INTRO 1:33 for the haters with LTSS (Low Tension Soil Syndrome) 2:17 background 2:47 smoke break (damn already?) 3:27 using a mat, vapor barriers, hydrophobicity 4:16 aquifer band DETERMINE MEASUREMENTS 5:24 measurements for 30 gallon pot 5:58 general proportions 6:41 proportions simplified 6:51 minimum container size? MATERIALS (for premade mix see 'BUILDING A LAYER') 8:01 gravel (E layer) 8:57 sands (E layer) 50:00 premade sand/silt/clay mixes (A layer) 25:03 organic matter (O layer) 1:11:33 clay types BUILDING E LAYER 10:18 pouring sand 11:04 homogenizing sands 11:24 using masonry sands, colors 11:59 purpose of sand, explaining hardpan, "fines" 14:28 do decomposing roots add fine organic matter? 15:27 wetting sand 15:58 removing air pockets 16:42 reiterating importance 18:27 sand filling void, rock sizes 19:18 depth and large gravel size 19:50 sand filter "fines" (continued) 20:21 rock and mychorrizae 20:51 wicking O LAYER CONCEPTS 21:05 isn't the A layer next? 21:23 soil horizons graphic, classifications, and commentary on ionic charge 25:03 organic matter (woodchips/compost/coco/pittmoss/manure/straw/cover crop) MIXING O LAYER 30:50 bucket of this, bucket of that 33:33 cement mixer? 34:53 proportions/coots mix? 36:10 mixing wet ingredients (A horizon) 36:53 commercial soil blending services INTERMISSION RIFFING 38:50 Ions and soil health, micronutrients, CEC, N/P abundance, residual biomass, nutrient lockout, fusarium, and more ^^ions are the charged atoms, he describes their interactions at exchange sites 44:36 Why sand, silt, clay? Compost teas? Indoor v outdoor, benefits of in-ground 47:10 biomicry, budgets, long term cost benefits 47:55 bringing pests/pathogens indoors BUILDING A LAYER 50:00 premade sand/silt/clay mixes 53:10 multisourcing 53:31 adding 20% O layer mix 54:45 innoculating A layer (>8 inches) 58:47 two lifts, 'glazing' inoculant 1:01:18 glazing A layer pt 1 1:01:55 "Nature don't put no fabric down!" 1:04:18 glazing A layer pt 2 BUILDING O LAYER 1:05:35 adding O layer mix 1:07:35 adding mulch 1:08:08 watering down 1:08:15 mulch materials 1:17:49 watering to field capacity 1:18:38 adding a cover crop OTHER NOTES 1:13:13 Soil textural test (mason jar) 28:45 cover crops 29:35 cover crop to avoid 29:55 cover crop benefits/mycho mining 55:14 aquatic MO 55:40 aquatic/terrestrial migration 56:30 AMO sourcing, tropical aquarium 57:22 www.fishbrew.com LETS GIVE BACK TO LEIGHTON- we can create promo material for him. Maybe a step by step infographic using these notes!!
@@neverwinterfarms Probably 5-6 hours once I decided to take notes. One device to play/pause and another to enter timestamps. Then another run through for editing. Thought it would be interesting to take notes this way- it was slow but definitely retained well.
btw i just wanna say i live in prairies in 52nd paralell the horizonal system your talking about is taught to every agricultural and horticultural student out here. its the reason we are so successful in a heavy alkaline clay dominant area. this technique works, 100%organic is great and works for some but most of terra is made up of this soil composition,or atleast most of the northern hemisphere. it works...if 100ft trees can find the nutrients in such a soil so can an annual. cannabis is a taprooting dichotimous resin bear plant after all( other plants of that classification= maple trees and redwoods)
soil scientist here. he is incorrect about the origins of silt. Silt is chemically weathered sediments as well. the distinction with silt, and why it is delineated by sieve size is that it is created chemically through water erosion vs mechanical action, altering the shape and size in a distinct way. content is great though, love the future cannabis project!
I build muy house out of cob.... Clau AND sand mix ... Where i voy the Clay, there was a big layer of silt, and Is to diferente... How it acts with whater with pressure... It's actually the opposite. Clay makes averitjing stiky... Silt is the oposit.. it can't be in the same category
I build muy house out of cob.... Clau AND sand mix ... Where i voy the Clay, there was a big layer of silt, and Is to diferente... How it acts with whater with pressure... It's actually the opposite. Clay makes averitjing stiky... Silt is the oposit.. it can't be in the same category
Mind blown. I feel like this was the missing piece to my living soil. I've been using so much ACT to keep replenishing the microbes, when I wasn't giving them the ideal environment in the first place!
It actually wasn't known until somewhat recently that microbes could actually take nutrients/minerals from inorganic matter, sand/silt/clay. Likely why they haven't got the proper attention
perfect timing and excellent video, this guy is easy to follow and understand and I'm in the middle of digging a future cannabis garden. I don't know that I would do all this for my 5 gal pots as I dump and recycle them every season, but for a permanent bed this is perfect and an understanding I've been looking for.
Nice timing to find this. Im filling a 30 gallon pot and was going to do a rock drainage layer in bottom and my soil mix on top but now Im going to try to source material (sand, silt, clay) for the A layer between and fill the 30 gallon with the correct proportions by layer. 4 parts O horizon, 2 parts A horizon, 1 part E horizon. Cant wait to try this method out. Flowering a single OG Kush clone in a 2'x3' space in said 30 gal.
