Building supersoil to go from start to finish

[fanleaf]

Looking to learn and more importantly understand what it takes to build a 100% organic supersoil that will go from A-Z.

Few questions to start this off;

1st. Can it happen. Can you build a living soil that can produce more than enough of EVERY nutrient that a plant can use? Can you plant in a 7-10 gallon pot and go from A-Z nothing added and the plant happy throughout?

2nd. Could someone (for the most part) toss the pH pen comfortably?

3rd. Where to start? There are so many things available to make it out of. I mean I'm sure you cant just mix up 20 pounds of earthworm castings along with 10 pounds of rabbit shit and 5 pounds of oyster shells and some perlite right? How does someone learn how to build a well balanced soil?

4th and no this is not a joke...Does my urine count as 100% organic? I ask because of our diets? I don't eat or drink all organic.


I'm interested in learning how to build myself a supersoil that can go the distance with nothing added and lose nothing at the end of the grow if that's possible. Do you build it on a NPK value? I wouldnt think that would be necessary because the soil is always producing.

It's just a start. I want to get a better understanding. Thanks

 

[Robert Celt]

Hello Fanleaf

To answer your primary question.. YES.

My first indoor grow was in a soil I put together using ingredients I could find locally. The only issue I had was during flower which I can attribute to using molasses every watering causing Mg lockout.

The harvest of 4 plants yielded a little over 300g in a 1mx1m (42" sq) space under a Mars 2 900 LED in 7 and 10 gal pots.

The recipe I used is in the first few pages of my journal but unless you live in Canada, some of the amendments were a brand only sold at Home Hardware as far as I know.

Q2: I never used a pH pen until I had the Mg issue just to rule it out.

Q3: check out the "Soil Science" link in my signature. I put that together at the request of a friend wanting to try going organic that lives in the UK. It gives basics, types of amendments etc, but no actual recipe.

Q4: there are better source of N but yes urine would be considered organic LOL BUT urine has a lot of other things in it that you probably don't want in your soil, such as excreted medical wastes if you are on any prescriptions.

Hope this helps answer some of your questions, and if you have more, give a shout or PM and I'll help in as much as I can

 

[fanleaf]

Hello Fanleaf

To answer your primary question.. YES.

My first indoor grow was in a soil I put together using ingredients I could find locally. The only issue I had was during flower which I can attribute to using molasses every watering causing Mg lockout.

The harvest of 4 plants yielded a little over 300g in a 1mx1m (42" sq) space under a Mars 2 900 LED in 7 and 10 gal pots.

The recipe I used is in the first few pages of my journal but unless you live in Canada, some of the amendments were a brand only sold at Home Hardware as far as I know.

Q2: I never used a pH pen until I had the Mg issue just to rule it out.

Q3: check out the "Soil Science" link in my signature. I put that together at the request of a friend wanting to try going organic that lives in the UK. It gives basics, types of amendments etc, but no actual recipe.

Q4: there are better source of N but yes urine would be considered organic LOL BUT urine has a lot of other things in it that you probably don't want in your soil, such as excreted medical wastes if you are on any prescriptions.

Hope this helps answer some of your questions, and if you have more, give a shout or PM and I'll help in as much as I can

Thanks Celt! Going to study your journal now.

 

[iwltfum]

If you aren't eating 100% organic foods, then you're urine might not be 100% organic. Some inorganic pesticides, herbicides, and prescription drugs are expelled through the urine.

 

[fanleaf]

If you aren't eating 100% organic foods, then you're urine might not be 100% organic. Some inorganic pesticides, herbicides, and prescription drugs are expelled through the urine.

Gotcha. The reason I ask if it would count as 100% organic is because many say if you grow 100% organic you don't have to do near as much pH'ing nutes and soil. Just water and grow. That being said, I wonder if urine is close enough to organic to grow as 100% organic....Does that make sense lol?

Hard for me to express exactly what I'm thinking through print.

 

[iwltfum]

Gotcha. The reason I ask if it would count as 100% organic is because many say if you grow 100% organic you don't have to do near as much pH'ing nutes and soil. Just water and grow. That being said, I wonder if urine is close enough to organic to grow as 100% organic....Does that make sense lol?

Hard for me to express exactly what I'm thinking through print.

Hmm. I don't know if I understand. 100% organic is a pretty strict subset of gardening. I think it's kind of one of those things that falls into either category depending on the way you look at it. I know some "organic farms" around the US and possibly other countries have started to use urine as fertilizer, but according to OMRI's website, human urine can be used only on crops that are not intended for human consumption. On the other hand, fox urine and urine form some other animals is OMRI listed so I feel like it's kind of a technicality. With my diet, I probably wouldn't use my own urine to fertilize my plants since I eat a decent amount of processed foods and sugars and things like that (trying to get away from all that, but it's a slow process), but if I ate more raw vegetables and fresh butchered meats, I would totally use it.

