Store Bought "Super-Soil"

I'm nearing the final days of my first crop.

I decided to grow in coco and one thing is for sure... I never want to have to mix nutrients ever again lol

So SubCool's super soil has interested me. I'd love to have a soil I can grow from start to finish only adding water.

My question is this:
Are there any premixed soils that can be purchased that would be anywhere close to what the subcool recipe provides?
Is there a soil that can be used as is(maybe with a little perlite mixed in) to grow a crop from seed to harvest?

The main issue with the subcool recipe is the need to "cook" the soil... I'm not sure how I can achieve that indoors during the winter. I'll be growing indoors and I'd like to be able to prepare all my soil indoors. If I can get away without needing to mix 15 different ingredients that would be a bonus

Its harder to hit a soil mix just right that it is to learn how to feed them.

People leach supersoil all the time ( almost everybody that uses it has to add nutes).....so whats the point?

If you're gonna wind up on nutes anyway?

Those are the guys chasing deficiencies because ONE thing in the mix was off.

Think about it....if plants nutrient needs differ by strain.....wouldn't you need to tune the supersoil to YOUR strain...for it to actually max out the potential of the strain.

"water only" sounds cool....I just dont think THAT many people are doing it that way.

I use $5 a bag soil from HD...FWIW.

Cut 40% with perlite.

Patio Blend.

sub's soil is pretty damn strong........you won't find an equivalent

scroglodyte said:

sub's soil is pretty damn strong........you won't find an equivalent

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TRUE DAT!

Its just using it in the correct proportion.. in the right size pot....with the right strain....using ONLY water....gets hard.


I think for bigger plants its cooler to use...bigger pots I should say. There is a reason he uses 7 gal pots.

I know....lol...

Smaller pots dont do good. Bigger, I dunno.

Smaller pots...

1) allow roots to get to "hot" soil too quickly.
2) Dont gold enough SS to do the "water only" job till the end.


Not that its"no good" or anything. I know what forum I am on....lol...I'm not dissing sub.

Just real talk from my experiences.

To answer the OP's question....I dont think you will find anything out there comparable.

Thedillestpickle said:

I'm nearing the final days of my first crop.

I decided to grow in coco and one thing is for sure... I never want to have to mix nutrients ever again lol

So SubCool's super soil has interested me. I'd love to have a soil I can grow from start to finish only adding water.

My question is this:
Are there any premixed soils that can be purchased that would be anywhere close to what the subcool recipe provides?
Is there a soil that can be used as is(maybe with a little perlite mixed in) to grow a crop from seed to harvest?

The main issue with the subcool recipe is the need to "cook" the soil... I'm not sure how I can achieve that indoors during the winter. I'll be growing indoors and I'd like to be able to prepare all my soil indoors. If I can get away without needing to mix 15 different ingredients that would be a bonus

Click to expand...

From my understanding the term "cook" simply means you need to give the supersoil the time it needs for the microbs, and micro-organisms to bloom that way they can properly produce the nutrients within soil that your plants need. you can cook the soil during the winter.. its cold here been raining and snow and mines sitting outside on patio cooking just fine. or you can store it in your garage in garbage can to cook just same. mines in garbage can on patio

Or you can just get one of those small composters and find a small patio or outdoors spot to put it...since really that is what the supersoil is...compost...and you could probably fertilize the whole time using only different guanos and get by just fine...and you can get those really cheap and just sprinkle some on the top of the soil and water it in...amending regular soil is what you are going for...so you can try to mix up your own using blood meal, bone meal, assorted guanos, a good base soil, some manure, so on and so forth...but i find it easier to just add things when the plant needs them. If not I tend to mess it up somewhere...

missnu said:

Or you can just get one of those small composters and find a small patio or outdoors spot to put it...since really that is what the supersoil is...compost...and you could probably fertilize the whole time using only different guanos and get by just fine...and you can get those really cheap and just sprinkle some on the top of the soil and water it in...amending regular soil is what you are going for...so you can try to mix up your own using blood meal, bone meal, assorted guanos, a good base soil, some manure, so on and so forth...but i find it easier to just add things when the plant needs them. If not I tend to mess it up somewhere...

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Def. agree with that. its all about ammending the soil for the plants needs.. Feel free experiment just watch your numbers dont add to much one thing. same thing for gardening outdoors when the soils to sandy or to much clay you have to ammend it with compost and such so the plants can grow and get what they need. another route you can go is compost teas which is adding the organisms you need to the soil help produce food your plant needs.

if anyones more interested in organics, compost, compost teas, worm composting go to compostjunkies.com they have a great site and if you sign up your email for newsletter you get five free ebooks. composting 101, compost tea and vegetable gardening, lawn care and compost, compost as mulch, and compost and the soil food web..

All great info if your more interested.

snowboarder396 said:

From my understanding the term "cook" simply means you need to give the supersoil the time it needs for the microbs, and micro-organisms to bloom that way they can properly produce the nutrients within soil that your plants need. you can cook the soil during the winter.. its cold here been raining and snow and mines sitting outside on patio cooking just fine. or you can store it in your garage in garbage can to cook just same. mines in garbage can on patio

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Thats not right. It has to be warmer for microbes to multiply. They go dormant in weather that cold.