After I saw a shovel in Oakland, which had Dr. GreenThumb logo on it, my life has changed, but not as much as after watching these amazing episodes of wisdom and knowledge combined. Yah bless, living soil wizards!
Looks like you fellas had fun. Even the guy pushing the shovel. I dug a 5' deep pond out back and saw exactly what Leighton describes here with the layering. He is also correct about clay being the unsung hero of soil. 3.5'-4' was red clay full of worms. I live on some of the best Ag soil in the US and its because of the clay mineral supply that those worms are moving up and down between rains.
AWESOME!! Thank you guys for taking the time to do this!! Having this knowledge now has really brought together everything else I've been hearing and seeing for the last however many months! Haha thank you Mr. Morrison and thank you Peter!! And I wish you and Tom better luck in the garden this year!!
Lol that totally happens to me alot. I'm listening and then all of sudden a few minutes have gone by and I missed it. Thanks for this info and demo gentleman!!
As a soil scientist it is very nice to see the soil horizon system utilized. Plants have adapted to soil with horizons over the millions of years of evolution. What a great way to harness the power of nature!
Thank you for this and to the three gentleman who put it together. This is the first "Living Soil" explainer that is congruent with what I was taught in middle school and high school earth and sciences classes plus it also mimics real outdoor soils. I do think depth matters most for this approach so 2ft is probably 4ft too small in the horizonal depths ... I think ideally 6ft is the target but that would be absurd for an indoor setup. Also the AEO ratio given as 1:2:4 is good but for easy fractions I think it more wise for folks to use a 1:2:3 ratio so the first A layer is 1/6th of the bottom depth, followed by a 1/3rd of the container for E horizon, and the final 1/2 top layer being the O horizon instead of 1/7th(A), 2/7th(E), and 4/7th(O) ... don't think such a deviation will adversely impact the horizonal system explained here by that much as it fractionally increases the AE horizons and fractionally reduces the O horizon but it can make measuring the layers easier for people trying this soil method with more straightforward fractions that you can measure with buckets. Couple of notes I wish was covered more because I wanted to learn more was the aquatic microbes. Whether raw materials (sand, silt, clay) is the only way or you can be an alchemist and use those cheap Walmart soils full of sand or clay that are of poor quality ... I'm guessing you would have to do that water test to see the ratios of organics, sand, silt, and clay. BTW I think all those cheap store bought top soil mixes (not potting soil mixes) from the likes of Walmart for example are just E horizon grade material with a bit of O horizon raw material blended in but essentially useful for E horizons (although they can be filler sand heavy and not enough clay or vice versa so probably have to water test each mix as they can differ from lot to lot). The cover crop discussion would have been nice given a bit more depth but enough materials is readily available out there. I wanted to know after mixing if the soil is ready to plant in or if there is a cooling off/ settling period to observe. Also how to recycle this soil like after 5 growing cycles and the container is giving out ... do you mix all the contents of the old container together and consider it a new E horizon and make a new A and O horizon; I'm sensing that might be the approach here? Another question is the usage of RO water vs de-chlorinated regular tap water ... I think RO water leaches minerals away from each horizon but is it better for regulating pH in a containerized grow medium? One thing that had me confused is it's not peat that was added but pit moss ... can someone explain that to me as to what product that is? What I like about this horizonal approach is it actually uses SOIL (sand, silt, clay). All these soilless mediums for potting mixes provide good drainage but with anything too much drainage is also bad. You need soils that can both drain at a reasonable rate but also retain water for longer periods. It makes no sense watching these soilless living soils techniques using cover crops, mulches and top dressing nutrients ... the cover crops and mulches are helping hold water from evaporating from the top layer but the soil drains too fast for it to matter and nutrients are flushed out when the roots can't uptake it fast enough (you may as well go with liquid nutrients at that point and be on a feeding schedule). Every living soil mix I've watched so far had me going like the Wendy's "Where's the beef?" lady and instead I'm asking "Where's the clay?". Then you see these folks dump all this money into rock dust and calcium/ magnesium releasing mineral formula's when all of that is locked into the actual sand, silt, clay holy trinity (you get it for free essentially). Plus actual soil that is living has these semi-permanent AE horizons so you don't have to dump and re-ammend a new soilless medium every grow this makes them real no-till solutions as you just renew it with a top dress of new organic material on the O horizon. On a final note one aspect not mentioned about benefits of this approach is it regulates root growth. In amended and nutrient/ mineral available soilless mediums the roots are not stressed and are incentivized to grow outwards whereas this horizonal approach much like you find in the viticulture (grape growers) you want to stress the roots to grow down and deep and having the minerals, the clay holding nutrients/ microbes and water sand reservoir at the bottom promotes the plant to grow the roots down. This gives the plant an opportunity to not compete with neighboring plants for nutrients during veg stage, gives the plant a strong foundation, and promotes a stem/ trunk that is strong. The veg-stage is not just about seeing the multiplicity of upward growth but it's to also see the downward growth of the roots (wine grape growers stress this point a lot) ... and much like the wine grape growers it's probably a good idea to trim leaf growth in first half of veg stage to encourage the roots to go down deep so it pays dividends for very good fruit sets (although keep in mind 2ft depth makes this point moot and I'm talking about 6ft depths here).
