Frequently Asked Questions Search

The smallest container we recommend you use is a 15 gallon fabric style container. The optimal container size is 25 to 30 gallons, but with proper care you can have good success in 15 gallon containers. Just remember the old adage, "the bigger the roots, the bigger the fruits." 

With no-till living soil you want to use worms, cover crop, and a mulch layer to start with. We also advise you use nematodes, rove beetles, and hypoaspis miles to aid in pest management. 

The benefits of no-till livng soil is that the water holding cpaacity will increase over time. The key thing to keep in mind is that you want zero water runoff when watering. If you are getting runoff then you are watering to much. Typical users will water 3 times per week, and the amount will vary with temp/humidity, age of soil, indoor vs. outdoor, etc... Again, if you get runoff you are watering to much. Using this as a basic guide you will figure out how much water your situation needs.

We recommend that you use a sedmiant, and carbon filter to remove any chlorine, or chloromine. We have found that straight city tap water will run into isuees over time, and this basic filtration helps to extend the longevtiy of your soil. If you are on well water it is still a good idea to use the same basic filtration to help get a more homogenous water source as wells tend to fluctaute in quality a bit especially in rainy seasons. 

We do not reocmmend that you ph you water. If you care for the soil properly it will self-regulate the ph. 

No. The way no-till living soil works, is that you can chop your plant at the soil surface (leaving the root ball in the soil), spread your top dress amendments on around the top of the container, and then plant a new plant right next to the old root ball. This can all be done at the same time, and there is no reason to wait. 

Gypsum, Azomite, Basalt Rock Dust, Crab Shells, Fish Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Kelp Meal

Our no-till living soil is designed to be used over and over again. It was not designed to be a water only soil as it's not a single use soil. What we recommend to use in our soil is Liquid kelp, liquid fish, Aloe, and lactic acid bacteria serum. You may also wish to use some fermented fruit juice. These added with a top dress once per cycle will give you years of high quality high terpene yields. 

As science has progressed we have come too learn that the entourage effect of cannabinoids coupled with terpenes is what gives a product its effects. Terpenes produce over the entire life of a plant. They are not artificially created with a bottle of "liquid terps" the last few weeks of flower like the hydro guys think. This is why no-till living soil terps can't be touched. The plant has everything it needs in the soil the entire life time of the plant. As it needs a nutrinet, it can tap into the reserves in the soil and take what it wants. This aids in the develop of a robust terpene profile that is unrivaled in any other growing method. 

1.Reduced Labor cost from not having to switch out your soil every harvest.

2. reduced input costs because you buy the soil once, and use it for many years.

3. Reduced water usage because there is zero runoff with no-till living soil. 

4. Increased terpene production, and a higher quality finished product. 

We do test our soil for many different things. That being said, we do not share test results as every lab shows different results. You would think that testing soil would be a standard thing, but that is not even close to correct. You can send a soil sample to 10 different labs, and all 10 labs will show different results. 

The thing to keep in mind is that you are the keeper of this soil. What this soil tested like out of the bag doesn't really matter. The n-p-k profile straight from the bag will have changed 2 weeks, 4 weeks, 6 weeks, and 8 weeks from usage. Now imagine how much it can change after 1 year, 2 years, or 3 years of usage? Keep in mind most soils are mostly depleted of nutrients after 2 to 3 months of usage. 

The true longevity of any no-till living soil is up to the end user. It is not up to us. This is why test results for freshly made no-till living soils are not as important as people want to think they are. 

We mix soil and sell it right away. Our soil does get hot once mixed, but chills out pretty quickly. We have ran extensive tests with our freshly mixed soil, and have had no issue with planting pants and seeds directly in the soil. 

Contrary to popular belief we have been making soil since 2010. Unfortunately people like to talk, and well they like to say that we jumped into this with a stolen recipe, or we just made this up out of thin air. That couldn't be further from the truth. We've been doing no-till since before it was cool. We started doing no-till outdoors many years ago, and finally brought it indoors a few years later. Our current soil was first tested in 2011. We have pictures of rows of containers with different blends in each row to test the quality of each different soil blend. There have been some changes since those first tests, but the basic blend has been the same for 2013-2014. 

Click this link, and fill out the form. We will have one of our sales team members contact you to get you setup with our product line. 

https://www.redbudsoilcompany.com/pages/wholesale-no-till-living-soil

This is not "mold", it is fungal hyphae covering the soil. We have tried to make our soil fungally dominate, and this is the result of that. It is a very good thing to see this in your bags or totes of soil. It means we did our job right. Rest assured that there is nothing wrong with the soil, and that your plants will thank you for this choice. 

New growers don't realize that fungus gnats will develop in most organic soils. It is up to you to maintain proper ipm protocols to combat this. Our bags are contam free, and gnats are not included with your purchase. :) 

The number one thing we see when this happens is a non-filtered water source. Make sure that your water source is using a sediment and carbon filter. Once this has been changed most everyone's issues have resolved. If you are still having issues you can contact us for further help. 

No. We have seen long term that reverse osmosis water can run into issues. We suggest you use just a sediment and carbon filter for maximum longevity of the soil. 

Mulch helps to retain moisture, and also gives gives the worms something to munch on. Think of your conatiner as a living compost conatiner that you happen to plant a plant into. 

Cover crops perform many different functions. The most important function is aeration. As your soil ages compaction can be an issue, and aerating the soil will be a vital part of you extending the longevity of your containers. Some cover crops also bring in nitrogen as they are nitrogen fixers. This is less important as nitrogen tends to build up in organic potting soils naturally. There is also sicence that shows that plants are happier when they are interplanted with other plants. Copanion planting is a vital pat of a diverse healthy ecosyste. 

The worms play a vital role in digesting the soil amendments that you top dress, and turning them into bio-available nutrients. without the worms you won't be running a no-till. we also like to add other critters to the mix. Rove beetles, hypoaspsis miles, pill-bugs aka rolly polys, etc.. they all play a roll in a healthy diverse soil. 

The standard container used in no-till livng soil is the fabric smart pot style container. That being said, you can use what you feel is correct for your situation. Wooden raised beds have proven to be very good with a no-till livng soil setup. We also have customers that use airpot style containers with success. Newer fabric containers made with a liner designed for no-till living soil have started to gain popularity as well. 

Yes. Our soil perfroms very well with vegetables. 

Yes. Whether you are growing outdoor, indoor, or in a greenhouse, hemp will perform very well in our no-till livng soil. 

We do suggest that when growing full season outdoors (not in a greenhouse) that you top dress soil amendments 6 to 8 weeks after your plants have gone outside. Unlike indoors, outside you have wind, and rain which will leach out nutrients. You will need to compensate for this leaching by top dressing once or twice during the season. 

The base of our soil is peat. Peat is naturally hydrophobic. This means that until it gets saturated it will want to shed water, not soak it up. The best way to overcome this is to use a mulch layer, and do small watering multiple times per day. Usually doing this for a couple of days in a row will fix any issues. If you are still having problems the use of yucca extract as a surfactant will work instantly. 

No. We have thousands of customers that have succesfully passed all State mandated testing for their finished products.