My super soil mix any thoughts?

C

Chungo

Well-Known Member
I have finally got all the ingredients for my supper soil I plan on making next week. It was taken from the many formulas out there and compiled from the limited supplies I have accessible. Any thoughts on the portions I plan on using here, any obvious omitions, dosages? Thanks for the input........

120 pounds HP soil with Mycorrihzae
2.5 pounds blood meal
2.5 pounds bone meal
2.5 pounds Bat Guano/rock Phosphate
1/2 cup of Epson salt
1/2 D lime
1/4 Azomite
1/4 cup Humic Acid
25% Perolite
2 oz Mycorrihzae
 
Chungo said:
I believe it is the peat....
Click to expand...
Well, that's good and bad....good that it's not the black bag, because that already has a lot of nutrients in it...and adding more would make it too hot for plants.

The bad is that you need some actual compost or soil in your mix to provide the foundation...my soil mix is 50% compost and then 20% perlite, 10% HP, and then the rest.

Look here at a recent soil mix by @Van Stank ...it will give you a better idea of a complete super soil mix.
 
Blew Hiller said:
Well, that's good and bad....good that it's not the black bag, because that already has a lot of nutrients in it,,,and adding more would make it too hot for plants.

The bad is that you need some actual compost or soil in your mix to provide the foundation...my soil mix is 50% compost and then 20% perlite, 10% HP, and then the rest.

Look here at a recent soil mix by @Van Stank ...it will give you a better idea of a complete super soil mix.
Click to expand...
Thanks for your input.....
 
Hey Chung....thats a good start for a soil mix but I don't see any real sources of calcium in there. You will need to add quite a bit of calcium into your mix....its the unsung champion of growing great cannabis. Oyster Shell Flour is one source but it can drift your soil pH up if you use too much of it. I like to split my calcium up into slow release, medium release and fast release calcium. Long term, I grind up egg shells and mix them in. Takes a really long time to break down so the stuff I am add in before a run probably doesn't get used until the following grow. I like Gypsum for faster release and the fact it doesn't drift the pH up...its neutral. Then the Oyster Shell Flour is more of a medium release.

Think of it this way..you want to create a very diverse soil food web. The more diverse your amendments are, the more the soil web is going to grow and the more healthy your plants mini eco system will be.

I also don't really see anything to help you with your potential pest issues. You want chitin in your soil and the main sources you can find them in are your crustacean meal (Crab/shrimp meal) as well well insect frass and Neem meal. I would recommend you add both in.

I also stress higher minerals in your soil. Microbes LOVE minerals. Basalt and glacial rock dust are two great sources. The microbes will eat the minerals and convert them to the good stuff for the plants.

Good luck and let us know if you start a journal. You can't beat cannabis grown in good balanced organic soil.
 
Van Stank said:
Hey Chung....thats a good start for a soil mix but I don't see any real sources of calcium in there. You will need to add quite a bit of calcium into your mix....its the unsung champion of growing great cannabis. Oyster Shell Flour is one source but it can drift your soil pH up if you use too much of it. I like to split my calcium up into slow release, medium release and fast release calcium. Long term, I grind up egg shells and mix them in. Takes a really long time to break down so the stuff I am add in before a run probably doesn't get used until the following grow. I like Gypsum for faster release and the fact it doesn't drift the pH up...its neutral. Then the Oyster Shell Flour is more of a medium release.

Think of it this way..you want to create a very diverse soil food web. The more diverse your amendments are, the more the soil web is going to grow and the more healthy your plants mini eco system will be.

I also don't really see anything to help you with your potential pest issues. You want chitin in your soil and the main sources you can find them in are your crustacean meal (Crab/shrimp meal) as well well insect frass and Neem meal. I would recommend you add both in.

I also stress higher minerals in your soil. Microbes LOVE minerals. Basalt and glacial rock dust are two great sources. The microbes will eat the minerals and convert them to the good stuff for the plants.

Good luck and let us know if you start a journal. You can't beat cannabis grown in good balanced organic soil.
Click to expand...
Ok sounds good so I will see what I can get for the Gypsum. Do you have any idea as to how much I would add if I used Crushed Gyp rock board?....Thanks........
 
Well....not sure how many gallons of soil your mixing....but I mix my batches in 50-60 gallon runs. When I do that....I add in 2 cups of gypsum, and 2 cups of oyster shell flower. I suppose you can use 4 cups as a starting point relative to your scale to gallons. Main thing with Calcium is keeping mindful of the direct relationship it has with Magnesium. Plants need the ratios to fall in a fairly broad range (Low end is 3:1 cal to mag....optimum imho is 7:1-10:1 for what I do and I think the upper range is around 14:1) but if you fall too low on calcium and you are going to have issues and if You go above that 14:1 ratio (again sorry if thats off...I am medicated and don't feel like finding my soil notebook lol) you run the risk of locking out the Magnesium.

