SoilBible · Episodes · Ep 008

Ep 008: 10x10 FAQ #2 — Hydro vs Soil, Organic Labels, Watering

· Jeremy tackles three substantial viewer questions in the second FAQ of the 10x10 season. He rebuts the 'bro science' claim that soil doesn't beat hydro for terps, unpacks what 'organic' certifications actually mean and why BuildASoil isn't fully OMRI-listed, and delivers his most detailed watering framework yet — a 1-to-10 moisture scale targeting 4-6, with 5-10% daily waterings and periodic deep waterings to find runoff. He also hints at an upcoming book-recommendation episode and invites viewer votes.

Topics

soil vs hydroponics terpene debate · OMRI listing and organic certification mechanics · build-a-soil sourcing and vetting process · liquid fish and phosphoric acid stabilization · hand-watering living soil frequency and volume · moisture scale 4-6 target and 5-10% daily rule · cation exchange vs plant-available nutrients · fungus gnat and nitrogen symptoms from over/underwatering · wetting agent and dry pocket diagnosis · viewer book recommendation poll

Sections

0:00 — 1:30

Intro — FAQ #2 format and goals

Jeremy opens FAQ #2 acknowledging the community is stepping up to answer basic questions so he can focus on deeper ones. He has three pulled questions ready, plans to time-code them in the video for clickable navigation, and notes that a single question can easily consume an hour of depth. He frames his role as a guide pointing viewers in the right direction rather than the final authority.

  1. 1. Acknowledge community answering basic questions
  2. 2. Pull three detailed questions to address
  3. 3. Plan to add video time-codes for clickable jump points
  4. 4. Invite more question suggestions
  5. 5. Promise to cover books in an upcoming episode
1:30 — 6:15

Wendy City Rosin — is 'soil beats hydro for terps' bro science?

Viewer Wendy City Rosin pushes back on the claim that soil produces better terps and flavor than hydro, calling it 'complete bro science.' Jeremy defends the soil-first position while acknowledging hydro can produce fire when expertly managed with organics and environment dialled. He argues living soil is easier for beginners, aligns with the 'steward' mindset vs the 'lab coat' hydro mentality, and that real-world rosin tests often show 5-10% terps in living soil vs the 1-2% terp bumps hydro products advertise. He cites One Straw Revolution as a scientist's journey to trusting nature and frames the goal as mimicking nature and staying independent of grow-shop nutrient formulas.

  1. 1. Read Wendy City Rosin's comment accusing the 'soil > hydro terps' claim of being bro science
  2. 2. Concede hype exists because marketing dollars push premium hydro nutrients
  3. 3. Argue products don't produce quality — practices and mother nature do
  4. 4. Note hydro beginners often crash out mid-grow because too much control = too fast a car
  5. 5. Share Jeremy's own first grow was hydroponic, so he knows the pain points
  6. 6. Argue a proven living-soil recipe provides every element more simply than balancing hydro pH
  7. 7. Frame the philosophy as 'independence not dependence' — not beholden to grow-shop formulas
  8. 8. Cite One Straw Revolution as a scientist who took 30 years to trust nature
  9. 9. Point out rosin tests show living soil hitting 5-10% terps vs marketed 1-2% hydro bumps
  10. 10. Concede hydro + organics + right environment + right timing can grow fire, but that's not what he does
  11. 11. Commit to soil as the sustainable path he believes in
6:15 — 13:00

Trevor Gordon — how important is 'organic' on a product label?

Viewer Trevor Gordon asks how much weight the word 'organic' or an OMRI listing should carry when some BuildASoil products aren't certified but are sourced organically. Jeremy walks through exactly how OMRI works (a paid listing service that verifies against the National Organic Program), why re-bagging or blending a certified product forces you to re-certify per SKU, and why BuildASoil has chosen trust and transparency over chasing labels. He gives the concrete example of their liquid fish, which uses food-grade phosphoric acid as a stabilizer (approved for organic use only when used minimally, not to inflate NPK). He warns that garden-store 'organic' fertilizers can legally contain feedlot material from GMO-fed, pesticide-sprayed, maltreated animals. He also notes wild-harvested material can't be labeled organic without proving it was untouched by man.

