FAQ

Clay soil is a terrific start to have, much better than sandy soil. Clay soil has a lot of unlocked nutrients in it that just have to be released. It also has tons of soil life in it that is dormant and has to be awakened. The best way to do this is to add organic matter to the soil. Nature's way of adding organic matter is to drop leaf litter on the ground and after it piles up over time, there will be a thin layer of compost being created between the now mulch (leaf litter) and the soil below. This process takes a long time and most people today aren't patient enough or do not have the plants around the property to create such an amount of organic matter.

For those people, the fastest way to break up the soil, unlock the nutrients, wake up the soil life and change the soil structure is to add the best compost you can find. Compost that is made on the farm, full of soil life, smells like the earth, and is a chocolate brown color rather than black. We recommend using Malibu Compost's Bu's Blend Biodynamic Compost.

If you use Bu's Blend Biodynamic Compost, here are the steps to fixing clay soil:

Step 1:

You can start by setting it out over your soil at 1" throughout in the Spring and the Fall. Do that for the first two years. Starting at the third year, set the compost out at 1/2" every Spring and Fall. Remember to water the compost in each time you compost, at least once a week for 3 weeks after setting it out. That will start to awaken the soil life so that they can start working on breaking down that compact soil and releasing the nutrients to the plants.

Step 2:

Topdress at 1/16" with Bu's Blend Biodynamic Compost every 6 weeks that you're not composting, excluding the winter months. Do this starting in the first year. Topdressing is like as if you're feeding chickens. Just grab a handful and broadcast it throughout your garden. This is especially helpful in larger planted areas and lawns.

Step 3:

Compost tea drench your plants at the start of every season, excluding the winter months. That will add more beneficial life to the soil and also feed the life in the soil.

For more information about fixing clay soil, listen to episode #13 on The Healthy Garden podcast.

You can also get our Founder's book, Real Organic Gardening, to learn how to grow anything the real organic way throughout the whole year. It has 200 colored photos and illustrations and gets right to the point on what you need to know and do in your garden each season.

Enjoy growing your safe and healthy garden and multiplying the microorganisms in your soil. You will see some amazing changes in a very short time.

Poor houseplants are the least paid attention to, yet we live closer to them than any other plants. Gnats lay eggs in soil products and unfortunately when we water, they awaken and continue the process in their little microclimate of a container. When we water, they thrive, and when we reduce the water, they die and so does our houseplants!

The key is to let the soil dry out between waterings and you can determine that with the following experiment:

Check how moist your soil is by putting your finger into the container's soil as far as you can. If soil gets stuck on your finger, or if it feels moist, then stop watering until the top 3" to 4" becomes dry. Then from that point, water once a week or every other week or until the top 2" becomes dry. That will differ in every home because of heaters, windows, soil used, etc. Also, some houseplants require water only once a month like the snake plant.

The amount of water you give your houseplant is also important. Water the entire soil surface until you start to see water drain out of the bottom, or into the saucer. That's when you know the potting soil is moist enough to get the plant through the next week or two. Once you do this regimen for a couple of months, there will be minimal gnats to none!

Another thing you can do is get beneficial nematodes (Steinernema feltiae) and water them in after mixing with water. Those nematodes will go after your fungus gnat larvae.

Look for a potting soil that has living compost in it and other natural ingredients that are not synthetic chemicals or fillers.

Also, remember to compost your houseplants every Spring, Summer and Fall by adding 1" of Bu's Blend Compost on top of the soil. There is no need to mix that compost in. At each watering, it will water into the soil below and help green up your plant's foliage and receive nutrients from the soil life to enable it to grow healthy and thrive.

The greatest organic cheat to give your houseplants the boost they need at any time of year is to use Compost Tea. Use it any time of year at a normal watering. We compost tea our houseplants once a month, excluding March, June and September, which is when we compost.

Enjoy living among your beautiful healthy houseplants!

All Malibu Compost soil products contain biodynamic preparations in them. Rudolf Steiner, the grandfather of organics, used these special botanical ingredients. They are yarrow, chamomile, stinging nettle, oak bark, dandelion and valerian. Rudolf Steiner said they activate subtle forces within the compost, improve the availability of nutrients and enhance growth and vitality.

Each of these benefit the soil in different ways and some benefit more plants than others. Some of the biodynamic preparations require a lot of time to break down and or ferment before using in Bu's Blend Biodynamic Compost. We add them to our windrows at the perfect time.

This chart shows you more detailed benefits of biodynamic preparations:

Malibu Compost Bu's Blend Biodynamic Compost can be applied everywhere in your garden. It benefits annuals, perennials, shrubs, trees, lawns, orchards and vegetable gardens. It will help to grow the biology in your soil that helps to feed your plants. It can be used as a compost, as a topdress, as a soil mix or for in-ground planting. It is farm-made, real organic, biodynamic and Non-GMO.