Such timing this tutorial came out! I applied this concept to two 7 gal gr pots and transplanted in some veg’d plants, I’m expecting to harvest in 3 months or so - will update then!
@@t4ntr420 i'm chopping in a week - maybe not the best example as I had three small plants in one 7gal and two in the other 7 gal. My waterings were about 10% of the container every day aimed for no run off. Top canopy stretched too close to the hlg leds (~6" they recc 15-18") leaves got burnt tops buds bleached. I feel it wasn't enough room for the amount of plants so I am going to try again and get one big container (30+gal?) instead of the two separate 7gals to max out the tent along with the techniques in this vid.
@@t4ntr420 aside from the burnt leaves, the buds themselves look great smell great are dense as can be sticky to the touch one cultivar foxtailed beautifully but will have to wait further judgement after cure
This video is like a million times better than the organics alive bro's video lol. Edit * it seems many people are not understanding the purpose of this video, It is merely demonstrating the horizon system, obviously it would be better doing this in much larger volumes of soil than in a 30 gal pot .
30:00 I've found drops of water on my covers, while my soil surface was completely dried out!!! Incredible how well they work. Soil was bare just during the time while I was growing the covers, and even as seedlings the retention went up drastically
If you look for my comment with timestamps (still editing) it will make taking notes a breeze! It'd be awesome if some other folks took the initiative to transcribe/take notes, perhaps create a step by step, and finally make a graphic we can give to Leighton !!
@Brock Wesner It is not a comparison of material content it is a comparison of change of procedure. Going forward living soil people will migrate towards using soil horizons.
Nature inspired me to do this type of thing. I learned a lot from Leighton in this short video. Listening to what he says is going to lead to other avenues for information. I'm sure if I got this far I would be able to figure it out from here. Naive I must be.
ive been making my beds by the same general concept for years and had afew people question it, saying ill have major issues with seperate horizons but have never had any issues.
I notice in my dry windy area that the rye grass captures morning dew on humid mornings to aid in watering itself. In low light, light canopies, it flourishes, even when rain events are months apart during the dry season.
Now even more i understand why i like Leighton. He's a soil engineer. So the limestone doesn't affect the plant when the roots get down to it? Can he give some sand size and shape info? Instead of don't get the dust? He got this out of my industry. Look up the USGA green section.
@Caryophyllene Co hell yeah I'm looking to start up aquaponic system with avocado tech and using this method....just scarred of bring in any bad bugs...I plan on harvesting alot of my own substrates
Just curious, have you tested the physical characteristics of any of these horizon blends. For the Water Holding Capacity, EAW, Easily Available Water], AW , Air Space. Academic research has generally claimed that container mixes with "soil particle components" generally have problems with AirSpace
I've been looking for this agro coco company thats supposedly in LA but with no luck. Any recommendations for where I can buy some good agro coco like shown @ 26:03?
You can use any coco, it was a plug for his favourite source ... the point is to find coco that is not directly packed from the brackish salt heavy water where they were harvested in. Most coco providers today wash out the salts with calcium nitrate and water baths ... for your benefit of mind you can also soak the coco for a few hours in a water bath and drain the water out, then do a few water flushes as in joust pour water over it and let the water pour through; that should be good enough to wash salts out. Also the point about 2psi compressed and 10psi compressed coco; he has a point about water retention capacity being lost but it's not a deal breaker as in the end of the day it's a organic filler and will denature over the years. You might have to water a bit more on average but just by a smidge or can augment with a bit of perlite (as much as I loathe that stuff) ... what matters most is since it's used for top layer you want its ability to have good drainage so that it readily drains from the O horizon to the E horizon promoting a nutrient gradient that roots will track towards to go deep.
Great information! Tried to search but didn't see ........ How do you water this system after you originally water to field capacity. Specifically in 30 gallon pots? Thank you
Been dealing with chronic pain for years As well as growing for[redacted]. Now I'm really looking for a few types that I can share with some ailing folks who are resistant to smoking out. Anyone have any strain suggestions or suppliers that they trust and will ship (seed) to AZ? Probably will just make some RSO to get them some relief quickly while I tinker with some other recipes for salves etc. Thanks in advance.
I was going to try and work in some hugelkultur this year. Assuming this would still work would in this system, I just put the logs and such above the A?
Coming from a permaculture background I was excited to build my second hugel but in FL I gotta be careful because rotten wood calls for ants invasion, so just heads up to do the dilligent region specific research for your project. There are very good videos on UA-cam about it & peoples feedback on their experiences after some time. It worked very good for us in Colorado though. Good luck in your journey Cade!
Because Hugelculture is organic material (large pieces of wood at the bottom and organic material laid over it) and in practice used over the top soil horizon to make better top soil with organic filler as the logs decay it is therefore expressly a horizon O material. The thing with hugelculture is it can scale ... suppose the large pieces of wood is small branches, twigs and wood chips and immediately the scaling of the material used decreases. When you do it above the A layer so in essence the E layer the wood decomposes into an anaerobic layer over the years and displaces the sand, silt, and clay of that horizon with decaying organics that denatures those soil components buy locking away the nitrogen. Just think of the vertical cutout of the ground soil and imagine the layers ... you wouldn't find big chunks of wood just above the rocky sediment layer of A, you will find the raw soil that is basically a mixture of sand, silt, clay, and some rocks which is the E layer. Above that layer in O is where the organics of more carbon rich soils with humus, decaying wood and detritus of dead things are found. BTW the instructor dude explains it in the video.
