Question about establishing bacterial and fungal life in soil.

Is it easy to do? Let's say I had some steralozed soil from the store, and I added a bunch of ammendments to it and left it for a while(seaweed, bone meal, etc) would microbial life be established even though I didn't use any compost or EWC (Earth worm castings)?

One of the best ways to establish microbial life in your soil mix is to cultivate a cover crop.

There is lots of fascinating reading material here and around the web on soil biology.

Why don’t you just top dress with ewc or make a tea? Hell, buy a cheap myco and water it in. If you’re super desperate, find a big park with tons of trees. Find an inconspicuous spot where leaves or needles collect (don’t dig up the middle of a grass area) and dig down a little. Odds are that you will find some kind of material down there work inoculating your pot with.

Mr. Marijuano said:

Why don’t you just top dress with ewc or make a tea? Hell, buy a cheap myco and water it in. If you’re super desperate, find a big park with tons of trees. Find an inconspicuous spot where leaves or needles collect (don’t dig up the middle of a grass area) and dig down a little. Odds are that you will find some kind of material down there work inoculating your pot with.

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I have a bunch of kelp meal, bone meal, compost, lots of stuff to build a proper soil. I'm trying to get an idea of how easy it is to go wrong.

radiant Rudy said:

One of the best ways to establish microbial life in your soil mix is to cultivate a cover crop.

There is lots of fascinating reading material here and around the web on soil biology.

Click to expand...

This is great, I will probably ground alot of the stems and leaves of my first plant, and top dress them on the soil before my second grow.

POLISHSTONER said:

This is great, I will probably ground alot of the stems and leaves of my first plant, and top dress them on the soil before my second grow.

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I believe what he means is establish a cover crop as in clover, hairy vetch, bean, rye grass etc. Planting a cover crop helps build the soil life and does alot of other things. For example clover is a nitrogen fixer and will pull nitrogen from the air and replenish the soil. I had my coot mix tested before and after one run was done and after 2 months of "cooking" by the time it was tested and before I planted in it. Nitrogen level was higher by a good bit.

I am a fan of build a soil cover crop seed. Kis organics my have a similar one I'm sure is great as well. Goggle nitrogen fixing cover crop and somthing like biodynamic accumulater etc. and read up. Words like these and lots of reading and trial and error will bring you to another level. I'm still learning every grow but if I'm going organic a living mulch is a must and I'll never go without somthing there.

Top dressing plant matter is fine during your grow as well. It will dry and make its way down. Any leaf I pull or when I lollipop goes back to the soil. I was snipping baby bud sites off last night at day 31 of flower that I'd rather put the energy up high. I should have stripped a few more off a couple weeks ago lol.

The leaves here got ripped up a bit and tossed down in my bed. My plants canopy taking over has killed off most of my cover crop as of now. I will top dress an inch or 2 of homemade castings at this point to help it decompose what's there. Around the day of chop I will throw down more ammendments (modified a bit coots mix), gro kashi and cover crop seed to allow them to germinate while waiting a few days for the next plants in my veg tent to hit the dirt. If organics is the way you want to go. Especially no till, cover crop is not a step to skip.

Assuming your early into your organic journey my recommendation would be

- get a recipie that's proven. There are many. Coots mix BAS, and KIS organics have many wonderful mixes as well. I prefer to mix my own but buying from them is perfect to. I only will buy my ammendments from BAS or KIS due to quality. DO NOT CHEAP OUT HERE!
COMPOST FROM WALMART AND ALMOST ALL IN A BAG ARE SHIT! if useing bagged compost to build a soil, I'd recommend malibu compost or oly mountin fish compost. I have used both and can reccomend them. Also can use HIGH QUALITY worm casting or 50/50. BAS sells Colorado worm castings that are the shit. Do not cheap out here! I'm only repeating myself because I myself and seen many others for example run coots mix but use so so castings or compost and f### up there whole grow. I can not stress enough how important ammendment and compost and or casting quality really is.. important concerning soil life as well...

- Do as much research on the way a living soil functions. I'm an idiot still when it comes to this lol. You will be learning for years as am I.

- be patient! With some experiance you will have the best smoke you have ever had providing the genetics are all good... I am no pro but I feel I do ok. With a good light and keeping the environment in check it's almost easy with a decent yielding strain to pull 2+ lbs in a 4x4 or 5x5. This will only happen if you build a good soil!

