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reserve your ad hereHi everyone. I’m The Rev, Author of TLO (True Living Organics), the Druid’s Edition. I have been growing cannabis for 50 years now here in 2025. Indoors and outdoors, and I used to use synthetic nutrients (yikes). I graduated to what I call “Soup Style” Organics, where you use liquid organic nutrients. However, for the last 20 years now, I have been using the all natural style of TLO growing. In my latest book, using my dynamic for soil recycling, I have an important True Living Organics soil mix clarification that I wanna throw out there.
I got an email recently from a TLO grower. He had understood my TLO soil dynamic a bit differently than it was meant. So, I wanted to try and make sure nobody else makes this mistake if I can help it. This grower had been combining all his organic matter and his used soil (root balls) and then amending that all up and using it straight on his plants. This worked out great for him until he recycled his soil mix for the second time. Yeah, it was too strong. Lemme clarify a few things below, and check out the attached vid too if ya wanna.
The Main Problem with Cannabis in 2025
I just want to try and make sure you peeps “get” what I be sayin’ here. Now, since cannabis became legal, it has been “infected” by the corporate mindset. Where short term profits are your god, and you will please your god by making those short term profits happen, using basically whatever you can get away with. Ya feel me? If you want to escape all that bullshit when growing, grab a copy of my latest book. It’s a graduation class in becoming self sustaining and all natural, using the wisdom of Mother Nature. No corporate thinking here.
Let me say here that I have always been a decent grower, and I think I have a bit of a green thumb, as it were. The only times in the past I have ever found growing cannabis to be literally easy… is at two or three locations outdoors. These were “sweet spots” as DJ Short would call them. The soil was great, the water was great, and the weather was great. Of course, outdoor growing brings other potential problems to the table, and those are for a different article, heh heh. Overall, I think indoor growing is harder than outdoors most of the time. All naturally growing outdoors, your soil already recycles on its own, that’s what it does. Indoors I show you how to recycle your soil using my TLO soil dynamic. Lemme ‘splain, and clarify.
Rev’s TLO Soil Dynamic – One of Many Possible from My Book
In the above photo you can see the general amount of used soil I collect between recycling it. It’s important for you to understand at this point, that those root balls are FULL of very rich organic matter already—the roots! This would be considered to be “brown matter” in composting-speak.
The photo above shows you my compost tumbler. These cost around $100.00 or so, give or take. I can’t recommend these highly enough. Atomic hassle reduction and the quality of the output is outstanding. When this tumbler is empty, I refill it with the root balls, some all natural TLO amendments, and some organic matter. Including: all leftover cannabis plant matter. Like stems (chopped up) and leaves. I also throw in a little bit of raw and wet kitchen scraps. Boom! 30 days later I have some wicked bad ass soil. But wait… We’re not done yet…
The Dual Chambered Compost Tumbler Also 36 Gallons Total
In my personal TLO soil dynamic, I use the single chambered compost tumbler. However, I make my bulk compost proper, in another way using a stacked home worm farm. In the photo above you can see the type of compost tumbler I would have if I did not have a home worm farm.
Herein lies the pith of my clarification. You absolutely need to have a separate composting dynamic … or …you can alternately use bagged worm castings from a store/nursery. For my worms I save all my kitchen scraps basically. Per tray in my worm farm, I add some perlite for aeration (about a 15% cut of Perlite), a little bit of greensand (about 2 teaspoons), some oyster shell (about ¼ cup), and some alfalfa (about ¼ cup). That’s it. My castings are only very lightly amended. This should be the same rule for composting.
In the dual chambered compost tumbler, you can always be making compost. When you recycle your soil, you can just do it on a single side (18 gallons) at a time. Using the other side for your continuous composting methodology. This eliminates the need for something like my worm farm to compost with separately. As these worm farms have a bit of a steep learning curve, not too bad, but still.
How Compost is Used Building TLO Soil for Your Plants to Use
In the picture above you can see how I store my compost (worm castings) separately in an aerated tote. If I made compost in a dual chambered tumbler, I would store those the same way. The only amending I would do for tumbler compost is some oyster shell, a little greensand, a little blood meal, and a little alfalfa. Again, only very lightly amended.
In the photo above you can see where I combine my finished compost (castings) and my finished recycled soil. I do this about a day before I use it. If I have 10 gallons of finished/recycled root balls then I add 30% finished compost/castings. In other words, I add 3 gallons of compost, in this example.
I keep my compost (castings) and my recycled/finished root balls separate. But you don’t have to do it that way. The only important part of this is that you mix at least a 30% cut of your compost with your finished recycled soil—BEFORE—you use it for your plants.
Above in the photo, you can see my 3 TLO finished/recycled soil storage totes (aerated). If I wanted to store all my soil in the same place for some reason, and not keep the finished compost separately like I do, I would just combine 2 parts of my finished recycled soil with one part finished compost/castings. Then just store all that in totes. That’s fine.
The TLO Soil Dynamic Requires a Source of High Quality Compost/Castings
You can use your own homemade compost, homemade worm castings, or store bought worm castings, all fine. However, I would say, normally, store bought compost is not very high quality whatsoever, and not really worthy for this TLO application.
Afterword
I hope I was able to clear that up for any of you that may have been under the same assumption as the grower that emailed me. Want some more Rev right now? Okey dokey, here ya go: Why Choose TLO? by The Rev. If you’re asking yourself, “where do I find this amazing new book of yours, Rev?” I say, bam! Right here man, True Living Organics 2025 The Druid’s Guide.
Want to grow some wicked exotic shit, that is not only super healthy in all ways, but is also “off the beaten path” when it comes to unique and vastly different resin properties, especially where the effects are concerned? Then you’re in luck, Kingdom Organic Seeds is the place you wanna check out. Don’t miss the Gamblers Section over there where serious good deals can be had on f1 hybrids. That’s it for this article and I’m outty for now. See ya back here soon. L8r G8rs.
- REv 😊