@1:02:10.. So true ! i once got the bright idea to use big cotton shopping bags to grow in because i was just too impatient to get real fabric pots.. I needed to transplant as soon as possible & so when i watered one time, by the next day they were covered in black mold & when i went to go lift one up it just totally ripped apart into pieces..
@@playboymac i watch most stuff i see from this channel, and i am interested to see what this horizonal soil that Leighton has mentioned many times, looks like. i am learning some stuff and hearing that i am right about some stuff, so i got to be here, right now. i wasnt intending irony or sarcasm when i said this is youtube. i like that this is youtube, well for my echo chamber it is, anyway
@@beansdork ok awesome:) maby I misunderstood the comment , all is welcome here, just wondered how this caught your attention as the youtubest thing you ever seen , but my bad cause now I feel like I don't even fully understand what that statement means to you, hope you have an amazing month 💙
@@playboymac i hope, likewise, for you to have a good month. . for me its busy one in the garden, because i have been growing outdoor with mixed light
so jelly about the sun it was so cold last night i couldnt get the grow above 76 normally sits at 81 lol Hope everyone has a good weekend! Also does anyone have the clubhouse i need a invite!!!
They use a waterproof fabric. So I'm sure there are plenty that could be found and sewn in. Thinking about doing this as it seems really hard to get hold of grassroots pots outside of USA
Excuse my ignorance, but this type of system doesn't require the water being PHed, correct? If not, is there a PH that is so absurd that it would require it to be corrected? Im in LA, and currently getting about 8.0 PH out of the tap.
Might be beneficial to add a little PH down prior to watering... in general if your soil is charged with microbes it can potentially mitigate any minor PH variations above and below ideals...
For a large commercial operation a paddle mixer should work better than a cement mixer. For research methods, we use to use a large Y mixers which splits the volume in 2 and remixes on every revolution. The Y mixer completely homogenizes any 2 ingrediants without breaking down any of the ingrediants
Is there studies that show how long it takes fungi to attach to rocks and begin extracting? Is it a fairly speedy process or is it one of those decade long things?
awesome content, heard you on Growcast! ...cations are positively charged though, not that it matters in practice, they do their thing whether you call em positive or negatively charged, fat or skinny lol thank you for posting!
Amazing Stuff..Have seen hard pan brought up into a soil and it enhances growth ..A lot to see in this clip about mimicking mother nature..Been on a similar path and it takes quite a bit of work but it last..Dynamo hum...
INTRO
1:33 for the haters with LTSS (Low Tension Soil Syndrome)
2:17 background
2:47 smoke break (damn already?)
3:27 using a mat, vapor barriers, hydrophobicity
4:16 aquifer band
DETERMINE MEASUREMENTS
5:24 measurements for 30 gallon pot
5:58 general proportions
6:41 proportions simplified
6:51 minimum container size?
MATERIALS (for premade mix see 'BUILDING A LAYER')
8:01 gravel (E layer)
8:57 sands (E layer)
50:00 premade sand/silt/clay mixes (A layer)
25:03 organic matter (O layer)
1:11:33 clay types
BUILDING E LAYER
10:18 pouring sand
11:04 homogenizing sands
11:24 using masonry sands, colors
11:59 purpose of sand, explaining hardpan, "fines"
14:28 do decomposing roots add fine organic matter?
15:27 wetting sand
15:58 removing air pockets
16:42 reiterating importance
18:27 sand filling void, rock sizes
19:18 depth and large gravel size
19:50 sand filter "fines" (continued)
20:21 rock and mychorrizae
20:51 wicking
O LAYER CONCEPTS
21:05 isn't the A layer next?
21:23 soil horizons graphic, classifications, and commentary on ionic charge
25:03 organic matter (woodchips/compost/coco/pittmoss/manure/straw/cover crop)
MIXING O LAYER
30:50 bucket of this, bucket of that
33:33 cement mixer?
34:53 proportions/coots mix?
36:10 mixing wet ingredients (A horizon)
36:53 commercial soil blending services
INTERMISSION RIFFING
38:50 Ions and soil health, micronutrients, CEC, N/P abundance, residual biomass, nutrient lockout, fusarium, and more
^^ions are the charged atoms, he describes their interactions at exchange sites
44:36 Why sand, silt, clay? Compost teas? Indoor v outdoor, benefits of in-ground
47:10 biomicry, budgets, long term cost benefits
47:55 bringing pests/pathogens indoors
BUILDING A LAYER
50:00 premade sand/silt/clay mixes
53:10 multisourcing
53:31 adding 20% O layer mix
54:45 innoculating A layer (>8 inches)
58:47 two lifts, 'glazing' inoculant
1:01:18 glazing A layer pt 1
1:01:55 "Nature don't put no fabric down!"
