Dr greenthumbs haul, super soil help.

VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
Looking at building my first super soil.
I picked up Dr greenthumbs organic go and grow plus bud and bloom dry fertilizers but unsure of what/if heavier amendments need to be used.

The base was mixed this morning
IMG20220904113745.jpg
20L garden soil (nice sandy loam)
10L Coco as soil breaker
10L vermicompost (real form farm, not dry castings)
5L UXP pumice
5L perlite
2.5L vermiculite
2.5L zeolite
2.5L fine grade 4-8mm hort. Charcoal


I'd forego the perlite and vermiculite, but I was running short of pumice.

The organic fertilizers both have differing ratios of:
Alfalfa
Neem
Coconut
Soy
Barley
Gypsum,
Volcanic/palagonite/glacial dust mix
Guano
Potash

The go/ grow is 4-2.5-3
The bud/ bloom is 0.5-2-3
Was going to add a cup of each as a start and then top dress every three or so weeks. They say 1/2 a cup of each per 30L in new soils.

Would/should I add anything heavier and more balanced to this mix or just top dress appropriately? I have some organic veggie feed here. Blood/bone meal and potash. Like 8-2-7-2.
 
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Rozgreenburn

Rozgreenburn

Well-Known Member
VincenzioVonHook said:
Looking at building my first super soil.
I picked up Dr greenthumbs organic go and grow plus bud and bloom dry fertilizers but unsure of what/if heavier amendments need to be used.

The base was mixed this morning
View attachment 5192245
20L garden soil (nice sandy loam)
10L Coco as soil breaker
10L vermicompost (real form farm, not dry castings)
5L UXP pumice
5L perlite
2.5L vermiculite
2.5L zeolite
2.5L fine grade 4-8mm hort. Charcoal


I'd forego the perlite and vermiculite, but I was running short of pumice.

The organic fertilizers both have differing ratios of:
Alfalfa
Neem
Coconut
Soy
Barley
Gypsum,
Volcanic/palagonite/glacial dust mix
Guano
Potash

The go/ grow is 4-2.5-3
The bud/ bloom is 0.5-2-3
Was going to add a cup of each as a start and then top dress every three or so weeks. They say 1/2 a cup of each per 30L in new soils.

Would/should I add anything heavier and more balanced to this mix or just top dress appropriately? I have some organic veggie feed here. Blood/bone meal and potash. Like 8-2-7-2.
Click to expand...
Looks good, you should cook it for a month or so before use. I will probably only run full organic super soil from now on. You will tweak your recipe as time go by. It's a great idea to journal any changes and then note what results those changes made. I only top dress when I'm building a pot, but, I give everyone a tea every 3 weeks and all is well. Some plants will want more or less, so I try to run similar strains which keeps me from having to adjust nutes on an individual plant basis.
Once you get this dialed in, you'll be seriously impressed! Good luck
 
VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
Rozgreenburn said:
Looks good, you should cook it for a month or so before use. I will probably only run full organic super soil from now on. You will tweak your recipe as time go by. It's a great idea to journal any changes and then note what results those changes made. I only top dress when I'm building a pot, but, I give everyone a tea every 3 weeks and all is well. Some plants will want more or less, so I try to run similar strains which keeps me from having to adjust nutes on an individual plant basis.
Once you get this dialed in, you'll be seriously impressed! Good luck
Click to expand...
the dry blend says to cook for at least three weeks, and the mix started sweating up within hours. It obviously had more water in there than I thought. I was going to plant two Blimburn chemdog #4s in four weeks so the timing is good. into starters of 50/50 coco supersoil and then up-pot into 6 gallon (40cmDx25cmH) plastic pots. I'm sneaking all this into uni accom and mixing soils in a dorm room lol. Sadly I don't have the space for 10g pots, but at 2x4x6 i wont be growing monsters anyway.

I tired water only a few months ago and due to lagging on top dress alongside a small pot I failed pretty good. I'm talking like 9L pot and no top dress for five weeks. I was forever chasing my tail the whole grow after that.

I'm having okay luck with a few tbsp of slow release salts atm, but it just doesn't feel the same. I enjoy a good mix and cook. I find it strangely therapeutic, and it feels like I leave a little bit of myself in the soil. More of an organic attachment to the plant.
 
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VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
I've got two 30L container mixed up. I'm of mind that they are a bit conservative on their application rates as I'll usually add half a cup each of Neem, kelp and Coconut per 30L potting mix which is already pre charged with base fertilizer.

I'll leave one tub with just the Dr greenthumbs and I'll put a few tablespoons of organic slow release (3-1-3-1) in the other tub and see which one turns out better. Might provide a more stable base as it's meant to feed for 8-10 weeks, and has humic/fulvic acids and yucca added as well.
 
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Hotrod2

Hotrod2

Well-Known Member
VincenzioVonHook said:
Looking at building my first super soil.
I picked up Dr greenthumbs organic go and grow plus bud and bloom dry fertilizers but unsure of what/if heavier amendments need to be used.

The base was mixed this morning
View attachment 5192245
20L garden soil (nice sandy loam)
10L Coco as soil breaker
10L vermicompost (real form farm, not dry castings)
5L UXP pumice
5L perlite
2.5L vermiculite
2.5L zeolite
2.5L fine grade 4-8mm hort. Charcoal


I'd forego the perlite and vermiculite, but I was running short of pumice.

The organic fertilizers both have differing ratios of:
Alfalfa
Neem
Coconut
Soy
Barley
Gypsum,
Volcanic/palagonite/glacial dust mix
Guano
Potash

The go/ grow is 4-2.5-3
The bud/ bloom is 0.5-2-3
Was going to add a cup of each as a start and then top dress every three or so weeks. They say 1/2 a cup of each per 30L in new soils.

Would/should I add anything heavier and more balanced to this mix or just top dress appropriately? I have some organic veggie feed here. Blood/bone meal and potash. Like 8-2-7-2.
Click to expand...

Microbes and fungi.
 
VincenzioVonHook

VincenzioVonHook

Well-Known Member
Hotrod2 said:
Microbes and fungi.
Click to expand...
I was going see how it goes over the first few days and if it didn't heat up and start fuzzing up I was considering some myco. Last mix (just basic potting mix with Neem and kelp) was full of heat, mycelium and strange fungi within a day or two of cook.
IMG20220222084817.jpg
If it does come to life over a couple of days, is it still worth grabbing a sachet of myco/benes? I've got a 25% voucher from Dr greenthumbs and they have a line of myco/beneficial microbes, and whatxare your recommendations for easy to source beneficial microbes?

I figured the live vermicompost and soil fresh from the ground would suffice microbe wise, but I'm a sucker for amendments and goodies so I'm opened to recommendations.
 
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Hotrod2

Hotrod2

Well-Known Member
Proper soil needs very little amendments. To specifically answer your question. I have for years only bought my microbes from soil balance try that as and Amendment.
 
Y

youraveragehorticulturist

Well-Known Member
I think that the ingredients look good and the mycelium looks good. I agree that the vermicompost and guano will have bacteria and fungus, but I would also add the mycos. As far as I know the mycorrhizael fungus needs to be near the roots to develop, so there may not be any in the worm compost.

I think that 1/2 cup of the nutrient mixtures per 30 liters is probably pretty good. The guanos and potash in there are way more concentrated (lots of nutes per volume) that the neem and kelp you mentioned using before.

Personally, I like to use lots of worm casting or compost teas or extracts for the first run or two when I mix up a batch of soil. I know not everyone is into it, but I try for once a week to keep the microbes kicking.
 
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