Fox Farm Question,

[Farmer Stealth]

I'm startin' my 5th grow, first 4 didn't go to well, lots of noob mistakes, LOL!. Oh well, I learned some and I'm tryin' agian, ya gotta keep on keepin on!
Anyway, I just dropped 10 fem AK48s from Nirvana on wet paper towels for round 5. I got a 5X9 walk in closet for my grow room with a Dig 600w mh/hps for light, cooled by and vented with a 6" exh fan and filter.
Anyway, I finally found a garden store near me that sells Fox Farm stuff so I'm startin my new girls in Fox Farm Ocean Forest. I'm want'n to use Fox Farm Grow Big, Tiger Bloom and Bloom Big and I'm lookin' for any advice on using Fox Farm ferts with their soil mix.

Thanks in advance for any and all advice, suggestions, direction, guidance, hints, pointers, and good vibes.

 

[statusquo]

Ocean Forest won't need much for a while. That soil tends to run hot. I would make sure your batch looks/smells legit (it will be easy to tell) as FF's quality on the west coast has gone down in many areas due to the use of recycled soil. I would personally not get the grow big at all and find a cheaper way to supply the little N you will need.

Can't help you in regards to Tiger/Big Bloom as I've never personally used them but just make sure to go light on everything - you can always feed them more. I would do half of what the directions recommend.

 

[el clandestino]

Hey farmer stealth. I have been using foxfm nutes for about a year now and they work just fine imo. I use gb,tb,and bigblm and I also start using them at half the recomended amount. I feed them only if they need it. I just started using ocean forest and my bags were all choice. I hope all the rest I get are just like these 1st bags. I use the light warrior for seedlings and clones and its worked fine also. I have a feeding foxfrm chart here is a link to it.
https://www.icmag.com/ic/album.php?albumid=20608&pictureid=512381

Also what water are you using?

 

[Farmer Stealth]

Wuz up y'all!

For their first 3-4 weeks I'm using distilled water Ph'd to 5.7-6.0. They'll also be under a 2' T5 4 bulb florescent light for the first 3-4 weeks.

 

[Baba Ku]

OK, you are 0-4
I suggest you try something else this round...I mean, what can it hurt?
Use the FFOF and nothing else. Let the pots get light before you feed your pH correct water and let things just be things. There are plenty of nutrients in the soil mix to keep the plant healthy.
Biggest noob mistakes of all time are over-watering, and feeding loads of nutrients and magic big bud elixirs.

Once you have a successful grow or two using this method, then you can start to see how your plants act, and you can maybe start to feed them a bit and see how they react.
Trust me, unless you are doing a very large run of plants, you will not see that much yield difference in plants that were left alone to grow in the rich soil, and those that have been fed heavy levels of nutrients. Actually, unless you are on top of the game and flush and properly, the buds that were fed nutes can come out tasting far nastier than the buds left alone and fed nothing. Unflushed ferts taste nasty, IMO. Not to mention the very high added expense of feeding them.

Don't get me wrong, high levels of ferts can work in the hands of the experienced grower who is intimate with his plants and how they grow and react to certain levels of nutes. But in the hands of a learning farmer, they can lead to many problems and discouragement.

Best of luck to you, mate!

 

[Admiral Canna]

OK, you are 0-4
I suggest you try something else this round...I mean, what can it hurt?
Use the FFOF and nothing else. Let the pots get light before you feed your pH correct water and let things just be things. There are plenty of nutrients in the soil mix to keep the plant healthy.
Biggest noob mistakes of all time are over-watering, and feeding loads of nutrients and magic big bud elixirs.

Once you have a successful grow or two using this method, then you can start to see how your plants act, and you can maybe start to feed them a bit and see how they react.
Trust me, unless you are doing a very large run of plants, you will not see that much yield difference in plants that were left alone to grow in the rich soil, and those that have been fed heavy levels of nutrients. Actually, unless you are on top of the game and flush and properly, the buds that were fed nutes can come out tasting far nastier than the buds left alone and fed nothing. Unflushed ferts taste nasty, IMO. Not to mention the very high added expense of feeding them.

Don't get me wrong, high levels of ferts can work in the hands of the experienced grower who is intimate with his plants and how they grow and react to certain levels of nutes. But in the hands of a learning farmer, they can lead to many problems and discouragement.

Best of luck to you, mate!

WELL SAID!!!!

 

[the gnome]

what the last two posters said

I'm on my 1st ndoor grow now and went with FF OF and nutes.
I am very pleased with the results so far.
nice frosty nugs

 

[dansbuds]

yeah me too .... used FFOF & miracle grow potting soil for tomatoes 50/50 mix in my SD grow with the FF line of nutes the only other additive i gave them was some overdrive during the 4th to 5th week of flowering & the last week before flushing them . the first 4 weeks of veg i added nothing but ph'ed water till i seen a deficiancy then started adding my nutes according to the bottles & it worked great for me .... the plants grew beyond what i expected & had to tie them down or they would have shot up past the lights into the ceiling .
got 11 oz off 2 plants under a 250 watt hps till they got bigger then i had one under the 250 & the other under a 400 hps .... the one under the 400 yielded more buds of course but either way the FF mix & nutes are top notch with me .

