What is Living Soil and Why It Matters

Wine snobs (who love to be called that, by the way) can tell you that a considerable portion of their connoisseurship revolves around their understanding of terroir: a French term referring to the unique combination of soil, climate conditions, and the geographic location that the grapes were grown in. Similarly, cannabis connoisseurship entails at least a baseline understanding of different cultivation techniques in order to fully appreciate the overall quality of a crop. Beyond indoor, outdoor, hydroponic, aeroponic, and greenhouse grows, there’s another cultivation strategy that deserves more time in the spotlight: living soil.

Living soil— also known as recycled organic living soil (ROLS), super soil, no-till, or low-till — entails the creation of a living microcosm for cannabis plants to sustain themselves in. To phrase that another way, this grow technique replicates the organic environment that cannabis would thrive in, down to microorganisms like bacteria and fungi, nutrient-rich bioactive compounds, and companion plants.

We’re big fans of living soil weed here at 210 Cannabis Co, and we want to help our customers & patients understand why herb grown in living soil is so smooth, flavorful, and satisfying… but doing the research for this article was a lot like doing biology homework. There’s a good reason why I’m a marketer and not a botanist. That being said, the goal of this article is to help provide a high level understanding of living soil without getting too into the weeds (pun intended) with biology & horticulture terminology.

How Living Soil Works

The federal prohibition of cannabis was the catalyst for widespread indoor cultivation; pesticides, bottled nutrients, and grow lights have been viewed as standard for decades now. Since state-level legalization brought cannabis cultivation out in the open, more commercial growers have been experimenting with ways to produce especially flavorful, smooth, sustainable cannabis on a large scale.

Unlike conventional farming where growers focus on feeding the plant, living soil cultivators concentrate on feeding the soil microbiology itself and, in turn, allowing the microbiology to feed the plant. In case you’re wondering, soil is not the same thing as dirt: the physical structure of soil is a mix of minerals, air, water, and a small amount of organic material (like decaying plant matter and animal waste). Living soil cultivators aim to mimic the soil food web by introducing “amendments”—organic compounds like worm castings, bone meal, and kelp meal—that microorganisms digest and break down into nutrients for the plant to absorb.

The Living Soil Cultivation Process

I’m not trying to play Dr. Greenthumb today; there are lots of great books, informative YouTube videos, and well-written articles that detail the complex processes of creating living soil and using it to grow killer weed, but we’re just going to give a quick rundown on how it’s done.

After mixing together the ingredients to make super soil— worm castings, organic soil, blood meal, and all that other good stuff that probably smells like hell— the soil is mixed and watered regularly in a closed environment (like a tarp or garbage can) over the course of a week. Subsequent to this process, the soil needs to “cook” in a sunny place for 30 to 60 days, and it needs to be kept moist to allow the ingredients to break down. Following a bath of compost tea to help foster microbial life, the grower might give it a final mix and introduce some earthworms to help aerate the soil before planting clones or seeds.

“We partner with Cascadia Mushrooms, a local certified organic mushroom farm in Bellingham,” explains Kenny Ingebrigtson of Eagle Trees. “We receive the lion’s share of their weekly spent mushroom-growing substrate. Combined with our cattle bedding/manure and these ‘mushroom blocks,’ mainly consisting of sawdust and organic grain hulls, we create giant compost piles broken down through microbial action and worm work.”

For a backyard cultivator, the weed will basically grow itself with a little bit of water and occasional amendments (no need for bottled nutrients, pesticides, or a final flush), though it’s far more challenging for a commercial cannabis producer to maintain living soil.
“I can’t tell you how many conversations I’ve had with other farms in the industry stating how ‘I used to grow like that in the medical days,'” says Eric Cohen of Sweetwater Farms, “A lot of grows actually did try to do it in 502, but it is extremely difficult to do on a scale. I will say that most people told us we were crazy for sticking with it through the ups and downs.”

Why Grow in Living Soil?

The commercial cultivation of living soil is as messy and laborious as it is complex. Why would a licensed producer bother to grow this way when they could have an easier time using conventional techniques that involve bottled nutrients, store-bought potting mix, and automated processes? The answer, in a word, is quality.

