Questions/advice about making your own super soil...

[CaptPicard]

Good day all,
I'm currently looking into mending my own super soil based on the instructions from the site here (http://www.growweedeasy.com/organic-...#supplies-list). So I have four 15 gallon fabric containers and I'd only like to purchase enough soil supply to cover what I need.

- would need 60lbs (60 gallons) of kind soil if I wanted to buy ($240.00 + $84.00 shipping for 60lbs) <- I assume making my own will be significantly cheaper. I have time to spare.
- not sure how much this recipe will make, but i have four 15 gallon pots which s 60 gallons


Looking at the recipe provided:
Composted Super Soil Ingredients

• 6 bags x 10-gallon Roots Organic Soil (For a total of 60 gallons or 210lbs of soil)
• 2 bags x 50L (35 lbs) Biobizz Light-Mix soil (Total of 70lbs)
• 2 bags x 30 lbs Organic Earthworm Castings (Total of 60lbs)
• 1 box 6 lbs Fish Bone Meal (3-16-0) Note: 3-15-0 or 3-18-0 can also be used
• 1 cup Dolomite Lime (“prilled” if possible)
• ½ cup Azomite (0-0-0.2)
• 1 box 5 lbs Blood Meal (12-0-0)
• 1 bag 4 lbs Happy Frog Bat Guano (0-5-0)
• ¾ cup Epsom Salt
• (Optional) Up to 25% Perlite (for extra drainage)

210+70+60+6+5+4=355lbs of soil total!

210/355 = 59.1% Roots Organic Soil
70/355 =19.7% Biobizz Light-Mix soil
60/355 =16.9% Organic Earthworm Castings
6/355 =1.6% 6 lbs Fish Bone Meal
5/355 =1.4% 5 lbs Blood Meal
4/355 =1.1% 4 lbs Happy Frog Bat Guano

(Optional) Up to 25% Perlite (for extra drainage)

Ive done some quick math to get the ratios I would need for my four pots. See below:
35.46/60 = 59.1% Roots Organic Soil (35.46lbs needed)
11.82/60 =19.7% Biobizz Light-Mix soil (11.82lbs needed)
10.14/60 =16.9% Organic Earthworm Castings (10.4lbs needed)
0.96/60 =1.6% 0.96 lbs Fish Bone Meal
0.84/60 =1.4% =0.84 lbs Blood Meal
0.66/60 =1.1% 0.66 lbs Happy Frog Bat Guano
59.88/60 =0.002 the rest of the ingredients (the smaller amounts)

Does this logic make sense? If I follow the recipe based on %s I should have the same results, right ?. Just trying to reduce cost and next to no left over. I don't need a huge amount of soil so I figure proportioning the recipe would work.

lso, I had a question about how much coco I would need for this? The instructions state 1/2 super 1/2 coco loco. So would this mean I need only 30lbs of super soil and 30lbs coco loco (for the total 60lbs - 60 gallons? Or am i misinterpreting?

"2.) Fill your container with 1/2 super soil, than fill the second 1/2 with Coco Loco on top

You will need not only your super soil but also Coco Loco (or other coco or regular organic soil) to help your young plants transition into the "hot" super soil."

Any help would be greatly appreciated!

Thanks in advance.

[UrbZ]

You hit the nail on the head man. I am in the process of doing this exact thing with my 3 gallons. I just did my math a bit different.

Mine came down to 1/6th of a recipe. So I divided all items into 1/6 portion instead of percents. This gave me one extra gallon of soil. I was fine with that. I also use more perlite in my pot so less of both mediums. You can factor that in as well if you like more perlite in your mix.

And you are correct thinking you'll need about the same amounts in both mediums, hot soil and coco loco or similar.

Even if you are off in your mix a little it shouldnt be too bad if you follow closely with your measurement.

[CaptPicard]

Appreciate it!

I will be searching for a somewhat local supplier to find the supplies. Shipping soil doesn't seem worth it. The 15 gallon containers are actually bigger than I had planned (I guess I clicked the wrong ones when ordering.. oops!). No biggie though, I read that the bigger the planter the less often I will need to water - bonus.

I will definitely be using some perlite for the extra capillary action. And I'll probably use the recommended coco loco. It makes my recipe even smaller knowing the 1/2 n 1/2. It makes sense as you don't want to over stress a new baby with the "meat and potatoes" off the hop. Starts eating the coco loco, gets more mature and eats the S.S.

