How to Make Super Soil for Autoflowers

If you’ve ever wondered how to make super soil for autoflowers, then you must read this guide. Many people aim to grow their own marijuana these days, and if it’s done well, then there are no problems. But if certain practices aren’t followed or guidelines are misunderstood, the weed doesn’t grow properly, and they’re left disappointed. 

Disappointment can often happen when it comes to some more complicated elements, like picking the best soil for autoflowering cannabis. There are many options out there, and it’s easy to get confused about what’s right for you. It’s essential to get the right soil because certain soil types can harm or even kill cannabis. 

The soil supports and nourishes your plants, so if it’s not suitable, your plants won’t grow to their full potential if they grow at all. To ensure you don’t suffer from these problems, we’ve included as much information as possible in this guide. It’s broken down into multiple sections, covering all the areas we think are most vital for you to know about. 

Themes covered in these sections include:

• Defining autoflower soil 
• Explaining why super soil for autoflowers is worth making yourself 
• Step-by-step instructions on how to make super soil yourself 
• The nutrient levels in your soil 
• Seed germination in your soil 
• The amount of soil needed 

What Is Autoflower Soil?

Autoflower soil, often called super soil, is a kind of soil you can make at home or using products you buy from a local store. If you make it yourself, you’ll be able to tweak its composition and tailor it to your grow room or garden, although it does take a little know-how and practice. 

The advantage it has over regular soil is that it’s infused with all the nutrients you need to grow healthy cannabis plants. All the way from planting the first seeds to harvesting the cannabis at the end of the growing season, your cannabis will be provided for by its super soil. 

Every element of the super soil is organic, so there are no harmful chemicals or ingredients inside it. It replicates what your cannabis would experience growing in unspoiled nature. The microorganisms that fill the soil help to make the soil even more beneficial to your cannabis plants. 

Super soil doesn’t remove the need for constant attention and maintenance, as there are many other considerations to factor in. Lighting, climate, and strain type are examples. But the soil will make a positive difference compared to ordinary soil. It gives you a helping hand that will make a difference when it’s time to harvest. 

It’s also worth clarifying that autoflower soil isn’t a specific brand of soil you can buy online. There are many versions of it called super soil, and the basic rule is that super soil is organically made. It can be made on a mass scale, such as when a brand of super soil is produced for distribution to supermarkets. Or it could be from your own efforts. 

Not all super soil brands will be equivalent, either. Some might perform worse, and some might perform better. The results ultimately depend on a combination of variables that are different in every grow room and garden. But that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t make some yourself. 

Why Make Autoflower Soil?

The best soil for autoflowering plants provides a range of benefits that you won’t find in other soil types. If you buy it from a store, you’ll get a basic blend of ingredients, which will probably be good enough. But if you want to be as authentic as possible, and have the best impact on your cannabis, then making your own is essential. 

By producing your own super soil, you won’t have to worry about it being in stock at your local store. All you have to do is follow a particular recipe that only uses organic ingredients, and you’ll have your super soil ready to go in no time. 

When you grow your cannabis in this super soil, you’ll find the only extra component you need to add to it is water. The nutrients are present in the right quantities, so none of that has to factor into your decision-making. However, you should check that the pH of the water is appropriate for the strain you’re growing. 

You’ll also need to visually inspect your plants to ensure no pests or diseases may damage them over time, but this is quite simple to do if you don’t have other responsibilities, such as providing nutrients. Once you can focus on a few priorities at a time, it’s easier to set aside the hours needed to do what you need to do. 

When it comes to making autoflower soil, it’s a rewarding process because, at the end of it, you have a rich store of soil you can use for growing your marijuana plants. Plus, if you have other plants you’d like to grow, you can use the soil for them as well. You might even find that they produce better yields and flowers too. 

Autoflower Soil Pros and Cons

There are many benefits to using super soil, as well as a few drawbacks. This is the case with many aspects of growing cannabis, and it’s essential to cover them early in our guide. That way, you can judge whether you want to use it before you read any further. 

We’ll start by covering the pros, and then we’ll move onto the cons. There may be others that are not listed here, but we’ve tried to capture the most significant ones so that you can have an at-a-glance reference. 

Pros: 

• Super soil is easy to use 
• Super soil is of higher quality compared to other soil types 
• Super soil means you won’t ever need to flush your plants 

Let’s discuss these a little further. The super soil, once made, won’t need any further adjustments. You’ll only have to add in water and any other nutrients that you personally prefer. 