Keep your egg shells, clean off the membranes and crush them up. Great long term calcium source. If you can grind them up fine...they break down much faster. You can make readily available sources of calcium by doing that and adding rice wine vinegar and letting it set and break things down a bit. Do a little research on it if you decide to do it. Lets you ditch the cal mag bottles they want to charge you 20 bucks for.

Lots of options to make the organic stuff grow some killer plants and meds.
 
OK I am off to town this am to see if I can run down oyster shell flower, I have the gyprock scraps so I can crush that up egg shells going to be tuff......Thanks for the insight ......
 
Yes always EWC when mixing up soil. Good call...not sure how I forgot that one!
 
Van Stank said:
Well....not sure how many gallons of soil your mixing....but I mix my batches in 50-60 gallon runs. When I do that....I add in 2 cups of gypsum, and 2 cups of oyster shell flower. I suppose you can use 4 cups as a starting point relative to your scale to gallons. Main thing with Calcium is keeping mindful of the direct relationship it has with Magnesium. Plants need the ratios to fall in a fairly broad range (Low end is 3:1 cal to mag....optimum imho is 7:1-10:1 for what I do and I think the upper range is around 14:1) but if you fall too low on calcium and you are going to have issues and if You go above that 14:1 ratio (again sorry if thats off...I am medicated and don't feel like finding my soil notebook lol) you run the risk of locking out the Magnesium.

Keep your egg shells, clean off the membranes and crush them up. Great long term calcium source. If you can grind them up fine...they break down much faster. You can make readily available sources of calcium by doing that and adding rice wine vinegar and letting it set and break things down a bit. Do a little research on it if you decide to do it. Lets you ditch the cal mag bottles they want to charge you 20 bucks for.

Lots of options to make the organic stuff grow some killer plants and meds.
Click to expand...
Well I couldn't find any oyster shell. But maybe oyster shell feed for chicken may work with some grinding so I will go to the feed shop today and check that out..A quick question on 3:1 mix of Ca to Mg. If I use gyp and Oyster shell at 3 and then would it be Epson salt for the Mg @ 1 part? ...hoping this is the last ingredient for my first batch of S Soil.......
 
Chungo said:
Ok sounds good so I will see what I can get for the Gypsum. Do you have any idea as to how much I would add if I used Crushed Gyp rock board?....Thanks........
Click to expand...

You should NOT use crushed up drywall. It's gonna be bad for your and your plants health.

Gypsum that Stank is talking about is food grade CaSO4. Usually can be found at your local garden center or you can order it online here:

Amazon.com: Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate - Gypsum - CaSO42H2O - 5 Pounds

1666045951295.png


Its not the same thing as whats in drywall even tho they call it Gypsum.

On the Ca:Mg ratio. Everyone is different on this one but it's best to have a lot more Ca than Mg. The reason is plants use very little Mg. Anytime you see anyone saying there's an Mg deficiency, it's WAY more likely that its a toxicity (too much Mg). Plants use a lot of Ca and very little Mg. Say you start out 2:1 ratio. By the middle of you grow you will running low on Ca and you cant just add soluble Ca it in to your soil easily. There are very few forms of Ca that are soluble = that can be readily absorbed by plants roots.

Your Oyster Shell for chickens is too coarse.

What has to happen with Ca is it needs to be broken down by the soil microbes. So coarse ground is WAY LONG term. You may get away with it with a 2:1 ratio of gypsum (the stuff I linked) and your Oyster shell feed. Reason they feed that stuff to chickens is to keep the egg shells hard. But the chickens have to digest the oyster shell feed to make it available.

There's a way to make home made Ca soluble with egg shells but it take a few weeks. In soil it takes a lot longer. Why Stank uses it as long term release.

Here's the link:

Emmie's DIY CalMagPhos+ From Eggshells

For your mix as Blew mentioned you need some sort of compost/humus added to it. The humus should be roughly 1/3 of you total mix.

I noticed you are using "pounds" as a measurement. I like to use volume say in cubic feet. It's easier to measure by a bucket full or cup full than having to weigh everything. Just little helpful tip. Pounds are fine just takes more work.



Here's the recipe I use. There are many. It's best to use what you can source locally and you will be surprised about local sources.

Kelp is HUGE. The reason is it has EVERY micro and macro nutrient in spades any plant needs to grow and grow well. EWC is a close 2nd and combine them together and you have a winning combo.

I'm posting this as an example you don't have to follow it but it's what I use and many others that grow in soil will have a similar variation.

