I had a conversation with BlueJay today about our discussion of no-till LOS. Heres my take away from that:
First off, there are no studies to be found on microbial communities in containers, or at least none anyone has heard of.
On the idea of determining what your soil actually contains after years of dumping into them willy nilly, the answer is stop doing that.
The approach to a no-till requires you to leave behind the mindset that came out of NPK gardening. In no-till you need to determine the "whole food diet" for your soil. This begins with high-quality vermicompost, one of the keys to successful no-till.
Beyond that the soil needs a list of secondary trace elements and micro nutrients. Determine what you believe your soil will require (based on your intended crop) and begin to add the minimal amount of components designed to fill those requirements. Do this over time to see positive, negative or neutral results and adjust accordingly. Do this long enough and keep good enough records and you begin to build the basic list of additives to keep your soil community happiest.
How do you know if you're succeeding? Watch your plants. Become instinctive over time to your plants and your soil. Make small changes and track the results.
Bluejay has put years of study into this process and has come up with 8 additives that are necessary to continue successfully growing top-quality cannabis in no-till containers; vermicompost (preferably homegrown to your particular needs), Neem, Kelp, Aloe, SST, Coconut Water, Fulvic Acid and Silica. All were chosen inputs, included for specific and unique expected outcomes to complete the idea of a whole food diet. Those components also provide a long list of secondary benefits.
In his own words:
"Here's one way to approach soil. Soil might be composed of many (many) different species of soil dwelling life, organic matter, minerals, water, enzymes, roots (and their endless communications/exchanges within the soil) etc etc, but it interacts as a whole single living breathing entity. In that sense each container of soil is a single organism (made up of many...as our bodies are as well ) and should be approached as such, being 'fed' a nutrient rich whole food diet which by default covers all your bases, all your plants nutritional needs. "
He left me with this excellent quote;
"There is no wiser course in farming than the path of wholesome soil improvement." - Masanobu Fukuoka
I hope I gave you all more fuel for thought.
Im just looking for a slow relese nute or a good way to make soil from the garden
Il have a gander a bit more and see what i can find, that mix sounds great tho
so if you dont mind I would like to take a seat here 