Kellogg Organic Potting Soil?

Bacala said:

Apparently, my research is more focused and more current than yours. From Kellogg's FAQ:

Do any of your products contain bio-solids/sewage sludge?
Of the 300+ products we produce, four products once contained biosolids. Since we have moved to register all of our products to be compliant with the USDA’s National Organic Program (NOP), none of our products contain bio-solids/sewage sludge in any form. Bio-solids/sewage sludge is a prohibited ingredient under USDA’s National Organic Program. All Kellogg Garden Organics and G&B Organics branded products are approved by the California Department of Food and Ag Organic Input Materials (OIM) program and listed with the Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI). No product with an OIM seal or OMRIseal on the bag may contain bio-solids/sewage sludge.

Here's the link: Kellogg FAQ

As an FYI, Patio Plus, which is the subject of this thread is not one of the four products mentioned above and has never contained biosolids. Incidentally, I am not new to growing but as I had already mentioned, I have not used Patio Plus to grow weed as I need so little soil cost is not a factor and I have a favorite mix that does well for me so I have no need to explore other soils. Have to admit though, this thread is making me consider doing it so I can bank some actual facts should the subject come up again in the future. Again, I have had very good success using it for other plants. As an actual user of the product, I cannot agree with your assessment.

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You're quoting their website cmon. That's just marketing. There's no law that says they can't lie. Don't be butt hurt. I'm just educating you. You can use that soil all you won't. It's garbage.. if you want to be natural organic. That's not the way to go. No sweat off my back. Just please don't let any ones else smoke or eat anything grown in that soil.

#FFS

hyroot said:

You're quoting their website cmon. That's just marketing. There's no law that says they can't lie. Don't be butt hurt. I'm just educating you. You can use that soil all you won't. It's garbage.. if you want to be natural organic. That's not the way to go. No sweat off my back. Just please don't let any ones else smoke or eat anything grown in that soil.

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Until you back up your opinions with any kind of documentation or proof, they are just opinions. If you do the Google search you suggested, maybe you can dig deep and find something more current than several years old. You can claim lies and deception all you want, but that smells of conspiracy theorists without accompanying information. If there is fact in your statements it should be pretty easy to show us. The education I gain here is ongoing, and I appreciate it. I have learned that we all need to be very careful to do our best to distinguish facts from bravado. It is not always easy to do that here at RIU. Oh, my butt feels fine, by the way.

I have contacted both OMRI and Kellogg through their websites in order to try and collect more info on your claims. I will follow up with phone calls to both on Monday and will certainly reply back here to report whatever I learn.

So the hidden biosolid rumor is just that? And patio plus has never contained it?

No rumor. Besides the bio soilds. There's plenty of chemicals in there too. Calcium nitrates, phosphoric acid, folic acid, butyric acid, ethylenediaminetetraacetic acid, synthetic urea . No label will ever have all the ingredients. That's how the fertilizer industry works.

If you want to know about real natural organics and how the fertilizer industry works read the books teaming with microbes and teaming with nutrients. Any book by Will (Robert ) Clarke and Dr. Elaine Ingham microbiologist

There's a place down the street from me that does soil testing for landscape companies and the local colleges. I'll buy a bag of kellogs and go get it tested. I couldn't find thh ingredients list on the patio one on o.d.a. list because it was on the un registered list

AnimalMother1974 said:

Im disabled and cash is TIGHT. So if this is a viable product for $6 I have to consider it. FF is $25 around here, Id prefer that but what can I do.


I may make my own worm castings to add. Food scraps and paper in a bin with worms breaking it down. So home made worm castings, perlite, and patio plus. Lets see how this goes down. *crosses fingers*

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You can always grab Coco bricks.

The303Yeti said:

You can always grab Coco bricks.

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What about somthing like this? Its a mix of peat moss and coir

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Miracle-Gro-0-75-cu-ft-Hydrate-Soil-Improvement-74530430/205563815

I used Patio Plus for my first plant, but I didn't like it much and after doing the math it seemed to me like Sunshine Mix #4 was almost the same price (4.4cu ft for $25ish) and very easy stuff to work with.

GuyLeDuche said:

(4.4cu ft for $25ish)

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I paid 37 for my last 6cu ft bale of Sunshine Mix #4 Advanced and the guy said he was just making 5$ off me; cause I was like 37 with my discount? He said was like no room for a discount unless I wanted him to raise the price 10%...
#Random

I fully expect to be told the following is a lie too, but for what it's worth here is OMRI's response to my question about products containing biosolids:

Ginger Morton <###@omri.org>
7:38 AM (5 minutes ago)



to me


Ed,

OMRI will not approve and list any product containing biosolids as it is prohibited per the National Organic Standards.

