Dr. Earth Pot of Gold Organic Soil??

New user on Rollitup, however seasoned in the grow. Before I post my entire base mix recipe, I was curious if anyone has heard of, knows anything about or has used Dr. Earth's Pot of Gold Organic Soil. I was told that all of Dr. Earth's products are organic, but my main interest was in this particular soil. I purchased a bag, after using the classic FoxFarm Ocean Forest for years. After reading the entire back and its list of contents/derived from's, etc. I decided to go with it. I was quite impressed by the information on the bag alone. Any feedback would be appreciated. Thanks.

Never used their soil, but I'm currently using quite a few of their amendments. Seems to be good stuff, so I would have to imagine their soil would be of similar quality.

Out of curiosity how big is the bag (cf), and how much did you pay for it?

Dr earth soil is horrible..its worst than miracle grow. I tried the the organic aloe, pot of gold medical and caused all kinds of deficiencies within the 2nd and 3rd week. I'm not the only one here that's been through that. There's a Dr earth thread on here somewhere from almost a year ago. The only thing that soil is good for is of you are into breeding gnats.


I use pro mix bh and amend it. Used to use roots organic before that.

Look into super soil and / or recycled organic living soil.

The bag is 1.5 cf. I paid $12.99 for it at a local nursery. My intention was to go in and stock up on some more Ocean Forest. They only carried the tiny bag of OF for $8.99 a bag!! A little steep for me.

After researching Dr. Earth products, specifically the Pot of Gold, it seems to me that it is just a super organic medium with not as much nutritional content as say that of a FoxFarm mix. Which is fine for me since I experiment with different custom soil mixes. The Dr. Earth will not be the only thing in my mix. That being said, I'm sure that if you plant straight into the Dr's, without the proper amendments and liquid nutrients, that you will probably see some deficiencies. That shouldn't be a surprise considering FFOF only has enough nutes to last 2-3 weeks.

So..

I will do the experimentation with the Dr. Earth Pot of Gold soil. Both by itself and as a base for a custom mix. I will post results with pics and descriptions as soon as they are available.

hyroot said:

Dr earth soil is horrible..its worst than miracle grow. I tried the the organic aloe, pot of gold medical and caused all kinds of deficiencies within the 2nd and 3rd week. I'm not the only one here that's been through that. There's a Dr earth thread on here somewhere from almost a year ago. The only thing that soil is good for is of you are into breeding gnats.


I use pro mix bh and amend it. Used to use roots organic before that.

Look into super soil and / or recycled organic living soil.

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What do you amend the pro mix with exactly? I've been thinking about switching into pro mix and was looking into pro mix bx mycorrhizae. Should I add anything to that because I will be using that as my base soil and I want to put a layer of super soil under a layer of base soil. If you could help that would be great!

bgandgrow said:

What do you amend the pro mix with exactly? I've been thinking about switching into pro mix and was looking into pro mix bx mycorrhizae. Should I add anything to that because I will be using that as my base soil and I want to put a layer of super soil under a layer of base soil. If you could help that would be great!

Click to expand...

My recipe
1 bale pro mix bh 4 cu ft
Half 5 gal bucket of worm castings
Half 5 gal bucket of compost
2 lbs fossilized sea bird guano
1/4 cup Jobes heirloom tomato n garden
1/4 cup grow more vegetarian blend
1/8 cup oyster shell flour or dolomite lime powder
1/8 cup crab meal
1/4 cup kelp meal
5 cups glacial rock dust
1/4 cup soft rock phosphate
1/4 cup epsom salt

Spray soil with compost tea.
cook

I know I'm new here and my opinion may not hold much validity, but Dr. Earth Pot-O-Gold is beyond horrible. I usually use Espoma Potting Mix with perlite added, and experienced no problem for many grows. My local nursery stopped carrying Espoma products and I decided to use their new soil which is Dr. Earth Pot-O-Gold. First thing I noticed is the gnat farm they supply. Every single bag has done this. Next, we have the headache inducing deficiencies. Cal-Mag issues, Nitrogen issues, and slow growth during veg and cloning stage (I usually drop clones straight into soil). 4 weeks into flower every crop has had a few plants start yellowing also (and not the normal yellowing that occurs in late flower). I tried adding more nitro nutes (Fox Farm Grow Big) only to end up burning the plants. I tried to give this product a chance, but after three grows with it I AM DONE!! Even my outdoor veggies and flowers hated it over the summer. I've heard good things about Pro-Mix, so that's where I'm going next.