Residential
soil solutions

Fungal-Dominant Compost for Living Soil & Regenerative Growing

Our Johnson-Su compost is a biologically active, fungal-dominant compost crafted to rebuild soil health naturally. Made through a slow, static aerobic composting process, this living compost is rich in beneficial microbes that help improve soil structure, nutrient cycling, water retention, and plant resilience.

Unlike conventional compost focused primarily on fertility, Johnson-Su compost acts as a biological inoculant — helping restore the living ecosystem beneath your plants.

Perfect for:

• Raised beds & gardens

• Living soil systems

• Compost teas & extracts

• Biochar inoculation

• Farms, landscapes, and regenerative agriculture

Benefits

• Improves soil biology

• Encourages fungal activity

• Enhances water retention

• Supports healthier root systems

• Builds long-term soil fertility

• Helps reduce dependency on synthetic inputs

Built for Northern Colorado Soils

Northern Colorado soils are often low in organic matter, compacted, alkaline, and lacking in biological diversity. Our Johnson-Su compost is designed with Front Range growing conditions in mind — helping support healthier soil structure, water retention, and microbial activity in challenging clay-heavy soils.

We work with home gardeners, market growers, landscapers, and regenerative farms across Fort Collins, Loveland, Greeley, Longmont, Boulder, Denver, and the greater Front Range looking to build healthier living soil systems naturally.

How to Use

Apply as a soil amendment, top dress, compost extract ingredient, or blend into potting mixes and living soils.

At Alpine Roots, we produce our Johnson-Su compost in carefully managed bioreactors using locally sourced organic materials from the Front Range. Each batch is aged for biological maturity and handled to preserve living microbial communities.

Healthy soil starts with biology. Our Johnson-Su compost helps bring life back underground.

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We offer the product as unsifted, which means it comes with worms and all the other living organisms that helped create this premium compost.

We have 1 gallon increments readily available for sale, but for bulk and other quantities please contact us.

What is Biochar?

Biochar is a stable, carbon-rich material created by heating organic matter (like wood) in a low-oxygen environment—a process called pyrolysis.

But what makes biochar special isn’t just what it is—it’s how it behaves in soil.

What Biochar Does:

• Acts like a microscopic sponge, holding water and nutrients

• Provides long-term habitat for beneficial microbes

• Improves soil structure, aeration, and drainage

• Helps retain nutrients that would otherwise leach away

Unlike compost, which breaks down over time, biochar is incredibly stable—lasting decades (or longer) in your soil.

Why We Use Inoculated Biochar

Raw biochar on its own is like an empty house—it has incredible potential, but nothing living inside it.

If applied uncharged, it can actually pull nutrients from your soil temporarily as it fills up.

That’s why we only sell inoculated (charged) biochar.

And we’ve crafted our own— inoculated with our premium Johnson-Su compost! We then add fungal foods to bloom the microbes, drench it with our fungal extract, and age it for 4 weeks as the microbes populate their new habitat. So when it comes to you, it is CHARGED and READY to use for raised beds, gardens, hobby farms, potting, and so much more. Our inoculated biochar includes the following:

• Alpine Roots House-Made Biochar, sifted to 1/4”

• Alpine Roots Compost

• Alpine Roots Fungal Compost Extract

• Locally Sourced Mushroom Blocks

• Locally Sourced Lathe Shavings

• Rice and Oats for fungal food

• Humic Acid for boosting microbial activity

We have 1 gallon increments readily available for sale, but for bulk and other quantities please contact us!

Why Biochar Works So Well in Northern Colorado Soils

If you’ve gardened in Fort Collins, Greeley, Loveland, Longmont, Boulder, or Denver, you’ve likely run into the same challenge:

Heavy clay soils.

These soils tend to:

• Hold water too tightly (poor drainage)

• Dry out and crack in summer

• Become compacted and difficult for roots to penetrate

• Lack the biological life needed for long-term fertility

How Biochar Helps:

Improves Structure
Biochar creates pore space in dense clay soils, helping loosen compaction and improve root access.

Balances Water
It helps clay soils drain better while also holding onto moisture during dry periods.

Supports Microbial Life
Clay soils often lack oxygen—biochar introduces habitat that supports beneficial microbes.

Builds Long-Term Soil Health
Unlike quick fixes, biochar continues improving soil year after year.

In Northern Colorado, this means:

• Less water stress during hot, dry summers

• Better root development in compacted soils

• More resilient, biologically active garden beds

• A soil system that improves over time—not degrades

Start Building Better Soil

Whether you’re upgrading a raised bed, improving clay soil, or building a living soil system from scratch—this is one of the highest-leverage inputs you can add.