Soil life

The70’s

The70’s

Well-Known Member
I recently up-potted my seedlings to bigger pots, i mix living soil with worm castings, perlite and organic dry amendments, and had some left over.

How long will that mixure in the soil stay usable, can i set it aside for 4wks and mix it in for my last up-pot heading into “Flower”
 
The70’s said:
How long will that mixure in the soil stay usable, can i set it aside for 4wks and mix it in for my last up-pot heading into “Flower”
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The soil has been around for a million years or so and I doubt that another 4 weeks will make it unusable:).

If the soil has dried out then just give it water, a little bit at a time, to bring it back to being moist and not soggy. Within minutes the various soil micro-organisms will wake up and start reproducing until the population is back to where it should be. Would not be surprised if many of those microbes can lay dormant for several 100 years. Look at what the scientists have found in tombs from the middle ages or even in the tomb vaults in the pyramids from 2500 BC (or BCE).
 
The70’s said:
mix living soil with worm castings, perlite and organic dry amendments, and had some left over.
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All those amendments by themselves will stay good for years; the Perlite will last forever. Keep in mind that it is recommended to mix the amendments into the soil and then allow it to sit and rest. That is what many call allowing the soil to cook. Usually the minimum time is 4 weeks anyway. But another 4 weeks will not cause any problems.
 
I have never heard of adding dry amendments to soil and letting it sit for a month, or “cooking” the soil.

I use gaia green 444 and 284

Just to give you an idea of my previous grows, i add my dry amendments and plant that day, i have 3 different pot sizes 3qt to start (4wks), 2.6gallon(4wks), 5gallon(8wks with 3 top dressings)(all of flower)

So, cooking the soil you say 🤔

I have left unused soil from a transplant in a covered tote only to find mold growing quite quickly, so how do i store it ???

This could be interesting im going into flower in 3-4 weeks, and will be
up-potting
 
The70’s said:
I have never heard of adding dry amendments to soil and letting it sit for a month, or “cooking” the soil.
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I am getting the feeling that we are talking two different things.

I use gaia green 444 and 284
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You mention that you are using the Gaia Green 444 and 284 but in the first msg you mentioned that you were mixing "...living soil with worm castings, perlite and organic dry amendments, and had some left over." and I figured that you were adding one or more of the usual amendments to some soil you already had. Now I am thinking that you are calling the Gaia Green fertilizers as "the amendments".

Usually when people are mixing up a soil and talking amendments they are referring to things like Kelp Meal, Neem Seed Meal, Bat and/or Seabird Guano, Insect Frass, Crustacean or Lobster Shell Meal and any of the others available. Then they will let the soil rest for a period of time while the existing soil micro-organisms "cook" the amendments so that they are ready for when the plants. The usual time for this is about a month though some people say they can get by with 2 weeks and some like to wait 2 months or more. During this "cooking" time the temperature of the soil can go up and it will feel warm for awhile.

If you are referring to the Gaia Green as the amendment then just follow the directions and mix in. Most of the ingredients are partly ready as water soluble and the plants will make use of them as soon as they are needed.

I have left unused soil from a transplant in a covered tote only to find mold growing quite quickly, so how do i store it ???
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Do not cover the tote tightly. A loose fitting lid is better since it will allow some air exchange so that the micro-organisms can get oxygen. I keep my stored soil in large metal tubs and will keep it damp but not soaking wet.

There is a good chance, maybe 99% probability, that the mold you saw was the start of the mycorrhizae network setting up so it would be ready when plant roots send the signals of which nutrients it needs at any particular time. It is a good thing and I have listened to organic soil growers get excited when they notice it starting to show on their soil mixes.

And the various fungus that decompose specific organic material in the soil will contribute to the mycorrhizae network. I am thinking of the ones that work with the wood chips that are often part of compost based soil mixes. If these are visible they can show as red or yellow fungus growing in small patches on top of the soil or even at any drain holes along the bottom of the side of the pots. I just let them be. After a couple of weeks or so they have done their job and die back anyway.