1:04:18 glazing A layer pt 2
BUILDING O LAYER
1:05:35 adding O layer mix
1:07:35 adding mulch
1:08:08 watering down
1:08:15 mulch materials
1:17:49 watering to field capacity
1:18:38 adding a cover crop
OTHER NOTES
1:13:13 Soil textural test (mason jar)
28:45 cover crops
29:35 cover crop to avoid
29:55 cover crop benefits/mycho mining
55:14 aquatic MO
55:40 aquatic/terrestrial migration
56:30 AMO sourcing, tropical aquarium
57:22 www.fishbrew.com
LETS GIVE BACK TO LEIGHTON- we can create promo material for him. Maybe a step by step infographic using these notes!!
How much time did it take you to put all of this together?
@@neverwinterfarms Probably 5-6 hours once I decided to take notes. One device to play/pause and another to enter timestamps. Then another run through for editing. Thought it would be interesting to take notes this way- it was slow but definitely retained well.
massive probs for all of the hard work.
amazing !
I wanna move to California .
Anyone who recommends a soil test is someone worth listening to. Great video
btw i just wanna say i live in prairies in 52nd paralell the horizonal system your talking about is taught to every agricultural and horticultural student out here. its the reason we are so successful in a heavy alkaline clay dominant area. this technique works, 100%organic is great and works for some but most of terra is made up of this soil composition,or atleast most of the northern hemisphere. it works...if 100ft trees can find the nutrients in such a soil so can an annual. cannabis is a taprooting dichotimous resin bear plant after all( other plants of that classification= maple trees and redwoods)
Nothing makes more sense than this... Man... My man... Great job
soil scientist here. he is incorrect about the origins of silt. Silt is chemically weathered sediments as well. the distinction with silt, and why it is delineated by sieve size is that it is created chemically through water erosion vs mechanical action, altering the shape and size in a distinct way.
content is great though, love the future cannabis project!
I build muy house out of cob.... Clau AND sand mix ... Where i voy the Clay, there was a big layer of silt, and Is to diferente... How it acts with whater with pressure... It's actually the opposite. Clay makes averitjing stiky... Silt is the oposit.. it can't be in the same category
I build muy house out of cob.... Clau AND sand mix ... Where i voy the Clay, there was a big layer of silt, and Is to diferente... How it acts with whater with pressure... It's actually the opposite. Clay makes averitjing stiky... Silt is the oposit.. it can't be in the same category
I would have loved to hang out in that yard, soaking up the knowledge that was being dropped. Good stuff guys! Keep em coming!
Mind blown. I feel like this was the missing piece to my living soil. I've been using so much ACT to keep replenishing the microbes, when I wasn't giving them the ideal environment in the first place!
It actually wasn't known until somewhat recently that microbes could actually take nutrients/minerals from inorganic matter, sand/silt/clay. Likely why they haven't got the proper attention
perfect timing and excellent video, this guy is easy to follow and understand and I'm in the middle of digging a future cannabis garden.
I don't know that I would do all this for my 5 gal pots as I dump and recycle them every season, but for a permanent bed this is perfect and an understanding I've been looking for.
Nice timing to find this. Im filling a 30 gallon pot and was going to do a rock drainage layer in bottom and my soil mix on top but now Im going to try to source material (sand, silt, clay) for the A layer between and fill the 30 gallon with the correct proportions by layer. 4 parts O horizon, 2 parts A horizon, 1 part E horizon. Cant wait to try this method out. Flowering a single OG Kush clone in a 2'x3' space in said 30 gal.
Thanks very much for the video. Learned a lot more than I expected. Your teaching a old dog new tricks.
Thanks again
MORE PLEASE! BEST SOIL VIDEO EVER.
After I saw a shovel in Oakland, which had Dr. GreenThumb logo on it, my life has changed,
but not as much as after watching these amazing episodes of wisdom and knowledge combined.
Yah bless, living soil wizards!
Shoutout to Peter! Thanks for producing this.
Looks like you fellas had fun. Even the guy pushing the shovel. I dug a 5' deep pond out back and saw exactly what Leighton describes here with the layering. He is also correct about clay being the unsung hero of soil. 3.5'-4' was red clay full of worms. I live on some of the best Ag soil in the US and its because of the clay mineral supply that those worms are moving up and down between rains.
FCP and Leighton have changed so many gardens with the knowledge they provided. Greatly appreciate you guys taking the time to put this together.
AWESOME!! Thank you guys for taking the time to do this!! Having this knowledge now has really brought together everything else I've been hearing and seeing for the last however many months! Haha thank you Mr. Morrison and thank you Peter!! And I wish you and Tom better luck in the garden this year!!
Lol that totally happens to me alot. I'm listening and then all of sudden a few minutes have gone by and I missed it. Thanks for this info and demo gentleman!!
3 minutes in and I already know this video will be epic
Perfect timing! Filling a 4×4 bed.
This is my new favorite UA-cam video.
Great content, Couldn't have come at a better time. Thanks to everyone involved!
As a soil scientist it is very nice to see the soil horizon system utilized. Plants have adapted to soil with horizons over the millions of years of evolution. What a great way to harness the power of nature!
good to see you all outside together
You just explained most of the issues I've been having. I always felt like I should add sand to the gravel. Thanks!
this is comment 420💚💚💚leighton i’ve learned so much from you this last year. thank you!!!
