
The Living Soil Podcast
By Grass Roots

The Living Soil PodcastDec 11, 2020

Episode#20 IPM with Saul Alba from Beneficial Insectary Inc.
Saul and I chat about his current IPM strategies, bug problems, Living soil systems and implication of these strategies on all levels home growing to commercial cannabis. good bugs and bad buds how and when to monitor or scout for bugs. what tools should you use for major problems.
best way to contact Saul Alba saul.alba@insectary.com
https://insectary.com/

Episode #19 Queen of the sun grown
Alexandria queen of the sun grown is a trained UC Davis Master Gardener. Cannabis cultivator/ consultant
In this episode we break down her history and why she is so passionate about the plant.
I ask her what her plans when it comes to a small indoor living soil grow with 4x4 and 4x8 raised beds in tents.
Soil volume helps soil biology. Microbial monitoring with microscopes corneal soil mix 1/3 - 1/3 - 1/3 program.
Going from 2- 20ft x100ft long greenhouses on a commercial farm in California to a indoor grow in WA state.
Enjoy!

Episode #18 David Olsen and Tyler chat about transplant root dip
In this episode we chat about the science around the transplant root dip and why this is the best and most efficient way of inoculating a root system. Starting with germinating seeds with beneficial microbes and water all the way to weekly root drenches. Supper mycorrhizae is a microbial inoculant including microbe foods David feels you should be applying microbes with a food source to make sure the microbes can colonized a root system and help the system charge forward.

Video version of episode #11 with Brandon Rust
Tyler- We chat with Brandon about his efforts to make only scientifically guided decisions on nutrient management, foliar spraying and soil chemistry in his Co-founded commercial Greenhouse Grow in Oklahoma. Brandon has been a cultivator of cannabis medicine for over 20 years. He has a wealth of information about the plant and how it should be grown in its most natural environment possible. Growing Cannabis is not easy in Oklahoma, with its crazy weather and random rain storms. Things can get crazy and Brandon has his ways of producing a very high quality crop.

video version of episode 13 Tyler chats it up with Matthew Gates, an integrated pest management specialist.
Tyler chats it up with Matthew Gates, an integrated pest management specialist.

Video Version of episode 5 Jenny Garley from New Age labs & David Olsen talk on Sap testing.
Tyler connects with... Jenny Garley from New Age Laboratories specializing in Sap testing for Hemp and Cannabis. Also with us today is David Olsen the creator our line of concentrated microbes and microbe food mixtures. We break down how and why we are doing the formulation we are doing based of of scientific data. Are you looking to eliminate Bro science from your garden or farm... aren't we all?? Nutrients can move very fast from the top of the plant down to the roots when foliar sprayed. Driving forward healthy plants that BAD bugs don't want. Its our goal to bring typical farming practices to the everyday or seasonal cannabis farmer.

Video version of Episode 2 with Michael Box of blu mats
On this episode we have Michael Box from Sustainable Village. Michael is the head sales rep and Project Manager for Sustainable village or Blu Matt irrigation system. They are based in Bolder Colorado and sell one of the most efficient irrigation systems for living soil or agricultural farms. Over the years paring a Grassroots raised bed and a blu mats irrigation system is the most popular and successful ways of achieving a static moisture level in your living soil beds. Reaching this point and maintain these levels allows for beneficial bacteria and fungi to colonize your soil mass and constantly produce nutrients for the plant. Many growers have proven this can result in a big boost of yields and quality.
In this episode we talk about how to set up design and maintain this system. How to feed nutrients, monitoring moisture levels and making adjustments. When a pressurized system is required compared to a gravity feed system. When to use drip emitters compared to the blu soak soaker hoses.
Michael and I get to see and visit some of the best and worst grows in the US and Canada, we take a tremendous pride in offering these customers the absolute best personalized solutions available for there style of growing.

Video version of episode 8 with Jake of no-till kings
In this episode we chat about the custom liner beds Grassroots made for Notill kings Long beach Facility. They are using Next-gen rolling benches. For this we made a simple liner to set in the cages with grommet to secure the fabric. Getting into the nitty gritty of Notill kings style of growing we chat about moving from brewed compost teas to simple quick extracts immediately applied to the soil. Organic's alive, Scott from Cresvcive soil services, soil testing and amending minerals. Plus many more amazing topics.