“Our grower used to grow hydroponically, way back in the day,” remarks Alison Sheafor of Mako Farm. “The first plants he grew in KIS Organics living soil he found the flower was beautiful, and the plants were happier. More importantly the terpenes, flavor, and THC was higher than he’d experienced previously. He was so impressed with this flower that he entered it in the Cannabis Cup, winning first place. Why grow something that’s ‘ok’ when you can grow something so glorious?”

Most commercial cannabis producers are understandably inclined to utilize high efficiency and high yield grow tactics to maximize their profits, but living soil growers have a commitment to sustainability, cleanliness, and a desire to help cannabis plants thrive the way they used to in the wild.
“Dedication, love, and strong values are what it takes for this model to work,” expressed Ingebrigtson, “It’s not the ‘crushing it’ model; it’s the ‘I believe in what we’re doing’ model.”

“We chose living soil because we believe the best cannabis comes from a thriving, natural ecosystem—not a bottle,” says Cohen. “It’s not just a growing method—it’s our philosophy.”

Benefits of Living Soil Bud

One of the most noticeable differences about living soil weed is that it typically has a better flavor and aroma than conventionally grown bud, and this is due to greater trichome density and higher concentrations of terpenes.

“The flavor and effect of cannabis grown in native living soils under the sun, using the cleanest ingredients, are unmatched,” says Ingebrigtson. “The place where cannabis is grown imparts a unique expression, available only from that farm… the question for consumers is: ‘do you want warehouse terroir, or do you want clean, closed-loop farm terroir?’”

Plants grown in living soil are very healthy because they have all the nutrients they need to self-sustain and thrive. Pests and plant diseases are opportunistic; healthy plants don’t give pests and diseases the opportunity to attack, making pesticides unnecessary for living soil herb. Growers rely on predatory insects for pest control instead.
“Our soil is alive with a community of organisms that all work together for nutrient cycling, benefitting overall soil and plant health,” says Sheafor. “Living soil has beneficial bacteria, mycorrhizal fungi, worms, etc. Every 3 weeks we release tiny, beneficial insects that go after the kinds of insects we don’t want in our grow rooms.”

Another benefit worth repeating is that living soil bud produces remarkably smooth smoke. Obviously there are many ways to consume cannabis aside from smoking, but for those who still prefer a good bong rip or a nice joint, nothing is easier on your lungs than living soil weed. “Cannabis grown in living soil tends to have a richer terpene profile, smoother smoke, and fewer residuals—because it comes from a clean, regenerative environment,” says Cohen.

Drawbacks to Growing In Living Soil

To recap, growing cannabis in living soil means:

1. no synthetic nutrients,
2. no pesticides,
3. less water,
4. less fertilizing,
5. lower ecological impact,
6. better flavor,
7. better aroma,
8. better effect, AND
9. smoother smoke

…so why the hell doesn’t everyone grow weed this way?!

“Because it’s so much harder to manage and master on a scale,” says Cohen. “It requires more upfront effort, higher startup costs, and deeper knowledge of soil biology.”

“It’s no cake walk,” adds Sheafor, “Growing in living soil has added risks and there is a continual learning curve. When one is asking about how to grow in living soil, the answers are not cut and dry, it just doesn’t work that way.”

Describing what they do as a sort of “alchemy” or “magic,” Ingebrigtson elaborates that they’re always at the whim of nature. “The systems we’ve developed at Eagle Trees over ten years have come through trial and error, and it feels like we’ve only begun to refine our craft into a model that truly supports itself. It’s a mandala—a living, breathing piece of art that is impermanent and constantly adorned with new details.”

. . . . .

Now that you know what living soil is all about, we encourage you to try some living soil weed for yourself; experiment with the different living soil brands we carry and taste the difference!

We’d like to extend our gratitude to Alison Sheafor & Justin Magill from Mako Farm, Eric Cohen of Sweetwater Farms, and Kenny Ingebrigtson & Jesse Straight from Eagle Trees for sharing their insights and expertise with us! These folks produce some of the best herb we carry at 210, and we’re grateful that they were so generous with their limited time and helped us better understand the nuances of living soil cultivation.