Any questions you may have about soil building just ask. I assume by your question you are a relatively new grower so if you are not take no offense to my words. Just trying to help is all lol. I still learn everyday after 15 or so years growing for myself but I feel I have my 5x5 flower tent and 4x4 veg tent mostly dialed useing the soil I'm useing. I spend most of my time in the bodhi thread these days but am glad I saw your post! Hope this helped and is not to confusing.

I'm currently useing coots mix with a couple small twists. Here is the last pic I put up on the bodhi thread. Day 31 I think since 12/12 flip

It will cost a bit starting out with a good soil but worth it. My bed will be reused for years with just reammending and top dressing castings etc. If not filling a big 4x4 bed etc. It will not cost nearly as much. Also if going this route.... no less than 25 gallon pot. I have pulled it off in 7 and 10 gallon pots but it was tough to keep my soils moisture at the right level for my soil life. Lots of maintaining day to day. Sorry for the long post I hope some of it may be helpful in finding the answers you want about soil life. Just remember shit in=shit out. Please ask if I can help further. Many members in the organics forum are the shit and very helpful. The veterin members here are half the reason I do well these days. Happy growing!

Diesel0889 said:

I believe what he means is establish a cover crop as in clover, hairy vetch, bean, rye grass etc. Planting a cover crop helps build the soil life and does alot of other things. For example clover is a nitrogen fixer and will pull nitrogen from the air and replenish the soil. I had my coot mix tested before and after one run was done and after 2 months of "cooking" by the time it was tested and before I planted in it. Nitrogen level was higher by a good bit.

I am a fan of build a soil cover crop seed. Kis organics my have a similar one I'm sure is great as well. Goggle nitrogen fixing cover crop and somthing like biodynamic accumulater etc. and read up. Words like these and lots of reading and trial and error will bring you to another level. I'm still learning every grow but if I'm going organic a living mulch is a must and I'll never go without somthing there.

Top dressing plant matter is fine during your grow as well. It will dry and make its way down. Any leaf I pull or when I lollipop goes back to the soil. I was snipping baby bud sites off last night at day 31 of flower that I'd rather put the energy up high. I should have stripped a few more off a couple weeks ago lol.
View attachment 4375834
The leaves here got ripped up a bit and tossed down in my bed. My plants canopy taking over has killed off most of my cover crop as of now. I will top dress an inch or 2 of homemade castings at this point to help it decompose what's there. Around the day of chop I will throw down more ammendments (modified a bit coots mix), gro kashi and cover crop seed to allow them to germinate while waiting a few days for the next plants in my veg tent to hit the dirt. If organics is the way you want to go. Especially no till, cover crop is not a step to skip.

Assuming your early into your organic journey my recommendation would be

- get a recipie that's proven. There are many. Coots mix BAS, and KIS organics have many wonderful mixes as well. I prefer to mix my own but buying from them is perfect to. I only will buy my ammendments from BAS or KIS due to quality. DO NOT CHEAP OUT HERE!
COMPOST FROM WALMART AND ALMOST ALL IN A BAG ARE SHIT! if useing bagged compost to build a soil, I'd recommend malibu compost or oly mountin fish compost. I have used both and can reccomend them. Also can use HIGH QUALITY worm casting or 50/50. BAS sells Colorado worm castings that are the shit. Do not cheap out here! I'm only repeating myself because I myself and seen many others for example run coots mix but use so so castings or compost and f### up there whole grow. I can not stress enough how important ammendment and compost and or casting quality really is.. important concerning soil life as well...

- Do as much research on the way a living soil functions. I'm an idiot still when it comes to this lol. You will be learning for years as am I.

- be patient! With some experiance you will have the best smoke you have ever had providing the genetics are all good... I am no pro but I feel I do ok. With a good light and keeping the environment in check it's almost easy with a decent yielding strain to pull 2+ lbs in a 4x4 or 5x5. This will only happen if you build a good soil!

Any questions you may have about soil building just ask. I assume by your question you are a relatively new grower so if you are not take no offense to my words. Just trying to help is all lol. I still learn everyday after 15 or so years growing for myself but I feel I have my 5x5 flower tent and 4x4 veg tent mostly dialed useing the soil I'm useing. I spend most of my time in the bodhi thread these days but am glad I saw your post! Hope this helped and is not to confusing.

