Good morning! I’ve read that a few people use Kelloggs, so I purchased a bag of this the other day as I’m preparing for my first planting. Any recommendations? Since this will be indoors I’m thinking I will need to mix some perlite in it. I can’t make a living soil as I’m trying to keep the smell (and bugs) to a minimum.
Should I mix another potting or garden soil with it? Thank you for any and all recommendation. 
Kellogg is fine to use on it’s own. If you want a finer blend with less forest product you can mix it with another organic soil of your choosing.
Kellogg works just fine to start seedlings and isn’t very hot. You can go about a month maybe two without nutrients depending on the strain if you aren’t doing the living soil.
Organic nutrients work best in Kellogg. Anything chemical will build up a lot of salts.
Thank you for your response. When I opened the bag of soil it seemed very dense. I had a smudge on my hand, rather then soil just flaking off. You don’t feel I need to add something to make the soil a little lighter? Thank you again for sharing your experience & knowledge.
@Kris The high wood content and the perlite in it keeps it pretty well aerated. The smudge is from the worm castings and chicken manure they add to it more than likely.
If you want more aeration you can add in some more mulch, perlite, vermiculite, coco coir, or peat.
I usually mix their patio plus and raised bed together with Nature’s Living Soil when I use it and haven’t had any issues.
Thank you so much! This soil is just so different then anything I’ve used before, I’m getting a little apprehensive about growing seeds I’ve had to pay for LOL. 
Thank you again!! Today is exciting…I started germinating 4 seeds, my light arrives today and I’m just finishing up my grow room. Ran into a couple snags, but it’s such a fun project!
Congrats. It is an exciting time. I hope your first grow goes well for you. 
Looking forward to seeing how your 1st grow goes. Happy growing
Finally getting excited again :). I tried the Kelloggs for 3 weeks, finally had to transplant everything as my plants were not doing well and all the freaking gnats were driving me nuts! Went to Miracle Grow. My autoflower transplanted well, as well as the Strawberry Cough. Looking forward to seeing how these ladies do!
Gnats are a massive issue right now due to covid screwing up the supply chain and the demand. Lots of bags of soil sat for a longer period of time than usual, even brands that typically don’t have issues are due to being next to a brand that does. Neem oil, or mosquito bites in the soil is a great way to deal with them as well as hydrogen peroxide flooding.
That makes sense. I had around 100 gnats in 3 weeks. I switched out to Miracle Grow and they seem to be doing great…and no gnats
@Kris Nats are a normal thing if over watered in loose soil. Mixing my own soil i try to use something to slow the seep down like the Fungi packs. they do slow water drainage down being fine powder and kill nats. i don’t like putting my Fungi on until 2 weeks before flowering because it’s actually micro for root growth pre-flowering so i use River Sand
Your plants are looking great! Someone responded to me a while ago that due to COVID, it’s possible the bags of dirt had been old and that’s maybe why I had hundreds of those little bugs. I had tried using the food grade D.E. But they were still everywhere.
@Kris bro, i have had nats from covid causing less shipping and soil sitting in Warehouses waiting to be shipped in plastic or even half plastic recycled bags drawing and making moisture on pallet stacks. Killed them all with sand
I have heard of many complaints of critters in packaged soil. Covid or not, if you cannot get them under control with a silica (DEarth, sand, etc., anything that cuts them up), let the soil dry out. Most like and live in damp soil. When we allow our soil to dry out between watering, it helps keep them under control. Diatomaceous is only good on the surface and only good until first watering while the sand can get mixed in like top dressing. Ground cover, like peat or cocoa also helps.
@Mrb53004 
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