Thank you for this and to the three gentleman who put it together. This is the first "Living Soil" explainer that is congruent with what I was taught in middle school and high school earth and sciences classes plus it also mimics real outdoor soils. I do think depth matters most for this approach so 2ft is probably 4ft too small in the horizonal depths ... I think ideally 6ft is the target but that would be absurd for an indoor setup. Also the AEO ratio given as 1:2:4 is good but for easy fractions I think it more wise for folks to use a 1:2:3 ratio so the first A layer is 1/6th of the bottom depth, followed by a 1/3rd of the container for E horizon, and the final 1/2 top layer being the O horizon instead of 1/7th(A), 2/7th(E), and 4/7th(O) ... don't think such a deviation will adversely impact the horizonal system explained here by that much as it fractionally increases the AE horizons and fractionally reduces the O horizon but it can make measuring the layers easier for people trying this soil method with more straightforward fractions that you can measure with buckets.
Couple of notes I wish was covered more because I wanted to learn more was the aquatic microbes. Whether raw materials (sand, silt, clay) is the only way or you can be an alchemist and use those cheap Walmart soils full of sand or clay that are of poor quality ... I'm guessing you would have to do that water test to see the ratios of organics, sand, silt, and clay. BTW I think all those cheap store bought top soil mixes (not potting soil mixes) from the likes of Walmart for example are just E horizon grade material with a bit of O horizon raw material blended in but essentially useful for E horizons (although they can be filler sand heavy and not enough clay or vice versa so probably have to water test each mix as they can differ from lot to lot). The cover crop discussion would have been nice given a bit more depth but enough materials is readily available out there. I wanted to know after mixing if the soil is ready to plant in or if there is a cooling off/ settling period to observe. Also how to recycle this soil like after 5 growing cycles and the container is giving out ... do you mix all the contents of the old container together and consider it a new E horizon and make a new A and O horizon; I'm sensing that might be the approach here? Another question is the usage of RO water vs de-chlorinated regular tap water ... I think RO water leaches minerals away from each horizon but is it better for regulating pH in a containerized grow medium? One thing that had me confused is it's not peat that was added but pit moss ... can someone explain that to me as to what product that is?
What I like about this horizonal approach is it actually uses SOIL (sand, silt, clay). All these soilless mediums for potting mixes provide good drainage but with anything too much drainage is also bad. You need soils that can both drain at a reasonable rate but also retain water for longer periods. It makes no sense watching these soilless living soils techniques using cover crops, mulches and top dressing nutrients ... the cover crops and mulches are helping hold water from evaporating from the top layer but the soil drains too fast for it to matter and nutrients are flushed out when the roots can't uptake it fast enough (you may as well go with liquid nutrients at that point and be on a feeding schedule). Every living soil mix I've watched so far had me going like the Wendy's "Where's the beef?" lady and instead I'm asking "Where's the clay?". Then you see these folks dump all this money into rock dust and calcium/ magnesium releasing mineral formula's when all of that is locked into the actual sand, silt, clay holy trinity (you get it for free essentially). Plus actual soil that is living has these semi-permanent AE horizons so you don't have to dump and re-ammend a new soilless medium every grow this makes them real no-till solutions as you just renew it with a top dress of new organic material on the O horizon. On a final note one aspect not mentioned about benefits of this approach is it regulates root growth. In amended and nutrient/ mineral available soilless mediums the roots are not stressed and are incentivized to grow outwards whereas this horizonal approach much like you find in the viticulture (grape growers) you want to stress the roots to grow down and deep and having the minerals, the clay holding nutrients/ microbes and water sand reservoir at the bottom promotes the plant to grow the roots down. This gives the plant an opportunity to not compete with neighboring plants for nutrients during veg stage, gives the plant a strong foundation, and promotes a stem/ trunk that is strong. The veg-stage is not just about seeing the multiplicity of upward growth but it's to also see the downward growth of the roots (wine grape growers stress this point a lot) ... and much like the wine grape growers it's probably a good idea to trim leaf growth in first half of veg stage to encourage the roots to go down deep so it pays dividends for very good fruit sets (although keep in mind 2ft depth makes this point moot and I'm talking about 6ft depths here).
Such timing this tutorial came out! I applied this concept to two 7 gal gr pots and transplanted in some veg’d plants, I’m expecting to harvest in 3 months or so - will update then!
how'd it go
@@t4ntr420 i'm chopping in a week - maybe not the best example as I had three small plants in one 7gal and two in the other 7 gal. My waterings were about 10% of the container every day aimed for no run off. Top canopy stretched too close to the hlg leds (~6" they recc 15-18") leaves got burnt tops buds bleached. I feel it wasn't enough room for the amount of plants so I am going to try again and get one big container (30+gal?) instead of the two separate 7gals to max out the tent along with the techniques in this vid.
@@t4ntr420 aside from the burnt leaves, the buds themselves look great smell great are dense as can be sticky to the touch one cultivar foxtailed beautifully but will have to wait further judgement after cure
This video is like a million times better than the organics alive bro's video lol. Edit * it seems many people are not understanding the purpose of this video, It is merely demonstrating the horizon system, obviously it would be better doing this in much larger volumes of soil than in a 30 gal pot .
