Everything I learned was right here in this thread plus a few members who really helped me along my way.
@greasemonkeymann where ya at !??
also podcast like cannabis cultivation and science podcast. Or shaping fire.
As far as soil building here my best advice. Take it or leave it. Lol.
when baking a cake the base is the same typically. Doesn’t matter if it’s double chocolate, peanut butter or a gummy bear cake( it’s my son’s birthday and the last cake is his request this year).
Start with similar amounts of eggs, flour, oil et.
then we flavor according to what type of cake we want.
soil is the same way. Base is the vital portion. And strong base is what provides microbes with a healthy happy home.
1/3 conpost( or better castings, homemade ifpossible.)
1/3 peat
1/3 aeration (pumice or chunkiest perlite you can find).
I’ve tried 20plus different soil recipes , but the base remains consistent.
2-4 cups nutrients. You can play with this. 3 main sources. Or 10 at 1/4 each. You choose and track your npk inputs.
4 cups minerals. Don’t skimp- butt you don’t need to add any more minerals during recycling. Just extra nutrients based on what kind of fade , or lack of fade occurred with last harvest.
the rest comes with time. The fine details and teas, enzymes, fungal food ,recycling. All the other fun stuff.
just keep it simple to start. Spend 10x more time looking at soil than plants. Actively learning how to properly maintain soil moisture levels is a huge deal. Notice I didn’t say watering. I don’t water plants. I maintain moisture levels which are beneficials to soil life and health.
do have a mineral plan in place as well as your amendments?