My own Supersoil recipe

I made this yesterday and thought my revisions to Subcool's Supersoil were worth sharing. I made a 30 gallon recipe to fill 6 five gallon buckets for my next grow. They will be autos, so I didn't need the biggest containers, as they should only grow 3 or 4 feet, otherwise I would have made twice a much. My biggest amendments are the alpaca beans which come from a local alpaca farm, (you can buy these online for like 3 bucks a pound) and the stump mulch I get from rotting stumps out in the woods. These stumps are the best source for beneficial fungus, microbes and work well for drainage as well as nutrient retention. I also use sand from the river down the road. Riversand works better than regular sand because the mud has been washed away. All the fish and crawfish that inhabit that river only add to the natural fertilizer within the sand. And finally, the crawfish. I smash up about 15-20 crawfish and mix it with coconut coir and riversand and let it compost outside for about a week. It stops smelling like fish after a few days and by the end of the week it smells like sweet soil. This is high in nitrogen and phosphorus and can be used to increase vegetative growth in any soil medium. Lobster and crab shells work well to, however they are much harder and take 10 times longer to compost, not to mention the high salt content. These ingredients can't be found at a gardening store and will require some hard work to acquire, but in the end it will be worth the effort. While this recipe is natural organic, the harvested materials are not certified as organic .

2.5 bags ROOTS Organics- this gives you a great base soil to start with.

1.5lbs fish bone meal, (3-15-0) This is one of the best organic sources of phosphorus to your plants.

1.5lbs blood meal, (12-0-0) Usually from pig's blood, blood meal gives your plants a lot of nitrogen.

20 lbs earthworm castings - Soil builder. It's OK to put a couple earthworms in your pots too, but don't add them until after the first month as they can be poorly affected by the nutrients and die.

1lb sea bird guano, (13-12-2) This has not only great nitrogen and phosphorus content, but many unique silica for root development as birds need to ingest sand to digest food properly.

2lbs bat guano, (3-10-1) Bat guano is less burning than bird guano, however contains many micro-nutrients coming from the bat's diet.

2lbs alpaca beans, (1.25-0.5-1.1) A safe, non burning manure that provides your plants with nutrients throughout the entire life of the plant. It has stronger fertilizer qualities than most livestock manure. Alpacas' bodies require less nutrients than any other livestock resulting in a strong, clean fertilizer. They also have stronger microbes than other livestock.

15 freshwater crawfish, (4.5-3.5-0.1) Freshwater crawfish are softer and contain less salt than lobster or crabs. They provide a good fertilizer ratio. They are bottom feeders and the scum they feed on is rich in micro-nutrients and beneficial microbes.

2 gallons river sand - Sand provides drainage and the river animal sediment provides nutrients and trace minerals. Silica helps base roots to grow stronger.

3 gallon bucket coconut coir - Allows drainage while still able to hold nutrients. Important amendment in the making of the crawfish slurry.

0.5lbs rock phosphate - (0-2-0) Organic source of phosphorus

1lb stump mulch - full of beneficial microbes and acts as a soil builder.

2 tsp humic acid - deposits of plant and animal material that has been decomposing for over a thousand years. Builds a large, strong root zone.

3 tbsp azomite - unique silica that forms monster roots

4 tbsp Epsom salt - Magnesium Sulfate. Critical in the production of chlorophyll.

1/8cup dolomite lime - regulates the PH balance. Provides calcium and magnesium. Garden lime will work as well but doesn't contain as much magnesium.

microbes - build the root zone and form small hairs on the roots for greater nutrient absorption. Try to use many different sources of microbes. They serve many functions such as breaking down soil, producing macro-nutrients and micro-nutrients, and defeating anaerobic bacteria and invasive fungus that could otherwise kill your rootzone.

Remember to cook your soil in bins or bags outside for a couple weeks to let the ingredients compost. You don't want the soil to go anaerobic and develop bad bacteria, so make sure you have holes to release any gasses. Also, try to mix it around every 3-4 days to mix up the soil and get clean, dry air to it. You will know when it is done when the fishy smell goes away and it smells like sweet soil. You'll have an organic soil that will provide you with optimal taste and quality from your finished product.

Do you have any experience with this soil? Show us some pictures of what you have grown using this soil?

i am not convinced that the crawfish are being properly composted in this short period of time. any info to support that recommendation?

kane

All that work for auto flowers? Wow.

What would make this really interesting if you had a control group. It doesn't have to be fancy, just grow one plant in pure Roots Organic soil and the other in your mix. See which one does better. You might be surprised.

That soil doesn't sound safe for seedlings or veg plants even,flower maybe but even then i'd be worried.

