Hi, I am ready to start collecting IMO in my local area. I live in Central America and there is a lot of bio diversity in plants and animals in my region, especially fungal activity. I have some big old trees on and around my land but my concern is in the wet season most of the leaf litter and decomposing matter gets washed in to the river which has me believing the richness and quality of the collection would be lacking the same diversity of ‘for example’ an old growth forest IMO collection so I’m basically wondering if it’s worth the effort…
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We’re you planing on using rice in a box then? If that’s that case make a little tent over it like a rain fly in a tent it should help keep the rice at that proper moisture level
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Hello, I learned how to cook white rice, without salt and well cooked …
I put the rice on a clay tile and wrap it in a net with a very fine mesh.
In a very diverse and humid forest, remove a litter (leaves and fungi), dig a little so that the tile is at the height of the soil … cover with leaves and wait a few days, depending on your temperature …
after removing the net (so as not to get dirt) choose the colored fungi, discarding the black and gray ones …
the selected fungi are deposited in a bottle, with brown sugar, or cane molasses, or cane juice … complete with water.
leave it in a dark place and open it daily to get the gas generated. You can attach a hose to the cap and put it in the water …
when it stops generating gas it is ready …
this is how I do it, there may be other ways …
Brazilian greetings …
edit: the more colorful it is, the more diverse it is and the healthier …
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I was actually planning on using a cane basket. It’s dry season now and lots of leaves are the on the ground, soon to be a lot of mangos and monkey shit too. I was more thinking of the whole biology of an undisturbed soil system that is recommended for collections compared with the aggressive rains I get here in the jungle when in the wet season the top soil layer and I’m assuming any fungal mats wash in to the river. I have good hame made compost, worm bins and just finished my first batch of bokshi so thinking IMO in my area might be more time consuming than anything. I hear conflicting things on either side with IMO vs real compost
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Hi Gugumelo, thanks for the info that technique sounds affective and where I live is similar weather to certain parts of Brazil so definitely worth a shot. I’ve traveled Brazil a couple of times, beautiful country.
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If you translate, this pdf says it all and more
CADERNO_DOS_MICRORGANISMOS_EFICIENTES_EM.pdf (291.4 KB)
Abraço…
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Beleza 
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Awesome! I look forward to doing the same here as the snow continues to recede.
I haven’t made IMO in that method of using rice and such but last year I went out and collected leaf molds and many mycellium masses from different areas around the valley / mountains I live in and then used the JADAM method of using cooked potatoes to hopefully breed a very diverse microbe population.
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Collecting wild leaf mold and mycelium is killer and goes a long way, it’s great for compost extract: I use about a tbsp in my 5gl worm castings and compost mix. I then add a few tbsp of oatmeal to the compost, moisten and let it sit for a few days in a cool dark spot until the fungal activity has grown out… it should look like Santa Claus’s beard then make an extract. 
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