Who knows their soil ecosystems? Do beneficial or harmful gasses escape or intrude soil when the top layer is broken?

In a word, no. Normally, there are no gasses, either above ground or below ground that are in a state whereby they are captured. Gasses (air) fills all non solid spaces, so any "gasses" are everywhere to begin with. No till gardening involves not turning the soil over, meaning bringing sub surface soil to to the surface, and does not mean not disturbing the very surface of the soil, otherwise, how would you plant seeds? No till could be thought of as "no plough/plow", which is a more accurate description. Under normal agricultural practices, it is almost impossible to kill all soil microbes and the soil mychorrizae live on plant roots, so they can not be killed unless dried to death for years. The fact a product is causing a crust to form, would lead me to stop using it. At this stage, and if you are keen to keep using this "nectar", I would be scraping the crust off carefully and removing it. After this, add a new layer of fresh substrate to your pots and monitor for a new crust forming. If it continues to form, I would either discontinue with the product or work out which part of my "system" is causing the crust to form in the first place. Maybe watering it in with plain water after applying the nectar may wash it deeper down and this might solve the problem. Otherwise, I would make sure the substrate is moistened with plain water before applying the nectar, which would "draw" it deeper down, achieving the same result as "washing" it in after application. Either of these two methods should prevent the crust from forming, but I would recommend removing the old crusty bits first and adding a new layer of fresh substrate before continuing with this product. Having a surface crust is not an ideal situation, making air exchange harder and preventing efficient irrigation. Hope this helps,.......... Organoman.

Hi, I’ve used the full nectar lineup and never had that issue... so not sure. But I know a lot of folks tout the “no till” gardening as not to disrupt the microbes, microrhyza, etc. good no till. Good luck ✌️🏻💚🌿