Worth buying BuildASoils soil?

foreverflyhi said:

Build a soil is a great company for many reasons. Ease and simplicity. However it comes at a cost, not just mark up on the product itself, but shipping.

My advice is, buy/make your own compost/ewc, buy your own peat bale / coco locally, and your choice of aeration. 1 part 1 part 1 part.

Buy pre packaged amendments from BAS according to amount of base soil you out together.

Or you can buy the amendments by the 50# at concentrates OR and save a third of what you would pay at BAS.

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I've been meaning to check out Concentrates as it's just a few miles away. Naomi's Organic Farm Supply is where I went when I purchased 40 -50 lb bags of a bunch of amendments. Plus they have goats and chickens running around. I really like the place. Either way, I'm glad I don't have to order online.

TBH you can buy the best soil, bottle food and lights, but it's all for show

chicken shit,
seaweed meal,
fish blood and bone
garden lime
bone meal
magnesium

sand or perlight 10% mixed in good quality soil

you want to use large pots and flower within 2 weeks of potting up

I spend less than £100 a year on plant food and do 5-6 crops a year

EasyGrowerUk said:

TBH you can buy the best soil, bottle food and lights, but it's all for show

chicken shit,
seaweed meal,
fish blood and bone
garden lime
bone meal
magnesium

sand or perlight 10% mixed in good quality soil

you want to use large pots and flower within 2 weeks of potting up

I spend less than £100 a year on plant food and do 5-6 crops a year

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Initially my plan was to use big pots (20 gallon +) but then I got to talking to someone who honestly seems very knowledgeable and said that if I don’t plan to veg long enough for the roots to fill the whole pot, I should use a smaller pot. Was recommended to use like 7 gallon pots.

They made it clear (which I already knew) that there are benefits to using big pots though. What are your thoughts on that.

Just grabbed some of the Gnarly Barley from BAS. Having a hell of a time sourcing Malted Barley locally, without going to the city. I like that I can order it already milled, last Barley I got I had to put into my food processor and sit there for 10 minutes while it tried to chop it up

You can get $5 off at BAS through this link.

Damn, already ordered I appreciate it though!! I knew I had seen someone talking about $5 off, but couldn't remember who. Luckily their black Friday sale started today. 10% off everything, and the barley was free shipping. $36 for 6lbs already milled was worth it to me. Im a 4 hour round trip from my closest brewery supply, and aint no way I'm driving to the city during the holidays

I just can’t get over how much it costs to ship a single bag of compost/EWC. 24$ bag goes to 90$+ after shipping. I wanted to try the Oly mountain compost quite bad. Like I understand, but damn.
Defintiely have to take advantage of the sale though.

GrassBurner said:

Damn, already ordered I appreciate it though!! I knew I had seen someone talking about $5 off, but couldn't remember who. Luckily their black Friday sale started today. 10% off everything, and the barley was free shipping. $36 for 6lbs already milled was worth it to me. Im a 4 hour round trip from my closest brewery supply, and aint no way I'm driving to the city during the holidays

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Ya that was me who mentioned it. I guess I should've just added the link. It was on page 1 or something of this thread. 10% off works too. Nice to know.

They'd probably both work together actually.

GrassBurner said:

I mixed up a batch of coots mix soil.. Coots Mix Recipe. Simple to do. Lava rock for aeration, bale of peat moss from lowes/home depot, ewc's from a local worm farm, compost from a local landscape supply. Most ammendments ordered from Amazon, Down to Earth brand. I did order a few things from BAS. Agsil 16H, Aloe flakes, Big 6 Micronutrients, and Fulvic Acid. I mixed up about 10 cu ft, but ended up adding an extra cu ft of perlite to my mix. Mixed it all together and planted a cover crop on it to get the soil life going. Water using coots watering schedule. Plain Water. Malted Barley Powder/Agsil/fulvic acid/aloe. Plain water. Neem Kelp Top Dressing or Tea. Plain Water. Coconut water. Start cycle over. Once you mix the soil, go ahead and start watering with this schedule. Thats how I've been doing it, plants are loving it

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Is it too much to cycle like that? I’ll read coots water cycle and others tomorrow, trying to buy some stuff. I just see some people doing straight water the whole time I thought, just curious. I was going to buy literally everything you mentioned before I saw this anyways, just curious.

