SubCool's Super Soil - Breakdown from an Organic Gardner

[J.James]

If you have been reading about cultivating indoors with organic soil then you've heard of SubCool's Super Soil. I admit to starting with this mix and thought I was really doing something special when I first went for it. I bought all the stuff and was really excited to use it.

My results were actually pretty good, but I've since moved on I think you should too.

Besides the "base soil" being purchased instead of made from scratch, I have many other issues. All in all, taking bagged soil and adding worm castings and nutrients isn't a bad idea, but it can be improved upon and money can be saved.

Here is the Recipe:
8 large bags of a high-quality organic potting soil with coco fiber and mycorrhizae (i.e., your base soil)
25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs Bloom bat guano
5 lbs blood meal
3 lbs rock phosphate
¾ cup Epson salts
½ cup sweet lime (dolomite)
½ cup azomite (trace elements)
2 tbsp powdered humic acid


Now I'll go through each item:

1. Bagged soil - WHY? when we are going to the trouble to mix all of this up anyway, I might as well save some money and increase the quality. The other factor here is having exact control over the inputs. These soils already have unknown quantities of nutrients and the quality control isn't perfect, what if you get a hot batch and then further amend it? I would avoid the potential room for problems and make a soil using many standard recipes but most go with 1 part peat, 1 part compost and 1 part aeration.
2. Mycorrhizae: Adding this to your soil doesn't make sense and is a waste of resources. Anyone who works with mycorrhizae will tell you to apply to the root zone at transplant or seedling stage. Obviously, this super soil mix is for the bottom of the container and nowhere near the root zone at the proper time. Basically just a complete waste of Myco.
3. 25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings: I agree with using worm castings but that is a WIDE range to apply. Why 25 - 50? I think that when building your base mix you should be factoring in a certain percentage of castings and compost. Not adding to this all later on in a made up way.
4. 5 lbs steamed bone meal - This is a by-product from the Cattle industry and is really not a good input for organic soil production. Fishbone meal, however, is great for this same purpose and is safer to use.
5. 5 lbs Bloom bat guano - Guano is very expensive and really not necessary. This is a fast release nutrient and is more in line with the feed the plant regimen instead of soil building. That and harvesting guano is rarely safe and sustainable, there are many reasons to avoid this.... Plus the Fishbone meal that we just mentioned has you covered already along with all the other plant-based amendments and worm castings that you should be using.
6. 5 lbs blood meal - More slaughterhouse waste and sure to be unclean. Why use the blood from McDonald's cows when you can add nitrogen so easily through alfalfa meal, fish meal and or worm castings.
7. 3 lbs rock phosphate - This is the 3rd phosphate product and it makes sense because in a soil this rich and without the mycorrhizae actually working like it should there isn't going to be a very good way to access P. That's okay, in a properly built soil you don't need a million sources of P, the plants will get it and the biology and fungi will make sure of it. Not only that but soft rock phosphate is high in heavy metals like cadmium that are proven to be harmful. When growing cannabis, the trichomes will store the heavy metals and smoking the plant will not allow the typical body safety system of passing through the liver, etc. before going into your blood. For this reason materials high in heavy metals are typically avoided.
8. ¾ cup Epsom salts - Absolutely no reason to add more magnesium sulfate to a good soil mix. A little known fact about soil is that the Calcium to Magnesium Ratio will control the texture of the soil and adding Epsom salts is a good way to tighten the soil and there are better ways to get sulfur, like gypsum.
9. ½ cup sweet lime (dolomite) - Dolomite lime should be avoided as it is completely out of balance with the proper Calcium to magnesium ratios for proper soil building. Especially when considering long term no-till soil use.
10. ½ cup azomite (trace elements) - This is good stuff and is just a "brand" name rock dust that has all the elements from A-Z hence Azomite.... thing is, that also includes heavy metals. While I'd use this in the veggie garden, many will avoid this in the medicine garden.
11. 2 tbsp powdered humic acid - Good advice but humic acid typically purchased at the grow shop is from leonardite and isn't really helpful and is very expensive. Avoid this and get Ful-Power from Bio-ag and use it with waterings.

So then after all this work. You mix this up and let it sit for 30 days. Then use this in the BOTTOM of your soil container. What is interesting is that all though this makes sense at first glance... it's all way off. Nature doesn't have all the nutrients on the bottom, in fact, it's the opposite, all the plants in nature have the nutrients on the top. That is why building soil, using mulch and topdressing work so well. It's things like this that make the real organic gardeners and farmers laugh at all of us sometimes.


