Tom Hill Mix vs Coots Mix

[CentralValley05]

Wanted to see what everyone preferred. I'm in 100 gallon smart pots, full season. Anyone run both and have a preference? From reading up on mixes, Toms mix will take to half way through bloom then you will hit them with 1 or 2 feedings to carry you through. Positives of Toms is that's it proven and materials easy to obtain. Coots mix will take you all the way to finish, is what alot of people are now using, but materials are a little harder to find.

I have found sites to order coots materials from, but does anyone know of any stores one could drive to pick up from in the Modesto/Fresno/209 area.

For Toms mix who is giving the best deals on pallets of dirt?

Thanks for any feedback.

 

[Shcrews]

both mixes are proven. coots mix is a lot cheaper i think. When i priced out the tom hill mix i think it was 200+ per yard while coots is about 125.

 

[Mountain Sprout]

Don't know about coots but tom hills is proven (but can use added trace minerals).

 

[Team Microbe]

Coots mix is the only one I've run out of the two, but it worked well for me:

 

[Calidude]

can you also post some outdoor pics for comparison? Those indoor photos look nice.

 

[Team Microbe]

No outdoor photos atm, but if anything it performs even better outside. We can only do so much with artificial lighting...

 

[CentralValley05]

Microbe, is that with just feeding water all the way through flower indoors? You adding in boosters in bloom? Also what are you using for the 1/3 compost, casting, mushroom, or?

New issue I am having is finding compost in bags. Soil/compost must be brought in by hand, the savings on coots mix comes in on the compost but dissapears when buying it prebagged. Anyone have any feedback on Gardner and Bloome Supreme Harvest as a compost for coots mix? Bout 8 bucks a 2 cft bag around here. My understanding is that the compost in the coots mix is the most important part.

Lastly, what about a combo of the two. Toms Mix, with added neem meal, crab meal, and glacial rock dust, at coot mix ratios. Will that take Toms Mix all the way to the finish line?

 

[CheifnBud2]

Tom Hills Mix works, little more expensive and not as renewable imo. I cut the portions into a quarter and save money vs the diverse ammendments the coots mix would cost me overall in the short term.

But long term coots mix makes sense no matter what. especially if you are running a few dozen plants in big smarties or in the ground in huge mounds.

 

[Team Microbe]

Microbe, is that with just feeding water all the way through flower indoors? You adding in boosters in bloom? Also what are you using for the 1/3 compost, casting, mushroom, or?

New issue I am having is finding compost in bags. Soil/compost must be brought in by hand, the savings on coots mix comes in on the compost but dissapears when buying it prebagged. Anyone have any feedback on Gardner and Bloome Supreme Harvest as a compost for coots mix? Bout 8 bucks a 2 cft bag around here. My understanding is that the compost in the coots mix is the most important part.

Lastly, what about a combo of the two. Toms Mix, with added neem meal, crab meal, and glacial rock dust, at coot mix ratios. Will that take Toms Mix all the way to the finish line?

Nah, but you can very well feed just water. I'll copy and paste my schedule for you -


Watering Regimen:

1st Watering
-Pureed Sprouts (I use barley seed)
-10 ml FulPower
-5 ml Agsil16H (potassium silicate)

2nd & 4th Waterings
-Water only

3rd Watering
-1/4 cup coconut water
-1/4 tsp Aloe Vera powder
-5 ml Agsil16H

*Biweekly I add 1 tsp per 5 gal of TM-7 (humic acids)

*I'll brew a compost tea every 4 weeks or if I forget to water and pots dry out too much.



Bottled (and overpriced) bloom boosters consist of watered down enzymes pretty much, and enzymes being the main engine behind plant processes (next to photosynthesis); will "boost" growth in any plant. Anyways, the Puréed sprouts (seed sprout tea) is the natural bloom booster in this regimen. When seeds sprout they release an enzyme, so when you harbor that enzyme and blend these seeds up just after sprouting you capture those and mix them into your drenching solution. Check this out - Seed Sprout Tea Tutorial

I feed the entire garden this routine, so my clones, seedlings, and mature plants will all get the same thing.


For compost I use a mixture of worm castings and high quality bagged compost. Any reputable compost company is fine (Oly Mtn, Coast of Maine, Malibu, Worm Power, Rocky Mtn Worm, etc) but what really matters is what's available locally for you. I used to pay like $30 a cubic foot back in the day when I didn't know how to source things for cheap within driving distance. I actually had Coast of Maine lobster compost 5 minutes away from me the entire time I ordered bags online *slaps forehead*

Go to those compost companies websites, and click the tab that says something like "Find near me" that maps out their carriers. I know Worm Power and Coast of Maine are on the East coast, and Malibu and Oly Mtn are out west somewhere. Rocky Mtn Worm co is in Colorado... plus there are dozens I'm not mentioning I bet. Quality inputs = quality outcomes, and when you get your humus right it makes everything else run much smoother than say - cheap earth worm castings that you'll find at Wal-Mart. Don't cheap out on the humus, if you can find it locally it should only run you about $8 a cubic foot.

Lastly, I wouldn't mix or do any magic with the two mixes since they are indeed strategically built to be well-balanced and have been tested thoroughly before becoming public. I've learned this the hard way, so unless you know exactly what you're doing/how the new additives react to the ones already in place then you're playing with fire. More like playing with fire around a pile of your own money... so unless you can afford the risk then I say go for it and document your results. If not, then I wouldn't fix what isn't broken and play it safe.

 

[Robrites]

I made Coots soil for the first time this season and added about 25% coco coir which kind of dilutes it....is there anything I should be adding to the soil as the days get shorter?

 

[Kygiacomo!!!]

