New Super Soil Recipe Suggestions for the New year

Hello so I'm gonna start by saying I have been growing for just over 2 years and just recently made the switch from bottled nutrients to super soils and I have loved the results as well as the lower cost on my wallet and the environment we all cherish. I am close to tossing out the ole PH pen considering I haven't needed it for the past 8 months as the microbes have taken over what they have done for billions of years.

So here is my new list I was gonna mix up. Tell me what you think and why please. I am all about the incredible power of open source knowledge for I would have none of my organic knowledge without it.

I flower in 30 gallon pots using 13-15 gallons of this super soil on the bottom. I fill the rest in with recycled super soil as the base soil and it works beautifully.


20 cubic feet (10 bags) of Happy Frog.===== I do this only because of the deal I can get at 12$ a bag for this stuff at my local store. They charge 12$ per bag of either ocean forest or happy frog, but I figured that sense I am mixing this all into a beautiful super soil, it made far more sense to go with happy frog because they are 2 cubic feet compared to ocean forest's 1.5 cubic feet. Same amount of money just 50 cubic feet more soil.
1 cubic foot (1 big bag) High quality earth worm castings!
6 Cubic feet of Rice Hulls (silica source plus I hear fungi love this stuff)
6 pounds of fish bone meal
6 pounds oyster shell flour
5 pounds Crab meal
3-5 pounds of kelp meal
3-5 pounds Alfalfa meal
3-5 pounds neem seed meal
5 pounds high phosphorus seabird guano
2-4 Cups Azomite
2-4 Cups Gaia glacial rock dust
2-4 cups Diatomaceous Earth??? (Curious of amounts to add of this)


So please tell me what I should add or possibly take away from this list. My goal is to eventually make it into permaculture veganics because of all of the incredible things I have heard of people doing with that. So any alternatives to my animal additives would be great I stopped using bat guano and blood meal, but am still using seabird guano because I will admit I am a bit scared to leave out a big organic source of phosphorus, but also because the Down to earth seabird guano I use is also 20% calcium (PLEASE SOMEONE TELL ME WHY I NEED TO LEAVE SEABIRD GUANOS AND ALL OTHER GUANOS BEHIND FOR GOOD AND PROVIDE REASONING AND ALTERNATIVE SOURCES). Then for the fish products I use (fish bone meal, crab meal, oyster shell flour) I do not know of any other good alternative that provides good sources of calcium, potassium, and trace minerals. I've loved calcium because PH problems using different sources.

Also I will be recycling this soil using the methods from the ROLS forum here along with methods from Rasta Roy's why you don't need supersoil demonstrations. I just grew 3 plants in super soil next to 3 plants same clones strains and everything using Rasta Roys method and it worked perfectly. You can not tell a difference in plants quality as they all look like beautiful organics, but Rasta Roy's method was far easier, more sustainable, more cost efficient, and really got me thinking about how much I need to learn and that the more you do learn about organics and being all natural, the more everything pays you back. (Because the world wants to pay us back and it is awesome)

The more I learn the more I realize nature wants to make things simple for us, that is why you do not need to ph and use harmful chemicals on your plants. So please tell me what I need to do to make things easier on myself and how I can mimic nature better to create healthier medicine, food, flowers, and replenish the soil.

Peace and may you kick 2017's ass if you are reading this!

If you've watched my videos you already know I recommend mixing everything together over layering soil so I won't talk about that much lol.

I don't think there's anything wrong with seabird guano harvesting, at least not that I'm aware of. But I do think it's wasted in a soil mix because of its highly water soluble properties. It's what makes it such a great fertilizer, but it's best used in teas (just let it soak, aerating isn't needed). With the fish bone meal, the crab meal, and the oyster shell flour you'll be more than set on calcium and phosphorus. But seabird guano is great to have on hand for a boost with a tea when you switch into flower. Careful tho once your soil has been at it for a while this is unnecessary. I even burned my plants last time I applied some.

