Grow Guides
Living Soil for Growing Cannabis
There are many different ways to cultivate cannabis plants, each with pros and cons. You must consider them when choosing your best style. Personally, my favorite method is living soil. At first glance, it may sound daunting and super scientific with big words like rhizosphere, biodynamic, and flocculation, but rest assured, living soil is as easy, if not easier, than any other cultivation method.
This article will answer all your questions about living soil, like how to make it, the difference between living soil and super soil, and how to use it to grow auto flowers. But we’ll start with the most important question: Why should you grow in living soil?
What is living soil?
Living soil has gained popularity in the past decade as part of modern agriculture’s organic and regenerative movements. Living soil for cannabis is a biodynamic medium that takes philosophies from microbiology and nature to produce a sustainable and cost-effective way to cultivate cannabis.
Organic living soil is special because it is bursting with billions of living beings, such as an array of bacteria, endo and ectomycorrhizae, trichoderma, protozoa, nematodes, and more. These organisms create a healthy soil food web which helps with decomposing organic matter into food for your plants.
Add natural amendments and different types of bacteria and fungi to your existing soil to start formulating your own living soil. The different life forms make a microscopic self-sustaining community in the soil.
If you want to learn more about the best soil to grow your cannabis with as well as how to grow cannabis from seed to harvest, checkout our legendary Grow Bible.
Why choose living soil
Living soil for weed is a great choice for cultivating. The soil is reusable, making it very cost-effective, and the amendments used to fertilize the soil are relatively inexpensive compared to most salt or mineral-based fertilizers.
Live soil also produces cannabis plants with higher terpene contents, leading to flowers with potent aromas and flavors. The microbiology in living soil also helps the cannabis plant naturally fight off disease and pests, so you won’t have to use as many pesticides while you grow.
Living soil is also extremely simple to grow in since you won’t need hundreds of bottles of various fertilizers to irrigate with. You can basically get away with irrigating with plain water or compost tea for added nutritional and biological benefits.
How does living soil work?
Living soil provides nutrients to your plants by breaking down amendments in the soil and turning them into food. Hundreds of different organic amendments, such as kelp, worm castings, and alfalfa meal, can be added to any type of soil. They all bring different nutritional compositions to your medium to be broken down by your microbiology.
Different bacteria and fungi help break down these different types of organic matter and turn them into food for your plants. So, by consistently feeding this microbiology in your soil, you feed your plants while feeding the microbes. This creates a self-sustaining ecosystem of life that helps bring life to your garden. Pretty cool, right?!
Bacteria
Bacteria play a huge role in living soil for cannabis. They provide a type of reserve for the plant by eating up the decaying matter and metabolizing it into plant-available nutrients stored in their cellular structure. This helps keep nutrients in the soil. Since the bacteria are bound to the soil particles, stored nutrients are not leached out of the soil during watering.
The beneficial bacteria also help keep the plant healthy because they outcompete bad bacteria in the root zone allowing their populations to remain almost nonexistent.
Fungi
Fungi play one of the biggest roles in living soil. Beneficial fungi, like bacteria, outcompete bad fungi, such as fusarium and pythium, which can devastate plants. Beneficial fungi also help break down amendments and create food reserves called exudates, where the plant roots can tap into plant-available forms of nutrients.
Mycorrhizae is a very popular class of fungi that help boost root health, have a symbiotic relationship with the plant, and help boost overall health as well. Forms of fungi such as glomus and trichoderma are the most common fungi inoculated in living soils.
Worms
Other common biology for living soils are nematodes and worms. Nematodes are basically microscopic worms that mainly help with pest control. They will eat away at larvae and eggs of pests in the plant’s root zone and also help mineralize nutrients found in the beneficial bacteria and fungi in the soil.
Worms are the most important life forms in living soil for multiple reasons. They help aerate the soil by burrowing around the soil, looking for food, and the food (e.g. dead plant material, food scraps) they eat turns into a biodynamic compost known as worm castings. These castings (worm poop) add microbiology and nutrition back into the soil and helps build soil structure and improve the texture of the soil.
Worm castings are one of the most essential elements to any living soil; the proof is in the poop!