Episode 17: Tyler and Danny Janes
Tyler and Danny Janes from Collective Elevation.

Episode 16 Tyler and Nick Tomasini
Tyler and Nick from Humankind in Oregon.
Nick Tomasini and I chat about His style of consolation as a Soil life consultant specializing in soil Biology testing and interpretation. I ask Nick about adding soil to my old beds and how I should go about this. Apart of that process is How to qualify different inputs. Lastly we chat about foliar spraying and how much to add in a gallon of water either way less is more.
Nicks qualifications and website-
Soil Life Consultant
Soil Biology Testing & Interp.
Composting | Nutrient Cycling | Agronomy
https://www.humankindoregon.com/

Episode 15: Tyler and Fleur
Tyler and some great folks at Fleur: Evan, Nate and Sven.
We chat about the major differences they have between 18 inch tall living soil raised beds and the newer 24 inch deeps beds.
More roots more fruits! Yes that is the case but there is some challenges to over comes and get through.

Episode 14: Tyler and Jenna Mault
Tyler and Jenna talk about some Concentrated Biology products and living soil.

Episode 13: Tyler and Matthew Gates
Tyler chats it up with Matthew Gates, an integrated pest management specialist.

Episode 12: Tyler and the Soil Doctor
Tyler and the Soil Doctor.

Episode 11: Tyler and Brandon Rust of Bokashi Earth Works
Tyler- We chat with Brandon about his efforts to make only scientifically guided decisions on nutrient management, foliar spraying and soil chemistry in his Co-founded commercial Greenhouse Grow in Oklahoma. Brandon has been a cultivator of cannabis medicine for over 20 years. He has a wealth of information about the plant and how it should be grown in its most natural environment possible. Growing Cannabis is not easy in Oklahoma, with its crazy weather and random rain storms. Things can get crazy and Brandon has his ways of producing a very high quality crop.

Episode 10: Tyler Platt and Steve, Potent Ponics
Tyler and Steve dive deep into aquatic living soil and terrestrial living soil systems in sips and wicking media beds, drain and fill- we cover it all! We also go over what problems Potent Ponics had to overcome and what plants can and can't be grown in these systems.

Episode 9: Tyler Platt and Lost Coast Wellness
Tyler is joined by the great folks at Lost Coast Wellness, Jared and Effie Boudreaux, In this episode we chat about Jared and Effies journey through the years before they build the respectful brand Lost Coast Wellness. We do a bit of time traveling- Starting off with taking a leap and moving to the Emerald Triangle to working on a CSA farm in Humboldt- to current times of product quality control and modern branding efforts. Lost Coast Wellness explains how and why they create specific CBD and plant based blends and plans for patients that have a greater need for solitons then the basic sore elbow or joints. We cover the story of one patents a 2 year old heart transplant survivor. Lastly we go in depth about the event they are hosting at the end of July in Shelter Cove CA,
https://lostcoastwellness.ticketspice.com/grow
At the bottom of the lost coast wellness webpage listed above you will see a donate option.

Episode 8: Tyler and Jake, NoTill Kings
Tyler and Jake talk about the last year's journey for NoTill Kings!
In this episode we chat about the custom liner beds Grassroots made for Notill kings Long beach Facility. They are using Next-gen rolling benches. For this we made a simple liner to set in the cages with grommet to secure the fabric. Getting into the nitty gritty of Notill kings style of growing we chat about moving from brewed compost teas to simple quick extracts immediately applied to the soil. Organic's alive, Scott from Cresvcive soil services, soil testing and amending minerals. Plus many more amazing topics.

Episode 7: Tyler and Steve Cantwell, Greenlife Productions
Tyler chats with longtime partner Steve Cantwell who was the first commercial facility to order Grassroots living soil beds.

