I bought the Clackamas coot mix from Buildasoil recently since I use similar inputs and was running low. The Clackamas nutes smelled like chemical bleach when it arrived.
I use the same inputs; crab, neem karanja, sesame kelp etc in fact I was cooking a batch at the time. My ingredients/mix smells like a seafood processing facility until cooking is well underway, nothing like bleach, ever. Out of any mix I’ve done I can’t fathom a bleach smell.
I told myself the BAS ingredients must be old, and the malted barley flour is affecting the smell of the crab meal. I cook the soil and things go as expected until it comes time to dial the pH. I always do this, since my compost sources are all over the place. I know what to expect after having done it for years.
My “WCCropper” soil batches, the ones that left my hands smelling like crab booty after mixing, are right around 7pH after adding my lime sources. Perfect.
The buildasoil coot batches however, the batches that made my soil smell like bleach for several days, all 3 of those batches are stuck around 6.2pH average. I added an additional 0.75 cups of lime per cubic foot. Still stuck.
I probed the bottom of the cook bins after adding the lime, and the ph was rising when the temperature was warm. After the lime had cooked the pH leveled down again.
Anyone seen this before? I’ve never seen soil refuse to lime in my life. And I’ve never smelled organic nutes that smell like bleach either. But I HAVE smelled bleached-washed septic-grown shrimp (love you China). Did buildasoil sell me fucking Chinese toxic avenger sewer shrimp as crab meal???
Is it for sure bleach you are smelling? Or is it possible it’s ammonia?
A lot of seafood can easily take on ammonia odors and seems like that could be likely as the shrimp/crab is drying or being fermented. All dried shrimp, even the very best I’ve had have a slight amonia odor to them. Dried squid or skate wing can have SUPER strong ammonia odors, but they are still damn tasty.
Same thing can happen with cheese or cured meats, it’s especially noticeable if they get stored in a sealed container.
If you have you mix cooking in a container that doesn’t breath much it could be that the barely is accelerating the whole process compared to your other bin and so the ammonia as by product is being created more quickly resulting in a stronger smell.
Build a Soil has been very responsive in my experience with them, if you think something is off reach out to them.
Couple things, Imo you don’t want your soil mix to be at 7pH right after mixing unless you know you have acidic water you’ll be using. It’s much easier to raise pH than lower it. Adding lime, sulfur, etc takes time to react with the rest of the ingredients in the soil. It is not an instantaneous reaction. Can I ask what your methods for testing pH are?
It smelled like bleach every time I smelled it. Not ammonia. That’s why I told myself it must be multiple smells combining and throwing my nose off, bleach makes no sense. Anyway I think BAS is off the hook for now. Here’s what happened:
After a few more days the pH made it to 6.5
I realized I had used a new brand of Calcite lime for those batches. It contains pyrolignius and acetic acid to help break down the calcium. The acids in the lime product are making it to the soil well before the carbonate.
So this product is going to take extra material, extra time extra moisture and extra stirring. That’s what I get for trying to save money.
The product I normally use contains lignosulfate and humid acid for chelation. Apparently these acids don’t have this oscillating effect. I dunno. I would much rather use cheap limestone/chalk and rely 100% on acids produced by microbes in the soil, but I cannot import plain chalk to my state (ag restrictions related to erosion here in the grand canyon state)
PS… Those saying my pH is too high… I lied to try and keep these comments away. I actually use much higher but still people speak up lol. Who’s telling people to grow in 6.2pH? Listen…
I want my plants producing sugars fats and acids, all acidifying. I want an abundance of acidic substances so there’s plenty left for the roots. Name one alkaline substance I want my roots exuding. If your pH is 6, the plant isn’t going to exude what you want it producing. Neither are the microbes. That’s why hydro grows run low pH, the plant isn’t healthy enough to produce its own exudates, and has no microbes to support acidification.
Look at a pH uptake chart. You can run 8.5 in soil, you aren’t going to burn the plant by raising micros. In fact I’ve had success at every pH above 7 except the 8.2-8.4 range
The Soil Doctor is one off the top of my head. For cannabis specifically he is recommending 6.2-6.8 pH.
And Clemson University:
Vegetables, grasses and most ornamentals do best in slightly acidic soils (pH 5.8 to 6.5). Soil pH values above or below these ranges may result in less vigorous growth and nutrient deficiencies.