The best worms for living soil are red wigglers and European nightcrawlers. Red wigglers are small worms that move fast. They are also the fastest at making worm castings. European nightcrawlers are larger and slower moving, but they help aerate soils faster due to their larger size.
By adding different amendments and compost, these different types of microbiology create a vast community that works symbiotically to keep your plants healthy and ensure all of their needs are met.
What is the difference between super soil and living soil?
Growers sometimes use living soil and super soil synonymously, but there are a few differences. You can use the same ingredients to make a living soil, but the main difference between super soil and live soil is longevity.
Many super soil recipes published over the years, such as Coots Mix and SubCools super soil, are made by layering different amendments at varying horizons. This is an attempt to make a medium that will provide proper nutrition from the vegetative stage through flowering. You only use Super Soil once since it only contains enough nutrition for one cannabis lifecycle.
With living soil, you minimally add amendments to your soil and water with biological inputs, like compost. This adds bacteria and fungi and helps maintain a healthy and balanced ecosystem in your soil mix. This additional work keeps your soil perpetually healthy, while a super soil mix will be barren and used up at the end of a grow.
What is the best medium for living soil?
Living soil for weed is best made with loamy soil and pumice for aeration (oxygen pockets in your soil). The soil texture should be in the middle of fluffy and dense but leaning towards the fluffier side. I like to use pumice instead of perlite in my living soils because it is more environmentally friendly and provides low levels of nutrients such as silica.
Is living soil better for outdoor or indoor?
Living soil works perfectly well for outdoor and indoor cannabis cultivation. However, it is a little easier and more forgiving running plants outdoors in living soil. In an outdoor setting, there is already a variety of microbiology living in your soil that can be used as a jumping-off point. Plants are also much hardier outside and can survive off whatever minerals are available in a good native soil.
In an indoor setting, you have to start from the ground up with living soil since you are starting in a sterile environment. You’ll need to put much more thought into creating your medium, but many soil manufacturers, such as SoHumm Living Soil, provide soils that can be used as a good base.
The downside to living soil for indoor grows is a potentially lower yield due to the inability to aggressively feed (like in a hydroponic system). There’s also low yield due to size constraints. Since indoor spaces are usually smaller, you can’t grow bigger plants to compensate for the smaller yield.
Looking to start your grow in a small space? Check out our guide on growing marijuana in small indoor spaces!
In terms of quality, though, living soil is great both inside and outside just because of the natural availability of nutrients. Whether you grow indoors or outdoors, living soil will create beautiful flowers that smell and taste amazing.
Want to start an outdoor grow? Shop outdoor seeds at ILGM today.
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What is the best pH for Living Soil?
For those not familiar, pH is a measure of how acidic or alkaline something is. Many growers check the pH of the irrigation water and medium religiously, while some may have never checked either. In living soil, pH is not a huge factor if you have proper pH regulators like dolomitic limestone and gypsum to keep your soil pH within range. You should shoot for a pH of 6.5, which is slightly acidic. This pH provides the best availability for nutrient uptake in soil.
Is living soil better than hydroponics?
Living soil is my preferred cultivation method, but that does not necessarily mean it is the best. In my opinion, it produces plants with better aromas and flavors than hydroponics and is much more environmentally friendly compared to using salt-based fertilizers. However, hydroponics provides a system for growing plants faster and with a typically higher yield. I would rather take quality over quantity, but everyone has their own motives.
Is living soil better than coco?
Again, to each their own, I would still choose living soil over cannabis grown in coco. Coco is a good medium but tends to be pretty salty and contaminated with pathogens and heavy metals. Coco provides the benefits of faster plant growth and larger yields and is more forgiving than most hydroponic cultivation methods. However, I would still choose living soil as a better medium.
Is living soil good for autoflowers?
Living soil is a good medium to grow autoflowers because of how nutrients are stored. Living soil lets autoflowers pick and choose the nutrients they need at different life stages. This takes some of the guesswork out of how to nutritionally steer your autoflower since its life cycle is not cut and dry like a photoperiod plant. Keep in mind you would want to create a specific living soil recipe for autoflowers instead of one for photoperiod plants.
