Chatted with an old grower at the nursery who changed how I think about soil

Ran into a guy at the local nursery in Spokane last Saturday who's been growing native plants for 40 years. He said most people overthink fertilizers and underthink their soil structure. Told me he just uses local compost and lets the microbes do the work, no special mixes or brands. Been using fancy bags for 3 years and my plants were okay but never great. Switched to a simple compost top dressing last week and already seeing better leaf color. Anyone else have a conversation that made you simplify your whole approach?

2 comments

2 Comments

andrew_sanchez947d ago

Nah bro you cant see better leaf color in a week from compost top dressing, thats not how soil biology works. Takes at least a few weeks for microbes to break down organic matter and make it available to roots.

patricianguyen7d ago

Try watering with a weak compost tea instead if you want results that fast. The microbes are already in solution so they hit the roots way quicker than dry top dressing.