Stunned growth in coots Mix

High my friends.
I am on Bloom day 15 in my coots Mix and my plants are almost completey stunned.

I've made a mix consisting of
50% perlite/lava rock
25% Peat
25% Compost

Kelp meal, ½ cup per cubic foot of soil*
Neem meal, ½ cup per cubic foot of soil
Crab or Crustacean Meal, ½ cup per cubic foot of soil
Rock Dust, 2 cups per cubic foot of soil
Gypsum, 1 cup per cubic foot of soil
Oyster Shell flour, 1 cup per cubic foot of soil
A handful of worm castings and a few compost worms
Biochar, 2-4 cups per cubic foot of soil


Temp and Humidity are all right but nothing is happening anymore.
Any advice whats going wrong?
Are the lady's hungry or over fertilized.
I let the pots dry out a bit but not to much to kill the soil live

Hope somebody can help me

Big thanks and peace!

Looks like a lost cause. If it was me, I'd turf it. Re think and research. Start over as it's too late for this run.

This is NOT “coots” mix. How long did you let this soil mix cook? Why only handful of worm castings? Did you just buy a dozen at the bait shop and add to your mix?

Fallguy111 said:

This is NOT “coots” mix. How long did you let this soil mix cook? Why only handful of worm castings? Did you just buy a dozen at the bait shop and add to your mix?

Click to expand...

Yes. Ratios are all off

Cocktrauma said:

High my friends.
I am on Bloom day 15 in my coots Mix and my plants are almost completey stunned.

I've made a mix consisting of
50% perlite/lava rock
25% Peat
25% Compost

Kelp meal, ½ cup per cubic foot of soil*
Neem meal, ½ cup per cubic foot of soil
Crab or Crustacean Meal, ½ cup per cubic foot of soil
Rock Dust, 2 cups per cubic foot of soil
Gypsum, 1 cup per cubic foot of soil
Oyster Shell flour, 1 cup per cubic foot of soil
A handful of worm castings and a few compost worms
Biochar, 2-4 cups per cubic foot of soil


Temp and Humidity are all right but nothing is happening anymore.
Any advice whats going wrong?
Are the lady's hungry or over fertilized.
I let the pots dry out a bit but not to much to kill the soil live

Hope somebody can help me

Big thanks and peace!

Click to expand...

Just curious how you know how much dry back is fine before microbes suffer.

looks to me like it’s been suffering a long long time.

watering practice is key but also getting the recipe right it important. You’re way off on your base. And half the amount of minerals I would use. And no castings??

Ok Shit
Sounds awful
Could you explain me what I've done wrong?

I've had a different mix before but was told to add more aerioation...

I've let it cook for about 2 weeks before using

Cocktrauma said:

Ok Shit
Sounds awful
Could you explain me what I've done wrong?

I've had a different mix before but was told to add more aerioation...

I've let it cook for about 2 weeks before using

Click to expand...

1/3 peat 1/3 aeration. 1/3 castings.

2-3 cups npks. Neem. Kelp. Alfalfa crab
4 cups minerals, best to have multiple sources

1 cup oyster
1 cup gypsum

Are you making weekly teas for microbes, to keep your soil ”alive”? Did you cook your soil long enough (1 month+) ? Your ratios are also off, and you don’t have a lot of organic material in your mix either.

Cocktrauma said:

Ok Shit
Sounds awful
Could you explain me what I've done wrong?

I've had a different mix before but was told to add more aerioation...

I've let it cook for about 2 weeks before using

Click to expand...

The only problem I see is you made some type of “soil” and didn’t let it fully cook. Then when problems arose you attempted to blame ClackamasCoots mix.
Try the recipe above and let it cook a couple of months.

Where did you get your recipe? I also found fucked up coots recipes online, where they would bury the lead that their recipe was a "modification" with no discernable reason for altering it beyond their idea that it was as good.

Tolerance Break said:

Where did you get your recipe? I also found fucked up coots recipes online, where they would bury the lead that their recipe was a "modification" with no discernable reason for altering it beyond their idea that it was as good.

Click to expand...

I watched an interview with Coot recently where he said if he made a soil recipe today he’d only do 1/3 peat, aeration, worm castings. He was saying worm castings alone (I assume tea/top dress) is sufficient for great flower. I’m hoping to have a worm bin for veg and one for flower where I can feed the phosphorus rich material.

Looks like a classic long-term magnesium deficiency, and as much as cal mag is over prescribed, I'd attempt a rescue. Especially since it's not bugs, seeing results of trying to nurse plants back can bring useful knowledge for future grows. WTTGT would pitch them, but the ghost of Harddon might not. Peace.

edit: ~4 cups biochar per cubic foot had better be extremely well pre-inoculated, or that's where all your nutes headed.