Have you found the soil you want to use for your grow? Pair it with ILGM’s autoflowering seeds today!
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How much should I water my cannabis in living soil?
Watering living soil can be a little tricky at first. You should start with clean water and make sure not to let your soil become too dry. Too-dry soil will harm the bacteria and fungal colonies you have worked hard to cultivate (and are working hard for you). When watering inside, you should water until you get some water coming out the bottom of your pot. Keep this runoff to a minimum so you don’t flush out any nutrients your microbiology has not metabolized.
How to make Living Soil?
There are many different living soil recipes to choose from when crafting your soil. I recommend looking at various manufacturers’ recipes for their living soils and breaking them down to create your own, such as Gaia Green, Nature’s Living Soil, and SoHumm Living Soil. Any living soil recipe relies mainly on a good source of compost, so do your due diligence and research good compost sources when choosing your compost for a living soil.
Final Thoughts on Living Soil
Living soil is an excellent medium for cannabis cultivation. It is economical, environmentally friendly, and produces high-quality buds. It is also a fascinating method of cultivation. I find it fun learning and implementing different types of microbiology and natural inputs when growing cannabis.
Living soil is versatile since it can be implemented in an indoor or outdoor garden and is very easy to start compared to other cultivation methods. The quality of the final product speaks for itself. Every grower should do at least one living soil garden in their life just to experience this fantastic growing method.
Keep learning to keep your garden greener, Spenser
Cultivating cannabis indoors lets you control the many variables marijuana plants face while growing. Indoors, you can grow cannabis plants year-round, train them to stay small or trigger them to flower when needed. All of these things are quite hard to do outdoors. That’s why, whether you’re just starting out or if it is a lifelong passion, growing an indoor cannabis garden is an excellent option. You just need to decide where to put it.
Even though cannabis can grow in many conditions, this article will help you determine where your best home grow should be.
Determine how to grow cannabis first
No two cannabis grows are the same; plus, there’s an almost unlimited combination of cultivation styles, cultivars, techniques, and equipment. When you are ready to grow, start by considering the size and output you’d like your weed plants to achieve. Then use ILGM resources such as the Grow Bible and Harvest Guide to determine your cultivation methods and techniques before considering the space needed to reach your goals.
Indoor growing has three main categories: grow rooms, grow tents, and micro grows. For some, the decision is easy; if there’s no space in the house for a grow tent or room, then a micro grow makes sense.
Budget is another thing to keep in mind. The cost of a grow will go up as it gets bigger, more complicated, and more secure. You can build or buy a micro grow box for a few hundred bucks (USD) instead of renovating an entire grow room. The grow tent falls between those extremes, bridging the mobility of a micro grow with the space and capacity of a grow room. If you plan to maintain mothers, cut clones, and run a perpetual harvest indoors, you’ll need two grow tents/micro grows to cover your vegetative and flowering stages.
Where to place a micro grow
Micro grows can pack a punch for a small footprint. With sizes ranging from window-side grows under a light to small enclosed boxes like old PC cases, they’re also stealthy and easy to start.
One of the best features of Micro grows is the ability to put them just about anywhere. Due to their easy setup, they’re great for experimenting with new methods, running autos, and other small-batch projects. They are especially ideal if you’re not ready for a tent or room.
However, Micro grows have their drawbacks. They have hard limits on your capacity and harvest output since they’re small. They can also be tricky to control. In fact, the smaller the grow, the more temperamental it can be.
Read our articles “What You Need to Know Before You Micro Grow” and “Cannabis Micro Growing: Grow Weed in a Small Space” to learn more about setting up your own micro grow.
Placing a grow tent
Grow tents can be a flexible option if you’re interested in growing marijuana in larger batches indoors. You can choose from small 2x2x3 tents to large 10x10x6 tents with no restriction on where they can go.
In terms of space, a tent has a bigger footprint than micro-growing; however, using a grow tent can better control the temperature, humidity, and airflow. Plus, the increased capacity means you can cultivate bigger plants and harvest more flower.
