Soil Nutrients

Soil is a working medium, not an empty reservoir

A decent potting mix or garden soil already carries minerals and a biological population. House & Garden puts it this way: “the unique composition of soil particles and existing mineral content requires an extremely precise composition of the fertiliser compounds”. You top up a working system, not a blank one.

The bottle already prints a lower soil rate

The Focus range from Growth Technology prints the split on the label: 5–10mL per litre of water in hydroponics or semi-hydro, versus 3–7mL per litre in soil or potting mix. Same bottle, about half the strength, because the medium already supplies the rest.

Release is slow, and the mix buffers

Organic inputs do not go straight to the plant — soil life has to break them down first. That is why Green Planet's Back Country Blend is granular: it releases slowly so it cannot burn, and you only reapply every three to five weeks. It is also formulated to neutralise acidic soils, and Growth Technology pH-buffers its Focus concentrates so all twelve essential minerals stay available. You still check pH; the medium does work no reservoir can.

The soil nutrients we stock

Liquid base feeds

House & Garden Soil A&B is only for soil and quality soil blends, in 1L to 20L. Canna Terra Flores is a bloom feed developed specifically for soil and soil-based potting mixes, in 1L and 5L. Growth Technology's Focus line is a single-part concentrate with all twelve essential minerals including calcium, cut by plant type — Vegetable, Herb, Fruit, Flower, Australian Native, Succulent and Complete — from 250mL through 20L.

Granular and controlled-release blends

Back Country Blend from Green Planet ships as Grow, Bloom and Boost in 5kg, 10kg and 20kg. Top dress or mix through at about half to one teaspoon per foot of plant height. Dr Greenthumbs Go & Grow and Bud & Bloom are 1.5kg dry blends built from alfalfa, neem and kelp meals, malted barley, gypsum, lime and seabird guano.

Amendments, top dressings and guanos

This part has no hydroponic equivalent. SNT Regenerate, in 2kg and 5kg, rebuilds no-till beds and recycled soil with plant-based amendments, rock minerals and a mycorrhizal inoculant. SNT Worm Castings and Microtek Worm Nuggets bring castings and biology; FUTURE SOIL BIOCARBON is a preloaded biochar in 3L, 9L and 25L for water and nutrient holding; BioGuano and Natures Own cover the liquid guanos. If organic is the whole point rather than one option, the organic nutrients range goes further.

How to choose soil nutrients

1. Begin with the mix you already have. A well-amended fresh potting mix still carries several weeks of food. Recycled or tired soil does not — that is the job of a top-dressing blend.
2. Pick liquid, dry, or both. Liquids give you control and a quick response. Dry blends release over weeks and need far less watching. Plenty of growers run a granular base and a liquid to fine-tune.
3. Match the feed to the stage. Grow formulas put nitrogen first for leaf and shoot; bloom formulas swing toward phosphorus and potassium.
4. Decide if you are feeding the plant or the soil. Mineral feeds go straight to the roots. Meals, guanos, castings and biochar feed the microbes, which then feed the plant — slower and more forgiving.
5. Leave hydroponic dose rates on the hydro page. Growth Technology's directions drop from 5–10mL per litre in hydro to 3–7mL per litre in soil. Running soil at reservoir strength stacks salts quickly.

Between crops: keeping the soil going

Unlike an inert medium, soil can go around again. SNT Regenerate recycles old soil without a soil test: mix about half a kilogram through a 50L container with worm castings or compost and an aeration amendment, or scratch a cup per 50L in as a top dress once the cycle ends. Mycorrhizal inoculants such as the Xtreme Gardening Mykos range — stocked from 100g to 9.1kg — go in at transplant.

Still choosing between mineral and organic inputs? Read organic vs synthetic nutrients, then look through the soil additives and microbes and beneficial bacteria ranges for what sits next to the base feed.