Is it too late to start a living soil this season?

I'm germinating seeds this weekend for an outdoor grow. I've located some local organic composters and EWC producers, but I'm concerned that by the time I'm ready to transplant from, say, LCs mix, that the living soil I build won't be ready.

Are my fears misplaced?

Living soil will improve over time as the microbes cycle nutrients and build soil structure.

I'd say work your soil in sections, improving an area as you go.

It's important to remember that each time you harvest a plant, you're removing nutrients and organic matter from the soil. Those will need to be replaced each cycle.

Come up with your own re-amendment recipe. There are many recipes out there...see what suits you best. Test your soil!! Important!

We've used with with great success, veggies and ganja.

Base Materials
Compost: 15% of total volume
Worm Castings: 15% of total volume
Peat: 30% of total volume
Scoria/perlite or similar: 30% of total volume
Biochar: 10% of total volume ****see below: burn your own!
Nutrients and Minerals
Crustacean Meal: ½ cup per 1 cubic foot
Kelp Meal: ½ cup per 1 cubic foot
Glacial Rock Dust: 1 cup per 1 cubic foot
Gypsum Dust: 1 cup per 1 cubic foot
Oyster Shell Flour: 1 cup per 1 cubic foot
Basalt Dust: 1 cup per 1 cubic foot

Add-ons and Extras
Endomycorrhizae powder: enough to cover plant roots entirely
Worm Castings: 1 cup per 4 square feet surface area
Cover crop mix: enough to seed all of your pots

In addition, I suggest adding approximately 1 cubic foot of high quality compost or earthworm castings per yard of used soil to get that organic matter back in the soil. Also, plan on adding aeration back in at whatever level is necessary to maintain your porosity and drainage. Approximately 1 cubic ft per yard, every other cycle, works well in most cases.

Let your soil sit. It's best if you can let your soil cook for at least 2 weeks, but up to a month is optimal. This allows the microbes to begin breaking down these amendments and cycling them into plant-available forms. It also prevents any burning from the soil being "too hot." Be sure to maintain proper moisture content during this time. The easiest way to determine this is if you grab a clump of soil and squeeze it in your hand, it should almost stay together but break into a few smaller chunks and feel like almost a drop of water can be squeezed out of it.

To make biochar right in your garden, start by digging a trench in a bed. (Use a fork to loosen the soil in the bottom of the trench and you’ll get the added benefits of this “double-digging” technique.) Then pile brush into the trench and light it. You want to have a fire that starts out hot but is quickly slowed down by reducing the oxygen supply. The best way to tell what’s going on in a biochar fire is to watch the smoke. The white smoke, produced early on, is mostly water vapor. As the smoke turns yellow, resins and sugars in the material are being burned. When the smoke thins and turns grayish blue, dampen down the fire by covering it with about an inch of soil to reduce the air supply, and leave it to smolder. Then, after the organic matter has smoldered into charcoal chunks, use water to put out the fire. Another option would be to make charcoal from wood scraps in metal barrels.

Good luck! You'll love the way plants respond!

It's ready. I'd rather have well grown non-fully-organic bud than poorly grown organic.

Soil is 99% of the time living. Compost is living, organics like guano are living, the soil in my yard is living. No need to be anal.

The only things not 'living' very well are chem hydro and over used farm land that was chem war faired to hell.

If worried order some compost and castings to hold over till your homemade is ready.

Honestly you could do great with shitty products like epsoma and farm supply stuff. It's the flowering stages that require so much p and k that shitty products aren't tailored for. Even low end castings will add more than take.

In the end it's about being happy with the work and your dollars spent. If it's commercial smoke it depends on your market for what's worth putting in. Honestly here dirt weed exists a lot. People calling brick "pretty" or more than "mids" for $50. If you have heady herbs you'll get robbed.

Like aridbud said letting the soil cook for 2 weeks to a month is optimal. You should have plenty of time if you start your seeds this weekend.

A group of seeds germinated in a paper towel will take 72hrs usually for most to germinate in my experience.

Lets say you plant seeds in starter pots and soil monday.

After planting you have about 2 weeks of seedling stage before they start to take off, that is your soil cook period. I would wait another week though.

May 21st
I would begin hardening off seedlings to the outside sun.

May 28th fill and transplant into the final pots plants are going into, watch them take off.

aridbud said:

We've used with with great success, veggies and ganja.

Base Materials
Compost: 15% of total volume
Worm Castings: 15% of total volume
Peat: 30% of total volume
Scoria/perlite or similar: 30% of total volume
Biochar: 10% of total volume ****see below: burn your own!
Nutrients and Minerals
Crustacean Meal: ½ cup per 1 cubic foot
Kelp Meal: ½ cup per 1 cubic foot
Glacial Rock Dust: 1 cup per 1 cubic foot
Gypsum Dust: 1 cup per 1 cubic foot
Oyster Shell Flour: 1 cup per 1 cubic foot
Basalt Dust: 1 cup per 1 cubic foot

Add-ons and Extras
Endomycorrhizae powder: enough to cover plant roots entirely
Worm Castings: 1 cup per 4 square feet surface area
Cover crop mix: enough to seed all of your pots

Click to expand...

This is a lot like what I'm considering as I've been reading through the living soil threads and the beginners thread. I know that cannabis is microbial dominant and peat is good for that, but in my climate (inland SoCal) I need something that can hold water. I'm considering using coco/peat or all coco, though sulphur deficiency concerns me.

Ibechillin said:

Lets say you plant seeds in starter pots and soil monday.

After planting you have about 2 weeks of seedling stage before they start to take off, that is your soil cook period. I would wait another week though.

May 21st
I would begin hardening off seedlings to the outside sun.

May 28th fill and transplant into the final pots plants are going into, watch them take off.

Click to expand...

Thanks - this is my first grow so having a rough time table sets me more at ease.

I'm also Socal Inland and building my Permaculture beds. In my research I found coco to be better than Peat for holding water but you can also just ween a bit off perlite or your aeration... I found better results in making sure there is a great microclimate between your casing or top layer and your soil.

Use a mulch layer for water retention. It will also keep other weeds from growing in your bed.
While I agree with almost everything in here.. I would never go over 15% with perlite. There is no improvement after 10-15%, and as it doesn't have a nutrient value it's basically just inert bulk. I would replace some of the perlite recomended with rice hulls or coco coir or something that helps with aeration and water retention/transport but also breaks down into usable nutrients sooner or later.

It’s NEVER too late to start a living soil!

MJPassion said:

It’s NEVER too late to start a living soil!

Click to expand...

True! It's alive!!! (mocking Frankenstein film 1931)

I make this one. Simple and easy.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ju6TDrMJxWU