So, cooking the soil you say
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Yep. Do a google search using the key words:
cooking soil

or do a search of this message board using the exact key words below. If you use cooking soil you will get a list of thousands of msg that contain either the word "cooking" or "soil" but the same two words but with the + signs will narrow the search down to msgs that discuss "cooking soil".
cooking +soil+

The top two currently active threads that have had the occasional message discussing cooking soil mixes are:
The Gee Spot - You Finally Found It started by @Gee64 .
Keffka's Recycling, KOS Blue Thai,... started by @Keffka .

Or "root" through the listing of main forums on this message board looking for the one called "The Grow Room" and then the sub-forum called "Organic Gardening" and the the next sub-forum "Organic Soil". A lot of interesting threads on amendments and organic or living soils.
Ah, here it is....
https://www.420magazine.com/community/forums/organic-soil.338/
 
The70’s said:
I have never heard of adding dry amendments to soil and letting it sit for a month, or “cooking” the soil.

I use gaia green 444 and 284

Just to give you an idea of my previous grows, i add my dry amendments and plant that day, i have 3 different pot sizes 3qt to start (4wks), 2.6gallon(4wks), 5gallon(8wks with 3 top dressings)(all of flower)

So, cooking the soil you say 🤔

I have left unused soil from a transplant in a covered tote only to find mold growing quite quickly, so how do i store it ???

This could be interesting im going into flower in 3-4 weeks, and will be
up-potting
Click to expand...
Gaia is slow release for the most part and doesn't require cooking, but will certainly benefit from it.

Stop by The GeeSpot in my signature, theres a bunch of us organic deadbeats hanging out in there, Keffka being one of them.

Theres recipes and techniques if you back read, and if its too much reading just ask again and you will get replies.

Theres all sorts of LOS tidbits in there. Lots of pictures too. Tons of calcium knowledge floating around, as well as tea and spike recipes.

Bring coffee, some posts are long. Its all done in easy to read/understand formats.

We try not to talk over anyones heads in there as lots of beginners stop by.

Questions are always welcome👊
 
If you're trying to grow in "living soil" and only feeding the soil and letting the soil feed the plants then you need to change the way you do things.
All this up potting from a tiny pot to slightly less tiny pot won't cut it.

You need to germinate a seed, grow it in a solo cup for about a week then transplant ONCE into the largest fabric pot you can manage and 15 gallon should be absolute minimum.
In a organic living soil grow the roots need a little time for the mycorrhazae to colonize the roots and its the microbes that feed the plant.
You also need a thick mulch layer.

If you're bottle feeding with synthetic nutrients then you're just killing off all the goodness so you would be way better off just growing in coco in a 5 gallon fabric pot.

I let my two 20 gallon fabric pots full of living Organic Soil sit and cook for over 6 months prior to my current grow because I had just too much bud stored up and needed to slow it down some.
So I would feed the worms in the pots some craft blend and Bokashi once a month and toss in the occasional organic banana peel and water with Yucca extract once a week to keep the soil, the worms, microbes and bugs all happy.
When I was ready to grow I started a cover crop two weeks before and started chop and drop the leaves when I planted the cannabis.
That way my soil was fully re-amended and ready for the new crop.
 
I take a bit of a different approach, I rebuild my soil after each grow instead of perpetual-in-a-pot, mainly to mix calcium back in, but either way works splendidly. I use a worm farm to power my soil. I have 2 sets of soil. 1 grows while the other cooks, and the worm farm keeps the organic matter flowing. It makes it so I can pull it off nicely in 10 gallon pots. I'm too old to be lugging 20 gallon pots around🤣.
I also sprout in 10 gallon pots of flower soil. No uppotting, it disturbs myco.

The myco just goes round and round. grow to cooking to grow to cooking. Its fuzzy everywhere around my place🤣
 
Just got off the phone ☎️ with GaiaGreen and they said the same, mix it in its ready to be used by my plants, sorry to stir up a hornets 🐝 nest of controversy
 
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