Subcool super soil is the best soil for cannabis. We can tell you that from experience. We’ve been making our own super soil following Subcool’s original super soil recipe for years. And as a result we’ve been growing and smoking some really awesome organic marijuana. Plus we met SubCool and have smoked his primo organic weed grown in his own Subcool super soil.
Organic weed grown in an organic soil mix is the best because it tastes and smells amazing. Maybe when choosing organic planting soil over hydroponic grow styles one might not get the big yields or the high THC levels as growers going hydro—but for us and for Subcool…flavor is king. Your organic weed not potent enough? Just smoke more and don’t worry about the chemicals that you’ll find in hydro cannabis. Anyhow if you’re interested in learning more about the best soil for growing marijuana check out our special yourtube vid; best soil for growing weed.
You probably already have a lot of the ingredients to create Subcool super soil already. There’s no need to purchase an expensive TGA Subcool Super Soil Charge Pack like we did—that’s if you’re lucky enough to find one. We haven’t seen the Charge Pack to create Subcool Super Soil for sale in years. You might find some of the ingredients at a grow store near you and save on shipping costs. However a few of the thing’s you’ll need to create the famous Subcool Super Soil mix could be hard to find. So here are THE EXACT INGREDIENTS found in TGA Subcool Supersoil all sourced from Amazon.com. SubCool officially uses and recommends the following products:
The term super soil started being used widely after Subcool released his recipe and specific set of instructions for creating composted soil that delivers everything cannabis plants need, at exactly the right time, without having to manage pH or add extra nutrients—all you have to do is just add water.
Anyhow to make things easy we scored a 25-pound pack of SubCool’s Super Soil Fertilizer so we wouldn’t have to source all the ingredients. In addition to the fertilizer pack we grabbed a bag of Roots Organic Big Worms worm castings and five 1.5 cubic ft bags of Roots Organics soil. We decided to split the pack in half and make only 7.5 cubic feet of soil because the grow in this particular location isn’t very large. This came about to about two 32-gallon garbage cans full of Super Soil.
If you’re interested in SubCool’s super soil recipe or making a bit of SubCool’s super soil yourself check out directions from SubCool below.
If you’re looking to find marijuana check out our dispensary locator.
Story by Subcool, photos by Subcool & MzJill
To me there is nothing like the flavor of properly grown organic cannabis. The subtle flavors and aromas created when using mother earth is overwhelming to the senses when done properly.
Learn how to pass a drug test.
As with many vegetables a rich Organic soil can bring out the best in a plant. Over the past 20 years I have tried almost every possible way to cultivate our favorite plant and while hydro is certainly faster and the yields blow soil away, I have developed a soil that performs extremely well and there’s very little guess work. I don’t worry about ph or ppm I simply have spent a few years developing a sound recipe and in combination with 7 gallon nursery pots I can run from start to finish using only water. Other than a bit of sweat equity every 90 days or so it takes a huge amount of science out of the garden and puts nature back in charge. This recipe is slightly different from my last and from the one so many use as gospel that I have passed around for years from grower to grower.
I always start with at least 6-8 large bags of high quality organic soil. The selection of your base soil is very important so don’t cut corners here. I cannot begin to discuss all the different products but I will discuss a few in this article. A good Organic soil should cost between 8-10$ per 30# bag. I want you to get a real good idea what I consider a balanced soil to be so take a look at the ingredients of a product called Roots Organic:
I have always believed in giving my plants a wide range of soils and additives I figure it’s like a buffet they get all they need
“Lignite, also known as leonardite, mined lignin, brown coal, and slack, is an important constituent to the oil well, drilling industry. Lignite, or leonardite as it will be referred as hereafter, is technically known as a low rank coal between peat and sub-bituminous. Leonardite was named for Dr. A.G. Leonard, North Dakota’s first state geologist, who was a pioneer in the study of lignite deposits. Leonardite is applied to products having a high content of humic acid. Humic acid has been found to be very useful as a drilling mud thinner.”
Another local product we are trying now is called Harvest Moon. Washed coco fibers, Alaskan peat moss, perlite, yucca, pumice, diatoms, worm castings, feather meal, fishmeal, kelp meal, limestone, gypsum, soybean meal, alfalfa meal, rock dust, yucca meal, and Mycorrhizae fungi. The Roots produced a more floral smell in the finished flowers while the Harvest Moon generated larger yields.
You can also just use 2 bales of Sunshine mix #4 but this is my last choice and plants growing in this may not complete properly with this “Just add water” method of soil growing. The concept to this concentrated soil is to not have to worry with mixing up nutrients after the soil is made. The concentrate is placed in the bottom quarter to half of the container and blended with base soil. This allows the plants to grow into the strong concentrated soil and in the right size container need nothing else but water throughout the full harvest cycle. With strains requiring high levels of nutrients we go as strong as three-quarters of the container with Super Soil but this is only with a small percentage of strains.