30:00 I've found drops of water on my covers, while my soil surface was completely dried out!!! Incredible how well they work. Soil was bare just during the time while I was growing the covers, and even as seedlings the retention went up drastically
The Grim Reaper that was the best one ever good job
👍👍👍 thank you!!! I’ve been waiting for this video for some time and probably going to watch again and take notes.
If you look for my comment with timestamps (still editing) it will make taking notes a breeze! It'd be awesome if some other folks took the initiative to transcribe/take notes, perhaps create a step by step, and finally make a graphic we can give to Leighton !!
Nice video. Thanks for showing how to do it!!
Great show, hands on. Lincoln Log Layers.
this video will be like the next Sub Cool`s super soil recipe video , but greater
@@Alpengrower this Brock guy just trolls others comments. He doesn't read what is typed.
@Brock Wesner It is not a comparison of material content it is a comparison of change of procedure. Going forward living soil people will migrate towards using soil horizons.
Nature inspired me to do this type of thing. I learned a lot from Leighton in this short video. Listening to what he says is going to lead to other avenues for information. I'm sure if I got this far I would be able to figure it out from here. Naive I must be.
Its a good mix.For paving.
@Brock Wesner 💥
THANK YOU LEIGHTON!!!!!
This is good video content. I will watch it over and write it down. Cannot wait to start this in my new grassroots bed.
Listening to this again!!
This is So 💎💎💎💎 ✨
My only question is can I top dress using kelp, alfalfa, crab meal, and ewc basically a top dress I would use for my living super soil.
This was great, learned a lot!
Been waiting for this!!! Thanks everyone for this!!!
Can we get an update on the Horizonal Soil System please. Thanks
ive been making my beds by the same general concept for years and had afew people question it, saying ill have major issues with seperate horizons but have never had any issues.
Excellent job with camera and microphones/audio by the way 👏 👌 😀
I really want to see the bug net setup in the back around the raised bed!!! I plan on doing something similar for the caterpillars this year
Please come and consult here in NJ
This man drops bombs every other minute. Can't get enough.
Thank-you!
I notice in my dry windy area that the rye grass captures morning dew on humid mornings to aid in watering itself. In low light, light canopies, it flourishes, even when rain events are months apart during the dry season.
good to see you Fubear!
@@chingobling5063 spring is busy, cant always chat, but try to catch all the content.
Thank you Thank you thank you
Thanks for the info
Great to learn from the expert
Now even more i understand why i like Leighton. He's a soil engineer. So the limestone doesn't affect the plant when the roots get down to it? Can he give some sand size and shape info? Instead of don't get the dust? He got this out of my industry. Look up the USGA green section.
Can you use this method indoors to?
@Caryophyllene Co hell yeah I'm looking to start up aquaponic system with avocado tech and using this method....just scarred of bring in any bad bugs...I plan on harvesting alot of my own substrates
LEARNING SO MUCH FROM YOU THANK YOU FOR POSTING
I had to look up the carrie reference, I'm glad I did.
Can we get an update on these?
Good stuff great information 👍
Nice work!
Awesome tutorial thank you, Happy Growing ❤🌱
Just curious, have you tested the physical characteristics of any of these horizon blends. For the Water Holding Capacity, EAW, Easily Available Water], AW , Air Space. Academic research has generally claimed that container mixes with "soil particle components" generally have problems with AirSpace
Great video gentlemen!
I’d sub to a channel that just follows leighton around with a camera all day. Who’s in?
Can I use lava rock as a base layer? 16:38
amazing teacher... thanks for posting!
I've been looking for this agro coco company thats supposedly in LA but with no luck. Any recommendations for where I can buy some good agro coco like shown @ 26:03?
Did you find the agrococo?
You can use any coco, it was a plug for his favourite source ... the point is to find coco that is not directly packed from the brackish salt heavy water where they were harvested in. Most coco providers today wash out the salts with calcium nitrate and water baths ... for your benefit of mind you can also soak the coco for a few hours in a water bath and drain the water out, then do a few water flushes as in joust pour water over it and let the water pour through; that should be good enough to wash salts out. Also the point about 2psi compressed and 10psi compressed coco; he has a point about water retention capacity being lost but it's not a deal breaker as in the end of the day it's a organic filler and will denature over the years. You might have to water a bit more on average but just by a smidge or can augment with a bit of perlite (as much as I loathe that stuff) ... what matters most is since it's used for top layer you want its ability to have good drainage so that it readily drains from the O horizon to the E horizon promoting a nutrient gradient that roots will track towards to go deep.
If I use this for a smaller indoor plant using bottom feeding, will water still travel up through the sand?
Would you guys be able to share which filter you are all using on the garden hose to remove the chlorine? Thank you!
@Brock Wesner Thanks for the reply!
Thank you
does agro coco have a website?
Would you recommend living soil for indoors? What do you recommend for indoor grows?
He does recommended this for indoor grows. Keep in mind it will be extremely heavy.
This guy is my fucking hero
Thank you Leighton Btw, you use shovel like pro! Peace from overseas!
it was cool. very cool.
Great information! Tried to search but didn't see ........ How do you water this system after you originally water to field capacity. Specifically in 30 gallon pots? Thank you
Been dealing with chronic pain for years
As well as growing for[redacted].
Now I'm really looking for a few types that I can share with some ailing folks who are resistant to smoking out.
