Soil question

[Xena]

What is “living soil”? I understand that a lot of regular potting soil has no extra nutrition added but there’s tons that do have nutes added. I’m a little confused on what makes it living soil.

[MeEasy]

It soil with organic materials that then you add all the good critters to, so that they process the materials into food for your plants. Below I copy paste the explanation I'm trying to give you

Millions of small organisms live in healthy soil which is rich in organic matter. Some of them are big enough to see, such as earthworms and small insects. But, most of them are so small that you can only see them if you use a microscope. These microscopic organisms include nematodes (tiny worms), bacteria, fungi and even some insects which are invisible to the naked eye. These living organisms make soil alive and give it a good structure and texture. A living soil ecosystem nurtures and nourishes plants by providing a healthy medium to take roots and through a steady supply of nutrients

[MeEasy]

I'm on my first grow using a living soil and I didn't want to give you wrong info so thought this would be easier than either confusing you and or lying to you by acting like I know enough to explain it lol

[crucialbunny]

Another benefit of utilizing a living soil is that it can help balance soil PH. I grow in containers outdoors using a living soil and started my plants March 1st. Up until the last week or so I didn't have to adjust PH at all. I think from using more potassium and magnesium for flower lately I may have thrown things out of whack a little. A bit of dolomite and it's back to normal again. I have a worm bin that I process soil through along with table scraps and compost. I swear by it now.

[MeEasy]

Yes I have not even seen my ph pen since I harvested my last grow. I put an adapter on my faucet for the tub use a RV inline hose filter and a hose to water with. I do add potassium silicate and aloe to my water and top dress once will again half way through flower and so far I'm amazed at how things are going. I'm using a pre mixed bag recipe for now but I'm reading as much as I can find and maybe I'll make my own one day. But I'm questioning myself since this stuff is working good so far

[Xena]

MeEasy what are you using? I looked up a few mix in things. I don’t know but seems to me like the living soil thing is the way to go. I read up on how to make your own and it seems like a giant hassle.

[MeEasy]

I am using stuff called Earth Dust made by the green sunshine co I found these guys when I was shopping for a new led which they have really nice lights but I just don't have that kind of money but while on there site I found this product after reading about it I bought some. The fact that for around 60 bucks you can just add this stuff to your old soil then continue using the same soil over and over and the more times you do it the better it gets was enough to convince me to try it. Here's a link to their site they only have one nute product so it's easy to find

https://thegreensunshineco.com/

[Cali]

Simple. Look up the Clackamas Coot soil mix. Or look up my post from early 2019 that’s when I mixed my batch and haven’t looked back since. If you go on YouTube and type in Clackamas Coot a lot of videos and zoom meetings will pop up with his name and if you listen to it you will never go back to growing with bottled nutrients. Anything on those bottles is 98 percent water and the rest you can buy it yourself and make it at like 100 times cheaper and 100 times more concentrated. The first podcast I recommend is the 3 part series with Tad Hussey from KIS organics. Type in KISORGANICS on YouTube and it will pop up. I tried getting this mix added to the GWE tutorials but I got ignored. Reason why I want to include it is because the old Subcool RIP recipe is a lot of work to make a lot more amendments and some of the amendments used are not good as in quality or sustainability. You will have to unlearn all the unnecessary things you learned here like using PH pen ph up ph down, runoff, no cal mag, no this no that lol. I just can’t believe Nebula or Sirius won’t atleast try this mix and hopefully add it to GWE being that it’s very simple, low cost and the quality of your buds is great, but they promote kindsoil which I don’t think they are too happy with also a lot of people complain about it plus it’s really expensive. Living soil to me is a soil mix with no slow releasing fertilizers, amended with quality organics inputs and you just rely in the microbiology to do as in nature. When done with a full cycle you just reamend or not and just cut the plant at the stalk without disturbing the soil no need to throw it away because by then you have a web of mycorrhizae and microbiology alive in the soil that only gets better and better after each use. The bugs in the soil find their way there on their own a sign of healthy soil. That’s why you don’t want to use slat based chemicals made in China most likely because they will kill the soil life. If you have any more questions because I’m confusing you just ask. I would really like for more of us growers to use living soils all those other bottled nutrients are just a scam I mean if one is so great why is there so many and none can make a nutrient bottle so good that they are making billions on it feeding the world specially when they are 98 percent water and super expensive. Seriously look at your bottles look up the ingridents and you will see for yourself. A favorite here general hydroponics I’ve heard some shitty things which I will look into so I can post here. Let me know what you think...

[crucialbunny]

The only 2 things I purchase for my grows anymore is Epsom salt and blackstrap. Making nutrients is no more difficult than making a pot of soup in my opinion. I began simply by looking up the various nutrients needed for healthy plants and finding natural sources for them.

[Tersky]

Living soil is a soil that has beneficial bacteria that feeds plants instead of plants absorbing salt based nutes. Yes it is a pain to make unless you have the room and control for pests. Organics will always have more pest issues than inorganics, which is why i use inorganic nutes. I dont have the space nor do i want to worry as much about pests. Many love organics, and if it ever becomes legal in my state and i can grow outside i will definitely try it, but since i can only safely grow inside my house i dont want the smell nor pests that are associated with organics.

With living soil you do not need to worry about ph as the beneficial bacteria feeds the plant regardless of ph (unless you are using acid to water your plants). It is definitely a plus, but depending on your situation it can be more trouble than it is worth. Essentially with living soil you dont feed the plants, you feed the microbes which in turn feed the plants.

[crucialbunny]

That's a very good way of explaining Tersky. The interesting thing is that with living soil you actually have fewer pests. I have on many occasions brought my plants indoors for one reason or another and have no pest problems whatsoever. If I buy a bag of apples from the grocery, inevitably I suddenly have gnats. Go figure