No, u can cycle a tank with ADA soil < a mths with sufficient bio-media and good filters just that the ammonia leeching of the ADA soil can continue > a mths, with capable bio-filters those ammonia will be neutralize in time, just that if u itchy hand and stir/'kacau' the soil a sudden ammonia spike may appear and may kill/wipe ur nearby CRS when the aquasoil soil is still new. This is due to the fragility of CRS.

You can keep HC or others nice plant, but what is your priority , plant or CRS? for me i choose shrimps that y i remove my C02 system, throw away my HC , carpeted Glosso & other plants.  Keep mainly moss and marimo ball now. I using seachem iron, potassium,excel & borneowild lush, they are safe for shrimps, just don't overdose and to be safe use half recommended amount, now i seldom use those, only dose a very little once every 2 weeks.

if your wish is have nice planted tank(with HC, glosso etc) and keep CRS, i recommend that you build up the aquascaping/planting part first, when all things settle down(tank parameter stable ,plant healthy and growing) then only you start learn/keep more hardy shrimps like Red Cherry/Fire red first then only CRS. (u will save alot on lesson fee, as the CRS cost more then x5 the price of an red cherry).

Beside driftwood, you can also tight moss to lava rock ,ryu stone, dragon stone,stainless steel/plastics mesh, etc, but make sure the rock/stone won't release substance that alter the PH. (exception is lava rock which lower PH abit ,unless you pour in the whole 'guni' sack of it.)