  1. 1. Read Trevor Gordon's question about organic labels and certification
  2. 2. Explain OMRI = Organic Materials Review Institute, a paid listing company, not the law itself
  3. 3. Explain OMRI reads the National Organic Program guidelines and certifies that a product qualifies
  4. 4. Note listing greases the wheels for marketing and for farm certification paperwork
  5. 5. Explain BuildASoil vegetable farm doesn't bother because their customers already trust them
  6. 6. Warn that re-bagging, mixing, or blending a listed product means re-paying to re-list on every new SKU
  7. 7. Say BuildASoil may eventually do some listing just to make farmer purchases easier
  8. 8. Describe the internal vetting process: Jeremy personally tries, uses, vets, researches, lab-tests new products
  9. 9. Warn that garden-store 'organic' fertilizer can come from feedlots with GMO pesticide-sprayed feed and maltreated animals
  10. 10. Note wild-harvested material can't be listed organic without proving zero human interference
  11. 11. Give the liquid fish example: uses food-grade phosphoric acid (same as soda pop) to stabilize until dilution
  12. 12. Explain the organic-use rule: phosphoric acid must stabilize, not inflate fertilizer numbers
  13. 13. Teach that you can also make your own lacto-fermented fish — or skip fish entirely
  14. 14. Affirm '100% of the products we carry have gone through our rigorous testing procedures'
  15. 15. Encourage customers to educate themselves and hold BuildASoil accountable
13:00 — 21:30

The Loyalty Cannabis (Ty) — how often to water a 3x3 by hand?

Viewer The Loyalty Cannabis / Ty asks roughly how often a 3x3 needs hand-watering. Jeremy points to the BuildASoil 'how to water living soil' blog post and then delivers his full framework. He explains the biology: in living soil, nutrients are adsorbed on the cation exchange and require a biological interface (needs warmth + moisture) to become plant-available, unlike hydro where nutrients are in solution. He introduces a 1-to-10 moisture scale (1 = bone dry, 10 = soaking wet, 5 = perfect) and says to stay in the 4-6 range at all times, never going a whole week between waterings. He recommends daily 5% waterings and occasional deeper waterings up to 10% (to find runoff), using weight as a check. He explains the diagnostic: yellowing tips = too dry (soluble salts concentrate), yellowing lower leaves = too wet (nitrogen lockout). He also warns that not getting runoff at 5% may indicate dry pockets needing a wetting agent.

  1. 1. Read Ty's question about watering frequency for a 3x3 hand-watered living soil bed
  2. 2. Point to the BuildASoil blog post (google 'how to water build a soil')
  3. 3. Tell the jiu-jitsu story — 'how do you get out of this position?' 'Don't get into it' — to frame that experience is the real answer
  4. 4. Teach cation exchange: in living soil, nutrients are adsorbed and require biological interface to release
  5. 5. Warn that that biology needs moisture AND warmth (not 110°F water though)
  6. 6. Contrast with soilless/cocoa/rockwool where dry-down cycles are correct technique
  7. 7. Define a 1-to-10 moisture scale: 1 = bone dry, 10 = soaking wet, 5 = perfect
  8. 8. Rule: stay in the 4-to-6 range at all times
  9. 9. Rule: don't water to runoff in living soil — you'll flush away the nutrients you paid to build
  10. 10. Rule: don't go a week between waterings — not in a 30-gal, not in a 100-gal, not in a 1-gal
  11. 11. Daily rule: give ~5% of container volume per watering
  12. 12. Keep the mulch layer (where feeder roots live) consistently moist via top-dress zone
  13. 13. Occasional rule: every week or two do a deeper watering to find the runoff point (this is your '10')
  14. 14. Practical example: 10-gallon container = ~0.5 gallon (5%) per watering, scaling up to 1 gallon occasionally
  15. 15. Day-1 after transplanting a clone into a 10-gal: give half a gallon, then check daily, skipping or adjusting as needed
  16. 16. Diagnose yellow tips as too-dry — soluble salts/sodium concentrate in the little water remaining
  17. 17. Diagnose yellow lower leaves as too-wet — nitrogen lockout from lack of oxygen
  18. 18. Troubleshoot: if runoff appears at <5%, suspect dry pockets — use a wetting agent
  19. 19. Caveat: high/low humidity and intense light shift the equation
  20. 20. Caveat: small plant in big container = err dry; big plant in small container = err wet (almost impossible to overwater a rootbound plant)
  21. 21. Use weight-check to feel the container before committing to a big watering
21:30 — 22:29

