cheers for the link mate iv been reading up on rocks and whats in em n stuff going to look into soil testing but so my thinking is all the soil need is 2 have enough nutrients en even more microbes/fungi n stuff
i'd say the secret to a happy organic mix is a bit more complicated, but there are some simple rules/keys that are more crucial than others. but as a whole i'd say the entire process is fairly complicated, especially in comparison to hydro-chem grows, which is sorta why hydro chems were invented to begin with..
It all depends on the person too, for me it's fairly simple to grasp, but for others it's much more difficult, but i can say the same for automechanics.. some get it easily, while other don't get it at all. (an example is i have a fairly comprehensive understanding on horticulture, while at the same time a half-retarded baby monkey with cranial encephalopathy will be able to fix your computer better than id could ever wish to)
but time and experience will show you a lot, and research will teach you the "why and how" part of the organics, sadly failure will teach you the small nuances and little known problems better than research, but you'll never forget those, and a lot of the time failure actually makes you go research the "why/how" part even more, so it's all relative.
I admit to try and grasp it all at once is fairly difficult for most, a lot of science is involved, even chemistry is to a degree.
For the most part growing with organics is much more simple, much more forgiving, and done correctly the results will hands-down be better than a chelated-chem-salt grow
BUT to make the soil and to understand the nutrients, and to understand the microbial interaction, and the fungi interaction, and such, all that is fairly scientific and somewhat daunting to try and learn and comprehend quickly.
examples of rules and keys to it would be the need for a fresh source of humus, either as a compost or as castings, preferably a mix of both
That actually does a bunch of stuff, for one it supplies an abundance of healthy and diverse microbes, humus on its own has a superior CEC rate than nearly any soil input as well, and even furthermore even the most simple compost is going to have a reaaaaally broad supply of nearly every macro and micro nutrient that you could ask for.
Another overlooked advantage is related to that awesome CEC we were talking about, and that's it's ability to not only buffer ph, but also buffer nutrients. An organic soil will be WAY more tolerant of error than a soilless media (with everything MINUS overwatering), for many reasons, those microbes mentioned do much more than just make nutrients bioavailable, it controls ph, and like i said, buffers any excessive nutrients or contaminants in the soil.
all verrrry valid reasons on why compost is so damn effective as a soil input.
but in all reality and honesty, a properly assembled soil based on a mix of compost and castings will require very, very little past that to grow the best plants you've ever grown
no joke.
if i were to pick a single solitary rule to live by for organics, it'd be that a compost and wormbin are nearly mandatory.
that's the most important, and it's not even close.
On that site i linked to you there are some very good basic information regarding soil construction, not many sites have info on that, and it follows very closely to a core principle in regards to organic soils that i live by, and that's is the importance for a properly constructed soil mix, with emphasis on aeration.
here is a more specific link to that, i i urge you to read that in particular, it also has extremely good information on aeration, soil construction and it's relation to ph and microbial interaction.
http://organicsoiltechnology.com/subsrtates-and-soils
reason i mention aeration is that THE absolute BEST organic mix on the planet will absolutely NOT grow a damn thing if it's not aerated and drained properly
everything the plant needs MUST be present simultaneously or it won't grow, you can have 99 out of 100 needed components and it still won't grow.
The Law of The Minimum at it's best right there..