SuperSoil ... all the way?

sanjuan said:

So is it possible to "build" soil in a basement or garage and not have odors and bugs during the process? I have zero privacy outside my house. I'd need to start flower gardening to have a reason for an outdoor compost bin or worm farm.

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We are mixing supersoil in the house. azamax kills anything you dont want in it, if needed. Our supersoil is activating just fine and we have no problem with bugs. and its the middle of december, lol ...

If my soil smells like rotting food/swamp is it good? will the smell go away?

yellowsunday said:

If my soil smells like rotting food/swamp is it good? will the smell go away?

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i don't know what all you have in your soil mix, but we keep our supersoil inside. At first there is some smell, but as the soil activates, and the nutrients start breaking down, then the soil "cools off" and there is almost no smell. hope this helps.

yellowsunday said:

If my soil smells like rotting food/swamp is it good? will the smell go away?

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no, that's bad, it's too wet, or too much nutrients, and/or not mixed with enough aeration.
Add totally dry peat or coco or whatever and mix, it should rebound within a day or two.
OR spread out on a tarp at a thickness of one inch, and it'll "air-out" a lil too.
bottom line is it's anaerobic, it should smell like dirt

greasemonkeymann said:

be careful of that logic.
Just sayin, it'll create more problems than it'll solve.
cannabis doesn't need a different nutrient plan, especially with organics.
It needs all nutrients at all stages. taking away nitrogen during flowering isn't wise, nor is taking out phosphorus during vege.
Go with an even npk, concentrating more on the availability of the nutrients rather than it's NPK%.
slow release, medium and fast.

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Since you told me previously about concentrating on slow/medium/fast release amendments, I have looked at growing in a different perspective.

I finally got my items from buildasoil.

1. Living Soil Modern Mix
2. 200X Aloe Vera powder
3. Barley seeds for SST
4. Barley Mulch

My air pumps is sma I need a new one, only like 45GPH. I want to wet my soil to let it cook with an EWC/Compost/molasses tea.. Would it be ok to bubble a concentrated mix then dilute it? I want there to be as little liquid as possible, so my airstone can bubble it well.

Kind Sir said:

Since you told me previously about concentrating on slow/medium/fast release amendments, I have looked at growing in a different perspective.

I finally got my items from buildasoil.

1. Living Soil Modern Mix
2. 200X Aloe Vera powder
3. Barley seeds for SST
4. Barley Mulch

My air pumps is sma I need a new one, only like 45GPH. I want to wet my soil to let it cook with an EWC/Compost/molasses tea.. Would it be ok to bubble a concentrated mix then dilute it? I want there to be as little liquid as possible, so my airstone can bubble it well.

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yeah sure, but I always use my AACT as a full strength, I don't think it's hurt anything, other than lowering your overall microbe numbers.
Something to consider though, bubbling isn't as important as water movement/churning, the ambient air is what "adds" oxygen to the water, so bubbles don't add anymore than the typical surface to air oxygenating. After all, all you are doing is moving the water to do just that.
And besides it's not like the aact doesn't work without the right airpump, it's just not as effective.
I mean shit, you could get a pint glass and sit there at your bucket and just fill it up and pour it out, over and over, and the end result will be similar..
You'll just get more microbes with a stronger pump.
I don't bubble mine at all really, just churns up the water from the bottom to the top

Espoma smells pretty bad! Most of the ingredients are a part of "SuperSoil"! I can tell a night and day difference between Build-a-soil's "Craft Blend" and "Supersoil"! I have a side by side going right now, and super soil has my shit yellow and crisp! I tried different amounts of cook time also. This last batch sat for almost a whole 8wk cycle.

http://www.espoma.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/03/biotoneplus.pdf

Bio-Tone:
Derived from: Hydrolyzed Feather Meal, Pasteurized Poultry Manure, Bone
Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Greensand, Humates, Sulfate of Potash, and Sulfate of
Potash Magnesia

Kind Sir said:

Since you told me previously about concentrating on slow/medium/fast release amendments, I have looked at growing in a different perspective.

I finally got my items from buildasoil.

1. Living Soil Modern Mix
2. 200X Aloe Vera powder
3. Barley seeds for SST
4. Barley Mulch

My air pumps is sma I need a new one, only like 45GPH. I want to wet my soil to let it cook with an EWC/Compost/molasses tea.. Would it be ok to bubble a concentrated mix then dilute it? I want there to be as little liquid as possible, so my airstone can bubble it well.

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Build a soild has a few things that I want to try out. It looks like they are promoting the "No-Till" method along with Clackmas coots. They have a no-till starter kit just to get an idea of what they are pushing. It looks like they use a cover crop in a 15gal Geopot. I recently got some 15gal so I should be in luck. There is a Blog section at the website, it helped me understand how it all works together!

http://buildasoil.com/products/clover-cover-crop-blend-13-seed-buildasoil-mix-40-clover

http://buildasoil.com/products/no-till-starter-kit

I was looking at their Living Organic Soil, it looks like they prepared the Clackmas Coots soil, right???

sanjuan said:

So is it possible to "build" soil in a basement or garage and not have odors and bugs during the process? I have zero privacy outside my house. I'd need to start flower gardening to have a reason for an outdoor compost bin or worm farm.