Anyone have any strain suggestions or suppliers that they trust and will ship (seed) to AZ?
Probably will just make some RSO to get them some relief quickly while I tinker with some other recipes for salves etc.
Thanks in advance.
Watching this again a year later and have tons of seedz now that it's legal across az.
💚
Chia pet seeds grow very well can I use Chia seeds 🖤👋
I was going to try and work in some hugelkultur this year. Assuming this would still work would in this system, I just put the logs and such above the A?
Coming from a permaculture background I was excited to build my second hugel but in FL I gotta be careful because rotten wood calls for ants invasion, so just heads up to do the dilligent region specific research for your project. There are very good videos on UA-cam about it & peoples feedback on their experiences after some time. It worked very good for us in Colorado though. Good luck in your journey Cade!
Because Hugelculture is organic material (large pieces of wood at the bottom and organic material laid over it) and in practice used over the top soil horizon to make better top soil with organic filler as the logs decay it is therefore expressly a horizon O material. The thing with hugelculture is it can scale ... suppose the large pieces of wood is small branches, twigs and wood chips and immediately the scaling of the material used decreases. When you do it above the A layer so in essence the E layer the wood decomposes into an anaerobic layer over the years and displaces the sand, silt, and clay of that horizon with decaying organics that denatures those soil components buy locking away the nitrogen. Just think of the vertical cutout of the ground soil and imagine the layers ... you wouldn't find big chunks of wood just above the rocky sediment layer of A, you will find the raw soil that is basically a mixture of sand, silt, clay, and some rocks which is the E layer. Above that layer in O is where the organics of more carbon rich soils with humus, decaying wood and detritus of dead things are found. BTW the instructor dude explains it in the video.
Can this be combined with sub irrigation. Could I pipe water into 4" of chippings plus sand with drill holes at 4.25" and expect the water to wick.?
i watched this 6 times already
awesome guys and as always hit it hard people
Is Leighton a Kahballist, with that little red bracelet?
Good eye.. thought the same myself.
Any opinion on strawberrys and/or oregeno as a living mulch?
@1:02:10.. So true ! i once got the bright idea to use big cotton shopping bags to grow in because i was just too impatient to get real fabric pots..
I needed to transplant as soon as possible & so when i watered one time, by the next day they were covered in black mold & when i went to go lift one up it just totally ripped apart into pieces..
💚💚💚#luv4dabud. That's the ring light I'm using for my grow
What part of Los Angeles is this filmed at? Do the neighbors complain of the cannabis smell?
this is the youtubest thing i have ever seen
you finding your way here is the youtubest thing I have ever seen , why are you watching?
@@playboymac i watch most stuff i see from this channel, and i am interested to see what this horizonal soil that Leighton has mentioned many times, looks like. i am learning some stuff and hearing that i am right about some stuff, so i got to be here, right now. i wasnt intending irony or sarcasm when i said this is youtube. i like that this is youtube, well for my echo chamber it is, anyway
@@beansdork ok awesome:) maby I misunderstood the comment , all is welcome here, just wondered how this caught your attention as the youtubest thing you ever seen , but my bad cause now I feel like I don't even fully understand what that statement means to you, hope you have an amazing month 💙
@@playboymac i hope, likewise, for you to have a good month. . for me its busy one in the garden, because i have been growing outdoor with mixed light
so jelly about the sun it was so cold last night i couldnt get the grow above 76 normally sits at 81 lol Hope everyone has a good weekend! Also does anyone have the clubhouse i need a invite!!!
Can you use this in a tent?
please can anyone give any ideas on how to replicate the moisture lock feature in a 65 gallon smart pot? thanks
Wrap the pot with pallet wrap
@Brock Wesner thay wasn't the question they asked
@Brock Wesner they are only available in USA
They use a waterproof fabric. So I'm sure there are plenty that could be found and sewn in. Thinking about doing this as it seems really hard to get hold of grassroots pots outside of USA
@@RudyWarman true, but this question seems to lean on the side of existing pots in use.
Excuse my ignorance, but this type of system doesn't require the water being PHed, correct? If not, is there a PH that is so absurd that it would require it to be corrected? Im in LA, and currently getting about 8.0 PH out of the tap.
Might be beneficial to add a little PH down prior to watering... in general if your soil is charged with microbes it can potentially mitigate any minor PH variations above and below ideals...
A system like this can balance out some of those issues on its own.
For a large commercial operation a paddle mixer should work better than a cement mixer. For research methods, we use to use a large Y mixers which splits the volume in 2 and remixes on every revolution. The Y mixer completely homogenizes any 2 ingrediants without breaking down any of the ingrediants
Is there studies that show how long it takes fungi to attach to rocks and begin extracting? Is it a fairly speedy process or is it one of those decade long things?
Leighton you da man!
awesome content, heard you on Growcast! ...cations are positively charged though, not that it matters in practice, they do their thing whether you call em positive or negatively charged, fat or skinny lol thank you for posting!
Love it
what is that first grey piece made of ..plastic?
Amazing Stuff..Have seen hard pan brought up into a soil and it enhances growth ..A lot to see in this clip about mimicking mother nature..Been on a similar path and it takes quite a bit of work but it last..Dynamo hum...
Awesome. Thank you!! 💎