Thanks UrbZ!

[oldjarhead100]

If your growing in those 15 gallon bags watch the over watering easy to do in big bags

[Chefbjy]

Hey UrbZ haven't seen you around in a while...hope all is well friend.

[RosettaStoned]

I would use some neem meal/cake for pests and disease and alfalfa or kelp meal. I don't see any supplemental potassium in there

[CaptPicard]

Thanks RosettaStoned for the input! I will take it into consideration. I was mainly going to follow the recipe to a T, but I may look into adding those ingredients. Perhaps even just a small amount.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Morning Captain, it's really not hard to make at all, not even messy, even smells good, grows some awesome pot too, the folks I know making their own, love their soil more than their harvest, almost, it really doesn't take all those different items, but they want hurt anything either.
GoodLuck

[CaptPicard]

Hey D.A.A.S.69, I look forward to it. Just waiting for it to warm up a bit! (Canada climate here). I'll probably cook it in my driveway on a tarp or in kiddie pool. I realize it takes time, which is fine with me. Buying the premade stuff isn't the cheapest. Also one of the main factors in my decision to use the super soil approach was that I wouldn't need to use nutrients/etc.. to add, essentially reducing cost. May even add a few worms in to promote the middle man distribution of nutrients further. I also contemplated making my own cannabis oil, so super soil is the way to go I think. Less harsh taste/ smell.

[starramus]

Going over Nebula's super soil supply list I have come to the realization that for me( i am incredibly cheap) super soil is too too pricey. My grows have been overly productive just using Happy Frog with the free bonus of spider mites. Neem oil and Azamax are relatively cheap. Since my next grow will be in (12) 15 gallon grow bags I may add some native Colorado soil. Sometimes we hobbyists get into overkill.

[starramus]

This very reasonable Fox Farm trio will easily cover a grow with some left over. https://www.amazon.com/FX14050-Ferti...trients+3+pack Diamataceous earth powder takes care of the bugaboos. https://www.amazon.com/Crawling-Inse...+control&psc=1 Many of the grow shops have sales on the Happy Frog in the spring., or even sooner. Check locally to save on the outrageous shipping charges you will incur ordering online. You want to stay cheap don't you? Super soil will cost you more and any advantage in increased growth will be minimal. I've done the math, and the growing.

[CaptPicard]

Hey starramus!
Yess! Diamataceous earth is what I was thinking not the Vermiculite! As soon as I saw that I was like yaaasss thats it!

This happy frog... is comparable to super soil, in that you don't need to add nutrients/etc..? If thats the case I will definitely look into this further. This would also speed up my start date, considering cooking can take 30-40 days. Thinking about making oil from it as well, that's part of the reason I'm looking for an organic solution.

[D.A.A.S.69]

Morning capt.picard. Ffhf, is not supersoil by any means, it's about like Ffof,but not even that strong. Your gonna love supersoil.
And I've used both types too, in grows, supersoil is always better.

[oldjarhead100]

I use soil for my Autos and I was buying kind soil great stuff but expensive so I was in a local hydro store and they had root organic original on sale for about 14 a bag 1.5 cubic feet so I was going to get some and started talking to the store clerk and he was telling me that it had everything I wanted to put in the soil already and that the green fields was there super soil for the same price . Now I've been growing outside grows for years and my recipe was 4 shovels compost 3 shovels promix one shovel of worm castings,bat guano, lime,potash.and calcium ,one cup plant tone this year I am going to use 1/2 bag green fields and 1/2 bag original to top it off I have been doing side by sides using the green fields and kind soil and I can't see enough of a difference to justify the cost of the kind soil

[CaptPicard]

Good points! I'm going to give the super soil a shot for sure. A lot of advantages to it. One D.A.A.S.69 eluded to was the cost of constantly adding nutrients - forget that! Unfortunately, I do not have the luxury of doing outside - for various reasons. I still have to find good locations to find soil supplies. Shipping soil doesn't make sense to me.

[CaptPicard]

Does anyone know what would some alternative options would be for the following items?
Roots Organic Soil
Biobizz Light-Mix soil

I'm in Canada and these do not ship here. Having a difficult time figuring out a comparable product.

Thanks!

