Are you about to start your very own organic cannabis cultivation? And are you thinking of using cannabis super soil as your growth medium? Then wait! We have some crucial information you’d like to know about cannabis cultivation and organic super soil before you start.
Growing with organic super soil just makes everything easier. You don’t need to look out for every minor anomaly such as nutrient control or pH level regulation. The soil helps your plants thrive on their own while avoiding the side-effects of extra intervention. All you have to do is to water your plants and give them a nice environment that promotes their growth.
You see, cannabis is a naturally-occurring plant that grows like weeds in the wild. That’s why just using plain soil won’t effectively mimic its natural growing conditions. Super soil, or living soil, can help the plant survive on its own as it does in the natural process, which in turn, gives you the best results.
Most probably, if you want to picture super soil in your mind, it’s mostly available in a large plastic bag with a brand name costing 20-30$. While pre-made organic super soil is a great medium for cannabis cultivation, home-made super soil can even prove more effective and light on your pocket.
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What is Organic Super Soil?
Oh yes, it slipped our minds. If you’re a newbie you were probably waiting for this question. To define it in the briefest possible way, organic super soil is full of living organisms, which means organic soil is practically alive!
As simple as the food chain concept, each organism assists the other for growth and survival. Similarly, the incorporation of living elements in super soil, such as blood meal, worm castings, and roots organics, make the soil sustainable on its own.
Long story short, organic soil is a way we humans replicate the natural environment for our cannabis cultivation. We’re simply using the natural way rather than the synthetic nutrients and regulators, thus, producing better results.
We know what you’re thinking, super soil can’t be completely full-proof, right? Yes, you’re right, every coin has two sides, so let’s evaluate both sides of this one so you can get a better insight.
Pros of Super Soil
Firstly, let’s start with the benefits you’ll get by using organic super soil for your home cannabis cultivation.
Accessible Growth
As we mentioned before, growing cannabis in living super soil is easier than any other growth medium. You have to put in a minimal long-term investment, and you can be at ease as well. Once you’ve planted in the dirt soil, you can be at peace about maintaining pH or nutrient levels. Just water your plants and keep the place well-lit and favorable for plants until it’s time for harvest.
Suitable for Indoors and Outdoors
Super soil is a natural growth medium, therefore, it’s highly adaptable. You can use it to grow cannabis anywhere, whether its an indoor grow room or outside in your backyard.
Imitates Nature
Commercializing natural products is the bane of humankind when it comes to consumer goods. In the case of cannabis, super soil is made out of simple, naturally occurring materials that can be gathered in a minimally invasive way. This way, it imitates the way it’s supposed to be in nature and provides the cannabis the superfood it needs.
Improved Taste and Smell
As a result of over-treatment and unnecessary intervention, synthetic nutrients harm the plant more than they benefit them. They strip it off of its natural smell and taste, so much that we tend to forget the real thing. With organic super soil, you can experience the natural smell and taste.
No Flushing Needed
Yes, if you’re using organic super soil, there’s no need to flush your harvest before procurement. That’s because there are no additional compound salts or nutrients that need to be flushed out.
Cons of Super Soil
To give you an honest representation of the concept, now that you know the pros of cannabis super soil, it’s time for the cons. While they’re minimal and avoidable in most instances, you may find some as a deal breaker for you.
Primarily Suitable For Large-Scale Growth
If you’re thinking small scale, composting a huge quantity of living soil may be too expensive for you in the beginning. Organic soil is best created in exorbitant amounts, so to start with less, you’ll probably need to buy a pre-made package. This, in turn, will hike up the total expense for you.
Takes Time
Unfortunately, composting living soil isn’t a day’s work. If you want it the natural way, you’ll need almost 25-50 days to prepare the soil until you can plant your cannabis.
Physically Taxing
Mixing and Mulching the soil is essential to make it productive and functional. Therefore, you’ll need to invest a lot of physical work almost every day to change and prepare your dirt to the desirable level.
A Tad Bit Slower Than Synthetic Nutrients
Fast-growing is the translation of synthetic liquid nutrients. If you want your cannabis to grow naturally, you’ll need to give the living soil time to incorporate its nutrients to every corner of your crop. This process is faster with liquid nutrients, therefore, if you’re an impatient grower, you should stick to that.
Making Super Soil Yourself
Now, the part you’ve been waiting for. I know its weird, how can you make soil on your own? The ingredients? The preparation? Don’t go just yet, we’ve got it all covered for you. Here are some basic points you have to follow to make the perfect super soil yourself.
Make a Basic Mixture
To start your super soil, you’ll need to combine organic material, and compost in equal amounts, and aerate them properly. The base will make up about 20% of your final product, so the number of ingredients will depend on your needs. The basic formula is to put together any compost, peat moss, and perlite in equal parts.
Create Ample Fungi
Now to bring your soil to life, first of all, you’ll have to produce lots of fungi. This will help create different types of microbiological organisms in your soil. Fungi is effective in creating productive symbiotic relationships with root systems.
This means they provide your plants with the food they need while they thrive. Ingredients like humic acid, mycorrhizal inoculant, and kelp meal can help maintain a constructive fungi population.
Bring in the Bacteria
There’s no underestimating what bacteria can do for us when it comes to natural cultivation. In this case, they work to break down complex compounds in your soil and turn them into micronutrients to benefit your cannabis.
