"Natures Living Soil" is not very good

[Tom Bombadil]

So I usually mix my own soil...this time around I decided to be lazy and try a premade supersoil made specifically for autoflowers..i mixed this garbage exactly as directed on their website with roots organic soil (their preferred soil):
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HOW TO USE
Super Soil Technique:
1. Add 1lb of Nature's Living Soil concentrate for every 1.5 gallons of organic potting soil to make a ready to use Super Soil (about 1/3 of a 5 gallon container)
2. Fill a container 1/3 full with the super soil from step 1 and 2/3 with organic potting soil.
3. Plant and water from seed to harvest
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I use a charcoal kde filter to remove chlorine and chloramine from my water... my ppm is at 250 and ph 6.5 - 6.8 (not that it should really matter)
everything was going along nicely until the plants hit the ss layer and the tip burn started... another week or so later, I started to see calcium deficiencies.. then after a couple more weeks phosphorus deficiencies...To be fair this was happening with a sour kush plant that is known to be a calmag hog... but this doesnt explain the lack of P in their mix. The soil ph was never out of range and the runoff ppm after a month was extremely low @ around 700 ppm. ive never had issues with supersoil mixes until I used this stuff. I contacted the company and they were cool about it and offered to give me a different batch or give me a refund. It seems as thought their quality control is an issue or their instructions are wrong, I havent decided yet.. I think the stuff needs more time to break down and the smell that this stuff has kind of confirms my suspicion...I guess its possible they gave me a bag that hadn't sat long enough possibly. None of my super soil mixes smell terrible after they have cooked and are ready for use... this seems to indicate that the components have yet to break down and this seems evident by the tip burn. Just a heads up.. if you use this stuff and plan on growing a heavy feeding auto, dont buy the auto flower mix...but the regular mix... I ended up culling that sour kush plant it was so far gone with P deficiency.. . I may have just gotten a bad batch and the company was cool about refunding my money... Just thought you may want to know what youre getting into.. or if anyone has had the opposite experience with the stuff, feel free to leave a comment. What I experienced, boils down to a lack of amendments in the autoflower soil NLS produces.. and the amendments are not properly processed or cooked and can and will cause burn. I cant speak on their standard mix, I havent used it...

Cheers!

 

[Eyes on Fire]

No pictures? Also,I thought it was a pound to 5 gallons of soil. I added them to three gallon pots and roughly five different variations of said soil and combo of soils. where did it lack and was it burned? Yes no matybe so and a pic will tell; me the story.Thanks

 

[Cannalove420]

I’m having the same issue except lower leaves yellowing firing off and showing cal mag spotting all over and tips of new and old growth burnt. Runoff on the one with the most problems is 500ppm and the one that I mixed a little heavier is 1500ppm and so far that ones the best but is starting to faid out from a dark green to light green

 

[Cannalove420]

I also have a phosphorus deficiency I wonder if I should add some rock Phosphate or some bat guano? Any ideas?

 

[Eyes on Fire]

yeah most soils today are good but will always lack in Nuitrogen that lasts for a solid 50-60 days with aggressive growth as well as tend to the flowering fully during the same time(s). so I usually prep pots for a little better or longer run.I would buy Tea Labs Bloom booster personally. but Build a soil has a new thing on their site. looks decent but havent used it.Bloom booster. but I would use a gallon of soil,a half cup of langbenite and a few bloom and N granules and hit it with a tea and mammoth and let it chill a few weeks.maybe a little bit of bonemeal among a few other thing. Kelp meal,sul po mag.lots of things can be added to make a top coating and/or a bloom boost addition to your soil/Pots. Pictures? I am ujsing it now since I was being asked ALL the time when I first came back and only used it for a photo grow repair that went longer than (and bigger) than I had anticipated LOL


And FYI Layering is for the most part,is a dumb idea and completely unnecessary. I have ZERO clue as to why so many people and sellers say do the layer thing. NOPE ill never do it again. just an fyi,mix it through the pot it'll work better and last a little longer overall.

 

[Tom Bombadil]

No pictures? Also,I thought it was a pound to 5 gallons of soil. I added them to three gallon pots and roughly five different variations of said soil and combo of soils. where did it lack and was it burned? Yes no matybe so and a pic will tell; me the story.Thanks

ill see if i can find a pic tomorrow...the plants that i potted with the nls that "cooked" 3x longer look a lot better but still have the slight tip burn here and there on new growth but none of the twisting scraggly growth patterns..the gc critical purple has the same symptoms (p def, maybe cal..sometimes hard to tell in early stages, at least ime) but not as bad..pics tomorrow hopefully! ive done pretty well with the layering technique with photos..only done a couple autos with layered soil and those were fussy and had some slight clawing but no deficiencies..i think youre right tho, layered soil is kinda silly and straight tlo is probably superior

 

[Eyes on Fire]

sounds like its choking on a hot soil is all.but once I see it I might be able to tell better.Thanks

 

[Tom Bombadil]

sounds like its choking on a hot soil is all.but once I see it I might be able to tell better.Thanks

been busy n too tired to do pics today..the remaining plants are not drastically symptomatic..the critical p has a few necrotic spots here n there..the others just look a little cal hungry..ill see if i can find some similar google pics brb

 

[Tom Bombadil]

it started out just like this ..figured cal def

then the tips started yellowing and the new growth got scraggly

eventually (about week 3-4 of flower) the one sour kush i euthanized was covered in necrotic leaves all with overall yellowing..could have saved it with synthetics but i dont risk mold n mildew issues with sickly plants...chop! the others are doing better with a lighter mix and longer cook time..
run off from that plant was 700 or so and ph was 6.5..i usually dont monitor that though..700 is very low..odd since it burned then starved...to be fair, the sk was a little larger than the others but no where near xl size..oh well..ill probably give nls another try n just mix it into all the soil...top dress and give aact..

 

[Tom Bombadil]

I added them to three gallon pots and roughly five different variations of said soil and combo of soils

not sure what this means? you added nls to a variety of different soil mixtures? i ended up doing a little tweaking as well. after seeing the first two plants stunt and having an idea of what i was working with, i let the nls/roots concentrate sit for 20 more days, then cut it with some black gold peat based organic soil mix and some happy frog n a little more perlite, then added a little azomite and dolomite lime(all i had on hand), i think a little humic acid too some insect frass..silica powder..and possibly 1 more thing...then used that mixture as a ss layer.. with ffhf on top.. watering with boogie aact tea base occasionally and ill use buddha bloom and hp2 sometimes too if necessary, but generally dont do bottles...

seems to have made a big difference. chugging right along now...