ocean forest doesn't provide a full flower worth of nutes in the soil. i can tell you from experience super soil is not overrated - i get big yields with it compared to everything else. Closest thing to hydro yields. I mix my own now based on sub's published formula but the tga super soil contains other things that are not in that formula. The results I've seen show rooting that's as good as the results I get using superthrive and other rooting promoters... if I get the same results here I can cut those out completely. i use roots for my ss base but you can use ocean forest, happy frog or pretty much any other soil you like if you mix your own. I'm not gonna tell you maybe your mix was the reason you didn't get the expected results, but i've found from my personal experience that subbing in other things and not doing it 'by the book' you do not get as good of results as the original formula. i wish i'd made all SS last time instead of half SS and half my own version i'd be having better results right now if I'd gone SS... all the pure formula SS girls are fucking monstrous budded resin beasts. I ain't fuckin' around no more it's super soil from here on out, either home made or tga bagged.
also fyi if you try and throw in extra nutes on top of the super soil, you are likely to fuck things up, so unless you watered just water in super soil, you didn't really use super soil. fucking with the n-p-k ratios and time of release changes results (i know i did it myself not being patient/trusting in the formula). i water with plain water from the tap, superthrive through week 3 flower and GO biothrive (1-1-1 rooting formula) through veg for rooting, and pH down is ej catalyst, ph up is dyna gro protekt. They also get vermiplex if I can afford it but that shit's expensive
plants love it though. I personally pH because I'm a control freak and also my up and down have benefits to the plant, but there's no need to as long as your water isn't too low or high in pH.
I gotta mix dirt once every 2 months it takes less than an hour and breaking a sweat. Perfect way to mix super soil -- in an empty plastic fish pond (durable) with a hoe.