops, and he wants Hawaiʻi visitors to eat on natural farms. Then he cuts open the mangosteen a participant gave him. It's nearly empty, because the tree was overfed when young and lacked calcium phosphate the July before. His fix is IMO4 mixed 1:1 with vinegar-moistened bone char, spread in a ring at the drip line ahead of flowering; the room's questions settle what the 1:1 means.

What he taught

The lesson

Why did the mangosteen come out empty, and what does Cho put down, where and when, so the next crop fills?

The setting

Friday evening, first hour. A participant gave Cho a mangosteen; he cut it open and found it nearly empty. After 18 minutes of plans (farm visits next trip, farm tourism, lobbying), he explains the fruit and prescribes. He points at the bones on the table, then draws a fruit tree with a ring at its drip line on the flip chart (about 24:00). From 31:40 the audience asks what 'one to one' means; the interpreter relays it to Cho in Korean and he answers.

Recipes and rates
  • IMO5 ring for fruit trees (Cho's name for it here) — Cho's Korean: char cow or pig bones; put the char in a container about this size and pour brown rice vinegar over it, 'then it all dissolves into it'; then 'mix it 1 to 1 with IMO4' (22:31–22:57). Asked what the 1:1 meant, Cho answered 'It's the char you made' (32:41), and the vinegar goes on only until the char is 'just slightly moist' (35:04), judged by feel. So: 1 part IMO4 + 1 part bone char moistened with brown rice vinegar. The interpreter gave the ratio as 1 lb IMO4 to 1 lb bone char (34:05); Cho gave no unit. Spread it in a donut-shaped ring at the drip line (interpreter; Cho's board shows the ring). Put it down in May (Cho); the interpreter frames it as one month before a June flowering. Same for papaya, banana, coffee and all fruit trees.
  • Bone char in brown rice vinegar (the start of Structure, WCP) — As Cho tells it here: char the bones, put the char in a container, pour brown rice vinegar (현미식초) over it and it dissolves. No ratio or time given on this page; his recipe book gives charred bone : vinegar 1:10.
Key points

  1. The mangosteen came out nearly empty: 'miscarried'

    Cho: almost all these mangosteens are miscarried. It was fed too many 'meat side dishes' when young (the interpreter said too much nitrogen), so it put on weight but has nothing inside.

    ▶ 18:26 Shown in the room

  2. A tree grown big and fat doesn't flower

    People think a big tree bears a lot; this one got so fat it didn't flower.

    ▶ 19:08 As spoken

  3. It was short of calcium phosphate last July

    Cho: last year in July it lacked calcium phosphate. For the fruit to fill, the 'pregnancy' in July has to go well. The grower took the land over only in May and started harvesting the month before.

    ▶ 20:10 As spoken

  4. IMO5 = IMO4 mixed 1:1 with bone char moistened with brown rice vinegar

    Cho first describes pouring brown rice vinegar over the char so it dissolves, then mixing 1:1 with IMO4. Asked if the 1 was diluted liquid, he said 'It's the char you made.' Interpreter: 1 lb IMO4 to 1 lb char.

    ▶ 22:51 As spoken

  5. Spread it as a donut-shaped ring at the drip line

    Interpreter: make a circle like a donut where the drip line is and sprinkle the mixture. Cho draws a tree with a ring at the branch tips on the flip chart.

    ▶ 23:51 Written on the board

  6. Feed papaya, banana, coffee and every fruit tree this way

    Cho: fertilize coffee trees this way and you get a lot of very tasty coffee.

    ▶ 24:29 As spoken

  7. Put it down in May, so the nutrients are taken up as the flowers form

    Cho: May. The interpreter: a tree that flowers in June gets it in May, one month before, so it's already in the soil.

    ▶ 25:37 As spoken

  8. Give calcium phosphate before the 'pregnancy', as for a mother

    Cho: before pregnancy you give calcium phosphate so it will be strong; the same for mango, papaya, mangosteen.

    ▶ 26:18 As spoken

  9. Treated trees give nearly a bumper harvest against untreated ones

    Cho's own comparison, no numbers. Not interpreted.

    ▶ 26:48 As spoken

  10. At conception the roots give off a scent and the soil microbes swarm to it

    Like a cat in heat whose scent calls a tomcat from 30 ri (12 km). The microbes that arrive 'team up' with the calcium phosphate already put down, and the plant takes it up faster.

    ▶ 30:22 As spoken

  11. Vinegar on the char: just slightly moist, judged by feel

    No measured amount. A Korean mother doesn't weigh the seasoning, and knows from the baby's face when to change the diaper.

    ▶ 35:04 As spoken

  12. Next visit: diagnose on farms, 3 or 4 a day

    Neighbours gather at the host farm to learn there. Cho wants visitors to eat on natural farms: pig roast in Kohala, chicken at Steven's and Joe's, mandarins at Drake's, coffee in Honokaʻa, cane juice.

