Input on super soil recipie please

I've been reading through the popular recipes - subcool, coots, kushman vaganix mix, and now the Gaia methods. From my rudimentary understanding all have aspects I like and some I don't such as subcools being pretty much water only but the mix is hot so you kind of have to know how much your plant needs and adjust how much you add to the bottom of your container. The coots mix seems great however it has the most ingredients and some are hard to find by me. Kushmans recipie is really simple but because of not having the animal byproducts for humus there is maintenance with bottled supplements. Gaia and Dr earth methods seems really simple but include top dressing the ammendments throughout the grow.

I want to get as close to a soil cook then water only as possible. I shopped around locally to see what was around and then tried to kind of mix and match amendments from the different methods to see if I had something that could support the plant for its life cycle and be as close to water only as possible, adding compost tea periodically. If you could please take a look and provide any feedback it would be greatly appreciated. If something is unnecessary or redundant or if this recipie looks to hot to use in the full container...

Base: 40%promix hp / 30% 50-50 EWC and Compost / 20% perlite

Down to earth ammendments:
Vegtable all purpose 4-4-4
Neem seed meal 6-1-2
Bone meal 3-15-0

For calcium and magnesium I was thinking Gypsum and Lengbeinite 0-0-22. Although there is some available calcium and some lengbeinite already in the all purpose 4-4-4, I didn't know if having other sources would keep them around for the length of the grow.

Any input/advice greatly appreciated!

For calcium I could consider gypsum in combination with oyster flour and maybe even a little bit of dolomite or limestone depending on how your magnesium content looks after the first run you do. Gypsum is a good choice as it buffers ph both ways but it also contains a lot of sulphur which can lead to buildup and bind up nutrients in a no till setup over time, which is something to consider if you're planning on using the same soil long term.

Perlite is also not the greatest if you plan on reusing soil but aeration is important, I haven't used HP in a long time but I usually do 1:1 aeration+peat. Pumice is great if you can find it near you, it's a bit more expensive but will last significantly longer in a more permanent garden.

Really the only 2 things I see with amendments is that fish bone meal seems to be more readily available compared to normal bone meal, and I would probably use some kelp in your mix.

The quality of your compost is important too, I would try to use a reliable/well known source over say landfill compost.

Thank you! I believe the feed store has some oustershell flower or crushed oyster shell at least. I was considering if I should add some lime as well.

oodawg said:

Thank you! I believe the feed store has some oustershell flower or crushed oyster shell at least. I was considering if I should add some lime as well.

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The finer the better for oyster flour as far as I know, the down to earth stuff is tiny grains and like half powder but I got some at a feed store that was cheaper and better ground up, but I didn't notice any difference between the two personally.

I don't mind trying to do the water only approach but sometimes less is more if you have a strain that's finicky, always easy to add a little bit extra if you need it, but usually plants can get by on less than you think if everything is healthy to begin with

Rice Hulls Biochar is great as aeration component. Has Ph ranging from 7.0 to 7.3 and great source of silica, but it wont hold much water though

Per cf of base. ( your base looks decent)

2-3 cups nutrients. I like coots style nutrients. Kelp. Crab. Neem alfalfa.

4 cups minerals. Basalt. Rock dust. Azomite et

1 cup oyster.
1 cups gypsum
1 cup brown rice.

Bam. Great recipe mix snd match your nutrients and minerals but stay within parameters of totals per cf

green_machine_two9er said:

Per cf of base. ( your base looks decent)

2-3 cups nutrients. I like coots style nutrients. Kelp. Crab. Neem alfalfa.

4 cups minerals. Basalt. Rock dust. Azomite et

1 cup oyster.
1 cups gypsum
1 cup brown rice.

Bam. Great recipe mix snd match your nutrients and minerals but stay within parameters of totals per cf

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Why the brown rice? Just curious, I've seen a lot of people adding it and I always just assumed it would gum up and go anaerobic after a while.

Gumdrawp said:

Why the brown rice? Just curious, I've seen a lot of people adding it and I always just assumed it would gum up and go anaerobic after a while.

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Fungal food. Just carbohydrates to feed and promote slightly fungal dominance to soil. Which increase water movement and nutrients availability.

The rice itself will be broken down well before planting.

green_machine_two9er said:

Fungal food. Just carbohydrates to feed and promote slightly fungal dominance to soil. Which increase water movement and nutrients availability.

The rice itself will be broken down well before planting.

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Fair enough, I'll have to give it a try in two pots and compare results alone or in combination with the malted barley vs just the malted barley that I use now.