Tips For Using SoHum Living Soil

SoHum is typically on the dryer side when you receive it, and you may notice that when you water it, it goes to the edges of the pot and doesn’t soak into the soil itself. This is due to the hydrophobic properties of peat moss when it dries out.

You're probably thinking, “If my soil arrives dry, aren’t the microbes dead?” No! The microbes go dormant when the soil is dry and come back to life and start reproducing again as soon as you wet it. You can supercharge this with compost teas.

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1. Dump the SoHum Living Soil into a tote or plastic tub.
2. Using a watering wand with a showerhead, spray the soil evenly with 2–3 passes using the showerhead. Note – you do not want to make the soil muddy or have water pool, but rather lightly and evenly wet the exposed soil.
3. Turn the soil over in the tote/tub, so more dry soil is exposed...repeat step 2.
4. Repeat step 3 several times until the soil is EVENLY moistened throughout the tote/tub.
5. Put the rehydrated SoHum Living Soil in the grow container of your choice and water as normal.
6. OR you can probably just water your soil, come back in a half hour and water again, and repeat if needed. 

Watering will vary based on many factors, so we will give you some basic tips to get started, and you can modify your watering practices from there.

Assuming you start your seedlings in seed-starting soil - when you transplant into SoHum living soil, you’re going to want to ensure the soil is fairly wet, so the roots are immediately going into a moist environment. 

You can give it a heavy watering after it’s planted, but after this, you want to let the soil dry out fairly well before watering again. The idea is to promote the roots to grow out and down in search of water. It could take 5-7 days before the plant needs its next watering.

From here, you can slowly start to water more often. Living soil depends on microbes and fungi to break down the organic nutrients so the plant's roots can consume them. These microbes and fungi perform best in a consistent environment - so finding the balance between over-watering and keeping the microbes a little moist can be challenging. If you need help, watering systems are great at keeping that soil moisture in the target range. 

Letting the soil dry out is better than over-watering your plant, so always air on the side of caution.

SoHum Soil has already been amended with all the micro and macro nutrients your plants need to grow. You can simply add water, and you’re good to go. SoHum recommends using a 5-gallon pot, and if your plant is going to be alive for longer than 3 months in the soil, you may want to consider adding a soil amendment in bloom, such as Gaia Green Power Bloom.

Happy Hydro and SoHum Living Soils do not recommend putting seedlings and clones directly into SoHum. We recommend starting in a seed-starting soil like Coast of Maine Seed Starter. 

Check out the official SoHum Living Soil FAQ here, where they answer 10-15 common questions people ask about their soil. And if you need any questions for us you can email help@happyhydro.com or call 716-217-0353.

Happy Growing!