    ▶ 0:35 As spoken

Hold it loosely
  • Two checkers read the IMO5 recipe differently. Cho's first description (22:31–22:57: char, pour brown rice vinegar over it, it dissolves, mix 1:1 with IMO4) can be heard as the liquid extract mixed 1:1 with IMO4, and that is how the interpreter gave it to the room. His answer when asked (32:41, 'It's the char you made') points to the moistened char itself. We follow the answer; the first reading can't be ruled out.
  • 'One pound to one pound' is the interpreter's. Cho gave no unit, and no vinegar amount beyond 'just slightly moist'.
  • Timing: Cho says May. 'One month before flowering, for a June-flowering tree' is the interpreter's framing. For the mangosteen itself Cho points to last July; its flowering month was heard as August, but that line is unclear.
  • The bumper-harvest comparison is Cho's statement; no numbers or trial were shown.
  • The first 18 minutes are plans and politics (farm visits, tourism, women lobbying the governor), not technique.
For your farm
  • Don't push young fruit trees with nitrogen. A fat tree may not flower, and the fruit can come out empty.
  • Char bones, moisten the char with a little brown rice vinegar, mix it 1:1 with IMO4 and spread it in a ring at the drip line to assist fruit set. Cho calls it IMO5.
  • Put it down ahead of flowering (Cho: May), so it's already in the soil when the tree needs it.
  • Use the same ring on papaya, banana, coffee and other fruit trees.
  • Small amounts like the vinegar are judged by feel; Cho gives no measure.

What the room didn't hear

Where the English in the room left out or changed what Master Cho said in Korean.

  • ▶ 22:31

    The room heard So put the bone char in the big container and pour the vinegar in there.

    Cho said Make the char, put it in a container about this size and pour brown rice vinegar over it.

    The kind of vinegar was dropped.

  • ▶ 26:48

    Cho said Compare trees treated this way with untreated ones: the treated ones give nearly a bumper harvest.

    Cho's own result; the room never heard it.

  • ▶ 29:17

    The room heard The smell goes about 30... let's say 30 miles away.

    Cho said A tomcat 30 ri away, 12 km away, loves that smell.

    30 ri is about 12 km (7.5 miles), not 30 miles.

  • ▶ 32:41

    The room heard It's diluted.

    Cho said It's the char you made. The char you made.

    Settles the 1:1: IMO4 to bone char, not to liquid calcium phosphate. The interpreter then corrected herself.

Next to Master Cho's books

  • Agrees

    Overfed nitrogen keeps a tree fat and stops flowering His Theory book says late nitrogen keeps crops at type II instead of reaching type III, with poor floral differentiation. Same diagnosis as the mangosteen.

    Cho, Cho Han-Kyu's Natural Farming (Theory), p. 119–120

  • Agrees

    IMO5 = burned bones mixed into IMO4, put down ahead of fruiting In Hawaiʻi in 2018 he describes IMO5 the same way: burned cow, pig or fish bones mixed into IMO4, applied in advance so peppers or papayas set heavily. Elsewhere IMO5 means IMO4 mixed with local materials, so this is a narrower use of the name.

    2018/Cho - advanced hawaii/cho advanced 2018 3-3 @ 0:50:35 (translated)

  • Goes further

    Bone char moistened with vinegar, not the usual 1:10 extract The usual Structure (WCP) recipe is 1 part charred bone to 10 parts vinegar, and you use the liquid. Here the solid char, barely moistened, goes into IMO5. A different use, not a contradiction.

    notes: meetings — Recipes & methods demonstrated

  • Goes further

    Roots give off a scent at conception that draws microbes His Advanced bulletin says microbes gather on the root surface because the roots supply organic matter. Tying the scent to the conception stage is new here.

    CGNF Advanced (2006.02) (English translation), p. 34

“It put on weight, but there's nothing inside.”

▶ 18:51

“People think a tree grown big bears a lot, but because it got so fat, it didn't flower.”

▶ 19:08

“When mom makes food in the kitchen, does she weigh it all on a scale?”

▶ 35:16

“You'll see natural farming that reaches your heart, not just your head.”

▶ 4:31

In this part

  1. 0:00The mangosteen gift, and visiting farms next time
  2. 4:51Set the dates early: 47 countries, visitors from China
  3. 7:35Hawaiʻi as a base, and farm tourism
  4. 13:00Off-topic: let the women lobby the governor
  5. 18:06An overfed mangosteen: fat tree, empty fruit
  6. 21:47IMO5: IMO4 plus bone char, in a ring at the drip line
  7. 25:37Put it down in May, before the flowers
  8. 28:17The cat in heat, and roots that call microbes
  9. 31:43The room asks: the 1:1 is the bone char
  10. 34:55How much vinegar? Just moist, by feel

Transcript

English translation, checked against the Korean as spoken.