What if I dont cook the soil?

Banana444

Banana444

Well-Known Member
I have a batch of soil I mixed up a week ago, promix w/ mykos and seabased compost, ewc, alfalfa meal, espoma garden tone, lime, greensand, small amount of desert bat guano, blood and bone meal, and a half bale of peatbased soil mix I had leftover. I need to dip into this soil to fill two more 5 gallon buckets, will it drastically effect the plants I transplant into that soil. I can get any soil mix that is not frozen and I need to transplant these plants asap, they were started in 1 gal pots and have been vegging for a month. I have some mushroom compost i could add to the mix if it might be too hot. I could only give rough estimates on how much I mix of each into my soil but I will try. 16 gallon tote mixing in, 1 bag pro mix +leftover generic peat based mix aprox 2 cuft. , 8 cups ewc, 1/4c bone meal, 1/4c blood meal, 2tablespoons espoma lime, 1/4c desert bat guano, 1c garden tone, 1/2c 16% alfalfa meal dehydrated, 3/4c greensand. If I am wildly off on anything please correct me or if I am lacking. I will be recycling this soil and I also have a 16 gal tote full of soil from my harvest today full of roots and ready for the mix I just layed out.
 
kratos015

kratos015

Well-Known Member
If you don't cook the soil you will likely kill the plants you put in said soil.

The reason is because you need the micro biology in the soil to break down and decompose all of the amendments you just tossed in there. Blood meal, alfalfa meal, and guanos can be very hot if you use too much of them. Even worse, the dolomite lime you put in there is going to react with the nitrogen in the blood meal, alfalfa meal, and guano. The result of this is going to be ammonia, meaning your soil will be anaerobic which is bad considering the ammonia won't really be able to escape since the soil is in pots. In the Rev's book about organics it states the following "As far as levels go, even 1/2 tablespoon of blood meal in a gallon of soil mix will overdose most cannabis plants if not cooked first." You've added a lot more than this into your soil and since you didn't cook it, your plants will likely overdose from this if they don't get burned or die from the anaerobic conditions of the soil.

Brew an EWC tea as soon as you can, only add molasses into the mix. Hopefully the EWC tea will help decompose the soil you've put in there, but again the damage is likely already done. If it's possible, remove the plants from the soil and allow it to properly cook first. If you're in a hurry to get things moving, simply brew an EWC+molasses tea and it'll jump start all the microbiology. Especially if you use blood/alfalfa meals. I would highly recommend reading Rev's TLO (True Living Organics) book, there is a ridiculous wealth of information. I'm not trying to sound condescending when I save this, I'm just trying to save you the misery I went through because I did something similar. As I said, blood/alfalfa meal is not only hot but will react with the dolomite lime. I left the soil in trash cans, completely sealed for 6 weeks and I had the ammonia problem I was telling you about. Right now I have the soil airing out after I added an extra bag of roots and some coco to balance things out a bit. You need to read that TLO book asap though because what little I have read so far has been extremely helpful.

The thing you have to consider is that there are many variables in organics and a lot of bad information out there. This book will tell you everything you need to know about organics, as well as what the stuff you're putting in it. You will have a much better understanding of organics as a whole and will be able to apply said knowledge for the better. Best of luck man!
 
Nutes and Nugs

Nutes and Nugs

Well-Known Member
kratos015 said:
If you don't cook the soil you will likely kill the plants you put in said soil.

The reason is because you need the micro biology in the soil to break down and decompose all of the amendments you just tossed in there. Blood meal, alfalfa meal, and guanos can be very hot if you use too much of them. Even worse, the dolomite lime you put in there is going to react with the nitrogen in the blood meal, alfalfa meal, and guano. The result of this is going to be ammonia, meaning your soil will be anaerobic which is bad considering the ammonia won't really be able to escape since the soil is in pots. In the Rev's book about organics it states the following "As far as levels go, even 1/2 tablespoon of blood meal in a gallon of soil mix will overdose most cannabis plants if not cooked first." You've added a lot more than this into your soil and since you didn't cook it, your plants will likely overdose from this if they don't get burned or die from the anaerobic conditions of the soil.

Brew an EWC tea as soon as you can, only add molasses into the mix. Hopefully the EWC tea will help decompose the soil you've put in there, but again the damage is likely already done. If it's possible, remove the plants from the soil and allow it to properly cook first. If you're in a hurry to get things moving, simply brew an EWC+molasses tea and it'll jump start all the microbiology. Especially if you use blood/alfalfa meals. I would highly recommend reading Rev's TLO (True Living Organics) book, there is a ridiculous wealth of information. I'm not trying to sound condescending when I save this, I'm just trying to save you the misery I went through because I did something similar. As I said, blood/alfalfa meal is not only hot but will react with the dolomite lime. I left the soil in trash cans, completely sealed for 6 weeks and I had the ammonia problem I was telling you about. Right now I have the soil airing out after I added an extra bag of roots and some coco to balance things out a bit. You need to read that TLO book asap though because what little I have read so far has been extremely helpful.

The thing you have to consider is that there are many variables in organics and a lot of bad information out there. This book will tell you everything you need to know about organics, as well as what the stuff you're putting in it. You will have a much better understanding of organics as a whole and will be able to apply said knowledge for the better. Best of luck man!
Click to expand...
Very true.
I asked some time ago.
https://www.rollitup.org/organics/519101-skipping-cooking.html
but disregarded good advice and ended up killing half my plants.
Organic soil is best but you have to let it break down and do it's thing.

View attachment 3019576
 
Cascadian

Cascadian

Well-Known Member
On my last grow I only let my homemade supersoil with a similar recipe cook for 1.5 weeks, mixing frequently. I didn't see any burn or hint of the plants not liking it. Not sure what would have happened if I didn't let it cook for more than a week though... I hope you used a slightly lighter mix of supersoil to base soil ratio. I did and think that is why I "got away with it". It ended up working very well. This time I cooked it for 3+ weeks but made it a bit hotter... Good luck
 
Banana444

Banana444

Well-Known Member
I had soil that cooked a little over 3 weeks but I ran out of that. I had 2 smaller plants I was just going to toss, but I went ahead and put them in 5 gallon buckets of the soil I cook for only a week. I did hit them all with a ewc tea, like you recommended. Thanks for the recommendation on the book. I read teaming with microbes, amazing book, and always enjoy reading any gardening books. I have found even some of the info in simpler gardening books to be a little inaccurate. So far they are looking fine, and I will always make sure to have soil cooking so I dont run out again. Thanks all.
 
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