Ecothrive/Indoor Organics Eco-Life Soil

The ultimate potting soil. Eco Life is a ready-to-use living soil mix that is the perfect blend of compost, aeration and organic nutrient sources. It is capable of supporting even the hungriest of plants throughout the entire growth cycle by just feeding with water! Plus it can be reused at the end of the cycle with some simple amendments making it not only high performing but also truly sustainable and economical.

Why Choose Eco Life Living Soil?

The basic answer to this question is simple, you can now grow top quality plants that yield heavily and only feed them water for the entire growth cycle when you use Eco-Life! Growing plants is actually surprisingly easy when you work with nature, after all this is how it has been done successfully for millions of years. Eco-Life is a collaboration between Gareth and the Ecothrive team and Ben from Indoor Organics; the organic soil experts. Eco-Life has been carefully crafted so it is loaded with correct nutrition for full term growth alongside a diverse blend of microbiology needed to break it down into plant available forms. All you need to do is keep the soil moist at all times to ensure the microbiology can thrive.

What's In Eco-Life?

As we have already explained Eco-Life is a 'real' potting soil, made with organic natural inputs to replicate the microbial process that occurs in nature. It has the perfect soil structure and contains everything you need to create the thriving microbial population required to break down organic nutrients so that they’re available to the plants, just when they need it. Here's what makes up the mix:

Premium Seaweed Meal - Sometimes called “green gold” because of all the treasures it brings to the soil! The seaweed meal is exclusively sourced from the highly-prized species Ascophyllum nodosum and contains an impressive spectrum of minerals - over 60 trace elements! This incredible, natural soil amendment gives your plants a luxurious nutritional diet complemented with valuable natural plant growth hormones including cytokinins to help drive cell division and speed up growth, auxins and gibberellins for assisting the mobility of essential nutrients, and indoles for turbocharged root development.

Insect Meal - An ecologically-sourced crustacean meal replacement! Insect meal is very similar to crustacean meal in its nutrient profile, but has very low sodium, making it an ideal living soil amendment. Rich in amino acids, nitrogen and phosphorus, this is a great source of nutrition for the plants, and for the soil biology. Most importantly, insect meal is much more sustainable than crustacean meal, the insects are black soldier fly larvae and are grown indoors on controlled food waste streams. The time has come to stop depleting our oceans, and small moves like this can make a difference.

Neem - Neem is a potent source of soil fertility largely thanks to being a nutrient accumulator itself. Neem has deep reaching roots which pull up nutrition from deep down below the soil surface where other plants can’t reach. It is rich in nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium as well as calcium and magnesium. As an additional key benefit, neem also helps to ward off soil pests and pathogens.

Mealworm Frass (Ecothrive Charge) - Ecothrives flagship product, Charge, is well-known for its nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium boosting power, as well as being an excellent food source for beneficial microbes. This natural and ecological product helps to boost key primary nutrients in your soil mix. As a secondary benefit, mealworm frass also contains tiny fragments of mealworm skins and other body parts providing a great source of chitin to stimulate plant immune response and elevate defences.

Basalt Rock Dust - The “magic ingredient” for essential trace elements and silica—essential for optimal plant health and vigour but often lacking from lesser soil mixes. Trace minerals form the building blocks of enzymes, proteins and many other metabolites while silica helps plants to grow big and strong with thick stems and branches to support heavy yields.

Vermicompost (Worm Castings) - This is the crucial ingredient that makes everything else work! Think of vermicompost as the engine room of the soil mix. It introduces the bacteria and fungi required to break down the other inputs and make nutrients available to the plants. Eco Life uses worm castings from an indoor worm farm where the worms are allowed to feed naturally on a luxurious (for worms!) diet of well aged aerobic thermophilic compost. The quality of the resulting worm castings is unbeatable. Adding a plethora of beneficial microbes, as well as extra nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium and micronutrients, these incredibly high quality worm castings are the heartbeat of Eco Life living soils.

Rock Phosphate - Providing a long term slow release of phosphorus, rock phosphate is added to Eco-Life mix to raise this key nutrient and allow the beneficial soil biology to steadily deliver it to the plant. Phosphorus is a key nutrient for all plants and plays an important role in root development, vegetative growth and fruit and flower production.

Humic and Fulvic Acids - Humus is the final product of decomposition and is rich in humic and fulvic acids. Eco-Life contains both humic and fulvic acids derived from naturally mined deposits of ancient vegetation. These key fractions are great at chelating nutrients making them easy for plants to uptake, as well as stimulating microbial activity and improving plant health and root growth.

Gypsum - Gypsum is a great source of calcium, one of the most important nutrients for healthy plants in all growing situations! Calcium is needed for healthy leaf, fruit and flower development. The other beneficial side to gypsum is the sulphur which improves aroma, flavour development and overall health in fast-growing plants.

How To Use Eco Life Living Soil

Switching to living soil can seem daunting and strange especially those moving over from the more widely used method of liquid fertilisers. However it really couldn't be easier if you follow these basic instructions.

Firstly is the amount of soil to use. To get the full benefits we recommend using a total of 180-250L per 1.2m2 area. Many growers use one 45L bag of Eco Life per pot, with a total of 4 pots in this grow space (making 180L total). Any smaller than this and you will tend to find that there is not enough overall volume of soil and thus nutrition within the pot to support a plant throughout the entire cycle as intended.

Next up is watering. Unlike traditional soils and coco mediums which you would tend to have a clear wet/dry cycle it is important for Eco Life to remain moist. If the medium dries out, the microbes within it will become dormant or die after a period of time and render it far less effective. This does not mean the pot needs to be soaked but just a fairly moist at all times. This process can be made easier with the use of Grassroots Fabric Pots, they are specifically designed for living soil and feature a special lining that locks moisture into the pot. Check them out!

Whilst on the subject of watering, it is essential to use de-chlorinated water at all times with Eco Life soil. The chlorine found in tap water is very harmful to microbes and beneficial bacteria and will reduce how effective your soil performs. Add Ecothrive Neutralise with every watering to instantly remove chlorine and other harmful contaminants from your tap water making it safe to use.

Lastly is the addition of Life Cycle. This is an organic soil amendment made for Eco Life (and other living soils) and acts as an important addition during the cycle as well as afterwards. Be sure to add around 1-2 tablespoons of Life Cycle as a top dress per 40-50L during the end of veg/beginning of flowering and again 3-4 weeks afterwards (ensuring that the last top dress is applied 4-5 weeks before harvest). Once you have completed your cycle you can then mix in a larger dose of Life Cycle to your used soil to reinvigorate it to be used again!

Eco-Life Living Soil is sold in a 45L pack made from environmentally friendly materials.