Ep 002: How To Transplant Into Living Soil

0:00 — 0:55

Intro and transplant plan

Jeremy welcomes viewers back to the BuildASoil 10x10 and frames episode two as the transplant episode. He previews the workflow: mix a liquid drench, scoop Light Mix into one-gallon containers, and demonstrate his method for flipping the seedlings without fuss. He promises viewers will be ready to do their own as soon as the video ends.

0:55 — 4:40

Mixing the transplant drench

Jeremy mixes his transplant water live in a sprayer, starting with RootWise Microbe Complete to inoculate the root zone. He explains that living soil is driven by biology and that he wants to hedge his bets and build the ecosystem he wants rather than waiting for mother nature to fill it in. He then adds Therm-X 70 and the new BuildASoil Saponaria (a twenty percent saponin Quillaja soap bark extract) as wetting agents to beat peat hydrophobicity, and finishes with a small sprinkle of horticultural aloe for its natural saponins. He repeatedly tells viewers that plain water and good soil are fine and the extras are optional.

1. 1. Fill a sprayer with water, roughly three to five gallons.
2. 2. Add about a tablespoon of RootWise Microbe Complete to the water.
3. 3. Drop in a tiny amount (under a teaspoon) of Saponaria saponin extract and watch it foam up.
4. 4. Add Therm-X 70 as a wetting agent if using it in place of or alongside Saponaria.
5. 5. Sprinkle in a small amount of horticultural aloe (label rate is about one teaspoon per gallon).
6. 6. Stir or agitate to combine, ready to pour into the watering can or use from the sprayer.

4:40 — 9:00

Transplanting seedlings into one-gallon containers

Jeremy grabs a rigid plastic one-gallon container (he prefers them over fabric pots because they stack, wash and reuse easily) and scoops in BuildASoil Light Mix with a small garden scoop. He warns against overfilling so the plant does not sit above the rim, and explains the volume will settle when moistened. He then flips each seedling by supporting the stalk with two fingers, sets it into the prepared depression without ripping or teasing the roots, and backfills with more Light Mix. He taps the sides of the container with his hand to settle and marry the soil, comments on the healthy white furry roots from the RootWise colonisation, and points out cotyledons and first true leaves. Finally he labels the first plant, Branson's Royal Revenge, with a plastic plant tag that will travel with the plant at every up-pot.

1. 1. Scoop BuildASoil Light Mix into the rigid plastic one-gallon container until it is a bit short of full.
2. 2. Support the seedling stalk between two fingers, flip the plug out, and lower it into the prepared soil.
3. 3. Do not tease, rip or disturb the root ball.
4. 4. Backfill around the root ball with more Light Mix up to the top of the container.
5. 5. Tap and slap the sides with your hand to settle the soil and let the excess spill out the bottom.
6. 6. Lightly pack the top with your hands so water does not cut a channel when you drench it.
7. 7. Attach a plant tag labelled with the strain name and slip it through the stem area so it travels with the plant.

9:00 — 14:00

Watering in, cover cropping and mulching

Jeremy waters each transplant with the drench from above the soil to keep the table dry, aiming to moisten the whole profile but only just seeing a little runoff at the bottom, and explains that it is better to come back a second or third time than to overwater. He then top-seeds the one-gallon with pelleted white dutch clover (a single species he prefers for one-gallons because it stays small and low and does not compete with the main plant), sprinkling it from his fingers. He covers the seed with a thin layer of spent Pohu blue oyster mushroom block straw from a local organic mushroom farm, which arrives full of white mycelium, is already pasteurized, and is not dusty thanks to its moisture content. He stresses the mulch layer has to be thin so it does not smother the clover, and explains the light mulch shelters predator mites and keeps the top couple of inches biologically active and usable.

1. 1. Pour the transplant drench over the top of the soil from above the container so the table stays dry.
2. 2. Water until the soil is evenly moist and you see a tiny amount of runoff, no more.
3. 3. Lift the pot to feel its weight as a gauge and come back for a second pass later if needed.
4. 4. Sprinkle pelleted white dutch clover seed across the surface with your fingers.
5. 5. Lightly moisten the seed so it settles into the soil surface.
6. 6. Top with a thin layer of spent Pohu blue oyster mushroom block straw, thin enough for the clover to grow through.
7. 7. Leave the mulch slightly loose so predator mites have shelter and the top layer stays biologically active.

14:00 — 17:20

Quadrant tour and prevention-first IPM

Jeremy tours the four quadrants of the 10x10: quadrant two now holds the freshly transplanted one-gallons and will get earth boxes in quadrant one once females are identified. Quadrant three will get a scratch-built 3x3 in episode three. In the existing no-till earth box he shows how the tilled-in cover crop is already decomposing into soil thanks to the kashi and craft blends, and the 14-day-old lettuce heads are almost overflowing the reservoir with only two refills. He delivers his prevention-first IPM philosophy, calls it the black belt mentality (do not buy clones, grow from seed, use healthy soil and ninety percent of the worst problems never happen), and re-mulches the neglected quadrant four tomato and kale on camera, reinforcing the no-bare-soil principle.

17:20 — 21:39

Viewer Q and A

Jeremy answers viewer questions on camera. First, he confirms the seedling rack just uses ambient LED light since nothing there is grown to full term. Second, he answers Jonathan Allen's question on reverse osmosis water in earth boxes, explaining that living soil growers generally avoid RO because it is dead water (zero ppm), wasteful (up to fifty percent runs down the drain), and can leach minerals from soil, though it is fine for an earth box since the compost provides minerals. He mentions softening RO with minerals as some farms do. He also notes BuildASoil is starting to offer international shipping to Canada and Mexico. Third, he answers Zod Son of Thor on whether mushrooms or home brew could boost CO2, citing the local mushroom farm that ducts its mushroom fruiting CO2 into its aquaponics grow, and previews a 4x4 gourmet mushroom grow outside the 10x10 whose air will be ducted in.