Outro — book vote and wrap

Jeremy acknowledges he has more questions pulled up but has run out of time, wraps the episode, and announces the next episode will cover books viewers have been asking about. He invites viewers who made it to the end to comment which book they want discussed first — a gate to prove they actually watch through.

  1. 1. Acknowledge more questions are queued but time is up
  2. 2. Announce the next episode will cover books viewers have been asking about
  3. 3. Ask viewers who watched to the end to comment with the book they want first
  4. 4. Promise to start with the most-requested book if comments prove people watch to the end
  5. 5. Thank viewers for the questions

Notable quotes

"products don't produce quality — practices do, and mother nature does, and that's what we're all trying to duplicate"

Jeremy's core rebuttal to the soil-vs-hydro bro-science accusation

"for us it's about independence not dependence — if we go to a grow shop and then they close and I can't get that formula, I still want the same results"

Jeremy's framing of why he chose the living-soil path

"in hydro his technique is revered as the ultimate — the controller of all things, kind of playing god, you picture a white lab coat — in soil you picture overalls, you picture the worms doing the work, and we're more of a steward"

Jeremy contrasting the mental models of hydro vs soil growing

"arguing over which produces the best is kind of like arguing over which chef produces the best food"

Jeremy dismissing the soil-vs-hydro binary as a fool's errand

"how do you get out of this situation? Don't get into it — it's not a good answer but as you get more experience you realize sometimes that is the right answer"

Jeremy retelling his jiu-jitsu coach to explain why there's no universal answer to 'how often do I water'

"in living soil we don't water to the point where we flush the soil out — the reason why is we spent money building the soil, and whatever nutrients do become available, we don't want to rush out the bottom"

Jeremy's no-runoff rule for living soil

"it's almost impossible to overwater when it's just rootbound and really going through the water fast"

Jeremy's edge-case rule for watering a big plant in a small container

"do your own research and I'll be here to answer more questions in the future"

Jeremy's invitation to customers to hold BuildASoil accountable by educating themselves

Glossary terms from this episode

10% watering · 5% watering · approved for organic use · biological interface · bro science · cation exchange · dry-down period · dry pockets · feeder roots · fungus gnats · independence not dependence · lacto-fermented fish · Living soil · moisture scale 1 to 10 · Mulch layer · National Organic Program (NOP) · OMRI listing · organically produced · over-watering · phosphoric acid stabilization · plant available nutrients · rootbound · runoff · steward model · terpene percentage · Top dress · under-watering · weight check · Wetting agent · wild harvested

Products mentioned

10 Gallon Fabric Container · 30 gallon container · BuildASoil · BuildASoil liquid fish hydrolysate · BuildASoil compost · BuildASoil how-to-water blog post · BuildASoil growing organic shirt · OMRI listing service · National Organic Program guidelines · blue mats (capillary watering mats) · automatic drippers · cocoa coir · rockwool · wetting agent · One Straw Revolution · hydroponic bottled nutrients · 3x3 grow tent / bed · 100 gallon container · 1 gallon container · food-grade phosphoric acid (soda-pop grade)