Good to know. Seems like when I garden outdoors I've always added compost to the bottom of the new planting. I assumed this was the same concept. So instead of layering what would you propose? I had thought about building a 5'x5' raised bed in the grow tent so it was like an outdoor set up, just like planting them in a garden. Then amend with home made compost after each grow or do a cover crop while seeds germinate. Thoughts?
nah, see the issue(s) with supersoil and layering nutrients is a couple things, first they use water soluble nutrients, blood meal and guanos are not really very effective in the long run, they are both fairly soluble (the guano moreso of course) but the theory is flawed in many ways.
first, cannabis is a fast growing drought-tolerant plant, the roots in a conducive soil can grow feet in ONE day, I've seen plants that have the roots sticking out the bottom of the container in three days after transplanting, the concern with layering is that it creates massively acidic conditions (from all the soluble nutrients), it leaches away MOST of the nutrients before the roots can even penetrate that thick, anaerobic, acidic, mess of dissolved nutrients, and very simply put, the soil itself prunes the roots when they try to get down there.
also it's important to realize that TDS, while normally being a concern to just hydro growers, it also is relative to organic grows as well (only in poorly constructed soils though)
so the layered soil prunes the roots when they shoot down there immediately, the soluble nutrients creates anaerobic messes, the acidity goes up, and that layered soil, by the time it's actually conducive to roots the nutrients are long gone.
which defeats the entire purpose of having "nutrients for later" concept
bovine bone meal is potentially a serious if not lethal health risk (google bovine prions,
Creutzfeldt–Jakob disea, to freak yourself out)
spongiform encelepathy...
scary shit,, and some scientist/doctors theorize the disease may actually be related or even be the SAME disease as altzheimers
both impossible to verify without cutting your brain apart..
which appears to be detrimental to one's health...
also bone meal has to have slightly acidic conditions to even be bioavailable, which can be challenging to get to in a humus heavy typically more neutral ph of a mix.
i have many, many issues with the supersoil recipe and technique.
i could go on and on also, but that's not what you asked..
so, your question regarding layering, so instead of layering simply have the mix, mixed.
assuming you have the microbial diversity and population to bio-convert/cycle the nutrients the plant would prefer a totally mixed mix rather than a layered one.
furthermore i feel it's relevant to mention the fact that in nature the plant verrrrrrry rarely gets any nutrients from the lower roots, it gets nearly ALL of it's nutrients from the topsoil and it's relationship/dependence on mychorrizal fungi and an established healthy soil web
depending on which botanist you ask, up to 80% of the phosphorus used/needed is dependent on that myco.
as far as the cover crop, that's handy in establishing new mixes, and especially handy in mixes that are cycling, reason being the seeds will germinate and grow in an un-cycled mix, just not well, but you'll visibly see the difference once the soil becomes more bio-available/cycled, the cover crop will explode when that happens, so in new mixes where you are uncertain of the nutrients being cycled it's handy to use a cover crop to indicate when the soil is ready.
cover crops are also handy if you have multiple soil "sets" and age between each grow, it does well on keeping the soilweb happy and healthy
i like basic grass for this (has similar likes to cannabis, in relation to ph and bacterial microbes), i don't like clover or legumes for this because they grow too fast, and will take a good amount of nutrients from the soil
even nitrogen fixing legumes will take more than they give back, and even if they didn't you have to have those nodules composted in order for the nitrogen to even be used.
also worth mentioning is the ease of remedying a nitrogen def to begin with, as it's the easiest and fastest macro def to fix
In a raised bed with a soil based on compost as the humus input you'll need to emphasize aeration, that's going to be extremely important in a bed-grow.
reamending with healthy fresh compost is a good practice, that's exactly how the plant works in nature, it uses it's previous yrs plant's detritus to give it the needed nutrients to grow again, and then when it dies, the cycle repeats.
i reamend with only my fortified compost and nothing else, well except the frequent topdressing of fresh comfrey, which i can't recommend enough.
