SOIL Organic soil mixure with me!....

[SoOrbudgal]

No TOKABIGONE I am a " rouge " i've never Ph water check, i'm using well water and my eyesight to remedy problems. It's what works for me.

 

[TOKABIGONE]

Just as I thought you are instinctively growing in 'living soil' and continuing it's legacy forward by mixing fresh nutes into your used soil. It just keeps getting better! Comes with growing for 40 years I guess, lol! There is no substitute for experience! Thank you!

 

[SoOrbudgal]

Thank you

 

[crucialbunny]

Clay ovens? The only uses for Azomite I can find are agricultural.

 

[TOKABIGONE]

Hey there Cali and crucialbunny I found that short article about uses and importance of Azomite on Grower Today site. Here is the link:

https://www.growertoday.com/what-is-azomite/

 

[Cali]

TOKABIGONE
Here you can see what I meant by Azomite is just a brand name. And why Bassalt is better choice and it’s the same thing volcanic rock dust. Among other amendments and why they are not the best choice as far as quality for medicine.
What's So Cool About Super Soil? The Super Soil Recipe Breakdown.


August 31, 2020 10 Comments

If you have been reading about cultivating indoors with organic soil then you've heard of SubCool's Super Soil. I admit to starting with this mix and thought I was really doing something special when I first went for it. I bought all the stuff and was really excited to use it.

My results were actually pretty good, but I've since moved on I think you should too. Make your own soil for better results. This is why I've stopped using other super soils like Subcool's.

Besides the "base soil" being purchased instead of made from scratch, I have many other issues. All in all, taking bagged soil and adding worm castings and nutrients isn't a bad idea, but the mix can be improved upon and money can be saved.

Here is the Recipe the other guys use:

• 8 large bags of a high-quality organic potting soil with coco fiber and mycorrhizae (i.e., your base soil)
• 25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings
• 5 lbs steamed bone meal
• 5 lbs Bloom bat guano 5 lbs blood meal
• 3 lbs rock phosphate
• ¾ cup Epson salts
• ½ cup sweet lime (dolomite)
• ½ cup azomite (trace elements)
• 2 tbsp powdered humic acid

Now I'll go through each item:

1. Bagged soil - WHY? when we are going to the trouble to mix all of this up anyways, me might as well save some money and increase the quality. The other factor here is having exact control over the inputs. These soils already have unknown quantities of nutrients and the quality control isn't perfect, what if you get a hot batch and then further amend it? I would avoid the potential room for problems and make a soil using many standard recipes but most go with 1 part peat, 1 part compost and 1 part aeration.
2. Mycorrhizae: Adding this to your soil doesn't make sense and is a waste of resources. Anyone who works with mycorrhizae will tell you to apply to the rootzone at transplant or seedling stage. Obviously this super soil mix is for the bottom of the container and nowhere near the rootzone at the proper time. Basically just a complete waste of Myco.
3. 25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings: I agree with using wormcastings but that is a WIDE range to apply. Why 25 - 50? I think that when building your base mix you should be factoring in a certain percentage of castings and compost. Not adding to this all later on in a made up way.
4. 5 lbs steamed bone meal - This is a by-product from the Cattle industry and is really not a good input for organic soil production. Fish bone meal however is great for this same purpose and is safer to use.
5. 5 lbs Bloom bat guano - Guano is very expensive and really not necessary. This is a fast release nutrient and is more in line with the feed the plant regimen instead of soil building. That and harvesting guano is rarely safe and sustainable, there are many reasons to avoid this.... Plus the Fish bone meal that we just mentioned has you covered already along with all the other plant based amendments and worm castings that you should be using.
6. 5 lbs blood meal - More slaughterhouse waste and sure to be unclean. Why use the blood from McDonalds cows when you can add nitrogen so easily through alfalfa meal, fish meal and or worm castings. Show your soil some better love.
7. 3 lbs rock phosphate - This is the 3rd phosphate product and it makes sense because in a soil this rich and without the mycorrhizae actually working like it should there isn't going to be a very good way to access P. That's okay, in a properly built soil you don't need a million sources of P, the plants will get it and the biology and fungi will make sure of it. Not only that but soft rock phosphate is high in heavy metals like cadmium that are proven to be harmful. When growing cannabis, the trichomes will store the heavy metals and smoking the plant will not allow the typical body safety system of passing through the liver etc. before going into your blood. For this reason materials high in heavy metals are typically avoided.
8. ¾ cup Epsom salts - Absolutely no reason to add more magnesium sulfate to a good soil mix. A little known fact about soil is that the Calcium to Magmesium Ratio will control the texture of the soil and adding epsom salts is a good way to tighten the soil and there are better ways to get sulfur, like gypsum.
9. ½ cup sweet lime (dolomite) - Dolomite lime should be avoided as it is completely out of balance with the proper Calcium to magnesium ratios for proper soil building. Especially when considering long term no-till soil use.
10. ½ cup azomite (trace elements) - This is good stuff and is just a "brand" name rock dust that has all the elements from A-Z hence Azomite.... thing is, that also includes heavy metals. While I'd use this in the veggie garden, many will avoid this in the medicine garden.
11. 2 tbsp powdered humic acid - Good advice but humic acid typically purchased at the grow shop is from leanordite and isn't really helpful and is very expensive. Avoid this and get Ful-Power from Bio-ag and use it with waterings.