I made Coots soil for the first time this season and added about 25% coco coir which kind of dilutes it....is there anything I should be adding to the soil as the days get shorter?

im running coots mix as well only thing that i added was bat guano and insect frass slurrys and everthing is growing nicely with dark green healthy leaves

 

[Robrites]

im running coots mix as well only thing that i added was bat guano and insect frass slurrys and everthing is growing nicely with dark green healthy leaves

Mine are big and green and gorgeous but just want to make sure they finish properly.

 

[EastBayGrower]

i used a version of coots mix / slaulson (sp?) supersoil ... got what i could find locally...


Base: basicly 1/3 peat - 1/3 compost (soil/humus/ewc) - 1/3 aeration amendment (perilite, lava rock, rice hulls, ect.)
3cu ft bale spag. Peat (used Sunshine this time but usually like Premier)
1.5cu ft roots organic original or 707
1 cu ft worm gold plus worm castings (great top dress)
2cu ft chunky perlite w/ lava rock
.5 cu ft Alaskan humus



Amendments: next time wont use all of them just added some better ones after the soil was already cooking (neem,oyster, ect.)
5 cups Neem cake (good topdress)
4 cups Oyster shell powder
2 cups happy frog 5-5-5
4 cups blood meal 12-0-0
6 cups fish bone meal 3-16-0
3 cups half ej rainbow mix bloom/grow
3 cups azomite
2 cups lime
2 cups humic ore
3 cups Crab Meal
8 cups steer manure
3 cups kelp (good topdress)
3 cups alfalfa
2 cups high N guano 9-3-2
1 cup gypsum
1 cup Epson salt
2tbls sub-B
1tbls sub-m
1 cup mykos
1 cup diatamacous earth
2 cup insect frass (good shit as top dress)
1 cup high P guano


no issues so far but havent started flowering just yet...

 

[Kygiacomo!!!]

Mine are big and green and gorgeous but just want to make sure they finish properly.

ya bro i hear ya! i bought this top dress kit to lay on mine around end of this month. here is the mix i have for the top dress:

Worm Castings 50%

Compost 50%

Comfrey Leaf (Home Grown By Jeremy Silva)

Kelp Meal

Neem Cake (Just Enough for some pest control)

Bat guano (Indonesian)

Gypsum

 

[Kygiacomo!!!]

i used a version of coots mix / slaulson (sp?) supersoil ... got what i could find locally...


Base: basicly 1/3 peat - 1/3 compost (soil/humus/ewc) - 1/3 aeration amendment (perilite, lava rock, rice hulls, ect.)
3cu ft bale spag. Peat (used Sunshine this time but usually like Premier)
1.5cu ft roots organic original or 707
1 cu ft worm gold plus worm castings (great top dress)
2cu ft chunky perlite w/ lava rock
.5 cu ft Alaskan humus

[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=61128&pictureid=1442074]View Image[/url]

Amendments:
2 cup insect frass (good shit as top dress)





[URL=https://www.icmag.com/ic/picture.php?albumid=61128&pictureid=1465524]View Image[/url]

yes the insect frass is awesome. im about to buy another 5lb bag before i go into flowering so i can hopefully get my plants all primed up for flowering so maybe bud rot wont be able to get my plants this year. im gonna top dress with the frass at start of flower with 2 cups and folair 1x a week at 1-2 tsp

 

[reppin2c]

Im running a modified tom hill mix. Mixed tested amended to micheal asters ratios.

 

[EastBayGrower]

yes the insect frass is awesome. im about to buy another 5lb bag before i go into flowering so i can hopefully get my plants all primed up for flowering so maybe bud rot wont be able to get my plants this year. im gonna top dress with the frass at start of flower with 2 cups and folair 1x a week at 1-2 tsp

same man im about to buy my second bag of frass also sold me the first one at $15 to test out, needless to say im coming back for more, .....if its got Chitin', im buyin'.....

 

[Robrites]

What is this "frass" that ye speak of?

 

[Kygiacomo!!!]

same man im about to buy my second bag of frass also sold me the first one at $15 to test out, needless to say im coming back for more, .....if its got Chitin', im buyin'.....

LOL u sound just like me brother! i bought the 0.5lb bag to test out. i wasnt even no where near done with the small bag before i was ordering more. this is one the few products out there that i can actually see positive benefits within 72 hours of application. yea im always on the hunt for chitin now. what i have found that i will be adding two new things to my soil mix next year below are from "Coast of Maine" :
Quoddy Blend™ Lobster Compost – 1ft³

The original "seafood" compost. Made with chitin-rich lobster blended with peat humus and compost. The result is a dark-brown, complex soil that drains well and is ideal for conditioning beds and borders. Great for vegetable gardens. One of our best sellers!

We have named this blend for Passamaquoddy Bay, or "Quoddy" for short. The bay marks Maine's easternmost border with Canada and its deep, nutrient-rich waters, protected inlets, strong tides and currents make it ideal for salmon farming.

Lobster Shell Meal

Gardeners have long been using our Quoddy Blend™ Lobster Compost for the magical properties of chitosin-rich lobster shells, stem strength-building calcium content and robust micronutrients.

Benefits of Lobster Shell Meal:

Benefits of Lobster Shell Meal:

Organic plant food to grow big & strong plants the way nature intended
Mix into container soil or gardening beds as fertilizer (see back panel photo for detailed instructions)
Helps eliminate grubs, ants, fungus and root nematodes and other organisms with chitin-based structures
Ideal for vegetative (veg) stage growing, providing your plant with excellent leaves and stem strength
Boosts plant defenses against pests, so your tomatoes, peppers and other veggies don't come with an extra surprise

http://shop.coastofmaine.com/collections/all

 

[expealadocious]

Awesome