"Super Soil" maintenence requirements?

GrowerGoneWild

GrowerGoneWild

Well-Known Member
The fungus is normal.. mine does the same thing when letting it cook.

I would turn the soil, and when wetting the soil use some inoculants, I turn the soil every few days to check the smell of it, it shouldnt smell like ammonia, it should have a clean mushroomy smell to it. The reason for turning it is simple, you dont really have nematodes or any other microlife that moves the bacteria around, fungal hyphae grows fast as youve observed, bacteria doesnt spread around like fungi in that type of medium.

When I let my batch cook up it seemed to work better when spread out, I had mine in a kiddy pool or on a large tarp. Smaller containers that didn't have alot of surface area exposed didnt smell as nice when cooking.

I'll pour some teas onto the pile, but i've never really watered it.. I just left it uncovered when it was raining, then put the cover back on the pile.
 
W

whitey78

Well-Known Member
I stated my piece about the OG super soil mix and the reason I said it is because if you arent familiar with soil additions/amendments etc... and what effect they'll have on each other as well as on your plants, its best to start with a solid mix thats known to be effective... I prefer more coco based soils like roots because I recycle my soil and peat isnt good for long term, helps support bad fungi in the long run... If your using it once and done, peat it up.. But if you have any thoughts of recycling coir based is a better start....

Also to the poster that keeps mixing his soil more than once or twice, I dont knock the way anyone does anything, If it works for you, and youre happy with the product it produces, who am I to say anything... But usually the most you wanna mix the soil is 5-7 days after the initial mixing to assure its well blended and then you wanna leave it alone... When soil is "cooking" all those relationships in the soil I dont know enough to speak about are going on, and each time you break up and remix the soil you're breaking up everything they started building is the only way I can put it I guess... Once its in the container and has been mixed for a 2nd time max, I keep it moist without over doing it and let it be... When its done and you start using it, scoop out what you need without breaking it up and mixing the best you can... Could everything I'm saying be stoner science, possibly.... But I've read enough about different soil mixes and all of the mixtures suggest only a second mixing 5-7 days later as I mentioned and then leave it alone...

Layering isnt a bad thing, is it unnecessary? I would say in some situations yes and others it is a necessity.. With supersoil, its so hot that most younger plants will sizzle to death if put in straight SS... However if you have a plant that requires 80% of your pot to be filled with supersoil, theres nothing wrong with taking that 80% SS and mixing it with the other 20% of base mix and mixing it together and using it globally. This happens with felt pots a lot because some are not as tall as a standard 10gal plastic pot.. Also as far as layering with the revs mix is a totally different type of thing, its done because things like bone meal (not steamed bone meal) amongst other amanedments; cant be mixed globally in your soil, so laying down a layer of soil and tossing in a few dribs or drabs of it is the way to incorporate it in your soil and wont hurt because the roots can go around it until its needed or broken down enough to access...

I agree with the whole animal product deal and possible alternatives but its not as easy as you think to get the same results without them, you can but it takes some tinkering and time... Even kyle kushmans "veganics" is mostly a bottle fed type grow, but there are most certainly alternatives to animal products out there to be had, theres plenty of folk out there sharing their results as well so a little research will go a long way....

Recently I needed to up my yields so I started a small hempy grow using blue planet nutes 3 part grow but havent finished a grow with it yet, one is coming in the next month or 2 where I ran 4 cheese quake plants in the last of my supersoil, 2 cheese quakes in base soil with some additions but bottle fed general organics bottled shit, and THEN.... I have the same phenos growing in 2L soda bottles using the hempy method and the 3 part I mentioned...all growing in the same tent believe it or not, but it will be the first time I've gone back to any kind of bottle fed anything so I'm curious to see how they all stack up against each other.... (I am moving so I using up all my soil was on purpose but its ending up taking much longer to get the closing date than expected so thats where the hempy buckets came to fruition as well as the bottle fed general organics plants)....