So if you've been using super soil, don't feel bad, I think we all did at some point and I owe Subcool a lot because he actually got this semi-organic mix discussed enough that the mainstream took notice... that alone was helpful at getting me to where I am today.

BuildASoil.com Super Soil Recipe Breakdown

 

[crimsonecho]

I don’t get why people feel the need to add all this stuff. Especially the material that may introduce considerable amounts of heavy metals and other contaminates.

I wouldn’t want to use any animal byproducts considering all the hormones and antibiotics used in the industrial meat production. Fish? Ok but still there are bottom feeders and we pollute every body of water we see. So if the sources of those fish are safe and they are not bottom feeders. Ok. Same with blood and bone meals. If you know the source and you know that animals have not been subjected to antibiotics and hormones in excessive amounts -preferably never been exposed at all, but thats hard to find-. Then maybe.

I agree on guano too. The biggest concern for me is that its not a sustainable practice. But its a good P source without a doubt. Better than any plant based material. So i use it. But sparingly. Again as you said this can be replaced with fish bone meal.

Trace minerals and hormones and enzymes and all the other stuff. What i do is i make a stinging nettle fpe and aloe vera fpe. Soak some carbon or biochar etc. in this solution for a week and just mix it into my soil. And take whatevers left from the tea making process and let it decompose in my mix while its cooking. Thats what i do.

I don’t get why people make this overly complicated.

 

[J.James]

I will try to find a few links but here is a copy of what Soil Recipe I use now

 

[J.James]

Have you come across any links to a soil mix that can be created in house? Something similar to Ocean Forest/etc. or any of the other popular mixes?

Soil Recipe:

1 Part Canadian Sphagnum Peatmoss
1 Part Aeration/Drainage (Pumice, Rice Hulls, Grow Stones)
1 Part Premium Thermal Compost (use up to half as Vermicompost or Worm Castings)
(Notice: The compost is the single most important ingredient, don’t skimp.)

Per Cubic Foot of total soil volume add:

½ Cup Kelp Meal
½ Cup Neem and/or Karanja Cake
½ Cup Crustacean Meal
½ Cup Fish Bone Meal
½ Cup Malted Barley Powder
1 Cup Gypsum
1 Cup Oyster Shell Flour
2 Cups Basalt

Mix and plant right away or tuck away and let compost for a couple of weeks first. Either way

 

[J.James]

Thanks. Really just looking for the base mix....no amendments. Not going organic this season so don't want the extra unknowns in there complicating things. I also can't use crab/fish/bone. etc here cus the bears/critters love that stuff.

The base mix without amendments is:
1 Part Canadian Sphagnum Peatmoss
1 Part Aeration/Drainage (Pumice, Rice Hulls, Grow Stones)
1 Part Premium Thermal Compost (use up to half as Vermicompost or Worm Castings)

A variation of this is the base of every potting soil

 

[Opie1]

Thanks for sharing this info J. James, very informative, thanks.

 

[Ozjet68]

f you have been reading about cultivating indoors with organic soil then you've heard of SubCool's Super Soil. I admit to starting with this mix and thought I was really doing something special when I first went for it. I bought all the stuff and was really excited to use it.

My results were actually pretty good, but I've since moved on I think you should too.

Besides the "base soil" being purchased instead of made from scratch, I have many other issues. All in all, taking bagged soil and adding worm castings and nutrients isn't a bad idea, but it can be improved upon and money can be saved.

Here is the Recipe:
8 large bags of a high-quality organic potting soil with coco fiber and mycorrhizae (i.e., your base soil)
25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings
5 lbs steamed bone meal
5 lbs Bloom bat guano
5 lbs blood meal
3 lbs rock phosphate
¾ cup Epson salts
½ cup sweet lime (dolomite)
½ cup azomite (trace elements)
2 tbsp powdered humic acid


Now I'll go through each item:

