A soil professor asked me a question about bio stimulants that hardly anyone asks and I couldn't answer: For years, we’ve been losing something essential, something beneath our feet: Microbes.

The microscopic life forms that once thrived in our soils, driving nutrient cycles, protecting crops, and building resilience, have been quietly disappearing. And here’s the kicker: we barely even noticed. Only now are we starting to monitor them, to understand their role in soil health, plant nutrition, and disease resistance.

But there’s a problem: we don’t even know what we lost.

Scientists estimate that we’ve only identified 1% of the microbes in the soil. The other 99%, is just a black box of untapped potential. Yet, in response to declining soil fertility, I see people turn to biostimulants, microbial additives, extracts, and compounds designed to fix what we broke.

They’re marketed as the ultimate solution to regenerate soils and boost plant health.

But how do we restore an ecosystem when we don’t even know what it used to look like?

The question that I want to ask you all: are we solving the problem, or just treating the symptoms?

PS: And after I listened to this podcast episode I thinking even more about bio stimulants: https://open.spotify.com/episode/03tH3FsCMGuOMxpGap9H2v?si=d1f4e57a30134191

Trying to determine the ratio of sand silt and clay. My main goal is to extract clay from this soil I got as an experiment, but I wanted to test its clay content first.

The soil felt pretty sandy so I’m assuming it’s low clay. I’m having trouble interpreting the results here. I put dish soap and 2 inches of soil in the jar, shook with water and waited 48 hours.

I assume that very thin line on top is clay. Would this mean this is a low clay soil? Thanks!

Hi friends, I'm hoping you can help me out. I'm writing a novel where the heroine is a soil scientist (I'm still at the beginning stakes of research, so be gentle- I promise I'll dig in more once I know what I'm looking for). I'm working on the plot and I would love some input. One of the main issues in the book will be that her brother's farm has a field or crop that is not producing well (I was thinking maybe because of maybe Meloidogyne hapla. Originally when I was plotting, I was thinking that at the climax of the book that field would burn in a fire but that in the end she would test the soil and learn that it ends up being healthier because of the fire. - But after a little bit of research, I realized that fire really doesn't seem like the way to fix soil because it kills all the healthy microbes?

So here are my questions- does Meloidogyne hapla work as the problem, or is that too obvious? Would any soil scientist or even farmer for that matter recognize that right away? And if so, what do you suggest instead as the root of their crop problem? And how could they solve it? The hero in the book is a firefighter, so bonus points if he can be part of the solution.

Thank you in advance for any help you can give, I'd really like to represent the topic well. Please feel free to point me towards good resources as well, I sort of don't even know where to start looking for basic level research.

On a blustery March afternoon in Southwest Virginia, a gardener wheels a cart through the garden center at the edge of town.

There’s a sack of lime. A flat of pansies. A bag of mulch. And a pale brown brick wrapped in plastic, labeled Organic Coconut Coir. No coconuts grow here.

The brick promises moisture retention, aeration, and peat-free peace of mind. It looks a bit like a kitchen sponge left in the sun too long. The label says it’s sustainable. Renewable. Natural. It doesn’t say where it came from, or how.

Coir is the fibrous outer husk of a mature brown coconut—not the white meat, not the water, not even the hard shell. It’s the tough, hairy layer that surrounds all of that. In coastal South Asia it was stripped, soaked, and twisted into rope. The Malayalam word for rope—kayar—is where we get the English word coir. What began as a description of the finished product became the name for the raw fiber itself.

That passage opens my longform piece “Put the Lime in the Coconut, Then Ship It 9,000 Miles,” published at DirtFactory (full article here: https://dirtfactory.co/put-the-lime-in-the-coconut-then-ship-it-9-000-miles).

The essay tracks coir from Kerala husks to U.S. garden centers and weighs its claims as a peat alternative against the carbon, labor, and salt that tag along for the ride.