 

[fanleaf]

Hmm. I don't know if I understand. 100% organic is a pretty strict subset of gardening. I think it's kind of one of those things that falls into either category depending on the way you look at it. I know some "organic farms" around the US and possibly other countries have started to use urine as fertilizer, but according to OMRI's website, human urine can be used only on crops that are not intended for human consumption. On the other hand, fox urine and urine form some other animals is OMRI listed so I feel like it's kind of a technicality. With my diet, I probably wouldn't use my own urine to fertilize my plants since I eat a decent amount of processed foods and sugars and things like that (trying to get away from all that, but it's a slow process), but if I ate more raw vegetables and fresh butchered meats, I would totally use it.

I think I may know how to explain myself better now.

Basically I'm not looking to go 100% organic so I know I have 100% organic weed. I don't care if the weed is 100% organic or not.
In the same token I know growing organic can be much easier to grow because your not dumping in excess salts in the soil and screwing with pH near as much or worrying so much about burning plants with too many nutes right?

I'm looking at the "A-Z" organic soil to make a grow from start to finish easier and with less product all the while growing some fantastic weed. So the urine question was because while I realize there may be a few non organic compounds in it due to processed foods and such is it anywhere near enough to screw with an otherwise 100% organic grows ability to grow easily without flushing salts and monitoring pH like my life depends on it. I don't care if I would be able to say this weed is 100% organic or not but I want to be able to grow it like 100% organics grow. I wouldn't think urine would interfere in that regard but lots of you are far more seasoned than I.

I think that's more clear this time?

 

[Robert Celt]

One thing of note for you wanting to build your own organic soil Fanleaf.

Coffee grounds are an awesome amendment for your soil. They contain, nitrogen, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium as well as some other micro nutrients. If you brew your own coffee, save the grounds to add to your mix. Or if your have a Starbucks nearby, its my understanding that they will give used grounds to anybody wanting them, free is the best price

 

[iwltfum]

Good call celt. Coffee grounds is a great idea!

Ah! I get it now fanleaf. The short answer is, you can absolutely do that!

In the same way that some farms are using urine to fertilize plants in the ground, you should be able to do the same thing with pots and organic soil. You should be fine as long as you don't over do the urine fertilizing. It'll be a bit of a task to find the right balance of soil nutrients and urine, but I'm sure it can be done. The only way that I've tried fertilizing plants with urine is peeing outside in my vegetable garden. I never really looked into if it was affecting anything.

 

[Doubletoker]

Hi Fanleaf
I might know something of which you speak. Google Subcool's super soil recipe. I did and there are many modifications to his current recipe,
I guess just pick the one you want.
On another note, I am still looking at LED lighting, trying to find something around 400 to 500 bucks that will cover my area of 5' L x 5' H x 42" wide, that's around 700 watts or more. Got any idea's? I also tried to pm Sara from Mars, but was unable cause I don't have enough posts yet. I did find some from one of 420's partners, 2 pcs at 400. that will cover 5x5 area. Don't know how good they are tho.

 

[fanleaf]

Hi Fanleaf
I might know something of which you speak. Google Subcool's super soil recipe. I did and there are many modifications to his current recipe,
I guess just pick the one you want.
On another note, I am still looking at LED lighting, trying to find something around 400 to 500 bucks that will cover my area of 5' L x 5' H x 42" wide, that's around 700 watts or more. Got any idea's? I also tried to pm Sara from Mars, but was unable cause I don't have enough posts yet. I did find some from one of 420's partners, 2 pcs at 400. that will cover 5x5 area. Don't know how good they are tho.

4 of these maybe?
https://www.ebay.com/itm/2PCS-480W-LED-Hydro-Grow-Lights-MarsHydro-Panel-Full-Spectrum-For-Indoor-Plants-/181627128351?hash=item2a49d20a1f:g:AAcAAOSwu4BVzBZH







I like to have several LED's
That way you can run more of a modular setup and move things around the way you want them and only run what's needed. Those each pull 200'ish watts so 4 should do you pretty good. They say they cover 3'X1.1' so if you had 4 of them with the long side of the LED going with your 42" direction you should cover it pretty darned well. $400-$500 is hard to get decent quality LED's like the Mars to cover 3.5'X5' area but that setup would run about $700. There are many others here that know more about what MarsHydro has to offer that may do a great job for your area that's in your price range. Maybe some of those will weigh in on that. All I really have are Advanced LED's and they do a great job but way way more spendy.

 

[fanleaf]

Been sucking up all that I can on the subject. Seems that I need to buy a composter. I know it can be done without buying one but it seems that having a batch in there and giving it a turn a day or so makes the process pretty easy.

TheCelt....Thank you very much for the coffee grounds info. I've already started saving the grounds from today's coffee. I just don't know what to do with them yet to save them so they don't mold or something. It's definitely fall and getting colder here lately so can I effectively make compost during the winter? I would imagine things will just stay frozen and preserved outside?

 

[Robert Celt]

Good morning Fanleaf

If you coffee grounds came in metal canisters, once you get one empty, save your used grounds in the old canister, or use a freezer bag.

I wouldn't worry too much about the mold that will grow on coffee grounds so long as its in a closed container and you are not allergic to molds. The white furry mold that will grow is just part of the decomposition process.

If you are really ambitious and have the space, set yourself up a small worm composter. They will turn vegetable matter into the very best of fertilizer. I have one that I set up months ago and soon need to bring into the basement so they won't freeze.