Best,

Ginger Morton
Finance Specialist
Organic Materials Review Institute (OMRI)
P.O. Box 11558 • Eugene OR • 97440-3758

AnimalMother1974 said:

What about somthing like this? Its a mix of peat moss and coir

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Miracle-Gro-0-75-cu-ft-Hydrate-Soil-Improvement-74530430/205563815

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I have heard that peat moss restricts roots as it dries out. I couldn't tell you for sure. I have grown in 100% peat moss and didn't seem to have any issues. I would go with something like this.

http://www.arbico-organics.com/product/3005/organic-soil-conditioners?gclid=CjwKEAjw1Iq6BRDY_tK-9OjdmBESJABlzoY7gmxV15zPVYkJyeg8ETF3TVzgh6NOBGE8Ef7RxHz19BoChMHw_wcB

I use the stuff along with the other stuff they package. Truck loads of it! I prefer having the wood pieces instead of perlite but use Napa floor dry (DE) in the place of perlite when needed.
I dump the kelloggs on my flower beds and garden along with mixing it into my used soil during re-amending. I don't have to add anything to my water and have green plants up till the last two weeks or so.

I bought it. Smells absolutely terrible. Like cat piss. And to be sure I dont invite more gnat issues to my plants I had to kill the eggs/larve by baking it in my oven. Stunk up the whole house for hours. Then added 60% PP, 10% MG potting mix, 30% perlite. Transplanted Gabriela (Game Changer) into a cheap bucket. The sand on top is to block the adult fungus gnats.

How's your plant(s) doing? I wish I was quicker to tell you to take that soil back. That can happen even with "premium" bagged soil and I think it's safer not to use it if it smells bad like ammonia or cat piss or has fungus gnats. Hopefully it's working out okay for you.

rikdabrick said:

How's your plant(s) doing? I wish I was quicker to tell you to take that soil back. That can happen even with "premium" bagged soil and I think it's safer not to use it if it smells bad like ammonia or cat piss or has fungus gnats. Hopefully it's working out okay for you.

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Im certain it did have gnats. All the big bags of soil sitting in the garden area at lowes/ home depot have creatures buzzing around. Many bags torn open, its a mess. I just pick the most intact , least damaged looking bags, take home and bake to purify. From now on this will be standard practice. The gnats Im dealling with now likely came from me not cooking my dirt before using it. My plant Im testing this soil with is growing okay. Nothing spectacular.

It's honestly awesome for the price. You might want to amend it just a bit, but it doesn't need much. The blue/yellow bag and the raised bed mix is awesome, haven't tried the black/yellow bag yet. But if you're an organic grower that uses compost teas/worm teas/seed sprout teas, the soil wont fail you. I'd say try it for yourself. Not to mention it's only $6.48 per cubic ft. Foxfarm is fantastic, got awesome results from the happy frog and ocean forest, I'm just not excited about spending $18 a bag. So dont get me wrong, FF is dope, but some of us have to watch money a little closer lol. So Kellogg is a great replacement, it has more woody pieces, but guess what? Microbes love living in the woody crevices of the wood, so technically that's a win haha. I hope you try it out. Also, while you're in Home Depot, go pick up one of the $5 packs of 'Dr.Earth Homegrown premium tomato, vegetable and Herb fertilizer. It's great for amending and is OMRI certified, it's made from fishbone meal, feather meal, fish meal, kelp meal, rock phosphate, and kelp flour, not to mention it has tons of mycorrhizae and other beneficial bacteria. so you can add it to compost tea's while they're brewing. All I can say is cannabis loves it. If you're on a budget, this is what you'd probably want to buy to amend the kellogg, it's great stuff for a cheap price, that'll give you great harvests of flavorful buds. So I hope I've helped a smidge haha.

I bought some couple years back and hated it, even my house plants hated it. It got hard as a rock in the pot and the roots never expanded good. The bio sludge history part didn't help either even though they claim they stopped adding it.

You can get a 4cu ft bale of sunshine mix #4 with mycos at HD for 24$ and if you are lucky and find a ripped bag it's 30-50% off.

1 bale fills a 32 gallon trash can.

Sorry, can't help that you couldn't make it any better.

Cx2H said:

I bought some couple years back and hated it, even my house plants hated it. It got hard as a rock in the pot and the roots never expanded good. The bio sludge history part didn't help either even though they claim they stopped adding it.

You can get a 4cu ft bale of sunshine mix #4 with mycos at HD for 24$ and if you are lucky and find a ripped bag it's 30-50% off.

1 bale fills a 32 gallon trash can.

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I know you're looking for an argument or debate, but I'm not up for it.