1. Bagged soil - WHY? when we are going to the trouble to mix all of this up anyway, I might as well save some money and increase the quality. The other factor here is having exact control over the inputs. These soils already have unknown quantities of nutrients and the quality control isn't perfect, what if you get a hot batch and then further amend it? I would avoid the potential room for problems and make a soil using many standard recipes but most go with 1 part peat, 1 part compost and 1 part aeration.
2. Mycorrhizae: Adding this to your soil doesn't make sense and is a waste of resources. Anyone who works with mycorrhizae will tell you to apply to the root zone at transplant or seedling stage. Obviously, this super soil mix is for the bottom of the container and nowhere near the root zone at the proper time. Basically just a complete waste of Myco.
3. 25 to 50 lbs of organic worm castings: I agree with using worm castings but that is a WIDE range to apply. Why 25 - 50? I think that when building your base mix you should be factoring in a certain percentage of castings and compost. Not adding to this all later on in a made up way.
4. 5 lbs steamed bone meal - This is a by-product from the Cattle industry and is really not a good input for organic soil production. Fishbone meal, however, is great for this same purpose and is safer to use.
5. 5 lbs Bloom bat guano - Guano is very expensive and really not necessary. This is a fast release nutrient and is more in line with the feed the plant regimen instead of soil building. That and harvesting guano is rarely safe and sustainable, there are many reasons to avoid this.... Plus the Fishbone meal that we just mentioned has you covered already along with all the other plant-based amendments and worm castings that you should be using.
6. 5 lbs blood meal - More slaughterhouse waste and sure to be unclean. Why use the blood from McDonald's cows when you can add nitrogen so easily through alfalfa meal, fish meal and or worm castings.
7. 3 lbs rock phosphate - This is the 3rd phosphate product and it makes sense because in a soil this rich and without the mycorrhizae actually working like it should there isn't going to be a very good way to access P. That's okay, in a properly built soil you don't need a million sources of P, the plants will get it and the biology and fungi will make sure of it. Not only that but soft rock phosphate is high in heavy metals like cadmium that are proven to be harmful. When growing cannabis, the trichomes will store the heavy metals and smoking the plant will not allow the typical body safety system of passing through the liver, etc. before going into your blood. For this reason materials high in heavy metals are typically avoided.
8. ¾ cup Epsom salts - Absolutely no reason to add more magnesium sulfate to a good soil mix. A little known fact about soil is that the Calcium to Magnesium Ratio will control the texture of the soil and adding Epsom salts is a good way to tighten the soil and there are better ways to get sulfur, like gypsum.
9. ½ cup sweet lime (dolomite) - Dolomite lime should be avoided as it is completely out of balance with the proper Calcium to magnesium ratios for proper soil building. Especially when considering long term no-till soil use.
10. ½ cup azomite (trace elements) - This is good stuff and is just a "brand" name rock dust that has all the elements from A-Z hence Azomite.... thing is, that also includes heavy metals. While I'd use this in the veggie garden, many will avoid this in the medicine garden.
11. 2 tbsp powdered humic acid - Good advice but humic acid typically purchased at the grow shop is from leonardite and isn't really helpful and is very expensive. Avoid this and get Ful-Power from Bio-ag and use it with waterings.

So then after all this work. You mix this up and let it sit for 30 days. Then use this in the BOTTOM of your soil container. What is interesting is that all though this makes sense at first glance... it's all way off. Nature doesn't have all the nutrients on the bottom, in fact, it's the opposite, all the plants in nature have the nutrients on the top. That is why building soil, using mulch and topdressing work so well. It's things like this that make the real organic gardeners and farmers laugh at all of us sometimes.


So if you've been using super soil, don't feel bad, I think we all did at some point and I owe Subcool a lot because he actually got this semi-organic mix discussed enough that the mainstream took notice... that alone was helpful at getting me to where I am today.

BuildASoil.com Super Soil Recipe Breakdown

This was a great in-depth breakdown of all the elements and how they aid or hinder the overall health of the soil. Yes I’m one of these growers who used subs recipe outdoors for a few years after being dormant with growing cannabis while the kids grew up . In that time the internet and explosion of information came around and when I started to look back into modern methods his was one I found and took an interest in . I guess his reputation and likeable YouTube weed nerd clips grabbed my attention . I started using his recipe and was happy with the results but for some reason I wasn’t totally convinced . I grew up in a keen active gardening family and I saw the results my mother got with just composting and self made manure based liquid fertilisers . Anyway I’ll stop with the life story . I really appreciated this broken down explanation of exactly how subs recipe all comes together both good and bad. RIP Sub .

 

[Wrangler1]

Spam for buildasoil

 

[Wrangler1]

This is a very theoretical, biased statement. It is an opinion, not a fact, like the rest of the article!

1. Mycorrhizae: Adding this to your soil doesn't make sense and is a waste of resources. Anyone who works with mycorrhizae will tell you to apply to the root zone at transplant or seedling stage. Obviously, this super soil mix is for the bottom of the container and nowhere near the root zone at the proper time. Basically just a complete waste of Myco.

Why? Potting soil these days have myco's in it from the start, along with other nutrients. The roots grow in the potting soil down to the SC mix, which is a much stronger mix of nutrients and myco's