I would use up the azomite you have but I wouldn't purchase anymore in the future because of the heavy metals risk. The rock dust will do you fine.

The more you recycle your soil, the less you'll be finding yourself adding amendments. I add more compost and castings that anything.

potmonster1993 said:

I flower in 30 gallon pots using 13-15 gallons of this super soil on the bottom. I fill the rest in with recycled super soil as the base soil and it works beautifully.


20 cubic feet (10 bags) of Happy Frog.===== I do this only because of the deal I can get at 12$ a bag for this stuff at my local store. They charge 12$ per bag of either ocean forest or happy frog, but I figured that sense I am mixing this all into a beautiful super soil, it made far more sense to go with happy frog because they are 2 cubic feet compared to ocean forest's 1.5 cubic feet. Same amount of money just 50 cubic feet more soil.
1 cubic foot (1 big bag) High quality earth worm castings!
6 Cubic feet of Rice Hulls (silica source plus I hear fungi love this stuff)
6 pounds of fish bone meal
6 pounds oyster shell flour
5 pounds Crab meal
3-5 pounds of kelp meal
3-5 pounds Alfalfa meal
3-5 pounds neem seed meal
5 pounds high phosphorus seabird guano
2-4 Cups Azomite
2-4 Cups Gaia glacial rock dust
2-4 cups Diatomaceous Earth??? (Curious of amounts to add of this)



The more I learn the more I realize nature wants to make things simple for us, that is why you do not need to ph and use harmful chemicals on your plants. So please tell me what I need to do to make things easier on myself and how I can mimic nature better to create healthier medicine, food, flowers, and replenish the soil.

Peace and may you kick 2017's ass if you are reading this!

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how it going man
so first, why do you still want to layer, even after learning the contrary?
second, you are amending already amended soil with a LOT of nutrients, you are gonna be WAY over on nutrients.
also only one bag of worm castings isn't really enough.
the key to rasta's success (and the key really to ANY organic grow) is the microbial diversity, and the freshness of the humus inputs
compost and castings are crucial, much, much more than anything else, as odd as that may sound.
also that's an asston of oyster flour..

Thanks guys awesome. I do not really layer big time any more I just have a lighter mix for my vegging plants made of mainly a classic bag of organic soil with a bit of worm castings and kelp amended to it. I veg my plants in 10 gallon containers to get them nice and big then transplant them into a 30 gallon where the main soil mix is this heavier feeding supersoil. I do this method because I am a stickler for staying under my plant count, but also because it is easier for me to take care of fewer plants. I am also a fan of this just because it allows me to keep a weekly rotation of medicine with the limited space that I have.
I flower 8 separate plants at a time each under their own 600 watt light. 8 plants rotating one out and one in roughly weekly. I usually let my plant veg in the new 30 gallon pot for at least 2 or 3 weeks before starting them flowering. My personal best so far has been 11 ounces from one plant. I have a good buddy however who has yielded almost a pound off 1 plant under a 400 watt light using organic methods.

I use well water with one of those carbon filters that attach to a garden hose and feed with a compost tea roughly every 3 or 4 waterings, other than that just water for the ladies. I just started messing around with top dressing using worm castings and kelp and have been loving the results.

It sounds like I need to get some good fungally dominated compost and stay on top of things with compost teas and top dressing. Also if there are too many nutrients in my list should I cut it back on the nutrients, or are there a few things in my list I should leave out completely. I certainly do not want to be the dum dum that acts unsustainably while doing this with the whole purpose of sustainable, especially because my goal is to minimize my inputs to my growing medium while maximizing the quantity and quality of the end product.