I should recommend reading teaming with microbes but I couldnt get through the sciency part so I didnt learn much, but the revs book "true living organics" gave me a decent understanding of soil and wasnt a bad read... I buy most of my books on kindle but it is nice to have a hard copy on hand...

One more thing to the poster that was saying something about not amending his soil at all and just running bagged mix... Its not gonna get you far brother... It may get you through veg at the most or partially into flowering, but cannabis requires massive amounts of nutrition, bagged base mix just doesnt have enough in it to carry it all the way through to the end... If you dont wanna add to much of anything, I would only suggest lots of worm castings and added perlite to go with them... Also a dry product called organicare which the rev uses constantly in his mixes is a good dry nutrient to use and comes in grow and bloom and is organic... You can add those things and not have to cook your mix but once you add lime or basically any other amendment, you'll need to "cook"/compost for 3-4 weeks as with supersoil or else your plants will take a good month to get growing properly.... Ask me how I know....lol
 
GrowerGoneWild

GrowerGoneWild

Well-Known Member
whitey78 said:
Also to the poster that keeps mixing his soil more than once or twice, I dont knock the way anyone does anything, If it works for you, and youre happy with the product it produces, who am I to say anything... But usually the most you wanna mix the soil is 5-7 days after the initial mixing to assure its well blended and then you wanna leave it alone... When soil is "cooking" all those relationships in the soil I dont know enough to speak about are going on, and each time you break up and remix the soil you're breaking up everything they started building is the only way I can put it I guess... Once its in the container and has been mixed for a 2nd time max, I keep it moist without over doing it and let it be... When its done and you start using it, scoop out what you need without breaking it up and mixing the best you can... Could everything I'm saying be stoner science, possibly.... But I've read enough about different soil mixes and all of the mixtures suggest only a second mixing 5-7 days later as I mentioned and then leave it alone...
Click to expand...
Reference Jeff Lowenfells Teaming with Microbes, thats the book I used to explain bacteria mobility... If the intent is to let the bacteria work, it would make sense to mix it ever few days because they do not create a network like mycellium, also explained in the book. I dont have a microscope to prove that frequent mixing is better than 5-7 day interval.. But I go off of smell, a well aerated medium that is either exposed to air or turned has no offensive odor. Or as observed with a healthy soil or compost heap.

Another observation is the turning of compost piles to aid in decomp, the supersoil is literally the same thing.. but with powders. We are turning the soil to help with decomp and give certain species of aerobic bacteria an advantage.
 
GhostShadow

GhostShadow

Well-Known Member
please remember hot composting and or aerobic composting burns off some of your nitrogen. more air and hotter the pile the more nitrogen gets converted.

I start off with custom blended soil and then organically juice it. check out my profile pic these plants are 3 months from clone the soil is reused peat based and these indoor plants are nearly 60 inches tall.
 
Cannacopia Delight

Cannacopia Delight

Member
whitey78 said:
I stated my piece about the OG super soil mix and the reason I said it is because if you arent familiar with soil additions/amendments etc... and what effect they'll have on each other as well as on your plants, its best to start with a solid mix thats known to be effective... I prefer more coco based soils like roots because I recycle my soil and peat isnt good for long term, helps support bad fungi in the long run... If your using it once and done, peat it up.. But if you have any thoughts of recycling coir based is a better start....

Also to the poster that keeps mixing his soil more than once or twice, I dont knock the way anyone does anything, If it works for you, and youre happy with the product it produces, who am I to say anything... But usually the most you wanna mix the soil is 5-7 days after the initial mixing to assure its well blended and then you wanna leave it alone... When soil is "cooking" all those relationships in the soil I dont know enough to speak about are going on, and each time you break up and remix the soil you're breaking up everything they started building is the only way I can put it I guess... Once its in the container and has been mixed for a 2nd time max, I keep it moist without over doing it and let it be... When its done and you start using it, scoop out what you need without breaking it up and mixing the best you can... Could everything I'm saying be stoner science, possibly.... But I've read enough about different soil mixes and all of the mixtures suggest only a second mixing 5-7 days later as I mentioned and then leave it alone...

