Just found this Soil at home depot for $5 and I want to use it for my outdoor grow. Will be transplanting in June to my 3x3x1 wood box and I was wondering can I just use this straight up with out adding amends. I was going to mix this with ocean forest and not sure if this is a good idea so i'm thinking bout adding more perlites, worm casting and oyster shell. Last year I bought like 8 yards of 215 soil that what they call it and a lot of people buy them this is what's in it. It looks real dry but my plants turns out good but them thrip bugs suck the shit out of my plant and the yield sucked. If anyone have any better idea please post it up. Made with our classic Organic Mix, but with an additional 20% Perlite or 3/8" Cinder rock added for additional drainage and aerating needs. Excellent in flower beds and planter boxes. Transplanting, rooting, and general greenhouse work. Includes Topsoil, Mulch, Sand, Rice Hulls and Mushroom Compost.
I know this thread is old, but has anyone any pics of results using this soil? ANy harvest reports? and do you need to start feeding towards flowering? My city tap water is PH 8.4, do I water with just plain unbalanced tap all thru to harvest?
I bet its better than the dr earth 24 buck a bag soil at home depot. I use his dry fert but his soil really rubbed me the wrong way for that price. Gonna keep my eyes open
I'm still not sure if it has biosolids or not. Some of their products are definitely questionable, but not sure about the patio plus. What was wrong with the Dr. Earth? I was leaning toward them. They're not that expensive around here. The most i saw was just under $9/cf. Solo
DO NOT BUY THIS SHIT SOIL. LITERALLY. Unless you want your prized medical garden growing in human feces and sewage sludge, I'd recommend spending a little bit more, and getting something a little more "safe". My Experience With This Product: After scouring the web looking for a cheap soil, I came across this thread. I did some reading through, and decided to go pick up 5 bags of the raised bed and potting mix (same blend as this). I transplanted most of my plants into the soil and watered. Now, as a side note, I kept 4 other plants growing in a local organic mix I picked up (keep this in mind). When I water the local organic mix, the water that comes out doesn't look much different than what I put in. Pretty clear good looking water for the most part. Same when I have used FFOF, and Sunshine #4, water goes in, water goes out. Sounds simple right? When I water this Kellogg's brand, a couple things were wrong and alarming from the very beginning. A. The runoff that comes out is BLACK. Not light brown, not green, not clear with a tint. I'm talking old motor oil black. I'm talking wesley snipes black. I'm talking as black as a black cat in a dark alley at midnight on a cloudy night. NASTY B. The smell that is produced by this runoff is bad. Bad is an understatement. It smells like shit ate some shit, got sick, threw up the shit, got hungry ate it again, and shit it out. That bad. I grew up with a chicken coop. I know what chicken manure smells like. This ain't it. This smells like a sewer. Like the devils bowels. Like Oscar the grouch's dick after his water's been turned off for a year. After doing some research, I quickly found different sources citing that Kellogg's Gardens has misleadingly included BioSolids (Human Shit and Sewage Sludge) in 4 of their OMRI Listed products publicly (which is beyond me, because OMRI requires no BioSolids), and other individuals have called their customer service line, and after a little pressing on the same black smelly runoff issue I am experiencing, they have been indulged with the sensitive information that the product actually DOES contain BioSolids, but they can't disclose the amount. If every time I water it looks like I am emptying a septic tank, they are putting a lot in. Also, on the back of the product, they even have (in smallllllll writing of course) where to go online to find out about heavy metal contents in the product. There is Arsenic, Lead, Cadmium, and Nickel, just to name a few. Eventually, I came across an article where a blog writer had contacted Kellogg's about this issue, to receive a reply from the Chief Sustainability Officer (Letter included below). You can read the letter yourself, but to me, this lady (Kathy Kellogg) is being very defensive and aggressive towards their application and use of Biosolids (basically stating anyone who is against them doesn't know a thing about them, and we could learn a thing or two from her and buy using them). Instead of apologizing for misleading consumers (lying to them by putting *compost* on ingredients instead of biosolids, or better yet, human shit), she basically throws knowledge around and is basically trying to make the customer sound stupid, like they don't know what biosolids are, and basically giving a pro-view on the use of biosolids, stating that those who disagree with their use are misinformed. Lady, you can grow your veggies in Los Angeles and wherever else's human feces you like. Just don't bag it up, call it something else, and lie about it. The whole vibe I have received from this company, and this letter, has left the nastiest taste in my mouth, and even a worse smell in my nose and grow room. Again, DO NOT BUY THIS SHIT. BOYCOTT THIS LYING, DECEITFUL, and BULLYING COMPANY. Biosolids are something everyone should have the right to choose if they want to use in their gardens or not. But have a company literally force feed customers the stuff and not let them know thats what's going in their garden, is beyond incredibly unethical. FUCK KELLOGG GARDEN's. (Letter From Kathy Kellogg) “Thank you very much for contacting us and giving us the opportunity to respond to the blog post on SFGate.com. Essentially it is a reprint of an article that has been circulating the internet for the past few months. The author is a self proclaimed activist who cites his own misquoted sources. He has never contacted us to initiate a dialog. His tactics include slamming Michele Obama's White House garden, Alice Waters foundation for teaching children to garden, and many more. There several factual errors in the article that I would like to point out: 1. “It appears that Kellogg is using sewage sludge, purchased from the city of Los Angeles, in 70% of its fertilizers.” This is FALSE. All of our