Hou_Stone Living Soil Creation

Hou_Stone Here I will keep a journal that will track the creation and evolution of my living soil in a 50L pot, which I will use for my upcoming grow sessions. Start of the journal: For the construction of my substrate, I will use some locally sourced resources that are accessible to me, as I like to take my time with this. For this project, which aims to create a rich and stable living soil, I needed to search for many products in stores. For the pozzolan, perlite, and light mix peat, I went to a local DIY store. For organic amendments, my go-to sources were Almicanna and Green House Feeding, which each offer very interesting products for organic growing. My detailed recipe for 100L of substrate: (Drainage 30L) = Perlite 10L, +Pozzolan 10L, +Clay Pebbles 5L, +Rice Husk 5L (Structure 42L) = Coco Fiber 21L, +Peat (lightmix) 21L (Nutrition) 28L = Activated Biochar 10L, +Garden Humus (with mycellium) 8L, +Worm Casting 8L, +Premium Compost 1L, +250g Neem cake +250g Kelp meal +250g Malted barley +Universal amendement mix (Almicanna) 1L --------- February 16, 2026 Collecting some garden humus from under a layer of dead leaves at the base of a hazelnut tree where I spotted some mycelium. Hoping that this mycelium and the quality of the humus will be preserved and even spread, I'm going to add it to a 30L pot already containing maturing potting soil, which I plan to mix into the final substrate later. This first 30L pot has an approximate composition of 7L perlite, 4L worm castings, 8L Garden humus with mycelium, and 11L light-mix peat. February 21, 2026 Biochar Activation For my 100L of final substrate, I'm going to activate biochar. I've heard only good things about its effects in living soil, but it shouldn't be added haphazardly; it needs to be activated. To activate it, I'll use 6 liters of dry biochar, mixed with 3 liters of water, molasses, and a bioenhancer, and 4 liters of organic matter (garden humus, compost, seaweed meal, malted barley, worm castings, BioGrow/Biobloom, or Azomite). I'll let the mixture sit in a container with a small ventilation opening to allow beneficial microorganisms to multiply, stirring daily to aerate it. 03/03/2026 Preparing my substrate: I mix all the ingredients of my recipe (details above) and then fill my two 50-liter pots with this mixture. I wrap my pots in cellophane geotextile and add a layer of mulch to the surface to limit the drying out of the pot while it "cooks." The addition of a large quantity of organic amendment triggers a massive activation of microbial life in the soil, which will heat up, digest the amendments, and stabilize the nutrients. With the amount I've added, the soil needs at least three weeks to stabilize and be ready to receive plants. I'm going to let it rest a little longer, until my current grow is finished.