Fishless cycling is a fast, efficient and humane process of ...

If you never plan to have fish or inverts (shrimp or fancy snails.. pond snails are indestructible in unclycled tanks) you can get away without cycling. Plants will consume ammonia generated by rotting plant matter, etc... but you will still want to do water changes once in a while to remove any build up of ammonia if its more than plants can consume, reduce the chance of algae, and to replenish minerals etc to the water that plats need (exceptions for that being if you does ferts and/or are using RO water).

I have a no-tech vase in my window that has some pond and tiny ramshorn snails in it, no attempt to cycle but they're very durable snails. It has soil capped with gravel, some tiny swords I'm trying to turn back into monsters, a stem of hornwort, and some baby frogbit.
It could never consume enough ammonia generated by a fish (too small for one to swim in too) to be liveable.. and probably any more sensitive invert like shrimp but as just an underwater plant vase it works fine. I'm trying to do a weekly water change to remove snail poo and keep algae from getting any ideas since it gets a lot of sun by the window though.

Hi,

Remember what is going on here. A biological filter is needed to take something that is poisonous (ammonia) to fish and converts it quickly to something that is not (nitrate). However, in a planted fish tank, you start with plants only and then add shrimp and fish later. During this time, plants will take up ammonia(um) as a nutrient. In fact, it's easier for them to do that than take up nitrate. So, cycling isn't really needed if you start fish-less and have plants.

Due to the initial plant die-off plus bacteria they carry in, by the time you get through the initial setting in stage (~ a mont), a sufficient bacterial colony will exist in the filter. Moreover, the sizable water changes you are doing to avoid algae will also minimize ammonia/nitrite spikes in the process.

Although I understand the above, I always start with either old filter material or a Dr. Tim's One and Only. I can confirm that both work very well.

The next ScapeFu podcast will deal with cycling a planted tank and I even have Tom Barr chiming in with his thoughts. In case you want to listen to it.