Super soil also means your plants will taste and smell better too, as well as having flowers that are smoother. These are some significant advantages worth keeping in mind. Lastly, because it’s entirely organic, you won’t have any build-ups to flush out of your plant. 

Cons: 

• Super soil can cost quite a bit to buy or make 
• It takes more of your time to make it 
• Marijuana growth takes place at a slower rate 

Let’s look at these more too. The price of all the ingredients will vary depending on where you live, but you should endeavor to get the best quality possible. Making the soil itself can take 1-2 months, so it’s a significant investment of your time. Finally, the growth rate is slower because you’re not directly feeding the roots of your plants.

How to Make Super Soil for Autoflowers

If you’ve been thinking about how to make super soil for autoflowers, then you should know it’s an excellent skill to have. Learning about making soil means that you’re informed whenever you have to buy soil, so if you don’t make your own, you’ll still know what to look for when you’re out shopping.

You can also customize the soil to suit your specific preferences, which is something an average weed grower wouldn’t be able to do. Some super soil versions have 17 ingredients in, so there is undoubtedly a learning curve. 

But that’s why we’ve included this section in our guide. The rules are usually quite simple once you’ve understood them. As for ingredients, examples of what you can include are bone meal, dolomite, bat guano, humic acid, rock phosphate, and worm castings. These should be included in different quantities, and you can find example recipes online. 

You should begin with three elements. Peat moss, compost, and vermiculite. You should blend them as follows: 

• Peat moss: 3 parts 
• Compost: 2 parts 
• Vermiculite: 1 part

After that, you can spread the soil and start adding your ingredients. You can add them in any order you like, but with more minor ingredients, it’s worth spreading them out on top of the rest of the soil. Once this is done, you can keep the soil contained by using a tarp. The next stage is letting the soil settle for 24 hours. It allows all the ingredients to mix. 

You can then allow the soil to compost. This takes at least a week and ensures the soil is of the best possible quality. Moisture is necessary to ensure this process continues, but you don’t want your soil to be waterlogged. 

The final stage is what takes the longest time. For 1-2 months, you’ll want to leave the soil somewhere with intense sunlight. It will begin to warm up, and that’s a sign that microorganisms are breaking down the soil. After this phase, your soil will be ready to use. 

Germinating Seeds In The Best Soil for Autoflowers

When it comes to planting seeds, the moment of truth is whether they germinate successfully or not. To some extent, you can guarantee this by buying marijuana strains from a reputable supplier. Here is an example of a few strains from ILGM, an online store with more than 6000 positive reviews. 

• Gorilla Glue Autoflower 
• Blueberry Autoflower 
• Blue Dream Autoflower 
• Bruce Banner Autoflower 

However, the soil itself is even more important for growing cannabis plants. Cannabis seeds need a lot of maintenance and for their growth conditions to be just right. One way to ensure they do better is by using a jiffy pellet. If you apply distilled water for around a day, then it can help your seeds to germinate. 

Once this has happened, you’ve given them a helping hand, ensuring they’re ready to be placed into your super soil. You should position each seed just under the soil’s surface, with the small shoot pointing down into the ground. This gives your seeds the best chance to continue growing, using the nutrients that are available in the super soil you’ve grown or purchased. 

To make the process even faster, you can plug in a grow light and place it over your soil. This will help more shoots emerge from the soil, and then you can place the seeds into their main growing location. But when you do transfer your plant into the permanent area, you should do so after no more than six days because it will be too difficult to move the seeds after that. 

You’ll still have to regulate temperature and climate when the transfer is done, but you won’t need to worry so much about nutrients. There are still some things to consider with nutrients, and we’ll discuss those in the next section.

Adding Nutrients To The Best Soil for Autoflowers

When growing marijuana, it’s crucial to ensure the plants are well-fed, and that’s why we’ve emphasized the value of super soil throughout this guide. It will provide your plant with lots of nutrients. 

However, if you’re growing autoflowering seeds, there are some other rules to keep in mind. Autoflower seeds need less nourishment than different seed types, so you don’t need to add much to the soil. If you do, you run the risk of feeding them too much. 

One of the easiest ways to overfeed your plants is with nitrogen. If you give them too much of it, it can damage your plants, so watch out for the nitrogen levels when you’re making or buying super soil. 

Something that experienced growers recommend you add to the super soil is mycorrhizal fungi. These are not nutrients. They’re organisms that aid the absorption of nutrients by the roots of your cannabis plants. It’s recommended you add these because they increase the chances your plant will survive. 

