Organic super soil mix from scratch - for ROLS

There are many ways to do it but this is how I have been doing it for ~4 years, always a work in progress and open to advice. The idea is to get nutrients from many amendments so the plants and microbes have access to anything they need and all bases covered.

Base mix:
20 Liters (1 bucket) Premier peat - OMRI - Lowes
20 Liters rinsed coco coir OMRI
10 Liters+ leaf mold/compost/EWC
5 Liters granular diatomaceous earth - Napa #8822 Floor Dry
200ml pulverized dolomite lime - Lowes



This is the strength I use when adding fertility to a brand new base mix, for reamending a batch use half this amount.
400ml organic chicken manure from layer hens -Chicketty Doo Doo OMRI
200ml Organicare Pure Grow OMRI
200ml Azomite OMRI / elemite / glacial rock dust / basalt mineral mix
100ml north atlantic kelp meal OMRI Thorvin OMRI
100ml crab shell meal OMRI
100ml organic alfalfa meal
100ml high P indonesian guano
100ml neem cake OMRI CHN - neem cake OMRI BAS - neem cake KIS
100ml organic fish bone meal
100ml Zeolite Clinoptilolite
50ml greensand


I put all this in a contractor trash bag, make sure it is slightly damp (add microbial tea if you like to), hold the bag shut and roll it to mix it all up. Let cook for at least 3-4 weeks ideally. If it dries out add some more water and mix.

I pot up into 5 gallon bucket with this mix, add Mykos during transplant, veg for 3 weeks and flower for ~ 60 days. If I get early fade I will water in bubbled nutrient teas, fish hydrolysate and/or organic blackstrap molasses.

This soil can be reused indefinitely and can yield big dense frosty buds. The buds do not need to be cured so they can be smoked or processed while they are at peak potency and flavor.

There is no need for drain holes or runoff, as long as you can gauge the weight of the pot to avoid swamping it. I use Earth Juice Assist (Yucca), fresh aloe or aloe powder to try and help the soil take moisture evenly but it is not necessary.

Not exactly scientific but you can check the approximate fertility with a PPM meter. Add 25 ml of soil sample to 100 ml of ~100-150ppm water. Check the instant PPM but check it again after ~8 hours. The reading should rise by ~200PPM. I aim for ~ 800PPM for the 8 hour reading. Spent soil is about 500-550. This can help you if you forget which soil was used and which was reammended.

Tim Wilson (Microbeman) awesome microbial tea recipe scaled down for an indoor grow

1 liter non chlorinated water
25ml fresh EWC
5ml blackstrap molasses
2.5ml kelp meal
.66ml fish hydrolysate

Brew for 36 hours

MMs recipe adjusted to favor fungal growth:

compost/EWC - 24ml/L
BS molasses - 2.5ml/L or less
fish hydrolysate - 2ml/L
kelp 2.5ml/L max
rock phosphate powdered .66ml/L

**You may add a little soil or partially/completely decomposed forest litter (rotted leaves, wood pieces).

**Another trick to encourage fungal growth is to use good quality fish hydrolysate diluted in water (e.g. around 2 ounces per gallon of water [16ml/L]) and dampen compost and cover for around 5 days with a cloth.

Good info.

Wow Supra, this is really good stuff. Can the spent soil be reamended more than once or do you have any recommendations on the number of uses?

Bud that can be smoked without curing (also saving time) - really interesting point there. Almost all of the books and resources I've come across highly recommend curing. This alone makes me want to try it out just for that!

Yes the spent soil can be reamended indefinitely. Some of mine has been in use for more than 4 years and most of that was no-drain. It does seem that some of the soil "disappears" over time so I try to add a lot of leaf mold/forest humus/compost to make up for it.

The finishing method I aim for a nice fade, straight water in the last 2-3 weeks maybe some blackstrap. Splash of R/O water for the final watering. I wait until almost all the pistils have turned brown and I make sure they were in the dark for at least 12 hours before the chop. They are OK for a few days in the darkness of the trimming room.

I trim them wet, hang 10-12" long branches upside down and dry for ~10 days, maximum of 60% rh for the final few days but 55% seems ideal. Once the buds snap off the stem they get weighed and then go into clip top jars. After a few days in the jars I double check to make sure they are firm to the touch and then they are ready to smoke.

They are great for about 2-3 months in the jar as long as they stay below that 60% range. After that some of the trichs start to turn brown and they start to decline in terms of potency, flavor and bag appeal, although they still smoke great. I performed blind potency tests on my wife to confirm that she prefers them fresh LOL

SupraSPL said:

Splash of R/O water for the final watering.

Click to expand...

Does this mean that you normally water with tap?

Good stuff man. I always enjoy seeing different organic soil recipes.

Thnx man, I normally water with well water. 150 ppm 7.5 pH if I ram remembering correctly. It has a very slight sulphur smell which I figure is probably a good thing for the ladies.

Looks pretty good there.
I do think youd be better with equal parts. Ewc. Peat. Airation. And also 5 liters de??? Am i reading that correctly??

