New Grower Pre-Mixed Kit Cost Comparison

[Littlefunions]

I’m sharing this cost comparison for the person who wants to build soil, but is taking baby steps by using a pre-mixed kit.

I’m a noob, analytical, and cheap. The main options I’ve heard from the forums are:

- KIS Organics
- Build A Soil
- Nature’s Living Soil
- Kind Soil
- Tea Lab
- LivingOrganicSoil.net

Cost is inclusive of shipping to California. All of the companies had shipping built in the price by default except Kind Soil and Tea Lab. Shipping is what kills them on price. If you lived near them, you might be able to find a local source.

Cubic Feet and Gallons in the chart show the end result of how much soil in the end.

I’ll probably try KIS and BuilASoil first. I have gratitude to KIS for having learned so much from the podcast.

Happy Soil Building!

Edit: included Tea Lab
Edit2: included livingorganicsoil.net

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[Metal Shop]

I was in your exact situation, I went with NLS. But I would not go that route again.

Here is another option to consider from Tea Labs;

https://www.composttealab.com/store/p9/lifecube.html

They are also in Northern California.

 

[Wallflower82]

Uh,,, it costs 2 times the price of the product to ship the product.. too bad too, the lifecube by compost tealab looked pretty cool, for that much money Id be better off just buy all the parts and make it

 

[Littlefunions]

The funny thing about Tea Lab is I’d looked at them for their compost tea and the snake. Overlooked their soil amendment.

Updated the original post to include them. Price is great, shipping sucks. If only I lived closer to Eureka.


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[KIS]

I’m sharing this cost comparison for the person who wants to build soil, but is taking baby steps by using a pre-mixed kit.

I’m a noob, analytical, and cheap. The four main options I’ve heard from the forums are:

- KIS Organics
- Build A Soil
- Nature’s Living Soil
- Kind Soil
- Tea Lab

Cost is inclusive of shipping to California. All of the companies had shipping built in the price by default except Kind Soil and Tea Lab. Shipping is what kills them on price. If you lived near them, you might be able to find a local source.

Cubic Feet and Gallons in the chart show the end result of how much soil in the end.

I’ll probably try KIS and BuilASoil first. I have gratitude to KIS for having learned so much from the podcast.

Happy Soil Building!

Edit: updated to include Tea Lab

Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

With autos I'm guessing you could probably make up double the amount of soil and still make it full cycle with nutrients. That would cut the cost in half. Just throwing it out there....

 

[Rufus.Gray]

I was in your exact situation, I went with NLS. But I would not go that route again.

Here is another option to consider from Tea Labs;

https://www.composttealab.com/store/p9/lifecube.html

They are also in Northern California.

What issues did you have with NLS? I was going to go with them for my first organic grow, but I’d be interested to know what’s wrong with their product. Thx.

 

[KIS]

Little Funions, it would be good to add in shipping costs. Some have free shipping and others don't, which would change your cost/gal. Good chart! Something else to consider, I can only speak to our products, but the Coot's mix we carry has significantly less nutrients/amendments in it than our Nutrient Pack and it's priced accordingly. So it's not always an apples to apples comparison if you're just look at the price.

 

[Eyes on Fire]

Especially when doubled with Tea which any sold organic grow IMO should consist of. I have been using KIS organics for some time now(several years) and have made larger 35 gallon or so even 40 gallon batches with a standard amendment pack.And used teas all throughout with STELLAR results. the cost comparison is awesome.Moreover I use multiple products from many ond other suppliers.and tbh?!... I have had stellar results when using simple add ons and mixing variations.Used quite extensivley Kind Soil,Tea Labs products,NLS soil which didnt so bad when doubled with a few other items like Bio Tabs.and Tea Lab AACTs and so on. lots to consider when doing quicker Autos when thinning and running shake and bake soil batches. Always better if you got the strength and Back unlike myself to start from the ground up and tailor a system for your style and region. Kick ass chart by the way. I saved that. Thank you!!!its a VERY cost effective plan with AutoCOB lighting and thinned batches and using a cpl cheaper as it were,and REALLY stretch it out much much further.

 

[KIS]

Yeah it's a great idea to put it into a chart. Would be cool to add ingredients to it and total weight for comparison. In a perfect world, each one would have an attached soil test too. Awesome work! That attention to detail will be great in your grow!