Kind Sir said:

Is it too much to cycle like that? I’ll read coots water cycle and others tomorrow, trying to buy some stuff. I just see some people doing straight water the whole time I thought, just curious. I was going to buy literally everything you mentioned before I saw this anyways, just curious.

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If you want to keep it simple, the Craft Blend is a balanced dry amendment. It won't burn, but takes a bit to break down like all organics. I mix that, or whatever I mix up with a little EWC and pumice and just top dress with it and water it in.

I'm still learning so buyer beware, lol. I have been using Craft Blend for a couple years though and can vouch for it. Last time I finally bought the 25# bucket.

PadawanWarrior said:

If you want to keep it simple, the Craft Blend is a balanced dry amendment. It won't burn, but takes a bit to break down like all organics. I mix that, or whatever I mix up with a little EWC and pumice and just top dress with it and water it in.

I'm still learning so buyer beware, lol. I have been using Craft Blend for a couple years though and can vouch for it. Last time I finally bought the 25# bucket.
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They have that on sale right now too, free shipping also. They have like everything he mentioned on sale so I was actually debating on buying what he mentioned. I’m trying to keep it as simple as possible but also have everything I can use to my advantage type deal.

i have nothing but good things to say about BaS although i have not bought their soil ( way to much money to ship to me) i have but their
BuildASoil Nutrient Kit - Official ClackamasCoots Style and

BuildASoil Mineral Kit - (For Peatmoss)

Kind Sir said:

They have that on sale right now too, free shipping also. They have like everything he mentioned on sale so I was actually debating on buying what he mentioned. I’m trying to keep it as simple as possible but also have everything I can use to my advantage type deal.

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All those boxes and shit around that bucket has BAS shit in it, lol. The grey Rubbermaid container is full of the BAS rice hulls. And I have more boxes and stuff you can't even see in the pic. I've spent a lot there.

That 10% off sale makes me tempted to grab a few more things. And that link I posted might get you another $5 off too, I don't know.

PadawanWarrior said:

All those boxes and shit around that bucket has BAS shit in it, lol. The grey Rubbermaid container is full of the BAS rice hulls. And I have more boxes and stuff you can't even see in the pic. I've spent a lot there.

That 10% off sale makes me tempted to grab a few more things. And that link I posted might get you another $5 off too, I don't know.

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Ya I was wondering if I’d get the 5$ off, going to try anyways. What items do you suggest I buy? Everything’s on sale and I’m about to splurge a little bit don’t want to spend too much either. So tempting and kind of exciting.

Kind Sir said:

Ya I was wondering if I’d get the 5$ off, going to try anyways. What items do you suggest I buy? Everything’s on sale and I’m about to splurge a little bit don’t want to spend too much either. So tempting and kind of exciting.

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If you're gonna splurge I'd start with at least the first 3, and then expand your selection as you go. I started with Craft Blend alone from them.

1. Craft Blend
2. Vermicompost
3. Pumice, lava rock, or both.
4. Fish bone meal
5. Kelp meal
6. Gro-Kashi
7. And so on.

The Craft Blend and some good EWC or compost is awesome. Then I add the pumice or lava rock to the mix just to lighten it up and prevent any compaction issues.

Ok a free tip from me as many have helped me before.

Yes where to get EWC? I am in a huge metro area but still am not impressed with most options.

I found Brut Worm Farms online.

They sell EWC, and a supersoil made with the EWC. They are 30# bags, and are $30 and $35 shipped anywhere in the USA.

I got a few bags of each. Amended my soil with both. Beautiful EWC and the SS even was ph balanced to 6.8.

I have no affiliation, have ordered from them once. But heck tell them ComfortCreator sent you and they will say who tf is that? Lol.