fertilizers are OMRI listed, and OMRI does not allow products to be OMRI listed if they contain sewage sludge. Moreover, four products we produce (Amend, Topper, GroMulch, and Nitrohumus) contain what the EPA calls “Class ‘A’ Exceptional Quality Biosolid Compost.” To acheive Class A Exceptional Quality status, biosolids go through heavily regulated processes to remove contaminants and to kill pathogens. The resulting biosolids form a rich soil amendment that looks and smells like any other composted material. While we think that biosolids are a great soil amendment, we realize that some people find the concept unappealing. We offer our customers a choice by listing which products contain biosolids on our website, and offering several OMRI listed soil amendments as an alternative for those customers who would prefer not to use biosolids in their gardens. I also want to note that biosolids have a benefit beyond any one individual garden. Composting them is a huge benefit to the environment, as the alternative is to dump sewage into the ocean, fill up our landfills with it, or to burn it. None of those options are as environmentally friendly as composting sewage and turning it into a soil amendment. And just to point out how sloppy or deliberately misleading this article is with the facts, we get all of our biosolids from Inland Empire Utility Agency, not Los Angeles, which is clearly stated on our website. The 70% is a gross, inexcusable, exaggeration, and gives further evidence of the activist's ill intent and zero effort to fact check. In fact, just 4 of 276 products that Kellogg markets contain biosolids. No matter how I tweak the math, I can’t get to 70%. 2. “Sewage sludge is not just treated human waste (which is gross enough, but apparently safe); it also contains hazardous contaminants.” This is FALSE. As I mentioned above, the EPA heavily regulates the use of biosolids and all of Kellogg’s products that contain biosolids are 90% BELOW the allowable maximum for any contaminant. The original perpetrator of this article is taking advantage of the public’s lack of knowledge about soil science to scare them with data that sounds worrisome but actually is actually completely benign. Yes, testing equipment is now so good that we can detect minute amounts of all sorts of things. But just as a certain amount of arsenic is naturally occurring in some soils and is nothing to worry about, the amount of heavy metals in our products is extremely small and we make every effort to see that it matches the naturally occurring levels found in native soils. The peer reviewed scientific data shows that there is nothing to be concerned about. To make this point even plainer, there are more heavy metals in your toothpaste than there are in our products. 3. “sewage sludge is toxic and should not be branded as organic fertilizer, nor should it be used to grow food with, and very obviously, school children should not be digging around in it to grow zucchini and cilantro.” This is FALSE. The statement that sewage sludge is toxic is factually incorrect. The activist is entitled to his own opinion, but not entitled to his own facts. Toxic is a defined term and the micro constituents sometimes found in biosolids are NEVER approaching toxic (harmful) levels. All of the fertilizers donated to the EMA gardens were certified as organic and do not contain biosolids. The accusation that Kellogg lies about its fertilizer content and covers it up is an outright lie. The "evidence" that Kellogg has donated products containing biosolids to EMA schools appears to be rooted in two publicity photos that show Amend in the background of the photo. This was an inadvertent mistake on our part. We were asked to bring bags of soil to the photo shoot to be used as a prop. I grabbed Amend and Gromulch, what was easily accessible, and these 2 photos are now what the activist points to in order to embarrass, discredit and dismember a very excellent garden program in Los Angeles. As we increase our line of OMRI listed products, we have decided to only donate OMRI certified products to the schools we support through Environmental Media Association. But to reiterate the original points, there is nothing toxic in our products. Kellogg complies with all state and federal regulations, and to take it a step further, we offer a large selection of OMRI listed products for the gardening public. We are proud of our legacy of recycling organic materials from local sources and enriching soils and gardens that are virtually starving for organic matter. We believe that there is excellence in our processes and in the return of biosolids to soils to enrich and nourish plant growth. I hope my response to the blog post answers your questions, but if I can clarify anything or provide more information, I would be happy to do so. And again, I really appreciate that you gave us the opportunity to respond and share our side of the story. i would love to talk further, and share the source documents, and get the word out there, that we need to all be cognizant of returning organic matter to our soils!"
Seriously? I was considering getting the Kellogg's after noticing my MG Nature's Choice organic isnt really helping my plants. It sort of stagnates them. I need a cheap organic mix and most people in this thread swear by the Kelloggs.
Re: Miracle Gro (Gak) to Bio Solids... Out of the frying pan into the fire. I highly suggest if you're looking for a basic organic soil that you get off of the bagged soil altogether. Mixing your own high quality (actual) organic mix is ridiculously easy, no bottled nutrients are required and it can be used over and over again - for years, with basic additions in between or with simple top dressings of select soil amendments. If you're serious at all about gardening it's a no brainier - IMO, of course. There's many of us in the Organics forum that would be more than happy to help if you were so inclined. J
Im disabled. Very little funds for this. But weed is the best thing for my pains and allows me to sleep. Is there a way to create enough soil to grow a few 4' tall plants for under $20?
That guys lying , I’m using it right now and watered my 5 plants this morning. The run off was clear as can be. Def no motor oil type color lmfao.
2008 post brought back up. what was i not doing in 2008. Lots and lots of drinking and other stuff on the side