Go to DIRECTIONS FOR USE in our product description for exact quantities throughout.

For more information on when, how much and how to apply compost, get our Founder's book, Real Organic Gardening. It has over 200 colored images and directions for any plant in your garden.

Compost tea always helps your garden and too much compost tea never hurts it. The Rule of Thumb though is to use the best organic compost you can find in making your compost tea.

The reason is that great compost is full of active, good microorganisms and food for the microorganisms in the soil. The more good microorganisms there are in the soil, the more nutrients the plants receive. Compost tea will multiply the microorganisms during the compost tea extract or aerated compost tea brew, so you will have even more good guys for your soil.

Organically, the microorganisms have a symbiotic relationship with the plants. The plants give microoganisms food through their roots, and the microorganisms give the plants nutrients as they eat each other at the root level. That is the real organic way. You can apply as much as you want or as little as you want and the soil and plants will always benefit.

For more ways you can use or make compost tea, get our Founder's book, Real Organic Gardening.

The best time to use compost tea is in the morning, as a soil drench or a spray. Morning compost teas will help keep pests and fungal diseases at bay since the soil and plants will have a chance to dry before the evening. This is the same for watering times. It is best to adjust your irrigation to morning settings between 5 a.m. and 11 a.m.

All materials intended for use in organic systems must meet the requirements established by the USDA National Organic Program. In California, the CDFA fertilizer program was given legal authority to regulate Organic Input Materials (OIM) to insure NOP standards are enforced.

Every organic product sold in California must pass a rigorous review process by the CDFA which includes an extensive examination of each ingredient used in the formulation of the final product: its origin, formulation, purpose and proof of efficacy.

The Organic Materials Review Institute or OMRI is a third-party, nonprofit organization that provides an independent review of products intended for organic use. While OMRI holds products to the same NOP standards that the OIM program does, it does not have the ability to seek criminal or civil prosecution and it is not accepted by the state of California.

So where organic certification is concerned, the CDFA OIM program has the definitive say.

Yes, Bu's Blend Biodynamic Compost helps remediate soil from environmental toxins, heavy metals and even a catastrophe such as the LA Fires in Pacific Palisades and Altadena.

Since Bu's Blend Compost is so fresh off the farm, is turned properly and has real organic inputs, it is full of billions of active biology. This biology is what binds and processes metals and the humic component in the compost helps to flush the toxins.

Along with Compost Tea and a few other soil products, such as Live Earth's Soil Conditioner and what is in our Founder's book, Soil Remediation for the LA Fires, you can remediate your soil in the most organic way.

No, all bags labeled "Organic" or "Organics" are NOT real organic.

The answer lies in the inputs of the ingredients used. For example, chicken manure compost comes mostly from Conventional Ag. Think about where those tons of bags that are sold at Big Box stores nationwide get their chicken manure from? It has to be a lot and unfortunately they come from factory farms.

But before that, let's go through the whole process of that chicken.

GMO soy and corn are grown in two fields. These fields are sprayed with glyphosate. The soy and corn are harvested and given to the chickens. Those chickens eat the corn and soy in a small area where they aren't even allowed to walk, run or scratch much. After they are injected with growth hormones and have eaten enough of the GMO grains, they are slaughtered. Their blood is sold as "Bone Meal." Their feathers are sold as "Feather Meal." Their blood is even sold as "Blood Meal." All along, their manure is sold and compost is made from it and sold as "Chicken Manure Compost."

Do you think that all the toxic GMO grain and injected hormones get composted out? No they don't. And unfortunately the National Organic Program allows companies to use chicken manure compost of this nature in their soil products and still label their product "Organic."

So all bags labeled "Organic" or "Organics" are NOT REAL Organic. But, you can rest assure that all Malibu Compost Soil Products ARE REAL Organic.

For more information on all the ingredients in soil products, and whether or not they are real organic, get our Founder's book, A Hundred Years of Deception, Why Gardening Must Change.

As of 2025, Malibu Compost is not sold nationwide anymore. We are focusing our sales and distribution on the western states up to Colorado and west of the rockies, including Texas. Our two farms on the west coast feed those stores perfectly after bagging right off the farm.

If you are not able to find Malibu Compost soil products in your state, some online stores sell Malibu Compost soil products, but they are not sold by us. They are most likely there from our distributor(s) who sell to online retailers.

Unfortunately the national distribution model has changed through the consolidation of several distributors.

Thank you for your support over all these years and we will notify you if we ever sell across the country again.