[RosettaStoned]

Can you get sphagnum peat, ewc, perlite, and a quality compost? If you add amendments to that, that's pretty much the same. It will have to "cook" though

[CaptPicard]

I will definitely see if I can get those. There are a few organic soils at this place i found. I'll attach them, LMK if I should use any of it.

[CaptPicard]

Here's what I found. LMK what you think. I was just thinking i could just mix all three together then add amendments to it.

[Minoo96]

When I started making my own soil, it was such a pain in the ass doing maths and fetching all these ingredients... It is cheaper, but it's also supposed to be easy and simple in my opinion.

So, I just dug some soil from outside, if you could get it from a forest it'd be the best. Dig more than 2cm from the top layer (it's usually leafs covering these 2cm in forest). that'll make ~70% of your total soil, so you need to take quite a lot. it's also free.
Then I added some compost (~25%), because I make my own by throwing any food leftover in a bin. (That takes time though, around 6 months i'd say, maybe more, maybe less. You need to get the bottom of course. It's even better if that compost is against the ground and not in a bin. Just made a square of cinderblock and threw everything, everyday, in there.)

Then I added some dried blood. Not everyone has access to that, so you could replace it with any "bio" nitrogen. It doesn't need to be a lot, I didn't do maths, instead I added using my eyes.
Some dried bone for potassium. (of course grinded to dust, just like the dried blood). Again you could buy any bio potassium.
And I bought some phosphorus at my local gardening shop. The quantity in each of these "bio" NPK is huge, just buying a small bag is more than enough for a lot of soil.


After that you can add whatever comes easy to you. Ashes from the fireplace. Horse manure. Fish emulsion (careful with those three, they are powerful). Whatever floats your boats.
Mixed all that on a tarp, to make sure it was evenly spread.
I don't let my soil "cook", rather I placed it in it's final resting place, ready to for the plants. Waited a month, rain and insects did their things stabilising the pH of the soil, spreading the good stuff as well.

In the end, I've got 2.5m plants, sun was nice that year, but soil definitely helped. I didn't had to do anything, didn't had to add nutrients. Perhaps because it was directly in soil and not in pots. Although I had used the same soil for a single potted plant, and it didn't require any nutes.

This year, I just went at the same place and dug my soil again, because now it's going to be in pot. I added again some NPK and ashes for good measure, but I could see the soil was rich, it looks dark like compost only. Perhaps too strong even? Probably because I didn't measure the correct amount. But it wasn't any problem last year, I don't see why it'd be a problem this year. Adding bio stuff doesn't give a chemical taste to the end product. It's also pointless to flush in such soils, it'd take weeks of flushing to remove all the good stuff. It rained often and yet its still dark this year.

I did protect the top layer with mulch or leafs, just like in the forest.

My idea was to enjoy doing it, not go through so much trouble and stress up "did I add anything too much? Too less? Will it be enough? did I make a mistake in my calculations? How do I get bat guano?".
Through repeated use i'll eventually get the right amount using eye judgement.

Oh yeah I also added some potting soil, the one you buy at your local gardening shop, so that the final soil would be more airy. Perlite would do the same, but it was tough to acquire.

Does that help? Or are you ONLY looking for the perfect recipe?

[Minoo96]

CaptPicard, i'm glad I could help you, just like i got help from others here.. Same way! I was trying so hard to find the perfect recipe... And I got the vibe "Chill. It's supposed to be fun" from people like Oldjarhead etc. (thanks to him again haha, and all the others!)
RosettaStoned, thanks I always confuse one and the other haha (potassium and phosphorus)! I thought of mentioning it in the post but it made me look really like I didn't know what I was doing (which is half true haha) and I didn't want CaptPicard to think because i'm an amateur my advice was less valuable hehe...

[RosettaStoned]

No worries, just didn't want someone pumping phosphorus in when they think it's potassium

[Minoo96]

Yes, your perfectly right

[CaptPicard]

Trying to find Coco Loco... haven't come across it yet. What would be a similar alternative?

[CaptPicard]

Hello all,
Yesterday I placed all my ingredients for my super soil together in a rigid plastic pool (59" diameter). The pool is covered with a tarp and only opened to move the soil around and add water.