Episode. 6 For Our Canada Friends! Tyler and Nathan with Black Swallow Living soil in Brantford ON
Tyler talks to Nathan of Black swallow living in Brantford ON.
Nathan is one of the owners of Black Swallow living soil. On this episode we chat about what conditions are like to grow cannabis outdoors on the East coast of Canada and how similar it is to the west coast in some areas time frames of the season. We also explore how climate and humidity levels effect the kind of container you need to buy when it comes to choosing between buying a classic or living soil style containers. in addition, we chat about irrigation needs while still maintaining a productive business and family life. BSLS has built a very respectful following of large LP's Micro LP's and home growers across Canada for providing the KIS organics blend of soils, and their own special blends specific to customer’s needs. If you are considering buying soil in Canada and you have not tried BSLS quality and level care you really are missing out!
We also chat about the supply chain for products moving from the us to Canada

Episode 5: Tyler chats Sap testing with Jenny Garley of new age laboratories + The Microbe man David Olsen
Tyler connects with... Jenny Garley from New Age Laboratories specializing in Sap testing for Hemp and Cannabis. Also with us today is David Olsen the creator our line of concentrated microbes and microbe food mixtures. We break down how and why we are doing the formulation we are doing based of of scientific data. Are you looking to eliminate Bro science from your garden or farm... aren't we all?? Nutrients can move very fast from the top of the plant down to the roots when foliar sprayed. Driving forward healthy plants that BAD bugs don't want. Its our goal to bring typical farming practices to the everyday or seasonal cannabis farmer.

Episode 4: Tyler Platt and Eric Brandstad
I'm really excited to bring on Eric and Bridget for episode 4
We chat about how to dial in raised beds, pots and greenhouse designs in different climates west coast vs east coast vs Oklahoma and the many different climates and factors involved in planning out a commercial or home grow. Eric is involved and consulting in some of the most technically up to date commercial grows in California and across the US. I got to ask Eric about how they made a internal dep system cold steel hoop greenhouses, low cost and time effective solutions. We also chat about foliar spraying tech. Lastly we chat about Kangen water machines, They are medical grade, water ionizer machines that produce 7 different levels of custom pH water that is rich in active molecular.

Episode 3: David Olson on Soil Biology
Today we are talking about the relationship between the soil microbes and plants, they evolved together over millions of years. Plants talk to microbes with a chemical trigger telling them to activate in a function to feed the system. The plant can use over 1,000 different exudates to communicate with microbes or the building blocks of a language between the two. Plants use microbes to find and free nutrients the plants need. Other topics and themes of the discussion include:
Pre-world war two regenerative agriculture practices and how things changed that killed (and are killing) our soil microbes. We can’t anticipate what the plants needs at all times, so let the microbes and plants do it together. Other strategies can be proactive to prevent these issues. My favorite line from the show – “Every crop has an inherent maximum yield. Our job as farmers is screw that up as little as possible.” Soil priming solution, how to get your biology rip-roaring before planting.David Olson is our partner for our Concentrated Biology product. Soil biology is critical to plant growth. https://www.grassrootsfabricpots.com/concentrated-biology/

Episode 2 - Tyler Platt and Michael Box from Sustainable Village
On this episode we have Michael Box from Sustainable Village. Michael is the head sales rep and Project Manager for Sustainable village or Blu Matt irrigation system. They are based in Bolder Colorado and sell one of the most efficient irrigation systems for living soil or agricultural farms. Over the years paring a Grassroots raised bed and a blu mats irrigation system is the most popular and successful ways of achieving a static moisture level in your living soil beds. Reaching this point and maintain these levels allows for beneficial bacteria and fungi to colonize your soil mass and constantly produce nutrients for the plant. Many growers have proven this can result in a big boost of yields and quality.
In this episode we talk about how to set up design and maintain this system. How to feed nutrients, monitoring moisture levels and making adjustments. When a pressurized system is required compared to a gravity feed system. When to use drip emitters compared to the blu soak soaker hoses.
Michael and I get to see and visit some of the best and worst grows in the US and Canada, we take a tremendous pride in offering these customers the absolute best personalized solutions available for there style of growing.
We looks forward to working with you!

Episode 1: Scott Skamnes of Crescives Soil Services
In this episode we discuss tapping into 300 million years of evolution, converting to living soil, creating a system that benefits food and cannabis crops, when and how to apply science and monitoring equipment and so much more. My special guest Scott Skamnes join mes and talks about pushing our plants further with soil and foliar feeding. IPM strategies, substituting poisons for nutrition. Microbes can survive on the leaf surface until you disturb them and the benefits of community based growing groups and grow logos.
It's action packed.

Episode 0: Welcome to The Living Soil Podcast by Grassroots
The team at Grassroots Fabric Pots are jumping into the world of podcast to share their passion and tips on all things living soil with you. We'll talk to friend in the industry and get their take on a variety of topics. Please subscribe so you don't miss an episode.