Yes using granular DE for aeration instead of perlite. You can add plenty more to the mix if you need more aeration, depends on the pot size and shape you will be using, how fast you want it to dry out. DE is one of the things I don't measure very well, I add it as necessary.

I agree more EWC/compost never hurts. Any particular reason why peat over coco?

SupraSPL said:

Yes using granular DE for aeration instead of perlite. You can add plenty more to the mix if you need more aeration, depends on the pot size and shape you will be using, how fast you want it to dry out. DE is one of the things I don't measure very well, I add it as necessary.

I agree more EWC/compost never hurts. Any particular reason why peat over coco?

Click to expand...

Yes. Peat for me its easier to work with and recycle. I seen bigger more robust plants compared to coir. Almost 30% better yields as well.

Ive never seen de in granular form. Soinds interesting. I only use it in my top dress custom mix. More for pest prevention than anything else. But yhe extra silica cant hurt.

I will have to look into that more, peat sure is easier to use than coco because I have to rinse the coco before the first use. I figured when in doubt use both, like the "Roots Organic" soil does. I am going to try and increase the use of leaf mold and decrease both peat and coir going forward. It is amazing what I find in the woods under the leaves in the damper valley sections, beautiful black soil and half decayed layer of leaves with lots of fungal life.

DE is interesting stuff, relatively light weight and crackles when water hits it. Works as a surfactant to some extent and has a huge CEC. The NAPA #8822 DE is calcined so it holds its structure well over time, but the MSDS says it contains less than 1% crystalline silica (mild inhalation hazard) so it seems like the best of both worlds.


I like pumice also but it is more expensive for me to source. Granular Zeolite clinoptilolite is also an interesting choice for aeration but expensive vs DE and pumice

SupraSPL said:

I will have to look into that more, peat sure is easier to use than coco because I have to rinse the coco before the first use. I figured when in doubt use both, like the "Roots Organic" soil does. I am going to try and increase the use of leaf mold and decrease both peat and coir going forward. It is amazing what I find in the woods under the leaves in the damper valley sections, beautiful black soil and half decayed layer of leaves with lots of fungal life.

DE is interesting stuff, relatively light weight and crackles when water hits it. Works as a surfactant to some extent and has a huge CEC. The NAPA #8822 DE is calcined so it holds its structure well over time, but the MSDS says it contains less than 1% crystalline silica (mild inhalation hazard) so it seems like the best of both worlds.
View attachment 3543444

I like pumice also but it is more expensive for me to source. Granular Zeolite clinoptilolite is also an interesting choice for aeration but expensive vs DE and pumice

Click to expand...

Wow. Thanks there friend! Ill have to look into this. Sourcing pumice snd perlite can be expensive. And leaf mold. Ahh. Have the largest pile hopefully breaking down nicley. Layered my collected leaf with alfalfa grass trimmings. Fingers crossed. Cant wait!

SupraSPL said:

Tim Wilson (Microbeman) awesome microbial tea recipe scaled down for an indoor grow

1 liter non chlorinated water
25ml fresh EWC
5ml blackstrap molasses
2.5ml kelp meal
.66ml fish hydrolysate

Brew for 36 hours

Click to expand...

I dont have the fish hydroslyte, but wanted to make that tea to wet my soil with so it can "cook." Would this tea be ideal? I have other stuff I can add to the tea as well..

green_machine_two9er said:

Wow. Thanks there friend! Ill have to look into this. Sourcing pumice snd perlite can be expensive. And leaf mold. Ahh. Have the largest pile hopefully breaking down nicley. Layered my collected leaf with alfalfa grass trimmings. Fingers crossed. Cant wait!

Click to expand...

Im going to rake all the leaves in my yard into a pile to make leaf mold. (I have teaming with microbes, but want a personal opinion.)

Its about to be quite cold where I live, I was thinking I could shred the leaves with my lawn mower (Its gas and ive heard not to use gas lawn mowers for this but idk, doesnt seem like it drips.). Whether the leaves are shredded or not, should I make an AACT and dilute it then spray my pile? Im going to make the tea tonight, for my leaf pile and to wet my soil so it can "cook."

Could add alfalfa, kelp, fish bone meal etc... Thanks guys!

Yes you can definitely make the tea with alternate ingredients and get great results. I am not sure if the tea will actually speed things up but shredding the leaves and adding greens will, as well as making sure it stays warm and moist.

I have a bunch of ameded soil batches, compost bins, worm bins and super concentrate cooking out there, damn cold weather but they are still cooking. I will bring the worm bins and soil batches into basement when it starts to get consistently below freezing.

The soil will cook with just plain water, so missing the fish is no big deal, your tea will be fine.

The leaf mold is a long term deal and takes about 3 years to finish. My last years leaves are just now starting to break down some and not look like freshly collected leaves. I use the lawnmower to chop them up as I can and will put this years in a different spot.

For leaves, it's almost all fungus rather than bacteria and the three years is no exaggeration. Worth it in the end, but patience is a must for leaf mold.

Wet

No drain holes?
So I can buy Lowes buckets and not have to worry about overflow anymore....nice