Topped once, turned off IR @ nights, slowed vertical growth back down, and took off both of the very lowest internodes on each plant. Eisenia fetida Stratiolaelaps scimitus Armadillidium vulgare If the soil is fully functional and efficient, the rhizophagy cycle is superior long-term to any synthetic delivery when it comes to preventing deficiencies, not because it's "better," per se. The medium will require a very high CEC to make it to harvest without re-fertilization. The rhizosphere acts as a dynamic, interactive exchange where plants and soil microbes trade resources based on immediate needs. When a plant lacks a specific nutrient, it changes its physiology and releases specialized chemical cocktails—root exudates—into the surrounding soil. These exudates, which include sugars, amino acids, and organic acids, serve as a "shopping list" to attract specific microorganisms, which in turn return higher levels of desired nutrients. There is nothing in comparison when using synthetic delivery, which can cause plants to stop producing exudates, effectively "starving" the beneficial soil life, over time turning the soil barren and void of microbial life. Responsible use, applying the right amount at the right time, can minimize these negative effects. Relying solely on synthetic fertilizers without replenishing organic matter is what typically leads to exhausted soil. The use of synthetic fertilizers can utilize the Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) of the soil, but without a robust rhizosphere and active microorganisms, the efficiency of this process is significantly reduced. This makes synthetic growing more difficult to prevent deficiencies overall compared to an efficient organic living soil with a robust rhizophagy cycle, as there is no "one size, fits all" when it comes to different nutrient profiles of strains/genetics, making it trickier to "guess" and prevent creeping deficiencies. CEC does not contribute towards EC. Add more CEC using biochar, problem solved. If you keep pH between 6.3 and 6.7, hydrogen is exudated to cycle the medium's CEC for its needs. Keeping the pH between 6.3 and 6.7 creates an environment where plants release H+ to displace positively charged nutrients (like Ca2+, Mg2+, K+ held on soil particles or within artificial media this cycle through nutrients via the medium's Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC). When biochar is first produced, it is highly porous and essentially empty. If you put this raw biochar directly into your soil, it will immediately act like a sponge, sucking up all the nutrients and water from your surrounding dirt. This can cause your plants to experience a temporary nutrient deficiency. Charging (or "inoculating") fixes this by pre-loading the biochar’s empty pores with nutrients and beneficial microbes. It fills the biochar's "storage" before it ever touches your garden. To charge your biochar, you soak it for a couple of weeks in nutrient-rich materials. Once charged, the biochar won't steal anything from your soil. Instead, it acts as a permanent, nutrient-rich reservoir that slowly releases fertilizer and water to your plants while providing a safe, protected home for soil microbes. Rhizosphere microorganisms and plant roots create a self-sustaining nutrient web through rhizodeposition, utilizing complex biochemical signaling, chelation, and redox reactions; in this way, it forms its own electrical conductivity (EC) or effective carrying capacity, depending on the specific ecological or bio-electrochemical context of the soil system. Start to finish, just add water. Eventually, more materials will need to be added at the beginning of each new grow, but very attainable to go from seed to harvest without ever fertilizing. ATP is important when it comes to biomass accumulation. Cellular root respiration and cellular respiration are essentially the same biological process, the breakdown of glucose to create usable energy (ATP) in the presence of oxygen, just taking place in different parts of the plant. Synthetic (salt-based) grows have significantly lower levels of total rhizosphere respiration, often referred to as root-zone activity, compared to organic living soil grows. While the plant roots themselves may respire in both systems, the surrounding soil ecosystem in a living soil setup is vastly more active, teeming with bacteria, fungi, and beneficial microorganisms. 2 pools of ATP, it won't double in growth buuuut, but improving root respiration by ensuring high oxygen in the soil is crucial. Good aeration ensures roots can fully utilize glucose to generate the ATP necessary for nutrient uptake, leading to healthier and more productive plants, even if growth isn't exactly doubled. The ATP created using root respiration is dedicated to root-zone growth; the ATP created using regular cellular respiration in a synthetic system would have to dedicate a lot of ATP to the roots when there is little or no root respiration. It's true that there is less of an initial ATP cost in breakdown when nutrients are already in their final form (synthetic), but you lose a solid chunk of ATP when the entire plant is reliant on cellular respiration alone; a large portion of ATP is dedicated to root zones for "forced" nutrient uptake rather than traded. Making it overall less efficient, even if the initial cost of breakdown is higher. Good soil aeration boosts root respiration, letting roots make their own ATP for nutrient uptake. This saves energy compared to relying on whole-plant cellular respiration. Get it? Oxygen is of critical importance when growing in living soil compared to synthetic soil because it supports the metabolic needs of the microbial, fungal, and insect ecosystem, rather than just the root respiration required by the plant itself. While synthetic grows can survive in lower-oxygen environments with precise mineral feeding, living soil systems rely on aerobic microbes to decompose organic matter (microbial mineralization) to create plant-available nutrients, which is an oxygen-intensive process. While a specific fair percentage is difficult to guess, my experience points to a massive, compound difference between the two methods and the amount of oxygen required. All the ATP spared is used on more biomass; not only that, but the extra root respiration can achieve a much higher CO2 compensation point naturally than you could with synthetic and atmospheric CO2 alone. As a plant grows faster and increases in size, its demand for nutrients to support that growth increases, requiring a higher rate of nutrient uptake. As plants enter phases of rapid vegetative/floral growth, their metabolic demand for nutrients increases exponentially. Without a robust buffer zone—whether in the soil (cation exchange capacity) or in a hydroponic reservoir deficiencies will occur rapidly because the instantaneous demand for specific nutrients can quickly exceed the rate of supply. We don't really grow; we facilitate energy conversions, and energy is just numbers. Because the universe works the same way today as it did yesterday, there is a single, fundamental mathematical quantity that remains constant. We call this quantity energy. You cannot put "energy" under a microscope. You observe matter and forces (like heat, motion, or light), but energy is just a scalar number calculated to help predict how these things will change and interact. When an object falls, or when a battery powers your phone, matter shifts and changes form. Through it all, the universe ensures the "total score" of the numbers remains exactly the same.