Repotting isn't always the answer. Sometimes a plant is alive but underwhelming — growth has slowed, the colour has gone flat, and the mix it's sitting in has been there a while. Potting mix doesn't so much wear out as go tired: the structure collapses and the microbial activity drops away. Soil & Microbe Booster puts life back into what's already in the pot. The other two are the same routine as the Essentials Pack: feed the roots, keep the leaves clean.
What's inside
- Indoor Plant Food (100ml) – Built for foliage, and built for the whole shelf: monstera, pothos, peace lily, rubber plant, ZZ, ferns and palms. A complete liquid feed with nitrogen, potassium, a full set of trace elements and New Zealand seaweed extract. 1ml per litre, every second watering, and one bottle makes up to 100L. No fish in it: vegan-friendly and almost completely odourless.
- Neem Oil Leaf Shine (245ml) – Cold-pressed neem seed oil, pre-mixed and ready to use. No measuring, no mixing, and it keeps for twelve months. Lifts the dust and brings back the leaf's natural gloss, with no silicone, no wax and no artificial shine.
- Soil & Microbe Booster (500ml) – Biochar and black soldier fly frass, in a glass jar. The frass brings microbes and nutrients — around 240 million colony forming units per gram — while the biochar gives that biology somewhere to live and helps the mix hold water and nutrients between waterings. Stir it through at repotting, or scratch it into the surface of a pot that isn't ready for repotting. Australian made, and fine to use year round.
Plant Food and Neem Oil made in Melbourne by horticulturalists who started out hand-bottling this stuff at local markets.
Who it's for
- Plants that are alive but underwhelming — slow growth, flat colour, mix that's been in the pot a while.
- Aroids, ficus and other hungry plants sitting in older mix.
- Collections in the "I've had these a while, now what?" phase.
- Anyone who wants to support the whole root zone, not just keep increasing the feed.
The middle of the Method
The Plant Runner Method runs light, water, mix, feed — in that order. Mix is usually something you do rather than something you buy: choose a decent one, and repot when the plant has outgrown it. But there's a long gap between this mix is tired and this plant needs repotting, and that gap is where most indoor plants actually live. The booster is for that gap.
Feed every second watering while your plants are growing, easing back through the cooler months. Work a little booster into the mix around the root zone, then water with the plant food — you're feeding the plant and the soil life that keeps nutrients cycling. Wipe the leaves when you can see or feel dust building up.