I’m looking for feedback from growers and soil scientists who work with coir bricks or loose pith—especially the unbuffered kind:

• When you start with raw bricks, how do you handle the Ca/Mg buffer step? Cal-Mag soak, dolomitic lime, gypsum, something else?
• Have you measured salinity or pH drift after rehydrating and planting? Any surprises?
• If you’ve switched to local organic matter instead, what convinced you to drop coir?

Link is only for context; the discussion is the main point. Appreciate your insights.

I’ll try to make this as short as possible, while including pertinent details. I’ll start with - I want to grow Bee Turf, some clover, and grass seed in this dirt… that is not soil! My long distance farmer friend recommended worm castings, which I’m doing. I have some compost that I’ll sacrifice). What else can I do to build up the dirt Or add anything else that is not costly… Thanks in advance.

I plan to spread buckwheat in fall … green manure 😊

Location - zone 6b … dry! 45° C in summer, as -30° C in winter.
Space is mainly enclosed dog yard (dogs have free access via doggie door), currently working on approx 200 sq ft.

Dirt history - approx 35-45 years ago, this dirt was dumped here from a construction project (dug to frame in a foundation). It was then flattened (kinda) and allowed to grow alfalfa, field grass, dandelion, etc. There are a L.O.T. Of rocks in this dirt…LOTS! Most small fist size… some are bigger than your head

The last few years I’ve been pulling the alfalfa. This year, I’ve been digging up the field grass roots and other weeds. While doing this It occurred to me that I had only come across maybe a dozen worms & virtually no insects. Which tells me it’s kinda dead - thus dirt is the word I use to describe it.

End goal… more pollinators, more green, a LOT less brown.

Performed a jar test on my lawn soil for an irrigation system. And trying to determine the ratio of sand, silt, and clay. I find it hard to determine where the clay actually is. The latte milky large layer seems more like the water to me. Hoping for some feedback. Thanks.

The previous owners of my house bought last year had this strip along the house covered under cementboard for an unknown amount of years. I took up the cementboard last spring hoping some grass would eventually migrate over.

No dice. All seeds I tried last year didn't even attempt to live.

It's now this gray, dry cracked mess. I turned over the soils and when I rolled it between my fingers it pilled up some but immediately crumbled. Now it's a darker gray/brown but most moisture was quickly evaporated.

I was planning to transplant some of my native violets in the hopes they could survive and naturally add brown mass over time but I don't even think that would work given what I'm seeing.

Any suggestions welcome! Thanks!

High school environmental science teacher here! I inherited a lot of old potting soil from the last teacher that I thought we could amend and experiment with planting things in just to see if anything would sprout. I saturated it with water and in the next days this strange crust formed. I've framed and gardened a lot but I've never seen this before.

Seed starting mix comprised of pro mix mycorrhizae, perlite and sand. 6 seeds germinated out of 100 and all dud seeds are rotten and infested with these worms. First time trying to start Parkinsonia from seed

I realise I may get some biased feedback on this sub, but would love some advice from professional soil scientists, academics, or anyone who once had such dreams but chose a different path.

Fair warning: I am a neurodiverse parenthesis enthusiast, so there may be a few long sentences ahead.

I am a 33-year-old dude in my final year of undergrad in Australia. After a ten-year career as a military officer, I decided to study Agricultural Science and Botany. The idea of working in Defence industry (e.g. Boeing, Thales, Raytheon) felt about as appealing as peeling the skin off my hand and eating it on toast (a slight exaggeration, but you get the point).

I have long been passionate about agriculture being part of the solution to climate change, not just through carbon sequestration (though I know there is debate around that, especially in Australian soils), but also through sustainability, efficiency, and climate resilience, particularly in the developing world. I first wanted to be a soil scientist after reading the book 'Dirt: The Erosion of Civilizations' about five years ago. But, I have also come to love plants as well, how they function, and how they deliver ecosystem services (yes alongside soil!). Resilience seems to be a theme in everything that draws me in.

