Using Subs super soil can any one tell me this problem?
- Thread starter Vincent Vega 7
- Start date
I can't see your pics, but you shouldn't be having yellowing if you just transplanted into fresh soil.. as you're supposed to be.
I use Roots original and have for a long time, and its got enough to carry to plant at least half way thru flower on its own. (assuming you're using like a 7gal pot at least). The additives are for that last month really.
I personally think sub's mix is overkill and had unnecessary additives.
Seeing as how the roots original is a great stand alone soil, there's no reason to add epsom salt to the mix as it's completely water soluble and immediately available. if anything it's just gonna throw the balance off by raising magnesium levels too high.
In my opinion you can get by with a lot less, and have similar results. you can honestly just use guano with N and P.. kelp meal, and alfalfa meal. throw in some blood meal for time release nitrogen and fish bone meal for time release phosphorus. guano works fairly quickly, like within a week.
but be generous with the azomite.. it's good stuff and provides all the minerals and trace elements a plant needs.
I use Roots original and have for a long time, and its got enough to carry to plant at least half way thru flower on its own. (assuming you're using like a 7gal pot at least). The additives are for that last month really.
I personally think sub's mix is overkill and had unnecessary additives.
Seeing as how the roots original is a great stand alone soil, there's no reason to add epsom salt to the mix as it's completely water soluble and immediately available. if anything it's just gonna throw the balance off by raising magnesium levels too high.
In my opinion you can get by with a lot less, and have similar results. you can honestly just use guano with N and P.. kelp meal, and alfalfa meal. throw in some blood meal for time release nitrogen and fish bone meal for time release phosphorus. guano works fairly quickly, like within a week.
but be generous with the azomite.. it's good stuff and provides all the minerals and trace elements a plant needs.
Also, it's more than likely NOT a micronutrient issue per say, sure that may be the issue.. but that's not what's causing it.
I'd suspect that there's too much calcium.. blocking uptake of other nutrients
You can see that excessive calcium blocks uptake of Mn, K, Fe (iron), B, Zn, and Mg.. so your yellowing could be an iron deficiency, and/or a magnesium deficiency.. but its not that there's not enough in the soil or the mix.. it's too high levels of calcium blocking the uptake.. If you look at the ingredients, nearly every additive has calcium in it (guano, bone meals, etc), and if you're using tap water, more calcium..
I always have and still think that the super high levels of additives used in his mix are extreme overkill.. it's like a gumbo pot, throwing a lot of everything in and hoping for stew, which would be fire buds.. soil is very forgiving so you can most likely get away with it..
problem with soil and amendments and combining the two is you can't really gauge how much is in your soil at any given time, since things have to be broken down etc. if using or spraying epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) fixes the yellowing.. to me that would indicate that there's an overkill of calcium, blocking Mg uptake.. so you can fix it by pulling back on the calcium levels (impossible once its mixed in the soil) or adding more Mg(magnesium).. but even if it fixes the yellowing, I think you'd still have blocking of other micro nutrients going on, which may not show, but definitely will affect the plant in not producing to its max potential...
I'd cut his additives in half or even 1/4 to begin with.. and only if you feel you need to add more (which i doubt will happen) then you can add more later.. its so easy to add more at a later time in soil.. but near impossible to remove too much.
you gotta remember all the nutrients need to be in balance
Nitrogen and Calcium need to be about Equal.
Potassium should be twice as much to calcium.
Magnesium should be 1/3 of Calcium.
Sulfur should be equal to double magnesium..
and phosphorus should be half to equal of sulfur.
also phosphorus should be anywhere from 1/3 to 1/5 the level of nitrogen..
you also have to remember that in most cases what the label states the level of phosphorus is, IS NOT immediately available.. and needs to be broken down by soil bacteria before the plant can use it, and also its only basically half the amount on the label. (44-46 percent, something like that, cant recall exact percentage).
Potassium is really only like 84% or something of what's on the label as well.
much easier to know what it is in hydro.. hard to gauge in a super soil mix. but if those ratios are off, even just one element such as calcium, you can see how it throws everything off.
Soil alone, but especially amended with azomite and kelp should not have any trace mineral deficiencies.. it's just whether the pathway is blocked by something else.
I'd suspect that there's too much calcium.. blocking uptake of other nutrients
You can see that excessive calcium blocks uptake of Mn, K, Fe (iron), B, Zn, and Mg.. so your yellowing could be an iron deficiency, and/or a magnesium deficiency.. but its not that there's not enough in the soil or the mix.. it's too high levels of calcium blocking the uptake.. If you look at the ingredients, nearly every additive has calcium in it (guano, bone meals, etc), and if you're using tap water, more calcium..
I always have and still think that the super high levels of additives used in his mix are extreme overkill.. it's like a gumbo pot, throwing a lot of everything in and hoping for stew, which would be fire buds.. soil is very forgiving so you can most likely get away with it..
problem with soil and amendments and combining the two is you can't really gauge how much is in your soil at any given time, since things have to be broken down etc. if using or spraying epsom salt (magnesium sulfate) fixes the yellowing.. to me that would indicate that there's an overkill of calcium, blocking Mg uptake.. so you can fix it by pulling back on the calcium levels (impossible once its mixed in the soil) or adding more Mg(magnesium).. but even if it fixes the yellowing, I think you'd still have blocking of other micro nutrients going on, which may not show, but definitely will affect the plant in not producing to its max potential...
I'd cut his additives in half or even 1/4 to begin with.. and only if you feel you need to add more (which i doubt will happen) then you can add more later.. its so easy to add more at a later time in soil.. but near impossible to remove too much.
you gotta remember all the nutrients need to be in balance
Nitrogen and Calcium need to be about Equal.
Potassium should be twice as much to calcium.
Magnesium should be 1/3 of Calcium.
Sulfur should be equal to double magnesium..
and phosphorus should be half to equal of sulfur.
also phosphorus should be anywhere from 1/3 to 1/5 the level of nitrogen..
you also have to remember that in most cases what the label states the level of phosphorus is, IS NOT immediately available.. and needs to be broken down by soil bacteria before the plant can use it, and also its only basically half the amount on the label. (44-46 percent, something like that, cant recall exact percentage).
Potassium is really only like 84% or something of what's on the label as well.
much easier to know what it is in hydro.. hard to gauge in a super soil mix. but if those ratios are off, even just one element such as calcium, you can see how it throws everything off.
Soil alone, but especially amended with azomite and kelp should not have any trace mineral deficiencies.. it's just whether the pathway is blocked by something else.
Last edited:
ivioto
Well-Known Member
Frigging right. So many nerds here it's awesooooommmeee. Thank you for taking time to share your thoughts. Good work.