Alright lads, as the title says im new to using organico soil. I read about sohum living soil not needing any ferts so i thought id give it a go.
I germinated 5 fastbuds gorillia glue autos the other day, 4 popped and are in instatransplant solo cups now. Final pot size will be 1.5-2 liter homemade fabric pots. They will be under bridgelux eb strips.
Will i need to mix in perlite with the soil? What ratio?
I read on sohums website its best to water bottom up. This would be great for me as i tend forget to water. how is this achived? Sit the pots in a basin of water the whole time? Would that not lead to root rot?
Thanks for any tips and pointers.
There’s a “possibility” that you can finish a grow cycle without feeding and additional nutrition with the ‘right’ organic soils; but there are very few of them AND the conditions (from water characteristics to plant genetics) need to be right AND you’ll certainly need to feed your microbes properly. While they may be referred to as ‘water-only’ soils, the reality is that there’s still plenty of work involved and you better be prepared in case it takes more than just water. Having some organic, microbe-friendly nutrients on hand as a backup plan would be a good idea. I don’t know about Sohum soils but I’d feel pretty confident TRYING out a run like that with either KIS Organics’ or BuikdASoil’s water only soils.
I tried it with Roots Organic soil and it got me to almost day 50 on a DP Auto Ultimate before I started seeing a deficiency issue. I’m about to try a run with a really diverse recipe of homemade soil I’m hoping mimics KIS soil. I’m going to be feeding EWC tea from my own high quality worm castings. We’ll see how it works.
A living soil needs a certain amount of moisture to maintain microbial life. A total dryout is NOT what you want for a living soil. I believe that the bottom watering they’re reseeding to is something like a SIPS container or an AutoPot. SIPS are designed to pull moisture up, into the soil, through a ‘wick’ that connects a bottom reservoir to the soil just above the reservoir. Have you ever seen an “Earthbox” planter? They are a SIPS style growing container but it’s very easy to DIY them. Done correctly, these systems maintain the proper moisture content with plenty of air to prevent root rot.
That said, plenty of people top water living soils. Drip systems are really popular and I e started using the Blumats drivers with a gravity flow. Regardless the method, those microbes you’re feeding (that will, in (re)turn, feed your plants for you) need moisture to survive and to thrive! They are your nutrient providers so you sure better care for them! A cover crop is commonly used to help, in part, maintain a healthy level of moisture in the soil. Lots of beneficial reasons for cover crops, though!
Hope this helps a little!