Here are the amounts we have found that produce the best tasting buds and strongest medicines:
8- Large bags of High quality Organic potting soil with a coco and Mycorrhizae
1- 25-50 pounds of Organic Worm castings
5 lb. Steamed Bone meal
5 lb. Bloom bat Guano
5 lb. Blood meal
3 lb. Rock Phoshate
¾ cup Epson salts
½ to 1 Cup cup Sweet Lime ( Dolimite)
½ Cup Azomite ( Trace Elements)
2 tbs. Powdered Humic Acid
There are several methods of mixing this up well. You can sweep off a patio or garage and work there on a tarp. You can use a kids plastic wading pool these cost about 10$ and work really well for a few seasons. Some growers have been known to rent a cement mixer and cut down on the physical labor. As long as you get the ingredients mixed up properly that is all that matters. This can be a lot of work so don’t pull a muscle if your not used to strenuous activity. This method is good for mind and body. Working with soil keeps me in pretty good shape, but if you have limitations you can simply have someone mix it up for you while you supervise. One of the things I like about this method is I can drop of plants to a patient and all they have to do is water the plants when the soil dries out.
Place a few bags of base soil in first making a mound. I then place the powdered nutrients in a circle around the mound and then cover with another bag of base soil.
So now we add water and let it cook in the sunshine. 30 days is best for this concentrate.
Do not put seeds or clones directly in this mix. It is an advanced mix used in conjunction with base soil. It is used to place in the bottom of each finishing container and fully rooted established clones are placed in a bed of base soil that is layered on top of the concentrate. As the plants grow they slowly push their roots into the super soil drawing up all nutrients needed for a full cycle. The Super Soil can be used also to topdress plants that take longer to mature.
Buds from this method finish with a fade and a smoother fruity flavor. The plants are not green when done but Purple, Red, Orange and even Black at times. The resin content is heavier and the terpenes always seem to be more pungent.
This method is used my medical growers all over with amazing results. The feedback I receive is really positive with reports of Hydro-like growth and novice growers producing buds of the same quality as life long growers.
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we don't need any excuses if the people want to smoke weed that's their business, government needs to learn its place or we vote the bad politicians out .we have the power and the majority to do it .
Wow great recipe. Thanks for posting!
WRONG! Green Dean, formerly of Milwaukee, invented (better) "super-soil" in 1984. That's 31 years ago by our count. Anybody who followed subcool's journey of kicking around dirt on you tube, KNOWS he started kicking three things together, called it "super" about 3 years ago. FINALLY, he is closing the gap a bit, to get closer, to the kind of SUPER soil that often brought a, Mr. P. Moriarty, (of Karate Kid fame), to enjoy his favorite; A3, whenever he visited Milwaukee in the 80's. Green Dean's soil, Marc Emery seeds.( Everybody went jail eventually, except Miagi, lol.) We are talking WAY before sub, TGA, and whatever he plans next. All we ask is Subcool begin to credit Green Dean properly for HIS soil invented again, in 1984. Yes, Happy frog, Ocean, and even subcool are getting closer to what he had 30 years ago and it has been very validating watching the industry embrace his life work as all soils seem to be going towards Green Dean's soil. The PERFECT soil. Bar none.
If there is one thing this industry is chock full of it is jealousy from people who used to think they were relevant 30 or 40 years in the past. You are no different than the guy that called me last month and told me Steve DeAngelo stole his idea for CBD. If you want noteriety spend your own money and build your own website.
Sorry that third person talk was bit weird. I have decided to come out of "retirement" due to this article, and take MY place in history back before I get Edison 'd, like Tesla did. I am seeking immediate employment as a master "organic" grower, in Co. or other legal facility. Gotta have your C.O., and all. I will also, if a LARGE enough order is placed, supply you with the very soil subcool and Foxfarm is STILL attempting to find above, lol... By his own admission; sub is just tossing stuff in yet. (I hear he is a pretty nice guy. No disrespect to sub.) doepkedad@gmail.com
Last thing.....sub; To make amends, let me help you along a bit........ If you double fold tarp. It can take a LOT of weight first off. Second. Put your mixing stuff on one end of tarp. Then you can simply bend down, pick the TARP up at edges, and "walk" your ingredients down or around inside the tarp as you lift tarp up. You can wear new white sneakers, smash rolling chunks with heel, or fold tarp/stomp em that way, and they will stay spotless white for the girls to admire. (Use those waders for fishing, lol.) Peace
