So I’m adding a living soil bed to my indoor garden. I have a 200 g fabric pot and will be running a blumat dripper system.
My questions are about ratios and aeration. From what I’ve read/seen, the most common base recipe is 33% peat moss, 33% aeration, 33% compost. I have also seen 60% peat, 30% aeration, 10% compost/topsoil (from build a soil youtube). I think I’m leaning towards the build a soil recipe but would like to hear any opinions/experiences anyone would be willing to share.
As far as aeration goes, I would like to use grow stones or pumice (also featured in build a soil youtube) but sourcing them nearby has proven to be a bit difficult and I’m not really interested in paying hundreds of dollars for shipping, so these are not really options. I have read that perlite does not work well as eventually it will break down and compact. The options I’m left with seem to be lava rock or hydroton although I’m not sure if either of these have the same issue as perlite. I also have a good source of biochar (I will be adding some to the pot) but I don’t think this would substitute the major aeration. Does anyone have any experience with using either of these for aeration in a living soil? Interested to hear others’ experiences!
Pic is Ninja Fruit in veg mode 🙂
Run a living soil bed over here and use the coots mix and love it. I would highly recommend pumice, I’ve found it at nurserys and have also had the hydro shop order it for me so I didn’t eat the shipping. I’ve also used perlite and lava rock. I don’t like either, perlite is a mess and floats, lava rock you have to bust up, which was a pain. Also run blumat watering with the drip tape, I would recommend getting the moisture meter to dial in the blumats to around 100 m bar. Never tried biochar but hear good things. Good luck with the set up, if you want to see our set up, check out Cali rooted on YouTube 🌱✌
That compost is key to the microbe life. Needed to break down all that nutrient and minerals your adding, also I think it would help keep peat hydrated as well as it can be hydrophobic. I would think the 60% peat mix as being more inert. Perlite supposedly breaks down to dust and creates a concrete like layer, but still works. I don’t think the hydroton works the same but I can’t remeber why. Sounds like lava stone or possibly some rice hulls if you can find those. Not a complete aeration source as it breaks down overtime. 10 percent precharged biochar is highly recommended.
Soup has soil building in detail.
https://www.dudegrows.com/soil-with-soup-notes/
Yeah I read about rice hulls but was concerned that they break down as I am planning on keeping this bed going for the long run!
They break down over time into Silica which is good for the plants
Good to know!
I guess I’ll keep searching for a source of pumice! Thank you for the info! Checking out your youtube right now 🙂
Do you have a hydro shop or nursery near you? The hydroshop can order your pumice and piggy back it on their normal truck loads and you won’t pay shipping.
My local hydro store only stocks hydroton and perlite so I may have to go in and ask them if they can do this. I went to a few nurseries today and no one seems to stock pumice…
Your were right! Didn’t see this before but this is buildasoil’s recommendation.
“This recipe should be used in larger volumes and you might have to topdress or supplement with compost tea but it is cost effective and will produce wonderful results with most generally good inputs.”
Just have to add microbes and use more soil per plant. Good to know.
I use about 30 to 35% aeration of Rice Hulls, Pumice and “Precharged” Biochar.
Which is about 45% Rice Hulls, 45% Pumice and 10% precharged Biochar.
Either buy it precharged or soak it in some compost tea with mycorrhazae inoculate mixed in.
If you don’t the the biochar will sorta soak up nutrients around it until it reaches a homeostasis.
If you charge it it does just the opposite.
The biochar I found says it is precharged but I was thinking of spraying it down with recharge before mixing it into the soil as well! Compost tea is a good idea though, I’ll get one going before I mix this up!
There’s a few different recipes at build a soil these days, but I still prefer the “classic” recipe, aka the “living organic soil”
(https://buildasoil.com/products/living-organic-soil?variant=562916325)
This is the recipe I recommend for most people making soil at home. It’s easier to find everything and it’s a pretty forgiving recipe if you have to make some substitutions based on what you have locally.
The 3.0 mix uses really different ratios because it has a lot of clay ingredients and they are using the pinto bean compost. The other mixes are designed for sub irrigation or other special uses. What most people want to use is one of the “Living Organic Soil” recipes.
As far as aeration ingredients, pumice is ideal, but crushed lava rock works well too. You can smash it up pretty easily by putting it in an old pillowcase and wacking it with a hammer.
Rice hulls are great. They do break down, but it takes a really long time. You don’t want to do only rice hulls for aeration though. It really works best when you combine it with something else. 50/50 rice hulls and lava rock works great.
If you have access to good biochar, I’d make it like 5-10% of your base mix.
30% peat, 30% compost, 15% crushed lava rock or pumice, 15% rice hulls, and 10% biochar makes a really nice base mix. 👍
Exactly what I do.
Prefer the LOS Oly Mountain Modern mix 2.
Thank you SOUP! Reading through your material is a big part of what made me decide to give this a go!
🙂👍 right on!
Hit me up if you have any questions.
Also I am assuming you’re going to do a No-till method, I would add a few hundred worms, and plant a nice cover crop.
Keep a nice thick mulch layer and trim the cover crop regularly chop it up and spread under the mulch as green manure worm food.
And Gro-kashi works well as worm food too plus adds fungus.
Thanks for the tips! Definitely doing the no-till method. I have a 2 large compost bins full of worms ready to go! Planning on doing mostly clover as a cover crop (I have replaced my lawn in my backyard with micro clover and love it) but I’m thinking of adding some thyme and rosemary as well, just have to do some research on a rosemary that won’t mind soil that stays on the moist side.
I have no experience with gro-kashi but I’m definitely going to be looking into it! Have not looked into it so far as the wife and I follow a plant based diet so we have no meat/bones/animal products to compost, just tons of fruit/veggie scraps from the garden!
I saw a Shaping Fire episode that had Joshua Steensland and I think the girl from mamoth p? that was all about cover crop and companion planting in no till. They were saying that they both now stay away from clover. It was on YouTube in case you want to check that out. 🌱✌
Thanks for the info! Going to listen right now, huge respect for both Dr. Chourey and Joshua Steensland! Here’s the link for anyone else who is interested
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PdSpaibaK9k
https://buildasoil.com/products/clover-cover-crop-blend-13-seed-buildasoil-mix-40-clover?variant=1040251460
Well their claim was that clover draws insects as being the only problem if I remember correctly.
I can’t imagine how clover would draw more insects “indoors” more that the lights, the organic soil and the cannabis itself.
The cover crop blend that I use has 4 kinds of clover in it, plus peas, vetch and several others.
The only insect problem I’ve had in the 4 years I’ve been using it is Fungus Gnats but they are attracted to the soil and couldn’t careless about clover.
I can see it could have merit for outdoor grows possibly.
I think their main issue with clover was powdery mildew. Although I’m on the west coast of Canada, I’ve never had issues indoors with PM. I’m still going to include some clover, probably some creeping thyme, lavendar, rosemary, and dill. I liked the recommendations of marigolds (love the smell) and comfrey as well so may include those as well.
Great Post and comments! Thanks DGC & CannaChiro. This will be on EP 895