I used this recipe this year on my Tangerine Dream x Super Lemon Haze. This next grow will be my first time growing autos in ANY soil. As for the crawfish composting, I was surprised too at how fast they rotted away. I ground them up in a coffee can using a screwdriver (brutal, I know) and mixed it up with sand and EWC (not coco as i used this time) and let it sit in the sun for a week, stirring the slurry everyday. Remember that is still cooks in the soil mix as well.
This soil mix isn't the best for seedlings, but it works GREAT for veg and flower. I usually start them in 4 inch square pots until the bottom leaves just start to yellow. Then when they're nice and hungry I switch em to 30gal pots with my supersoil and just water them everyday. I try to make the best of the resources around me. I think the more stuff you use from nature, the higher quality your end product will be.
I DID do a comparison between my soil and ROOTS. These two below were seedlings from the same plants and transplanted into 30gal pots on the same day. The one using MY soil has a much bigger trunk and was much quicker to recover from FIMing topping and supercropping, allowing me to get 5 times more bud sites and much more vigorous growth. It will also produce a lot more bud. Now, you need to consider I started these outside at the end of June and vegged em until I saw pistils and brought em inside, so inconsistencies in lighting and environment have played a role in their growth as well. Of course, there are so many different phenotypes that I have no option but to wait and see what it produces in future grows. I have a friend that grows using traditional Subcool's supersoil and he is willing to try a couple of his plants in my recipe to give me more conclusive results.

The first pic is the comparison between My soil on the left and the Roots 707 on the right. The other pics are of the other TDxSLH I grew this summer. My camera sucks so I do apologize about the blurriness. I really wish I could show of the trichs. Pic 5 is the Supersoil one closeup.

I think its great how you are experimenting and using local inputs to make your meds danker and danker. Feeding microbes is feeding microbes; they and cannabis are not too picky IME.

Roots 707 has much less nute strength compared to the roots original. If you are doing water only I'd say the original would be a better side by side comparison.

Cool thread.

Thanks Kalyx. I didn't know that about the 707 formula. Why would it cost more? I always find myself being disappointed with the advice I get from the guys at HTGsupply. You all should have seen the work I put into my first ever soil mix last year. I consisted of riversand, Crawfish, alpaca manure, stump mulch, coco and perlite. Try harvesting 20 gallons of wet riversand and hiking THAT a quarter mile through the woods. It worked very well, but the plants were often deficient. The water here is salinated and it screwed up my roots. This year, I get water from the river, use the supersoil additives and things are much better.

keep us updated, I might use the rotting stump in my next batch, what kind of tree is better suited, I guess you would want to avoid cedar , or once rotten it doesnt matter what kind of tree it was?

Endur0xX said:

keep us updated, I might use the rotting stump in my next batch, what kind of tree is better suited, I guess you would want to avoid cedar , or once rotten it doesnt matter what kind of tree it was?

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If you're going to use stump mulch, it's always a good idea to get it from multiple sources. If you can stick your hand right in it and easily break it apart, it has the microbes you're looking for. As for the type of tree, I try to avoid evergreens because of the high acidity. Birch works really well because it composts quickly and the natural bug repellents in the bark may further help your soil.

Real nice man those other guys are haters that sounds like a beautiful mix and the fact that you types all of that proves your wit, I didnt need pics just from hearing I knew your plants would be beautiful. I got my own mix of soil with no nutes I use X Nutrients.. My mix is a scotts topsoil, perlite, vermiculite, sphagnum peat moss, and mychorrhizal inoculants right now I got root pots but for my next grow Im gonna go with Air pots with those things there is no need to go hydro they yield as much as hydro

Just saved this to bookmarks cuz I know I'm gunna need this next year. That recipe sounds like cannabis heaven. My baby's can just sit back with their toes in the sand.

Unfortunately, I had a problem with this last batch today. One of my three bags (10 gallons of soil) had white spots of mold or fungus all through it, mostly on the manure and larger pieces of wood. I blame it on the nonstop rain that we've had for the last 4 days and it does appear the bag had a couple holes for the rain to get in. Does anyone know how to remedy this? I spread the other two bags out on a tarp in the garage to dry out, but do you think the infected bag is still usable? Could it be that the fungus in question is beneficial and will just break down the soil or do you suppose it could carry disease? It almost looked like spots of penicillin starting on an orange.

I wouldnt trust it but it could be beneficial, but I would use the soil with the mold and soil close to it

when you say bags do you mean while your SS is cooking?? if there is no plants growing in the soil right now and it is cooking, it's not mold it's something else, beneficial yes, BUMP for someone else to pop in and clarify this. but pictures would help

I let my soil cook in large 6 foot, clear bags I get from the bottle redemption center. They cost 13 cents a piece and they hold up for the task. I poke holes in it with a paper clip for ventilation. I didn't take any pictures because I panicked and tried to remedy the situation. Since, my veg room exhaust goes into my flower room to control smell and I didn't want mold spores traveling too far. In doing some research, I found that it is most likely a beneficial fungus from the stump mulch. I guess this is common, and it is only really affecting the manure pellets. I have since isolated the infected bag and won't use it until it has a chance to compost for another few weeks. I did transplant the affected plants to one of the healthier batches and they are doing much better.