Layering isnt a bad thing, is it unnecessary? I would say in some situations yes and others it is a necessity.. With supersoil, its so hot that most younger plants will sizzle to death if put in straight SS... However if you have a plant that requires 80% of your pot to be filled with supersoil, theres nothing wrong with taking that 80% SS and mixing it with the other 20% of base mix and mixing it together and using it globally. This happens with felt pots a lot because some are not as tall as a standard 10gal plastic pot.. Also as far as layering with the revs mix is a totally different type of thing, its done because things like bone meal (not steamed bone meal) amongst other amanedments; cant be mixed globally in your soil, so laying down a layer of soil and tossing in a few dribs or drabs of it is the way to incorporate it in your soil and wont hurt because the roots can go around it until its needed or broken down enough to access...

I agree with the whole animal product deal and possible alternatives but its not as easy as you think to get the same results without them, you can but it takes some tinkering and time... Even kyle kushmans "veganics" is mostly a bottle fed type grow, but there are most certainly alternatives to animal products out there to be had, theres plenty of folk out there sharing their results as well so a little research will go a long way....

Recently I needed to up my yields so I started a small hempy grow using blue planet nutes 3 part grow but havent finished a grow with it yet, one is coming in the next month or 2 where I ran 4 cheese quake plants in the last of my supersoil, 2 cheese quakes in base soil with some additions but bottle fed general organics bottled shit, and THEN.... I have the same phenos growing in 2L soda bottles using the hempy method and the 3 part I mentioned...all growing in the same tent believe it or not, but it will be the first time I've gone back to any kind of bottle fed anything so I'm curious to see how they all stack up against each other.... (I am moving so I using up all my soil was on purpose but its ending up taking much longer to get the closing date than expected so thats where the hempy buckets came to fruition as well as the bottle fed general organics plants)....

I should recommend reading teaming with microbes but I couldnt get through the sciency part so I didnt learn much, but the revs book "true living organics" gave me a decent understanding of soil and wasnt a bad read... I buy most of my books on kindle but it is nice to have a hard copy on hand...

One more thing to the poster that was saying something about not amending his soil at all and just running bagged mix... Its not gonna get you far brother... It may get you through veg at the most or partially into flowering, but cannabis requires massive amounts of nutrition, bagged base mix just doesnt have enough in it to carry it all the way through to the end... If you dont wanna add to much of anything, I would only suggest lots of worm castings and added perlite to go with them... Also a dry product called organicare which the rev uses constantly in his mixes is a good dry nutrient to use and comes in grow and bloom and is organic... You can add those things and not have to cook your mix but once you add lime or basically any other amendment, you'll need to "cook"/compost for 3-4 weeks as with supersoil or else your plants will take a good month to get growing properly.... Ask me how I know....lol
Click to expand...
Great stuff whitey! As for this mix it'll be a one and done but never hurts to add some coco. Yes to the amendments, here's the schedule I'm using:

" Week 3: 2 tblspn of Age Old Organics Bloom ½ oz Maxicrop seaweed 1oz of Mother Earth Tea bloom ½ oz B1 thrive alive bloom

Week 4 & 5 4 tblspn Age Old Organics Bloom 1 oz Maxicrop seaweed 2oz Mother Earth Tea Bloom 1/2 oz B1 thrive alive bloom When feeding make sure 20% of what you put in is peeing out the bottom. Start flushing 12-17 days before harvesting. "

Far as avoiding animal products, I just replaced the bone meal with fish bone meal and feather meal with kelp meal. It started out reaking real bad when the fungi started to grow but with a few more days of cooking it's now giving off a nice shroomey smell. Putting fans in the room seems to be a must to keep the soil fresh. That and adding water every now and then so the mix doesn't dry out. I'm giving it a good 50-60 days to cook before I use it, read that was the sweet spot.

Now whether it's a good idea to mix it around or leave it alone, I'm not too worried about it. Might add some live worms to do the work for me but it's seems to be doing alright right now. Hey, can't go wrong with stoner science! :joint:
 
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