You’ll also want to focus on the pH of your soil. The pH scale goes from 1-14, with 7 being neither acidic (1-6) nor alkaline (8-14). The pH you should use for weed is between 6.2-6.5. To ensure it remains in this range, you should monitor the pH levels and adjust as needed. Acidic pH can be remedied with dolomite, and alkaline pH can be remedied with pine needles.

Best Soil for Autoflowering Plants

As we’ve mentioned throughout the piece, you can buy super soil from stores in addition to exploring how to make super soil for autoflowers. There are many options on the market, and we encourage you to do your own research. We’ve given you enough information in this guide to figure out which super soil is the best for your situation. 

However, it might seem challenging to discern whether the soil you’ve bought has made much of a difference compared to ordinary soil. Because of that, we recommend you read the product reviews of any soil that you’re thinking of buying. That way, you can see what the majority of people are experiencing. 

If you like a particular brand of super soil, then you might want to try it on a few plants for a while and see whether the effects are noticeable. If you’re new to growing marijuana and haven’t had any comparable experiences, then it’s best to get hold of soil that others say is good. 

Something else you’ll notice is a lot of super soil product pages make similar claims, so don’t rely on these alone as they might unintentionally mislead you. Of course, if you fail to find a good product, you’ve got the option to make your own. 

How Much of the Best Soil for Autoflowering Cannabis Do You Need?

The amount of soil you’ll need to use depends on the strains of cannabis you’re growing. In general, autoflower seeds can thrive with less soil than other varieties, but you’ll still need plenty of soil if you’re growing lots of plants. 

More specifically, if you want to grow no more than an ounce of marijuana, you won’t need a large amount of soil. Half a gallon should be sufficient in this case. That amount is also good if you’re a beginner because you likely won’t be growing a lot of weed to start with. 

If you intend to grow more weed, then you’ll need to get more soil. Two gallons is a reasonable estimate of the amount you’ll need. You’ll also need to factor in extra space in your grow room or garden, as well as additional costs for equipment and resources.

If you’re interested in growing a lot of weed, then you might want to go up to five gallons or greater. 

When using soil in quantities greater than 5 gallons, you’ll probably need to have an outdoor space or a large grow room, but you could also use a grow tent if space is limited.

Using The Best Soil For Autoflowers

Once you’ve made or purchased your super soil, you’ll need to think about how you’re going to use it. We’ve given some information about the quantities of soil you’ll need and how to plant seeds in it, but some additional information is worth knowing. We’ve put it into this section. 

Super soil is a highly concentrated form of soil, which means your plants can suffer from root burn if it’s misapplied. We’ll discuss more about that in the section below, but for now, we’ll tell you what you need to keep in mind regarding the soil. 

For every single dump of super soil, you should add three lumps of ordinary soil to dilute it. This should be the same soil that you can use to form part of the super soil itself. This means if you’ve got a cannabis container that’s 1kg in size, you’ll want 250g of super soil in it and then 750g of ordinary soil. 

If you think your weed needs more nourishment, the super soil can serve as a concentrated dose of nutrients. Simply spread it out on top of your soil, and your plants will make use of the nutrients. 

Avoiding Root Burn With The Best Soil for Autoflowering Plants

Root burn is something we briefly touched upon in the previous section. What happens is that your nutrients can be overwhelming for your weed plant. It doesn’t need too many nutrients, only the optimal amount. If you give weed too many nutrients, it can suffer and have the opposite effect to what you intended. 

To avoid root burn, you should follow the steps we gave for germinating your seeds but do so in soil that isn’t fertilized. Once the plants have grown for 2-3 weeks, you can add them to your super soil. 

Alternatively, you can fill most of your cannabis pot with super soil and then add a small amount of ordinary soil to the top of the container. This will ensure that when the root system reaches the super soil, your cannabis plant can tolerate the higher amount of nutrients it will begin to receive. 

With autoflower seeds, you’ll also have another option. You can fill half of a pot with your super soil, place a smaller pot in the center of that pot, and then take out the pot once the rest of the larger pot is filled. This leaves a space you can fill with ordinary soil where you can germinate your seed safely. 

Conclusion

You’ve now finished all the sections of our guide about making super soil for autoflowers. We’ve covered an extensive range of topics, and you may want to bookmark this article so you can dip into it where needed and look at the sections most relevant to you. 

It’s also important to add that you can find further information by copying the subheadings into Google and doing additional research, should you need to. However, you mustn’t get stuck in analysis paralysis. Eventually, you’ll need to decide whether you’re going to make super soil and how you will use it. 

Finally, if you want to buy premium and high-quality cannabis seeds from a reputable supplier, you should do one thing. 

Click here to visit ILGM today.