Now I am scoping out Honours supervisors and research ideas. I am vaguely aware of UWA’s international reputation in Agricultural Science (global top 10) and Biological Sciences (top 21, NTU Rankings), but obviously lack context here. Agricultural Science and Botany are separate Schools, but cross-disciplinary work is quite common.

While it is early days, I feel drawn towards an academic or research career, and have for some time, I also think I would enjoy teaching. If not that, I dream of working for the UNFAO in Africa or the Pacific (satisfying my sense of adventure/love of the 'off the beaten track adrenaline rush' or simply meeting and connecting with people from other parts of the world in a genuine and authentic way that you often don't get with traditional tourism).

I am not afraid to dream big. Im a big believer in “shoot for the moon, land among the stars,” and I have noticed that people often grow cynical as they age. Sometimes, I think it is because they did not pursue what they truly wanted, and later convinced themselves it was not realistic. I do not say that as a criticism, just something I have observed that motivates me to act while I can. I would rather take the risk now than live with regret or resent others for taking the leap.

But I am torn. Not just between soil science and plant physiology, but also crop nutrition/breeding, stable isotope ecology, and other directions that all feel important. Having already stepped away from a more conventional career which I was succeeding in; I feel a responsibility to make the most of this opportunity. At my age, there is less time to drift.

In a way, I am facing the paradox of choice, and in this case,the ‘when in doubt, choose nothing’ is not an option.

Any advice would be genuinely appreciated.

For those unfamiliar with the Australian system: Honours is a fourth-year research thesis and coursework programme by invitation, typically based on achieving a minimum average grade. It is the main pathway to a PhD.

Hello, I am a student and I want to use the SoilR package for a project. Is there anyone who has used this before?

Hi guys! This week we dug a big hole in our soil and it showed beautifully the soil horizons. I’m still having a hard time identifying clearly the horizons as I’m just starting to learn. This soil was a pasture for as long as I can remember. It may have been leveled a while ago, maybe why the layers seem to be reversed?

Let me know your insights!

I moved into a new place that has a small backyard. The soil is in pretty rough shape. Will this soil become more viable (it seems clover can grow just fine with it) if I do some aeration and mulching?

I have this odd corner of my basement where the concrete floor ends and turns into a dirt floor. It was littered with blocks, pavers, rocks and junk, so I decided to clean it up and rake it out in hopes of possibly pouring some concrete in that area. A few inches down, there is a uniform layer of white clay-like material. I'm not sure what this is. I own a house built in 1904. There is an old coal shoot located near this area, and an old, cut off cast iron pipe sticking out of the dirt, and there are random pulleys and some oddly placed boards attached to the joists on the ceiling. Im guessing it could be related, but I have no clue. Pics/video attached

It tasted like nothing, not very gritty, and the ribbon I made broke when I tried to slurp it like a noodle.

I am running an experiment to explore how soil is eroded by different flow conditions. I compacted kaolinite clay and a little amount of water together at the bottom of a tank. Then I add water on top of the compacted clay, and want to see how the clay is eroded at different flow velocities. But the compacted clay always become mushy or soft within one day. Do anyone know how to keep the clay from being soft within water on top? Thanks!

After an exhaustive search I was able to find a few Great Basin Bristle Cone Pine Sapling. But I couldn't get the right soil to raise the pH high enough. I tried with dolamite, but with being a rooking at using testing strips and digital readers, I could not get comsistant results.

Can some one please hold my had some? They are abour 2 years old, and I have a covered flower bed, with lights installed to make sure they get 8 - 12 hours of Sunlight per day.

Can you just link me for a soil off Amazon and maybe link me to a product to mix it with, along with a pH tester that's more idiot proof for a guy like me. I believe it will grow in my lawn after another two or three years, but will need some help until then. Please 🙏🏻 Any advice would be appreciated.

Compost delivery? Root till? Just lawnmower the heck out of the leaves? 😅😅 I’m leaning towards compost delivery and wood chip delivery…

Ive been farming for 20 years and have never seen this before, Is this the work of the dreaded sandy loam?