Hi guys and girls,
I’ve been reading a few posts about various growing tips,tricks and problems and the term “super soil” crops up quite frequently.
There has been some formulas posted but nothing consistent. Is it possible that all you experienced soil growers can come up with a formula we can all mix and rely on, like an OG Super Soil?
Thanks for any input guys.
Give this thread a browse.
One of the problems is most of these mixes contain compost as a major portion. Compost varies greatly in quality and mineral makeup. It makes it very difficult to make a reliable, consistent recipe.
I’m no expert but super soil does work great. It’s next to impossible to create one type of soil that will be perfect for all the different type of strains.
Over time if you only used clones of a particular plant you could dial it in tho
A lot of it is going to come down to preference. Generally speaking, a complete soil will include some combination of medium (usually Peat or Coco, but Biochar is another popular one), with aeration (perlite is the most common and widely available, but people use lava rock, pumice, or rice hulls as well), and then some mix of compost, meals (alfalfa, cotton, neem seed, fish bone, kelp, crustacean/crab, blood, bone, karanja, etc), and then some source of minerals (some kind of rock dusts, azomite, dolomite, basalt, langbeinite, rock phosphate, etc).
Use what you can get, afford, and feel comfortable using. Starting with a bagged potting soil can make it simpler if it seems like too much work.
My last grow, I used a soil made from coco coir, perlite, compost, worm castings, kelp meal, karanja meal (it’s a lot like neem seed meal), crustacean meal, basalt, gypsum, and langbeinite. It generally did pretty well, though I did top-dress as well later in the plant’s life.
If you do end up with a deficiency, it can be helpful to have some bottled nutes to the side to correct it quickly, but you aren’t likely to need them as regularly, and you might just decide to get them only if/when you notice something off.
Your base should be around 50/50 peat moss to compost. It’s usually safer to go with a little less compost and do compost teas. Add a bunch of rice and lava rocks for air flow.
Then you’ll need to add a bunch of amendments and they’re all pretty forgiving so it’s hard to add to much…your plant will just take it up when it needs it. The key is having it there available when the plant needs it.
Add some worms in your bins and you’ll be good to go!
Watch some buildasoil videos. Soak it all in! 
Thanks guys it looks like its not that simple which is what I kind of figured, and I did expect"strain dependant" to pop up, with all their particular preferences for feeding.
Its just that I’d like to get some kind of a handle on soil growing before trying other media.
I can’t say I’ve ever had many issues during veg but I have during flower.
That’s where nutrient teas come in. They have solved my problems many times. The first soil I ever made was the one SubCool shared. It worked great, I used that on my first few grows and had good results. Clackamas Coots is another one. I’d say both are reliable.
A high quality base mix is the best place to start. There are plenty of alternative nutrients if some of the listed ones aren’t available in your area. Compare the different NPK values can give you a good idea. I always get feather meal instead of blood meal and insect frass instead if crab meal.
Thanks ImpaLa so I guess I’ll stick with the organic potting soil and perlite mix for now and experiment when I can get some of the ingredients listed by all you guys.
If you have a good enough soil mix, and are able to have a large enough volume of soil per plant, you won’t need to worry about different varieties (strains) feeding differently. With large enough volume of soil and a good diversity of microorganisms you’ll be fine.
A good soil mix can also depend on where you are, geographically, as some products might not be available to you locally. But there generally will be a good alternative you could source locally if you do a little research.
I just add a bit of organic tomato food and kelp meal to whatever soil mix I’m using. Last time it was mg organic, this time it’s roots.
@EugeneDebs420 ,@SonOfAvery thanks guys I think the soil I’m using is good but like you all say it needs the other ingredients to get them to harvest.
Currently trying 4 bags of ocean forest, 2 bags sohum living soil, and a block of coco in 3 gallon pots, 8 total… So far, they are all doing well… I’m going to try a super soil recipe that I find on here for next grow. The question is just which one? Lol
I’m not going to be one of those guys but just be careful with that Ocean forest.I don’t know what FF did with that soil but it has been getting hotter and hotter.I was informed they use man made nitrogen base and spray it into that soil.Be careful I burned a shit ton of plants this year with that stuff.
Noted… I don’t think I’ll be using it again. I already had most of this I had been preparing for a grow. But it’s too expensive for my taste anyways.
This is the mix I have been using with good success for a few years now. Other then seedlings this is what all my plants are in.
After trying the Organic version for awhile and not being happy with it , I have returned to this https://www.pthorticulture.com/en/products/pro-mix-hp-mycorrhizae/
To every 7 gal of pro mix I add the following.
2 cups of EWC
1/2 cup of Gaia Green Power Bloom
1/4 cup of Gaia Green Fishbone meal
1/4 cup of Gaia Green Alfalfa meal
1/3 - 1/2 cup of crushed oyster shells
I water for the first time with Blackstrap at 1 TBS per gallon prior to transplanting into the 7 gal smart pouch and flipping, and again usually anywhere from week 4-6 of flowering.
I have found the above mix to work great for all but the heaviest feeders. I also tend to try to give the least nutes possible instead of pumping them with as much as possible. I would rather my plants fade early then not at all.
If you’re gonna spend money on amendments then get ground hemp seed powder.
About the same price as kelp/seaweed.
Or go for a walk and gather dandelion, thistle, nettles, grass, tree leaves and mix that with your soil. Bananapeels are great too.
All free and loaded with minerals.
Keep it simple and always remember that every single company wants your money first and foremost.
Why do you want a super soil? You don’t. Without doubt the best results come from a mix that does not change the entire grow, aka a starter mix, light mix, etc. Get the biggest pots you can. There’s no reason to skimp on roots and fuck things up with nutes.
I’m doing the 2nd trial, just to prove everyone wrong:
Day 9. Full strength Coots mix in red. Half strength in blue (with micros/trace added back). I predict massive yields in every blue pot,and shitty smoke in every red pot. Because that’s what happened last time. Cannabis growers over apply NPK, even the hippies who talk shit on NPK.
Thanks WestcoastCroppers I’m interested to see how your side by side works out, the coots formula seems popular.
I use 5gal fabric pots, do you consider that too small?
Used both, Like subcools the best