The following items are what I used:

1 Bail of Pro Mix w/ Mycorrihizae (107L - 60lbs)
2 Bags of Fox Farm Ocean Forest (42.5L each - about 30lbs each for a total of 60lbs)
1 Bag of Earthworm Castings (20L - 26.46 lbs)
1 Bag of Sphagnum Peat Moss (this was just a small bag as there is peat in the FF and the ProMix)
1 Bag of Blood Meal (3lbs)
1 Bag of Bone Meal (3lbs)

I basically put a cup of each of the following ingredients:
Azomite
Rock Phosphate
Kelp Meal
Dolomite Lime
Gaia Green All Purpose
Epsom Salt

There are many ingredients that make up the Pro Mix and Fox Farm (Ex. Bat Guano in FF). I may put some worms in at a later date. This super soil will make up the bottom half in my planters.
I have a bag of coconut based soil and a bag of happy frog I will mix together as my top half. I don't think this will be too harsh for seedlings.

I tried my best to get what I could from the original recipe with some additions. Please let me know your thoughts. Too much of one thing? Not enough?

Thanks!!

[Minoo96]

Seems good to me! Mycorrhizae should be used more on the plants when it has roots already, to develop them no? If you just mix it in the soil it may be less useful than when using it on the plant itself, no clue i've never tried it myself.

It's a good idea to make a bottom layer (at what depth is it?) and a top layer. Both ingredients for both layers seems very good... By the time it'll reach the second layer it'll start needing all these nutrients, but in the beginning happy frog will be sufficient.

Also I personally advise to grow in special mix for seedlings, much more airy and soft. I've had increase in germination if I use this soil (just for the seedlings) then a transplantation to the ground. If you don't like transplanting, for fear of breaking the seedling, try those pots in biodegradable, those that let the roots poke through the pot eventually (cardboard kind of thing, but with some sort of mesh so the roots may pass)

[CaptPicard]

Hey Minoo96,
I'm not sure on the Mycorrhizae on that. I thought that Mycorrhizae improves the web of bacteria/ fungus, the plant has an easier time finding available nutrients. Still learning a lot here.

The planter height is 12". So I was thinking I would use 10-11" inches of that. Then splitting the difference for the top and bottom layer, so about 5" to 5.5" per layer. I wonder how much the soil will settle over time. Any thoughts on layer heights? I've read 50/50.

So my bottom layer is the super soil I made and for the top layer I two bags I will be mixing together: a bag of "COCO Plus" and a bag of Fox Farm Happy Frog. I will post pictures of these and the details on the back. I think this light mixture will be good for seedlings. I have five feminized (auto) NYC Diesel seeds and the package gives specific instructions on how to germinate them. I was initially going to put them in solo cups to start, but now I'm thinking I may just plant them in their final home - no transplanting.

I have a new problem of trying to find sufficient size saucers for these 15 gallon planters. They are 20" in diameter, so I've been searching for 21" saucer - no luck though. I was thinking about macgyvering my own somehow (garbage bags, hard cardboard, whatever...).

[CaptPicard]

These bags will be mixed to make the top layer of my planter pot.

[buffalobuds]

Capt. ---There are lots of formulas for super soil, What your trying to create is a balanced food chain. In nature plants need help from the micro-organisms to eat. They take the nutrients and break them down to a point the plants can absorb them. In turn the plant produces sugar on the outside of the roots which feeds the micro-beasties. You provide a loose airy soil with humus, all the basic and micro nutes, micro-beasties and good clean water and let nature do her thing. This may be over simplified but you feed the soil, the soil feed the mico-life, they feed the plants. the plants grow,produces then die, in turn they turn to compost,enriching the soil....cycle complete. All the fancy bags have done this for you, As you figured out it's cheaper and can be custom blended. I grow autos outdoors in 3 gal. pots. They take around 10 weeks seed to harvest and I add NO extra nutes,just water. Good luck

[Rwise]

Ok I have a question, what does the Epsom salt do in the mix?
I will be using rotted wood chips, leaves, chicken and rabbit poo (careful those chicken droppings are hot!), etc..

[CaptPicard]

I wasn't really sure to be honest. I was just following the recipe that was provided. I did find some info on the following site:

https://www.gardeningknowhow.com/garden-how-to/soil-fertilizers/epsom-salt-gardening.htm

If others know more I'm sure they will add their expertise

I think one thing to keep in mind when using it - is that you don't need very much of it.