I

potmonster1993 said:

Thanks guys awesome. I do not really layer big time any more I just have a lighter mix for my vegging plants made of mainly a classic bag of organic soil with a bit of worm castings and kelp amended to it. I veg my plants in 10 gallon containers to get them nice and big then transplant them into a 30 gallon where the main soil mix is this heavier feeding supersoil. I do this method because I am a stickler for staying under my plant count, but also because it is easier for me to take care of fewer plants. I am also a fan of this just because it allows me to keep a weekly rotation of medicine with the limited space that I have.
I flower 8 separate plants at a time each under their own 600 watt light. 8 plants rotating one out and one in roughly weekly. I usually let my plant veg in the new 30 gallon pot for at least 2 or 3 weeks before starting them flowering. My personal best so far has been 11 ounces from one plant. I have a good buddy however who has yielded almost a pound off 1 plant under a 400 watt light using organic methods.

I use well water with one of those carbon filters that attach to a garden hose and feed with a compost tea roughly every 3 or 4 waterings, other than that just water for the ladies. I just started messing around with top dressing using worm castings and kelp and have been loving the results.

It sounds like I need to get some good fungally dominated compost and stay on top of things with compost teas and top dressing. Also if there are too many nutrients in my list should I cut it back on the nutrients, or are there a few things in my list I should leave out completely. I certainly do not want to be the dum dum that acts unsustainably while doing this with the whole purpose of sustainable, especially because my goal is to minimize my inputs to my growing medium while maximizing the quantity and quality of the end product.

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I would keep the list just cut the numbers. Do like 1/2 tbsp per gallon or something. But yeah my method definitely leans hard on compost, I've done great even when I only had bacterial dominant compost. But the key is always lots of compost. Find a good local supplier and you should be paying around 5 bucks for a 40 pound bag!

potmonster1993 said:

Thanks guys awesome. I do not really layer big time any more I just have a lighter mix for my vegging plants made of mainly a classic bag of organic soil with a bit of worm castings and kelp amended to it. I veg my plants in 10 gallon containers to get them nice and big then transplant them into a 30 gallon where the main soil mix is this heavier feeding supersoil. I do this method because I am a stickler for staying under my plant count, but also because it is easier for me to take care of fewer plants. I am also a fan of this just because it allows me to keep a weekly rotation of medicine with the limited space that I have.
I flower 8 separate plants at a time each under their own 600 watt light. 8 plants rotating one out and one in roughly weekly. I usually let my plant veg in the new 30 gallon pot for at least 2 or 3 weeks before starting them flowering. My personal best so far has been 11 ounces from one plant. I have a good buddy however who has yielded almost a pound off 1 plant under a 400 watt light using organic methods.

I use well water with one of those carbon filters that attach to a garden hose and feed with a compost tea roughly every 3 or 4 waterings, other than that just water for the ladies. I just started messing around with top dressing using worm castings and kelp and have been loving the results.

It sounds like I need to get some good fungally dominated compost and stay on top of things with compost teas and top dressing. Also if there are too many nutrients in my list should I cut it back on the nutrients, or are there a few things in my list I should leave out completely. I certainly do not want to be the dum dum that acts unsustainably while doing this with the whole purpose of sustainable, especially because my goal is to minimize my inputs to my growing medium while maximizing the quantity and quality of the end product.

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well, you are close, you actually want more of a bacteria compost rather than fungal anyways, which is where the wormbin comes in
wormbin and a compost pile my man, you'll need NOTHING past that
it's still not too late, go get 5 or 6 bags of fallen tree leaves, a box of alfalfa meal, and you are golden
make a compost pile, add redworms to it, and you'll need nothing past that other than aeration.
and if I may offer an opinion, your vege plants use much more nutrients than the flowering ones do, if anything you want the soil to be the same

It makes sense guys! I like what I'm hearing, I have 2 worm composting systems and I am almost ready for my first harvest of home pooped worm castings which I am stoked about. Someone once told me that plants prefer bacterially dominated soil in veg and fungally dominated in flower, any truth to this??

20 cubic feet of soil is roughly 1285 gallons. So what I am thinking would make more sense would be to perhaps up the worm castings to 2-3 bags roughly 80-120 gallons of worm castings. Maybe leave out seabird guano to use just for top dress. do the other big ammendments at 1/2 tbsp per gallon= roughly 64 tablespoons=4 cups.

also any thought on the rice hulls??

potmonster1993 said:

also any thought on the rice hulls??