Super soil will not 'cook' outside in the cold.


Have you taken the temperature of your SS?

you can store it inside, its only snowed once or twice here. and temps during day are over 60 so i believe its warm enough.

Ok..I thought you were saying store it outside on the porch.

it really pissed me off to see bagged supersoil this next to sunshine mix at the indoor grow shop. what if its a bad batch?

snowboarder396 said:

you can store it inside, its only snowed once or twice here. and temps during day are over 60 so i believe its warm enough.

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I think there is a reason they use the word "cook". The soil needs to be heated up to activate the microbes. You want to bath the soil in direct sunlight under a black tarp to really get it heated up. And I think 2 months is what is recommended. You can cook soil at a lower temperature but it takes alot longer.


@Buddy Hempville

"Think about it....if plants nutrient needs differ by strain.....wouldn't you need to tune the supersoil to YOUR strain...for it to actually max out the potential of the strain."

-That makes sense that you would need to tune the nutrients if you were growing hydroponically but I was under the impression that with soil the plants have some ability to regulate what nutrients they take in via enzyme excretions that interact with the microbes. I don't know how it works but I think with true soil(not soil fed with salt based fertilizer), the plants are able to take in only the nutrients they need and so it is often said that it is alot harder to burn plants grown in soil. So yes every strain will need slightly different nutrients but if all of the nutrients are there in ample supply the plants should be able to pull in more of whatever they need. The important thing would be only that those nutrients are there in adequate amounts and not in salt form.

I don't understand why cannabis is such a finicky plant... I thought it was supposed to be a "weed" ?

So it sounds like I'm not going to find a super-soil replica on the market then? Seemed like a long-shot anyways but worth asking.

I'll make some up and hopefully 70F F for 3 months will be enough to "cook" it.

So from the experiences people have had will super-soil bring me from seed to harvest without ever having to add anything but water? That would be what I'm looking for.... I would expect a soil should be capable of doing that otherwise cannabis would have gone extinct a long long time ago.

Bonkleesha said:

it really pissed me off to see bagged supersoil this next to sunshine mix at the indoor grow shop. what if its a bad batch?

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Huh? why did that piss you off?

So you found "super-soil" in a store?

I would have been stoked to find that(that's why I made this thread)!

And what do you mean "bad batch"?

The thing is I'm sure Subcool doesnt have a copyright on the word "super-soil", so it could have been just any other cheap poorly ammended soil like anything else you would find at a garden store. Was it way more expensive than the other soils(cause I'm sure premade "subcool-super-soil" would be pricey)

subcool rec. for it cook for at least 30 days minimum. thats enough time to bring the soil and microbes to life. letting it set longer isnt bad only would help i imagine. the more microbes and the more alive the soil is the better. the plants take what they need and the rest stays in the soil..

And some strains may be different need differently thats why i mentioned feeding/watering with compost teas which would add more life/microbes and the nutrients your plants need

Letting it "cook" just means letting it sit. If your temps outside go below 45 frequently, then store it inside. I use a recipe similar to subcools and I don't have to add nutes, ever.

Bascially subcool's recipe is: Base soil, Worm Casting, Animal shit (preferably seabird/bat guanos if you're doing it indoor, if you wanna try outdoor, add some manures, i.e. chicken, horse, steer, llama, etc), fish bone and blood meal, trace elements (azomite, dolomite, humic acid, gypsum, Epsom salts). That's a very, very good and well thought out blend, and it is all you need throughout harvest.

Thedillestpickle said:

Huh? why did that piss you off?

So you found "super-soil" in a store?

I would have been stoked to find that(that's why I made this thread)!

And what do you mean "bad batch"?

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its this stuff theyre selling : http://www.betterurbandirt.com/

im saying sunshine should be sterile, but what if they got bad compost or something... i just think they should separate...

Bonkleesha said:

its this stuff theyre selling : http://www.betterurbandirt.com/

im saying sunshine should be sterile, but what if they got bad compost or something... i just think they should separate...

Click to expand...

Oh I get you. You don't want bugs in your sunshine

As long as their are no punctures in the bags of sunshine than there should be nothing to worry about.

Well I'm gunna just go with the Subcool recipe, see how it goes and modify it as needed for the strain I'm growing.

I'll just let it "cook" at 70F as that's the hottest I can keep my basement where I would be keeping the soil. Hopefully it's not too smelly. I'll let it cook for 3 months though so the lower temperature may not be too bad since it will sit for some time before it gets used.

I'll also be mixing in General Hydroponics Subcultures M and B to add in extra microbes and I'll probably go out and find some earthworms to add in when I put my plants in the soil.

Buying premixed subcool's recipe or something similar seems unlikely but someone should get on that! there may be a market for that.

Just add water(and mollasses), that's the plan, Hopefully it turns out well