jake7917 Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 I was mixing a batch of flake soil and as I mixed it I noticed it smelt very much like feces. I’ve heard that means the wood is rotten. I decided to keep it for a few more days, and checked it again and that fecal smell has been replaced with more of an earthy smell. The bad smell has completely gone away. is the soil good still? Or should I discard it? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Garin Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 I think most likely it is fine. The rotten smell was probably because it was still fermenting. I would wait another week and smell it again to be safe. If you want to be extra careful, try some with one larvae and see if it eats it and there is lots of frass. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JKim Posted July 10, 2022 Report Share Posted July 10, 2022 Hard to tell by your explanation, but if your substrate is too wet and smells like feces, can be NOT GOOD to use it right away. Try to dry it out for the next couple days, and see how things are. If it is still in process of fermentation, may be okay as Garin has mentioned, but if it smells like that when finished, not so good. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratmosphere Posted July 11, 2022 Report Share Posted July 11, 2022 If it is light in color, slimy, soaked, and smells like feces, do NOT use it. If the substrate smells earthy and is dark then it is probably fine! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jake7917 Posted July 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2022 On 7/10/2022 at 9:33 AM, JKim said: Hard to tell by your explanation, but if your substrate is too wet and smells like feces, can be NOT GOOD to use it right away. Try to dry it out for the next couple days, and see how things are. If it is still in process of fermentation, may be okay as Garin has mentioned, but if it smells like that when finished, not so good. The smell has gone away. It’s been replaced by an earthy smell. Definitely not too wet, it was drier before and now that it has softened it’s started to hold its shape better. Rain/humidity isn’t a factor either as I’m doing this indoors. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jake7917 Posted July 12, 2022 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2022 On 7/11/2022 at 7:45 AM, Ratmosphere said: If it is light in color, slimy, soaked, and smells like feces, do NOT use it. If the substrate smells earthy and is dark then it is probably fine! It is dark, not slimy, and no longer stinky, I think it’s good I had another batch that had lighter Color spots at the bottom that smelt like complete poop. Discarded that batch though. It got rained on hard a few times and wasn’t mixed that well. We all gotta make mistakes to learn haha Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratmosphere Posted July 12, 2022 Report Share Posted July 12, 2022 Yes we do! Glad it worked out for ya. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Angela Yoon Posted July 12, 2022 Report Share Posted July 12, 2022 I made my first batch of flake soil around a week ago. For the first four days, the flake soil smelled very sweet like juice. However, after the 5th day, it started to smell like urine. I put the soil in a polypropylene bag and tied it up under very hot weather conditions. Is that why it smells like urine? Also, is my soil still good to use if I let it aerate for a couple days? Thanks ♥ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredgnathus Aurelius Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 Hey I started my first batch of flake soil on September 27th, so 2 weeks ago exactly. Came to mix the flakes and noticed at the bottom these lighter colored ''patches'' of sawdust and the smell of poop. It's the first time it's like this and I hadn't mixed in like 3 days. Could I ''save'' the batch by mixing it very often, like once or twice a day for the next weeks? or adding more yeast+sugar? or is it too late, according to your experiences? I have it in a bin, on a heat mat set to 30 celsius on a thermostat. I need to start other batches NOW as I got carried away and bought many, many beetles lol Thanks for any help Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratmosphere Posted October 12, 2022 Report Share Posted October 12, 2022 Take the poo poo smelling chunks out, if it is found throughout the batch you need to start over. If there is none throughout, and you pull all of the poo poo chunks out, continually mix and you SHOULD be alright. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Fredgnathus Aurelius Posted October 13, 2022 Report Share Posted October 13, 2022 thanks, i am letting it air dry somewhat also. No water comes out when I squeeze, but the particle size of the sawdust doesn't allow that kind of absorption. So there's not much room to guess if it's too wet. I gather I should mix everyday if I start over in a bin. i'll do this and buy some polypropylene woven bags (sand bags) for comparison following your method. I just don't have access to oak pellets, the only pellets I could get is hardwood fuel pellets, commonly used for mushroom growing (and of course pellet stoves.) But I'm very hesitant to go this route, might stick to my source of sawdust which assures me it's 100% natural HW sawdust. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ratmosphere Posted October 13, 2022 Report Share Posted October 13, 2022 Stick to the sawdust for now. See how your existing batch does, it may be able to recover. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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