Additionally, they help create a proper immune system for cannabis. This way, your plants can fight pests and ailments by themselves. Bat Guano and Vermicompost, also called worm castings, are great ingredients to promote bacterial growth in your soil.
Pack it with Nutrients
Usually, we supply our plants with nutrients from synthetic sources. In the case of organic super soil, you’ll need to create a proper mix so they can be created naturally over time.
Nutrients like Nitrogen, Potassium, and Phosphorus combined with Zinc, Boron, and Manganese are basic micro and macronutrients for your plant’s needs. You’ll need a favorable mix of ingredients and lots of patience to create these in your soil.
A Simple Super Soil Recipe
Now that you know the basic requirements of composting your home-made super soil, there’s a simple, straightforward recipe to give you some first-hand directions.
First, let’s start with the list of ingredients. You’ll need the following:
- Eight Large bags of good quality potting soil
- One cubic foot worm or earthworm castings
- Two and a half pounds of bone meal
- Five pounds of blood meal
- Three cups oyster shells
- Five pounds of high phosphorus bat guano
- Three cups alfalfa meal
- Three cups kelp meal
- Half cup Epsom salts
- Half cup agricultural lime
- Two tablespoons humic acid
- Two tablespoons of mycorrhizae or tea compost
- Lastly, a large container or tarp to mix all the soil up
Now for the actual super soil recipe. Once you have all the ingredients, follow these simple steps.
Step One
Spread out your trap or container, and pour in all your ingredients. Make the mixture nice and moist by adding some water, but make sure it doesn’t get too wet. Just keep it wet enough to maintain a nice humid environment.
Step Two
Take some large garbage cans and store the mixture inside. As your mixture sits for about 25-55 days, your soil compost on its own. At this stage, make sure your containers are stored in a warm place.
Step Three
After almost two months, your super soil is ready to use. Place the soil inside your plant pots. Fill the pots up to a fourth of their height with this soil mixture.
Step Four
Mix your super soil with some base soil in equal proportions, separately. Fill your pots up halfway through with this mixture. Lastly, fill them up completely with some base soil and plant your cannabis.
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How to Mix Super Soil?
From the whole recipe, mixing the ingredients is an integral part of making the ideal super soil. Firstly, start by getting a container large enough to hold all your contents, with room to move them as you mix.
This can be any large, basin-like container, such as a kiddie pool or trough. You can judge the size by yourself according to the amount of soil you’re preparing to compost.
Secondly, pour in all of your material and start mixing. It’s safe to use your hand, but you’ll need large tools such as a rake of a spade if you’re moving large amounts of material. There’s no science involved in this part, as long as you make sure all the ingredients are perfectly incorporated.
Even if you don’t mix it entirely well, the nutrients will find a way to fuse into each other. Nevertheless, if you mix them well, you’ll get faster results.
How to Water Super Soil?
The second most important task is to water your super soil correctly, to transfer the nutrients into the plant. From the beginning, make sure that the soil is already wet when you put the plant in. Dig a little hole in your pot in the middle.
Fill this hole in with about a cup of water, this helps the roots find the moisture. Now, take your plant and place it in the hole. Fill the hole up again and water the stem of your new plant.
That’s pretty much it for watering the upper part of your soil. For the lower part, you can use a saucer and fill it up with water. The quantity depends on the size of your pot. Place the saucer beneath your plant, it should fill about an inch around your pot.
Next, to check if your plant is getting the moisture, lift it, and check the weight. If it feels heavier, the water and roots and doing their jobs right. This method helps your roots grow downwards in a natural way.
What is the Best Premade Super Soil from Amazon?
If you don’t have the will or time to go through all that hassle, there’s a simpler solution for you. There are lots of great brands that sell premium super soils that come premixed and aged. Also, some brands offer soil mixes that you can age by yourself at home. If you have no idea which brand to trust, here are a few options that we like best.
Super Soil Organic Concentrate
This concentrated super soil by Nature’s Living Soil is best to start your cannabis harvest. The package includes five pounds of living soil. That’s enough to fill about 25 gallons of treated soil in your containers.
Besides that, this premade soil has everything your plant need, so you’ll just need to water it and watch it grow. It has ample micro and macro organisms to provide considerable yield.
Fox Farm FX14000
Fox Farm is another popular brand in the farming industry. The brand’s premade super soil has all the amendments and nutrients your plants need. From earthworm castings to moss, crab meal and forest humus, it has the ideal blend of living organisms to feed cannabis plants.
Also, the soil has a pre-adjusted pH, which encourages nutrient intake. The soil is ideal for plants cultivated in pots and containers.
Kind Soil Hot Soil
This super soil mixture by Kind Soil ensures your plants have all the nutrients they need from day one. Tailor-made for cannabis plants, their nutrients give you a great-smelling, fresh-tasting, and ample harvest every time.
Besides that, it regulates the pH level of your plants as they grow. This helps them properly pull in the nutrients they need. All you have to do is water them properly and provide a good growing environment.
Conclusion
Yup, that sums up everything you need to know about making super soil. This organic soil is a natural, living alternative for plain soil. Whether you buy it premade, or make it on your own, you will get better and tastier harvests every time.
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