From Soil to Strategy
Why We Switched Up Our Grow Game
If you’ve been following our journey at the farm, you know we’ve spent a lot of time nerding out over the biology of living soil. There’s something undeniably poetic about creating a tiny, self sustaining ecosystem in a pot. But after a lot of long nights, observation, and trial and error, we decided to pivot.
Here is the real talk on why we transitioned from the “set it and forget it” living soil world to the high performance, precision feeding world of Coco and Perlite.
The “New-School” Shift Why We Left Soil Behind
Look, living soil is beautiful, but it can be like trying to steer a cruise ship. If something goes sideways, correcting the pH or nutrient levels in a large living soil bed is slow and complicated.
We wanted more control. We realized that to really push these genetics to see the absolute peak of what a strain can do we needed a medium that reacted instantly to what we were feeding it. Where running through several strains to find only the best. We’re very picky and that’s okay.
The Power of the “Push”
By switching to a Coco/Perlite mix, we unlocked the ability to crank up the EC (Electrical Conductivity). In living soil, you’re limited by how fast the microbes can process the food. In our coco setup, we’re delivering a concentrated nutrient solution directly to the roots. It’s like feeding your plant a high octane meal that it can absorb instantly. The growth speed isn’t just faster; it’s more aggressive.
The Dry Back Advantage
This was the game changer for us. One of the biggest dangers in any grow is “soggy feet.” If your medium stays too wet for too long, the root zone becomes anaerobic—basically, the roots suffocate and start to rot. Although we did use auto pots and Spider wicking system and both worked great but, this blend is way better! 70/30 coco/ perlite.
With our Coco/Perlite blend, we get rapid dry-backs. This allows us to feed, let the medium dry out until the plant is thirsty, and then hit it again. That “wet-dry” cycle is basically an oxygen pump for your roots. The roots stay white, healthy, and hyper-active because they are constantly grabbing for oxygen between waterings. We use fabric 5 gallon pots and 10.5 gallon plastic pots for the trees.
For the nerd heads,
The Advanced Tactical Breakdown 
For those of you who already have your hands deep in the canopy and are looking for that extra 5% yield:
Mastering the EC Surge
When we moved away from the biological buffering of living soil, we had to become masters of the nutrient solution. By running a higher EC, we aren’t just feeding; we’re using osmotic pressure to force the plant to maximize its metabolic rate. The key here is the perlite ratio—we’ve found that by increasing the perlite percentage, we prevent compaction, which keeps the oxygen exchange rate high enough to support that heavy feeding schedule without locking out nutrients.
Root Health vs. Nutrient Load
The biggest risk when pushing high EC in coco is salt buildup. Because we are feeding so aggressively, we have to keep a close eye on runoff (EC in vs. EC out). If the runoff gets too high, we’re risking root-zone toxicity. We do plain ph waterings in between feeding to help with salt buildup. Always dump run off from pots to ensure your plants aren’t just sitting in it.
By prioritizing rapid dry-backs, we ensure the rhizosphere stays aerobic even under heavy salt loads. This prevents the “root rot” trap that catches a lot of growers when they try to transition from soil to high-performance coco systems. We’ve essentially turned our pots into high-speed nutrient processors.
The Bottom Line:
We haven’t stopped loving the science of plants, we just moved the science from the “soil web” to the “root uptake” side of things. It’s faster, it’s more precise, and frankly, it’s allowed us to see phenotypes express themselves in ways we never thought possible in our previous setup.
So, if you’re sitting on the fence about moving from soil to a more active, high-drain system—don’t be afraid to take the plunge. Just keep your eyes on that EC, watch your runoff, and let those roots breathe.
we grow hydo and soil this will be my first grow in soil we add our nutrients to the water for our outdoor grow with outdoor sprayer.