Acadian Kelp Meal @ 1/2 Cup per cubic foot
Neem Cake and Karanja Cake 50/50 Mix @ 1/2 to 1 cup per cubic foot
Crustacean Meal @ 1/2 Cup per cubic foot
Malted Barley @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot (ground fine in a coffee grinder)

Gypsum Dust @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Brix Blend Basalt @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Glacial Rock Dust @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Oyster Flour @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot

Mix with:

Quart of EWC (can be as much as 25% of the humus portion)
EWC = earth worm casting
1/3 humus = Compost/EWC/Vermicompost
1/3 aeration = Rice hulls or Perl-lite
1/3 CSPM = Canadian Spagnum Peat Moss
 
bobrown14 said:
You should NOT use crushed up drywall. It's gonna be bad for your and your plants health.

Gypsum that Stank is talking about is food grade CaSO4. Usually can be found at your local garden center or you can order it online here:

Calcium Sulfate Dihydrate - Gypsum - CaSO42H2O - 5 Pounds
1666045910974.png

Its not the same thing as whats in drywall even tho they call it Gypsum.

On the Ca:Mg ratio. Everyone is different on this one but it's best to have a lot more Ca than Mg. The reason is plants use very little Mg. Anytime you see anyone saying there's an Mg deficiency, it's WAY more likely that its a toxicity (too much Mg). Plants use a lot of Ca and very little Mg. Say you start out 2:1 ratio. By the middle of you grow you will running low on Ca and you cant just add soluble Ca it in to your soil easily. There are very few forms of Ca that are soluble = that can be readily absorbed by plants roots.

Your Oyster Shell for chickens is too coarse.

What has to happen with Ca is it needs to be broken down by the soil microbes. So coarse ground is WAY LONG term. You may get away with it with a 2:1 ratio of gypsum (the stuff I linked) and your Oyster shell feed. Reason they feed that stuff to chickens is to keep the egg shells hard. But the chickens have to digest the oyster shell feed to make it available.

There's a way to make home made Ca soluble with egg shells but it take a few weeks. In soil it takes a lot longer. Why Stank uses it as long term release.



Here's the link:

Emmie's DIY CalMagPhos+ From Eggshells


For your mix as Blew mentioned you need some sort of compost/humus added to it. The humus should be roughly 1/3 of you total mix.

I noticed you are using "pounds" as a measurement. I like to use volume say in cubic feet. It's easier to measure by a bucket full or cup full than having to weigh everything. Just little helpful tip. Pounds are fine just takes more work.



Here's the recipe I use. There are many. It's best to use what you can source locally and you will be surprised about local sources.

Kelp is HUGE. The reason is it has EVERY micro and macro nutrient in spades any plant needs to grow and grow well. EWC is a close 2nd and combine them together and you have a winning combo.

I'm posting this as an example you don't have to follow it but it's what I use and many others that grow in soil will have a similar variation.

Acadian Kelp Meal @ 1/2 Cup per cubic foot
Neem Cake and Karanja Cake 50/50 Mix @ 1/2 to 1 cup per cubic foot
Crustacean Meal @ 1/2 Cup per cubic foot
Malted Barley @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot (ground fine in a coffee grinder)

Gypsum Dust @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Brix Blend Basalt @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Glacial Rock Dust @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot
Oyster Flour @ 1 Cup Per Cubic Foot

Mix with:

Quart of EWC (can be as much as 25% of the humus portion)
EWC = earth worm casting
1/3 humus = Compost/EWC/Vermicompost
1/3 aeration = Rice hulls or Perl-lite
1/3 CSPM = Canadian Spagnum Peat Moss
Click to expand...
Thanks a lot.
I bought the oyster shell yesterday and ground it up through a coffee grinder and it is pretty fine and made about 2-3 cups of powder. Will this help with the decomposition or is it still not fine enough?
I mixed up some soil for the base soil 40 liters Promix (peat base) with myc, 40 liters bagged top soil, 10 liters compost, 7 liters Earth worm castings and Peralite. I was going to us this as the base and then add the various ingredients such as Kelp, Oyster powder, Phosphate, Bld meal,bone meal,Humic acid,Azonmite,lime, EPSIN salt, more Worm castings, Mycorrlizae to make the Super soil. I am trying to source local but most of the Artsy ingredients I had to order in and the shipping costs kills me..........I couldn't find any oyster powder and would of ordered it also but I already had my order in. Thanks for your input any thoughts?
 
My best advice for you is mix a small batch (4 gallons will due plenty... 2 would work) and keep track of all measurements. Send a sample of your mix to the soil lab at your local agricultural department (make sure to get the soilless test... the soil one is for outdoor soil). Check your nitrogen, phosphorous and potassium values on the report and try to get them into the optimal zone. This is how the farmers do it with massive outdoor fields.
 

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