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

CaptPicard

CaptPicard

New member
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-super-soil#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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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Making your own Supersoil, is not that expensive, what is expensive, is constantly buying nutrients, when not using supersoil, .
Plus the Supersoil lasts, store bought nutrients, don't last long. That is if you are feeding your plants properly.
No overkill about supersoil, just beautiful, easy to grow plants.
 
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
 
For quantity (12) 15 gallon grow bags it is incredibly expensive even with my Prime membership allowing free shipping. The Fox Farm nutrient trio are reasonably priced coupled with Happy Frog bags at $14.95 on sale locally. Looking at the cost reward ratio the super soil would not be worth it to me. I have too much fricken weed now!
 
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!
 
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.
 
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.
 
I would say I am incredibly cheap as well, which is why making my own will save $.

For spider mites and pest I had just thought about using some Vermiculite. Apparently it will cut ants to pieces (very tiny cuts), maybe it would do the same for other pests. Not sure if others have added any of that. Maybe add a ring of it around the outer rim. I'll have to research.

I'll have to see what options are available at a soil shop.

Thanks for your comment.
 
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.
 
This very reasonable Fox Farm trio will easily cover a grow with some left over. https://www.amazon.com/FX14050-Fert...825&sr=1-5&keywords=fox+farm+nutrients+3+pack Diamataceous earth powder takes care of the bugaboos. https://www.amazon.com/Crawling-Ins...rds=deciduous+powder+for+insect+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.
 
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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.
 
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.
 
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
 
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.
 
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