I am running 10gal pots indoors and had good soil to begin with. If you are used to Uncle Jims worms you will be very happy with these. They are my go to for EWC going forward. I have SS already, and theirs is actually quite nice. It does not contain peat or aeration...so you add those and its like a SS base. So a few bags will turn into a nice amount.

I used 2 bags EWC and 2 bags SS as my compost amendment. I then added the others I typically add. Going VERY well.

Brut Worm Farms

Handful of things worth grabbing from BAS, but not much IMO due to shipping costs and being overpriced.

Products worth mentioning are as follows: BAS blend, Basalt, AgSil, Liquid Coconut/Aloe

Neem, Kelp, and Crab Meals are essentially mandatory with how much better they are than other organic inputs. Just remember to switch the Neem to Karanja prior to triggering flower, as Karanja has zero NPK and Neem has 6-1-2. For one, their combined NPK ratios are perfect. Just the right amount, but nothing too heavy. For two, none of these ingredients will burn/cause issues. For three, all 3 ingredients do more than simply add NPK.

Neem/Karanja: Mandatory for pest management, worms/microbes also love the stuff. Had a fly get in my room a few weeks back and it didn't even want to land on the plants. Gave some to my wife to use on an Avocado plant littered with ants, they went chaotic. Remember, Neem is a preventative, not a cure.

Kelp: Loaded with an abundance of trace minerals, provides similar stress mitigating properties as Silica, and makes plants overall more resilient.

Crab: Chitin, for more IPM. For those dealing with heavily calcified water, Insect Frass can be substituted here but you'll need another organic Phosphorus input. I only use G&M organic blend because its $17 for a 12lb bag at my hardware store. Use what's local and available, ensuring its quality of course.

Kind Sir said:

I just can’t get over how much it costs to ship a single bag of compost/EWC. 24$ bag goes to 90$+ after shipping. I wanted to try the Oly mountain compost quite bad. Like I understand, but damn.
Defintiely have to take advantage of the sale though.

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Buying compost online sucks. Been there, even on Amazon you'll spend $30-$40/bag. Check your hardware, gardening, and feed stores. You may be able to come across something.

Check Craigslist, you'll be surprised. Plenty of people selling compost and EWC if you're in a populated enough area. Used to have a worm farm literally down the street in California, found them on Craigslist. 5g bucket of fresh EWC for $20. May be able to find something.

Worst case scenario, you'll have to make your own. Beats paying $40+/bag though. If you're in a small 4x4 tent and only using 20-30g of soil total, not the biggest deal to pay that much for a bag of compost. If you're outdoors, or using 100s of gallons of soil indoors, that is when costs start to add up on you.

PadawanWarrior said:

If you want to keep it simple, the Craft Blend is a balanced dry amendment. It won't burn, but takes a bit to break down like all organics. I mix that, or whatever I mix up with a little EWC and pumice and just top dress with it and water it in.

I'm still learning so buyer beware, lol. I have been using Craft Blend for a couple years though and can vouch for it. Last time I finally bought the 25# bucket.
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How much of each do you mix?

Hollatchaboy said:

How much of each do you mix?

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It depends. For a 15 gal pot I use 1/2-1 cup Craft Blend. I add that to how ever much EWC or compost I want to add, and then some pumice just to lighten it up. The more EWC I use the more pumice I'll use.

What works great is to mix that stuff up and keep it slightly moist for 2-3 days or so. Then any of the hot stuff will cool off and it will be usable by the plant faster.

I've used it alone as a top dress too, but I like to mix it and let it cook a tiny bit first now.

PadawanWarrior said:

It depends. For a 15 gal pot I use 1/2-1 cup Craft Blend. I add that to how ever much EWC or compost I want to add, and then some pumice just to lighten it up. The more EWC I use the more pumice I'll use.

What works great is to mix that stuff up and keep it slightly moist for 2-3 days or so. Then any of the hot stuff will cool off and it will be usable by the plant faster.

I've used it alone as a top dress too, but I like to mix it and let it cook a tiny bit first now.

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If top dressing with it, how long does it take to break down approximately? I just ordered some craft blend and some ewc. Should I make a tea?