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nothing wrong with it, but keep in mind they'll disappear in about two or three runs
for ROLS you want LOTS of aearation, and the more variation you have, the better
I use damn near everything, perlite, pumice, vermiculite, biochar, rotten tree log chunks, cut up coco-wool, volcanic rock, etc.

potmonster1993 said:

It makes sense guys! I like what I'm hearing, I have 2 worm composting systems and I am almost ready for my first harvest of home pooped worm castings which I am stoked about. Someone once told me that plants prefer bacterially dominated soil in veg and fungally dominated in flower, any truth to this??

20 cubic feet of soil is roughly 1285 gallons. So what I am thinking would make more sense would be to perhaps up the worm castings to 2-3 bags roughly 80-120 gallons of worm castings. Maybe leave out seabird guano to use just for top dress. do the other big ammendments at 1/2 tbsp per gallon= roughly 64 tablespoons=4 cups.

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No, no truth to that lol. Fungal microbes help aid phosphorus uptake...and people have drawn their conclusions from there lol.

yup that would make sense. I really appreciate this help. I actually do have 2 full bags of leaves in my garage and some alfalfa on hand. I want to make some leaf mold compost. You think I would be good with just mixing some water, alfalfa, and brown leaves in a couple of garbage cans? I do all this in my garage so would the cold temperatures be a problem for red wigglers, or would it be warm enough for them inside their compost bedding?

potmonster1993 said:

20 cubic feet of soil is roughly 1285 gallons. So what I am thinking would make more sense would be to perhaps up the worm castings to 2-3 bags roughly 80-120 gallons of worm castings. Maybe leave out seabird guano to use just for top dress. do the other big ammendments at 1/2 tbsp per gallon= roughly 64 tablespoons=4 cups.

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you should have at the minimum 5 cubic feet of compost/castings in 20 cubic feet of soil, and honestly i'd be closer to 6.5

topdress gypsum

why gypsum? I am not very informed on gypsum.

potmonster1993 said:

why gypsum? I am not very informed on gypsum.

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Pretty consistent slow release source of calcium and sulfer that is pretty plant accessible. Imrpoves soil texture and is pretty cheap to boot.

Not sure if someone said something but also just make sure you get food grade diatoms.

The sulfur from gypsum (calcium sulfate) will break away from the calcium and attach to Magnesium particle and create epsom salt (Magnesium sulfate). This frees up the calcium which is needed to uptake just about every nutrient the plant requires. Calcium is also a larger particle so it allows the roots to breath better than magnesium does, which is very small and creates compaction.

Why not just buy raw ingredients and make it yourself? Even at $12 a bag, you could get four times that on your own and on top of that, you are not going to have a clue on what is in your soil mix. You will literally be guessing...an educated guess but still a guess.
If you start by making a base mix, than you have a foundation to work with.

NaturalFarmer said:

Why not just buy raw ingredients and make it yourself? Even at $12 a bag, you could get four times that on your own and on top of that, you are not going to have a clue on what is in your soil mix. You will literally be guessing...an educated guess but still a guess.
If you start by making a base mix, than you have a foundation to work with.

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What do you mean exactly? are you talking about the gypsum still, or that I should use a different source for by base soil(happy frog) that i am mixing my ammendments with?

Happy frog uses a base mix, and then adds to it. You may or may not know what goes in it....how much salt, what the pH is, what the cal sat......etc...
I guess long story short, you could start with some peat get some compost, EWC, mushroom compost, leaves, get some rice hull, get some coco coir whatever works. Fool around until you get a nice fluffy texture even when moist.
Once you get the qty of those ratios worked out. figure out the pH of the mix. adjust with lime to bring it to 6.3-6.5 and until it gets t that point, adjust the pH of your water.
then add all your nutrient amendments,

Just trying to save you money and ultimately a headache but it is free advice so take it for that.