If a tent seems like a lot to put together, do not fear. Many companies sell complete solutions with everything you need to set up your tent. If you prefer to do things yourself, check out our articles on how to build a DIY grow tent and our grow tent buyer’s guide for all the ins and outs of the possibilities.
Building a grow room
Indoor grow rooms are the Cadillac option, offering the most versatility, space, and security. Unused spaces, including basements, garages, attics, closets, or converted bedrooms/bathrooms, are ideal grow rooms. Once you identify the location of your room, everything from simple grow light setups to complex CO2 (Carbon Dioxide), temperature, and humidity controls can exist in it. Thanks to their bigger space, increased number of grow lights and resource availability, you can customize grow rooms for every type of growing technique.
If you have the space, budget, and time, consider creating your own grow room. Check out our various articles on indoor setups and methods to build a dream grow room in your home.
Basement Grow
A basement is the classic solution when growing cannabis indoors since it provides privacy and security for your grow. The basement also has added perks like temperature and humidity stability, good ventilation options, and less concern about noise and smell. But basements can be a problem. If the humidity is too high, stagnant air can grow mold and mildew. You may also have lower ceilings, which limit how tall plants can grow.
Your budget, space, and goals will determine whether a room or tent placed in the basement is the best place to grow cannabis at home. On a lower budget, a tent can help control some of the moisture and keep the temperature higher, but it can’t replace the benefits of a room.
Attic Grow
Even though the basement is often the first place people think of, an attic cannabis grow can be a close second. Like a basement, an attic offers a high degree of privacy and security, but height can be an issue. Some attics might be tall enough for full-grown plants, whereas others have ceilings that cannot support mature sativa plants.
Certain attics aren’t suited for a grow room; either they’re too small or low, or the temperature and humidity are too hard to control. A grow tent might help keep your plants cool and stabilize other factors, but that’s not always guaranteed. You’ll have to be critical about your available space and determine if your attic is a good spot for growing marijuana indoors.
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Garage Grow Room
You can grow weed indoors in your garage; it’s private, secure, and easy to keep discrete. Ventilation is also fairly easy to handle. However, temperature and humidity can be problematic, like in the attic. It may also be easier for others to break in or discover your grow compared to a basement or attic. Be smart and critical when deciding if your garage is a good option for growing weed indoors.
A garage can house a grow room or a tent. If you prefer a room, make sure to consider insulation and space. If you still need to park a car or store stuff in the garage, a grow room can take up a lot of space. However, a tent can be a more manageable garage option. You can place a grow tent to the side and have it take up very little space.
Growing cannabis in a bedroom
A bedroom grow space is also an option. In some instances, it might even be ideal, giving you full-height ceilings, convenient space to work with your plants, and the most temperature-controlled option in your home. However, it may be difficult to secure a room and keep it private, but that depends on where you live. Odor and noise may also be a concern depending on the living situation.
In most cases, it’s easier to start with a grow tent when you’re growing in a bedroom. However, if you’ve got the time, money, and interest, a bedroom makes a great grow room because you can run perpetual harvests with multiple smaller spaces or one large canopy.
The Summary
Choosing where to grow indoors can be tricky, thanks to many different options and cultivation methods. Where you grow depends on your goals as a cultivator; your budget and living situation determine the rest. Consider a Micro grow if you’re just starting out or want to be stealthy. A grow tent is the next step, giving you more space and harvest potential. And for those ready to invest, grow rooms offer unlimited potential.
As a long-time grower, I like growing in tents in the basement or a bedroom because it balances space, mobility, and control. However, cultivation is about finding out what works best for you and your environment. With time and care, any method will create quality cannabis.
Keep on Growing!
Fast-flowering strains combine photoperiod genetics with autoflowering genetics. They have been engineered to grow and mature faster than traditional cannabis plants. This means quicker harvests and increased yields compared to autoflower strains. Fast flowering strain yields can match those of photoperiod cannabis varieties.
Understanding fast flowering weed and how it differs from established photoperiod and autoflower cultivars is key for growers of any level. This article’ll dive deeper into these differences, how fast-flowering cultivars are made, and their added benefits.
