Score: 4/5
Introduction
Nature’s Living Soil is a company specializing in the production of amendments for cannabis growing. They only offer two products, both of which are highly reputable. Nature’s Living Soil Original Concentrate is created to be used with living soil or super soil techniques for growing organic crops without the use of chemicals. It is mostly recommended for established plants as it may be too strong for seedlings.
Nature’s Living Soil Original Concentrate is a great choice for small home growers growing plants in containers (sold on Amazon as Super Soil Organic Concentrate). It includes a rich mix of high concentrations of all the microorganisms, fungi, and nutrients a plant will need from germination to harvest. Minerals and nutrients are found in forms that act as “storage.” They are broken down and delivered to the plant with the help of microorganisms and fungi.
Use the product with the living soil or super soil technique, and the company promises that you will never need to use anything more than water and substances to balance the soil pH (if necessary). From seedling to harvest, the soil will provide rich nutrients to the roots.
Nature’s Living Soil Original Concentrate is a strong amendment you need to mix or stratify with an organic potting mix of your choice. Experienced home growers swear by it, as they have seen their plants thrive exceptionally with no extra effort or amendment. However, it’s not necessarily the best choice for first-time growers: if you don’t use it carefully and according to the instructions, you may burn your plants. Also, and because of its strength, many growers don’t recommend it as a top dressing.
The product comes in bags of 1, 5, or 10 pounds. As an indication, 5 pounds of concentrate mixed with potting soil amends 25 gallons of containers for almost $42. This is not a cheap amendment, but as it is the only one you will need all the way through to harvest, it’s worth it.
Ingredients
Base and Composts
Nature’s Living Soil Original Concentrate is a soil amendment, therefore it has no base or compost. On the contrary, you need to mix the concentrate with an organic potting soil of your choice to use it. Nature’s Living Soil indicates as examples Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Happy Frog Potting Soils, Bush Doctor Coco Loco Potting Soil, or Dr. Earth Homegrown potting soil.
Minerals
Nature’s Living Soil Original Concentrate includes an impressive blend of beneficial minerals, in particular dolomite lime, azomite, and Epsom salt. It also contains vegetable extracts, like coconut water powder and aloe vera. All these ingredients constitute the “nutrients storage” of the concentrate, aiming at feeding your plant and enhancing from roots growth to foliage vigor and efficient blooming.
Dolomite lime has high levels of calcium and micronutrients that contribute to plant growth and general health, as well as encouraging a high-quality yield. It also helps regulate pH levels: the concentrate is pH neutral, varying slightly around 7.0.
Azomite is an OMRI listed natural mineral substance, mined in Utah. It contains many essential trace elements and is used in organic crops to re-mineralize nutrient-depleted soils beyond the usual Nitrogen-Phosphorus-Potassium combination.
The concentrate also includes Epsom salt, which is made of magnesium and sulfur, two substances that improve flower blooming and make for dense and green foliage.
On the vegetable extracts side, coconut water powder is a particularly rich source of vital nutrients, minerals, and also enzymes. Coconut water powder is not only beneficial to the plants, but also to rhizobacteria and other microorganisms that live symbiotically with the plants. It also has cytokinins that help plants to grow faster, more vigorously, and with more buds sites.
As for aloe vera, it is a nutrient accumulator, containing over 75 active substances such as amino acids, enzymes, lignins, polysaccharides, minerals, vitamins (A, C, E, and B2, 3, 5, 6, & 12), choline, calcium, magnesium, zinc, etc.
With such an impressive array of minerals and nutrients included in its formula, there is no wonder that so many growers consider Nature’s Living Soil Original Concentrate as a superfood for their plants.
Soil Amendments
Nature’s Living Soil Original Concentrate contains an amazing array of organic soil amendments to fertilize the soil and enhance plant growth. The company aims at providing nutrients in different forms, each with its own storing and release mechanism, in order to provide the plants with nutrients over time and during their whole life cycle.
The blend contains earthworm castings, high-quality bat guano, and a large variety of meals. Both bat guano (essentially bat feces) and worm castings are optimal soil enrichers, as they hold nitrates, potassium, magnesium, calcium, and phosphorus. They are also effective fungicides and pest repellents.
The animal and vegetable-origin meals, like blood meal, bone meal, fishbone meal, alfalfa meal, and kelp meal, slowly release similar nutrients. Additionally, some of them contain chitin, which acts like a bio-pesticide.
The most innovative ingredient, however, which makes Nature’s Living Soil Original Concentrate stand out from many other amendments, is the impressive amount of microorganisms contained in the blend. Microorganisms are essential to achieve a “living soil” and to achieve efficient organic growth without constantly adding amendments. They grow symbiotically with the roots of the plant, helping to grow the roots zone, breaking down the soil and nutrients, and helping the plant to absorb them.
Nature’s Living Soil Original Concentrate contains no less than 23 types of microorganisms: glomus aggregatum, glomus etunicatum, glomus intraradices, glomus mosseae, pisolithus tinctorius, scleroderma cepa, scleroderma citrinum, trichoderma harzianum, trichoderma koningii, saccharomyces cerevisiae, azotobacter chroococcum, bacillus amyloliquefaciens, bacillus azotoformans, bacillus coagulans, bacillus licheniformis, bacillus megaterium, bacilluspumilus, bacillus subtilis, bacillus thuringiensis, paenibacillus durum, paenibacillus polymyxa, pseudomonas aureofaciens, and pseudomonas fluorescens.
While these microorganisms are beneficial to your plants, they also cause a strong odor when the concentrate is opened and can attract bugs. This is normal—and the smell dissipates when mixed with potting soil, or a few to several days later. The smell is the proof of life that hides in the concentrate.
Quick Summary—Pros and Cons
Pros
- Made by a reputable company specializing in soil amendments for cannabis plants.
- Expert growers who know how to mix this right say “this soil is unstoppable” and recommend it highly.
- Contains a huge range of nutrients, minerals, bio-pesticides, and meals.
- Contains more than 20 types of microorganisms that grow symbiotically with the plants’ roots.
Cons
- The amendment can have a strong smell for several days. If you want to use it indoors, follow the instructions carefully and avoid using it as a top dressing.
- This is an amendment, which means you need to add it to organic potting soil. This requires you to follow the mixing instructions carefully or you risk burning your plants, especially seedlings. This is strong stuff, not the most suitable choice if you are a first-time grower.
- The smell can attract bugs, so many growers do not recommend it as a top dressing.
- It is more expensive than other amendments on the market. However, you won’t have to buy anything else all the way through to harvest.
