Aptus - Micromix Soil

A powder of microorganisms and stimulants to mix through your substrate at planting. For soil and coco. Available in three weights.

A bag of potting soil reaches you biologically empty, and that is deliberate

Substrates are sterilised during production. That happens for a good reason: it keeps pathogens, weed seed and insect eggs out of your grow room. The drawback sits in the same process, because sterilisation does not discriminate. The beneficial soil life goes with it.

What you are left with is a medium that is clean and empty. In nature there is a population of bacteria and fungi around a root that breaks organic matter down and that simply occupies the ground where a pathogen would otherwise start. A fresh bag has no such population, and the first organisms to settle in it are whichever ones you bring in by accident.

Micromix Soil puts that population in deliberately, at the start, before anything else gets the chance. You mix it dry through the substrate or put a gram in the planting hole, and thanks to their carrier the strains are active immediately.

How to dose it

Reckon on half a gram to a gram per litre of substrate when mixing it through. When potting up, a gram in the planting hole is enough, provided you make sure the root ball genuinely makes contact with it. Aptus follow this with a repeat of Micromix Drip, around three weeks later.

It works in soil, potting mixes and coco. On an inert medium such as stone wool or mapito there is little organic matter to break down, so there is not much for it to do.

Available sizes

Technical Specifications:

• Type: powder with microorganisms and stimulants
• Manufacturer: Aptus
• Dose when mixing through: 0,5 to 1 gram per litre of substrate
• Dose in the planting hole: about 1 gram per hole, before planting or potting on
• Follow-up: optionally repeat after about 21 days with Micromix Drip
• Suitable for: soil, potting mixes and coco
• Less suitable for: inert media such as stone wool and mapito
• Carrier: the strains are fixed on a protective carrier that feeds them

Frequently asked questions

Why is this not simply in the bag already?
Because the substrate is sterilised to keep pathogens out. That process removes the beneficial life just as thoroughly.

Can I add it later?
Yes, though planting is the best moment because you make contact everywhere. For a later round, Micromix Drip is more practical.

Does it work on stone wool?
Barely. There is almost no organic matter there for the soil life to live on.

Can I combine it with mycorrhiza?
Yes. Bacteria and mycorrhizal fungi do different jobs and do not get in each other's way.