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Yes I have totes full of soil in my basement & my ol lady, who is about as sqeamish as they come doesn't even mind. I also have a worm bin which is my main source of fresh compost. You can add a source of humus like bagged ancient forest or compost from a pit out back; you don't have to compost it yourself to build a good soil but it certainly helps. I like to add a composted chicken manure - Charlie's compost- for a fast source of NPK which really makes them a supernatural green & pushes fast growth in veg. No bad smells just the earthy aroma of good soil. My worm bin can attract gnats in the summer but if I cover any exposed fruit/vegs with garden soil or coco/perlite it will keep them away. You can keep worms at room temp in a basement or garage without detection; easy to forget they are even there.

I'm in the Seattle area and bags of Cedar Grove Compost are available everywhere but it's lawn trimmings, etc from mandatory recycling. Probably not the best.

greasemonkeymann said:

no, that's bad, it's too wet, or too much nutrients, and/or not mixed with enough aeration.
Add totally dry peat or coco or whatever and mix, it should rebound within a day or two.
OR spread out on a tarp at a thickness of one inch, and it'll "air-out" a lil too.
bottom line is it's anaerobic, it should smell like dirt

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cheers brother
edit: i actually did this the other day with generic potting mix and the remaining peat i had left, it now has an earthy smell not a rotting smell, too bad my seedlings were eaten by slugs AGAIN. those bastards

greasemonkeymann said:

it'd do way better than any supersoil.
Supersoil is a flawed design. Period.
It's just "famous" because there is a sticky on it.
Coots mix will shit all over it, as well as most of the organic DIY mixes.
layered soil is a flawed design, water soluble nutrients is a flawed design, bovine products are potentially lethal.
those are my opinions...
Albeit educated ones.

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what is layered soil, water soluble nutrients, and bovine products?

greasemonkeymann said:

it'd do way better than any supersoil.
Supersoil is a flawed design. Period.
It's just "famous" because there is a sticky on it.
Coots mix will shit all over it, as well as most of the organic DIY mixes.
layered soil is a flawed design, water soluble nutrients is a flawed design, bovine products are potentially lethal.
those are my opinions...
Albeit educated ones.

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supersoil is a term that simply means that a potting soil has been amended with amendments. what part makes this a flawed design?

I am glad subcool has made the term supersoil popular because that is what got me into organics. What I call supersoil now is anything from promix mixed with compost to a full recipe.. always recycling and reamending, The only thing I still buy plain promix for is seedlings and cuttings. Growing in 20+gallon containers indoor doesnt work for everyone.

Kaptain Kronic said:

what is layered soil, water soluble nutrients, and bovine products?

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I think by layered he meant putting supersoil at the bottom of the pot and diluting has you fill up the container... like subcool taught people to do but I have always prefered to make my supersoil on the weaker side and never layer.

A typical bovine product:

Cow Manure. Photo by Ian Barbour

GreenSanta said:

supersoil is a term that simply means that a potting soil has been amended with amendments. what part makes this a flawed design?

I am glad subcool has made the term supersoil popular because that is what got me into organics. What I call supersoil now is anything from promix mixed with compost to a full recipe.. always recycling and reamending, The only thing I still buy plain promix for is seedlings and cuttings. Growing in 20+gallon containers indoor doesnt work for everyone.

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You can use it, and it'll grow plants.
I just prefer different methods, and using your definition?
Well, if that's the case then I stand corrected.
The reasons I don't like the "subcool" method is because of what I stated earlier.
And by that I mean the method described n the "sticky"
Too many water soluble nutrients, layered soil is not logical in my opinion (we've alllllll seen cannabis' roots SHOOT straight down to the bottom of the container first, which is why it's such a hardy plant, the root system is substantial on these plants)
BUT putting more nutrients in the bottom of the container with the assumption that it's going to "have food for later" is foolish, especially when you compound that by using water soluble nutrients to begin with.
That's what i'm saying, also I believe my list of amendments is a lil better, but i'm biased.
More than one way to grow herb though.
Bovine products I don't like
Bovine bone meal can be potentially lethal, research prion diseases and you'll see what I mean.

Tap root goes straight down, but not transplants, so unless u grow directly from seeds in the big pots, the root ball will benefit from a buffer zone if the SS is too strong

GreenSanta said:

Tap root goes straight down, but not transplants, so unless u grow directly from seeds in the big pots, the root ball will benefit from a buffer zone if the SS is too strong

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I've transplanted thousands of times, and it doesn't make a difference whether its a seedling or not, the root isn't technically a "taproot"
but clones do the same thing man
roots to the bottom within days man.
whether its a cut or a seed doesn't make a difference.
Just had this argument a lil while ago.
heres a pic I had to help illustrate what I mean
Cannabis has a fibrous root system, not a taproot.
this is a taproot.

GreenSanta said:

Tap root goes straight down, but not transplants, so unless u grow directly from seeds in the big pots, the root ball will benefit from a buffer zone if the SS is too strong

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So you have a layered soil FULL of water soluble nutrients, and that's supposed to be helpful?
It's just counterintuitive man, and also contrary to ALL the experience, not only from me, but anyone that looks at it logically.
If you want to layer your soil, that's cool, just use different nutrients, guano and blood meal? That stuff is gone rather quickly, washed away, and if it's NOT washed away you are having some gnarly acidity and anaerobic conditions.

You can use it, I just don't subscribe to the method, nor the recipe, nor the technique, nor the reasoning behind it.

Pics of fresh pulled roots. ..let's get more to compare. .I care less tap root or fibrous roots.

These are the seed plants,will post the clone pics later