I'm currently useing coots mix with a couple small twists. Here is the last pic I put up on the bodhi thread. Day 31 I think since 12/12 flip
View attachment 4375961
It will cost a bit starting out with a good soil but worth it. My bed will be reused for years with just reammending and top dressing castings etc. If not filling a big 4x4 bed etc. It will not cost nearly as much. Also if going this route.... no less than 25 gallon pot. I have pulled it off in 7 and 10 gallon pots but it was tough to keep my soils moisture at the right level for my soil life. Lots of maintaining day to day. Sorry for the long post I hope some of it may be helpful in finding the answers you want about soil life. Just remember shit in=shit out. Please ask if I can help further. Many members in the organics forum are the shit and very helpful. The veterin members here are half the reason I do well these days. Happy growing!

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Thanks for the long response, this is my first grow, and it was very useful. I had no idea plants could absorb nitrogen from the air.

The problem for me is that I'm on vacation currently and soil ammendments are very hard to order and often come in 100l bags

So I've collected a bunch of the common ammendments while on vacation.

The things I have accces to are:

Most common ammendments like Dried sea kelp, bone meal, wood ash,

A base mix of sterile gardening soil with good aeration.

Composted horse poop.

Can I make a decent soil out of this? I have no way of getting blood meal because I am not a fucking vampire lol

BTW that's an impressive grow, is it illegal where you live?

I've been looking at the same thing.
Some things I am considering.
Poultry litter
Composted cow manure
Worm castings and live worms
Adding some Kellogg Garden Organics All Natural Premium Outdoor Potting Mix

I have attached a PDF on soil testing, interpretations, and recommendations from the University of Georgia.

LINK U of Minn: https://extension.umn.edu/soil-management-and-health/soil-biology#practices-that-increase-microbial-populations-1390061

LINK USDA Soil Biology Primer: https://www.envirothonpa.org/wp-content/uploads/2014/04/7-Soil-Biology-Primer.pdf

You need compost and worm poop

I just did this in a guerilla location. Low strength fish pellets. Horse manure. And a dry bacteria powder all tilled

Peyote alexia said:

I just did this in a guerilla location. Low strength fish pellets. Horse manure. And a dry bacteria powder all tilled

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Did it work out well?

POLISHSTONER said:

Did it work out well?

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No idea yet lol new spot. First time outdoors. But I did put one plant there and it's going crazy. Start of season soon. But to be fair. The soil was laced with myco already

This is just my opinion but I VERY strongly feel you would be best suited buying a pre packaged nute/mineral pack from build a soil. I use the coots mix. They come in I think 3 sizes (up to 3.8 bale) the 3.8 mix is bout 110 with free shipping. Others are less but I'd recommend making a half batch now if you dont need that much soil and use the other 50 percent to reammend with after flower and the next plants hit the dirt. The quality of BAS or KIS organics imo are unmatched and hard to find better. The neem cake, kelp, karanja cake etc. Very good stuff... I think just starting out or starting your organic journey you would completely smash it instead of mixing your own recipe. (If not a proven one)

For example. You buy the 3.8 pack for 110. Plus (1) 3.8 bale of peat, (6) 1cf malibu compost or 3 and go 50-50 compost to castings ( high quality ones ) (bas or kis). And 6cf of your aeration choice. I use pumice because it stays put in the soil and over time does not break down to dust like perlite. Lava rock is cheap if in the right location also and an excellent choice also. For me it would be lava rock or pumice for reasons above. I use same dirt just ammending it run to run for up to 6 or 7 years.

Or you can get a 3.8 kit and half the amounts listed above and use the 2nd half for ammending after flower. Would be cheaper that way.

Like I said the other day. It would be a little more up front but save you over time. Once you have your environment dialed in ( prob most important next to soil and GOOD lighting ) it's honestly almost on autopilot short of watering and training etc. All there mixes are tried and tested and work VERY good.

30 gallons plus is my recommendation if you want an easy ride and create the heard in your soil you asked about originally.

Think of your organic grow almost like a fish tank. A 5 gallon tank it much harder to keep balanced than say a 100 or 200 gallon tank.

I was the guy at the hydro shop when I was younger that tried every nute line and all the new products. Most of them work good as well. Synthetics do great or even better yield wise. When I went back to my roots as a kid on a farm (a vegetable one), I realized I could do the same thing the natural way for less and still cover my personal needs and my lady just fine. In truth you can get about everything from the grocery store. A few people I know do it.

Whatever you do if going organic make sure if you mix to get a known and respected recipie. I have wasted WAY to much money to see anyone else do the same and fail or struggle with problems the whole time. I'd rather see you do incredible and have the best weed you have ever smoked! JMO!

Happy growing!