So then after all this work. You mix this up and let it sit for 30 days. Then use this in the BOTTOM of your soil container. What is interesting is that all though this makes sense at first glance... it's all way off. Nature doesn't have all the nutrients on the bottom in fact it's the opposite, all the plants in nature have the nutrients on the top. That is why building a soil (making your own soil), using mulch and topdressing work so well. It's things like this that make the real organic Gardner's and farmers laugh at all of us sometimes.

So if you've been using super soil, don't feel bad, I think we all did at some point and I owe Subcool a lot because he actually got this semi-organic mix discussed enough that the mainstream took notice... that alone was helpful at getting me to where I am today.

I hope this article helps!

 

[Cali]

crucialbunny here it touches on the clay ovens. This comes from a well known and trusted source. One of the first people to introduce the living soil systems and what buildasoil pretty much started with. Coots Soil Mix Explained

by Jim Bennett June 11, 2020
About 11 years ago I got a medical card under the rules of OMMP (Oregon Medical Marijuana Program. Not to grow per se but to get access to the 'strain of the week' through some of the groups like Oregon Green Free and a couple of others which no longer exist thankfully.

At the time Fox Farms Ocean Forest was the big deal for reasons that still boggles the mind with prices that were not consistent with the quality of the product. A tradition that lives on today in the cannabis scene - sub-standard soils with boutique prices.

So I began to test these soils out and it was clear that there wasn't a dime's worth of difference between this or that soil. More of a matter of style over substance or maybe form over function.

Having owned and operated a commercial nursery grown different cultivars of Japanese Lace Maples for landscape architects in their resort, restaurant and commercial buildings. For this you have to grow the plant in large containers for a massive root mass which is spelled out in the contract.

This meant that you had the plants on your property for 4 or 5 years. This made the soil mix all-important vs growing annual plants for the retail market - Home Depot, Lowe's, Target, Walmart as well as the independent nurseries across the country meaning low-profit plants as you can imagine.

I decided to go for a soil that would meet the needs for growing one of the highest dollar plants - weed. After a few changes this is what I came up with...the Clackamas Coot Soil Mix...

Clackamas Coot Soil Mix

By volume mix the following...

1/3 Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss (CSPM)
1/3 Aeration - I use 3/8" pumice (aka volcanic glass - completely inert)
1/3 Vermicompost

When it comes to CSPM it does not matter one iota as far as the brand as long as it's designated as CSPMA (Canadian Sphagnum Peat Moss Association) which is a partnership between the handful of authorized harvesters and the Canadian government. CSPMA sets the harvest limit and not market demands.

You should ind this at Home Depot and Lowe's in 3.8 cf bales and if it is not available at your local stores then order it online (HomeDepot.com) and have them 'ship to store' at your store of choice. No charge for shipping and handling!

A cubic foot is about 7.20 gallons or 115 cups...

To this I add the following amendments to each 1 cubic foot..

1 cup kelp meal
1 cup neem meal or an equal amount of neem & karanja mix
1 cup of limestone or more exactly Calcium Carbonate CaCO3 so Oyster Shell Powder/flour can also be used as it is also a pure Calcium Carbonate material
1/2 cup Gypsum (Calcium Sulfate) available at all DIY stores but you must get the material in the garden section and not in the home remodel section. There are 2 forms of gypsum so make sure you get the one for soil and not walls...

Finally there is the rock dust which I recommend 3 cups of either basalt or granite. Only these 2 materials are 'paramagnetic' which is an integral part of the CeC discussion (Cation exchange Capacity).

Rock dusts like Azomite, bentonite, zeolite and others are called 'colloidal minerals' - alumina-silicate. For example Azomite is a brand name. A geologist would know it as "Hydrated Sodium Calcium Aluminosilicate" and it's known as "Montmorillonite clay"

This clay has been used in France to built ceramic bread ovens which look like a bee hive. They have a small door in the front of the oven where loaves of bread are move in and out using what is called a peel.

While it makes a great ceramic oven I can't find much to cause me to recommend it in a true living soil that is supposed to last 'forever' if taken care of using organic methods.

 

[Cali]

I like growing in soil. I've been to the Buid a soil site and read about Clackamus Coots soil. I'd like to try my hand at growing a living soil. The idea of just adding water I like. I have an auto grow going with FFOF amended with Bio Tabs. How much space does it take to build this soil? Container size, storage, etc. I have limited space and I'm concerned about that while it cooks.

No need to let this mix cook. It’s not hot at all. I make this mix and go straight in with seeds clones whatever. Same day or next day. Not much space needed, I use 3 5 gallon buckets. One with compost, one with pumice, one with Canadian sphagnum peat moss. Then just add the amendments in and mix it in a small kids pool or like tokabigone said in a 6x6 tarp. Once done put that back in your buckets or straight into the soils final home. Now there you have about 2c.f. Of soil. 7.5gal per cubic feet. Don’t take much space.

 

[golfnrl]

Cali Thank you. That makes sense to me and gives me a better idea of what to expect. Much appreciated. Do you ever store your soil after it's mixed?

 

[Cali]

golfnrl good question. Yes I do all the time. I keep it in the bucket with a lid but make sure there is no humidity or the soil will go anaerobic. I just open the lid from time to time to make sure it’s good. Once it smelled bad cus I watered it before storing it but I let it air out and all was good. I use the bucket with measurements that way I know exactly how much I put in or have left over.

 

[golfnrl]

Storage was a big question. You're right, a 5 gal bucket doesn't take up much space. And I happen to have some gamma lids for air tightness. This is sounding better and better and more doable.