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The difference between fast-flowering and autoflowers
The primary difference between fast-flowering cannabis variants and autoflowering cannabis variants is how they flower. Fast-flowering variants are photoperiod dependent (they need light manipulation to flower and mature). The light cycle will need to be turned back or “flipped” from 18 hours on and 6 hours off to 12 hours on and 12 hours off for the plants to transition from their vegetative stage into their flowering stage.
This is in contrast to autoflowering strains, which automatically go into their flowering period within 4-6 weeks of germination from seed. Thus, fast-flowering cultivars give growers the benefits of sturdy and potent photoperiod strains in a shorter period of time.
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How fast-flowering strains are made
There has been a surge in the development of fast-flowering strains due to the increased demand for cannabis products. Breeders utilize selective genetics and hybridization techniques to produce these fast version strains. In the case of fast-flowering cultivars, the breeders selected genetics from plants that flowered faster than some of their sisters.
Sometimes, fast-flowering cannabis varieties are made by introducing photoperiod plants to pollen from autoflower plants. This introduces even more fast-flowering genetic traits to the new phenotype (strain). After that, breeders stabilize the Ruderalis genetics by reintroducing photoperiod genetics through a process called “back-crossing”.
This produces fast-flowering, photoperiod-dependent, and cloneable cultivars.
Growing fast-flowering strains
One of the significant advantages of growing fast-flowering cannabis strains is that they’ll reach the flowering phase quicker than traditional light-cycle dependent strains. The flowering time for these strains can range from 6-8 weeks, while many traditional photoperiod strains can take 7 -to 10 weeks or longer.
The shorter flowering period allows growers to turn over more crops. Additionally, fast-flowering strains can be grown multiple times a year in the same space, potentially increasing yields and profits.
Fast-flowering strains can have a longer period of vegetative growth and training if desired, giving growers more options.
Pros and cons of fast-flowering strains
Besides the reduced growth cycle time, fast-flowering plants are also more resistant to pests and diseases than traditional strains. This is likely because they mature quicker, leaving less time for diseases and pests to take hold.
Fast-flowerers are also more resistant to environmental factors such as temperature changes and extreme weather conditions, making them easier to grow in a wider range of locations. The shorter growing times also allow for more potential harvests on a yearly basis.
While fast-flowering strains have many advantages, they also have some drawbacks. One of the main disadvantages is a potentially smaller yield than traditional strains. Lower yields occur because these strains complete their life cycle much quicker than traditional strains. That means they have less time to develop and grow. Additionally, fast-flowering strains may produce lower levels of THC and other cannabinoids than traditional strains.
Fast-flowering strains may also require more immediate attention from growers due to their shorter lifespan. Any potential errors or mistakes may mean extending the growth cycle or delaying flowering for the plants to recover.
Are fast flowering strains good?
This is a tough question to answer. It all depends on what you consider “good”. Fast-flowering strains are a good option for growers looking for decent yields of potent flowers in less time than photo cultivars take. But, due to shorter growth cycles, as I stated before, the yield might not be as high as with ‘regular’ photoperiod plants, which get all the time they need to fully flourish.
Fast-flowering cultivars also offer more customization for growing and training than autoflowers, as well as more time to recover from any potential mistakes or accidents that might occur.
So, yes. Ultimately, fast-flowering cultivars are “good” if you want training flexibility and production speed with a decent and potent yield compared to most autoflower varieties. But if you’re looking for fully optimized yields, our feminized photoperiod options are a ‘better choice.’
What is the fastest-growing cannabis strain?
There may be some debate as to which cannabis strains grow the fastest. Afghani and Skunk strains tend to be the fastest-growing from what I’ve experienced. However, those were regular photoperiod cultivars.
When you look online, pretty much every site has its own lists, each with different strains of claiming to be the fastest. But are those claims justified? It’s hard to say since no one has really tested it. The only thing we can say for certain is that autoflowering seeds can be harvested earlier than many of their photoperiod counterparts. And when it comes to subspecies, sativa tends to need longer than indica plants.
Check out our list of fast flowering strains to see which ones we think are our fastest. And if you’re new to growing or just want some great information on enhancing your current skills, download Robert’s free Grow Bible here.
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