End of Season: Roots, Mulch, and Lessons
Today I’ve officially completed this season’s harvest. While I collected the buds days ago, one last essential step remained: removing the top 3 to 4 centimeters of substrate—where the mulch I call Sacred has been resting.
This mulch has received, season after season for the past five years, all the leaves, fine stems, and roots from my plants. It’s also where I add my dry amendments and where all the irrigation flows through. In essence, it’s a blend of organic matter in various stages of decomposition, humified material, and, most importantly, native mountain microbiology. After five years, this microbiology is now fully adapted to my growing ecosystem. It protects against pathogens and efficiently breaks down the organic matter I feed it—what I call a true “accelerated organic matter disintegrator.” I have added Basalt powder, vital minerals for all microorganism processes.
Now, this Sacred Mulch is sealed inside a bag, with a bit of moisture. I’ll open it again when the next season begins.
Today was also the time to inspect root development in all the pots. I was really looking forward to this moment—it’s the final test. The main goal that shaped everything this season was to develop a powerful root system. That aim guided all my decisions.
My initial focus was to promote a thick, deep taproot. In the previous two seasons, due to poor use of cytokinins, the main root had nearly disappeared—those phytohormones inhibit the taproot in favor of adventitious roots. This time, the outcome was just what I hoped for: all the pots delivered. I found roots that were thicker, healthier, and far more abundant than in past seasons. The main root, from which all others branch, has returned. It wasn’t a complete surprise, since the plants had already been showing unprecedented water consumption—double or even triple that of previous seasons.
This focus on root formation, especially during the vegetative stage, also led me to rethink nutrition. I wanted to give the roots space to grow without overwhelming them with excess nutrients. In the end, I went for highly varied irrigation mixes that rarely exceeded EC 1.0. Since water consumption was high, irrigation became more frequent, but always carefully managed to avoid root lockout. The strategy worked all the way through.
I grew in modest 7-liter old-school pots, and the results were surprising: better yield ratios than in past seasons using larger containers. These pots also use less substrate, fit more plants in my grow tent, and, best of all, are much easier on my back due to their lighter weight.
Now I’m already thinking about the next season, which will start in mid-September. I’m planning new substrate mixes and exploring new techniques. For example, I usually inoculate the coco fiber with microorganisms a few days before mixing, but this time I’ll take it a step further. I’ve saved sediment from several of my biofertilizers, and I plan to mix it with Biochar and rice husk charcoal to inoculate it all together with the coco fiber. These sediments are packed with microbiology, organic matter, and hydrolyzed nutrients.
It still saddens me to part ways with my substrate each season. I tried reusing it for a while, but ran into problems, so some time ago I committed to making fresh substrate each year. For a long time, I would return that used soil to the forest. Now, I give it to a neighbor’s vegetable garden—so it still finds a noble purpose.
Congo
Panama Red II
Green Gelato
Black Lemon