Green Dean began his soil work in 1984 when he realized that the ONLY brands of "dirt" available on the market at time (jiffy and sunshine) either burned his life's work, screwed up ph, (to eye bleeding levels of frustration), and he only ph testing kit of the 80's was as primitive as can be. In early 84, Green Dean began extensive outdoor experiments, where he immediately noticed that outdoor plants had almost ZERO ph problems!?!. He asked himself WHY are they so gorgeous out here? It was obviously not the sun; It was the SOIL by that swamp!!!!! (It was black, seaweedy, and mucky. Full of critters. Sediment. Stunk like compost.) The "eureka" moment. Life is a WEB and those poor things need more than one/two strings to live a whole life on. Let's read this new guy, Ed Rosenthal ' s stuff. Let's see what this cool new mag, High Times says by reading it religiously 20 years here. Sensi seed bank came bout then, BUT the SUPER base was perfect from get go. This soil was crazy rich. Black gold. And you could smell anything went in it was gonna either die fazt or eat well. Fried a bunch batches. Perfected it tho along the way in JUST two years. So by 1986, a better version than current mixes was born in Milwaukee. Since I never needed to be there testing ph anymore, (lol), I got a job in printing. This became an Inc 500 position as company grew. 30 years grow exp, PLUS a solid biz experience like that ensures that we took the time to work smarter, not harder, and you got a quality man to boot. Whether it's providing you with some pretty wicked dirt, or running your 100 light shop. There are not lotta people that could ever keep pace w just one Green Dean and at 45, I can MOVE. No slacker. I would love to walk in and pilot your ship well and fast before the big companies come squish any and all mom and pops out. Buyout minded facilities will get you extra smiles from me. doepkedad@gmail.com
I appreciate your concern. That is EXACTLY what I am doing now friends, unless you think I came to simply troll on poor sub cool.( For what purpose?) Yes, I laughed as he started kicking dirt on you tube claiming to be the father of modern super soil. I have photographic PROOF tho, if High Times or ANY historical writer wishes to confirm that I had this recipe before sub through, with dozens of witnesses. It is historically my invention. Plus I just proved I mixed dirt longer by telling sub to ROLL his dirt around on tarps (like a TRUE master would/did). Or else I'm just lucky? No. If someone comes from history, with physical proof, that he had my soil mix before 1984-86, I will do what is proper and CREDIT that that guy was there FIRST. Stop being jealous. I paid my dues in jail like Ed Rosenthal, Marc Emery and many other notables so you could HAVE an industry and this website. Show respect please. Buy some soil. Dont sit there poo pooling me till you see that, oh crap. This is no joke. Green Dean did what you HAD TO in the 80's and hid anything. You think you could come out any sooner. No Web till 90's. I am here now. I have 6 pack abs from 18-45. This guy's not in shape. Pot is not harmful. And I AM gonna bust some records and OTHER things out here. Hopefully not feelings. If I offended. Sorry, BUT. I no longer need a closet to hide in if I want to work in the wonderfully LEGAL new world. We are where I needed to be historically, IN 1986. That's 100% truth. Deal
Time will prove my words, but yes, I need a website, serious funding, and all that, which is hard after you make front page of the Milwaukee Journal for growing. The "taliban"(lol) destroyed the door, large parts of the home, the walls needed holes I guess too. They dumped all the dirt in question and every item we owned in one NASTY pile. Then they dumped water on it all took me away while every item in home ROTTED. It has been fun trying to get a new life started after THAT and forgive for swiping just there. Just annoyed that in a time of need, when an original who took hits for the cause comes out says he needs help, the thing to do is offer him that 1000 light job, or at least TRY the original organic soil he made in 1986. But thanks for listening. Been needing this rant off my chest for 30 years! Woooooo! Felt GOOD......
You "invented" the idea of mixing different things together to create an organic soil blend 30 years ago? Not trying to insult you, but this is the most petty claim I have ever heard.
Lol. Good argument. I agree. Who could lay claim to" mixing" Kool aid? Lol No. Amsterdam outdates me by JUST a wee bit bro, and my original mixes were borrowed, meaning I checked my own Indoor Marijuana Horticulture, all High Times, and any and all field research done by pioneers (I MUST "bow" to like Sensi Seeds, libraries on other crop soils, etc....) Sensi got pinched too back then, lol. Yeah. Seems lot of us got bit HARD by the Taliban to keep these flames lit for rest. The critical time in history is here. This critical moment is now. My claim to fame, if I have any is reading comics and driving Harleys with slicked back hair before gel and before you thought bikers were "cool". I knew I was. I dated dancers for Petes sake, lol. Maybe picking stock market crash (to the day once, and to the week another time) and getting mom's out market before that day was my claim to fame? No. I keep coming back to dirt and how I began to feed my soil microorganisms, that through the process of hot (or even "cold composting" methods) created specific foods for the red worms to aerate through, specific sugars for root uptake, and specific food for the bacterias to process. I called it branch-chain amino soil cuz I was young dumb, but well, you get the idea. Everything has one role that feeds another, creating the FIRST self correcting ph soils on Earth. Period. (Within reason. No intentionally bad water in and your good.) THAT 'S the claim here my brother that has my knickers twisted a bit. P.s. I HAD noteriety in 90's. Didn't like it. Rather pay 40k a year buying our hungry children a burger each than spend it jailing up pot smokers . *Winks
Thanks....should a turned OFF notices. I'll argue a bit, but I not good at it, lol. Yes, again, I already "legally own" that very point where an organic soil can achieve enough bio-chemical symbiosis to sustain it's own ph range for a significant margin of the life cycle. It's is ALREADY legally named the, Ke effect. (Pronounced as, "key".) Sub seems to have only just noticed it, which is why I made sure I took this MASSIVE time to make sure it is recorded on YOUR site, post haste. Hope that nails it all without listing ingredients. You ain't got SPACE, lol. Ida know. Tried anyway. Your actually recording history here to host my words guys. Shout out for SSL.....Making history..... Woot.woot......