 

[Jibman]

Never had any problems with bad batches of Ocean Forest. Where did you hear that they recycle their soil for sale? If its recycled then they do a great job because its the best pre packaged soil that i have ever used. The best was homemade in my backyard, But that is a long process.

 

[Farmer Stealth]

Thanks for all the responces folks.
Looks like I made a good choice for soil this time, judging by "dansbuds" pics. Hope my girls do as well, at the moment I got 8 of 10 poppin there heads up after only being in soil for less then 48hrs. WOOHOO! GAME ON!

 

[dansbuds]

be careful !!!! FFOF is a hot mix for any seedlings or even some clones . might want to try straight vermiculite wickin water through the botton of the cups till they get strong enough to drop in the soil .
keep the temps around 80 degrees & you'll have roots in a week maybe a little more then after 3 weeks they'll pop right into the soil no problem.

 

[statusquo]

Never had any problems with bad batches of Ocean Forest. Where did you hear that they recycle their soil for sale? If its recycled then they do a great job because its the best pre packaged soil that i have ever used. The best was homemade in my backyard, But that is a long process.

I have witnessed a side by side comparison of the old, good FF with the new crappy FF. As I said this is a regional thing so it's not a blanket statement. In regards to proof, a member here emailed a FF rep and the guy admitted that they recycle soil. Last bag of FF I bought was a light brown instead of a dark rich brown and had visible roots in it. Also, I had 2/10 germ rates with that particular bag. That being said, I have had no issues with the decent batches.

 

[localman]

I have witnessed a side by side comparison of the old, good FF with the new crappy FF. As I said this is a regional thing so it's not a blanket statement. In regards to proof, a member here emailed a FF rep and the guy admitted that they recycle soil. Last bag of FF I bought was a light brown instead of a dark rich brown and had visible roots in it. Also, I had 2/10 germ rates with that particular bag. That being said, I have had no issues with the decent batches.

WHAT??? what the hell are you saying /// that ffof has old roots from what kind of plants???

If your suggesting FFOF comes with dead old roots from pot plants your a bigger fool then i could have ever thought ... you know better then that man/ well i hope you do.. FFOF is a premium soil and in 4 years i have NEVER seen a BAD Batch

Small Family Company = High Quality = Fox Farm

 

[JOE CHRONIC]

I swear by FFOF soil and have been using it for the last 5 years.
@ $10 for 10 gallon bag of soil it's the best thing out there.

I usually only veg for 10-21 days and never need to use any veg fert, just straight water until 12/12 then I use FFTB + FFBB as directed.
The TB will burn the hell out of your girls if you get that junky mindset and think that if a little is good a lot is better.
Just follow the directions on the labels and you will be fine.

BTW: Fox Farms does not recycle their soil but I do out in my outdoor garden each spring...

 

[JOE CHRONIC]

NOTE:

To the poster stating that his FFOF looked light brown instead of the black rich look is usually due to pin holes or tears in the bag of soil which lets air in and drys it out thus making it light brown.

I always inspect "every" bag of FFOF I get for any holes or tears.

Just a tip...

 

[Baba Ku]

Recycle soil? Where the hell do you think they are getting the soil to recycle?
I don't buy that one bit. What I would buy is some unscrupulous hydro shop man knifing the new bag of FFOF and putting in his old soil to sell to you.

I may be mistaken, but I am pretty sure FFOF has breath holes in the bag, as most all peat based soil mix bags usually have.

 

[the gnome]

I may be mistaken, but I am pretty sure FFOF has breath holes in the bag, as most all peat based soil mix bags usually have.

I just checked and the bags have tiny 5 holes down each side in the purple line, hard to see, many of the holes aren't punched out completely.
I never saw them before they're so tiny,
about and 1/8 of an inch in diameter.
Ive bought about 20 bags since the beginning of the year, I have no reason to stop.
its hard to beat for convience @ $13 for 1.5cuft bag

btw,
if its light brown its drier, the more moisture in it the darker it is
I have some dried right now, its a lot lighter in color
seems like a pretty common sense issue, yes

 

[Sourbear]

New grower here purchased all growing equipment yesterday... , some questions about FFOF

Im getting 4 clones from a club, and they are already pretty big and ready to be tossed under my 400HPS
but i'm not sure if getting them from the club and transplanting them directly into 3gal pots with FFOF in it is good for them. I hear that FFOF is a little "hot" for some smaller plants. Should I cut the soil with something for the clones, or should they be good as long as I don't throw any Veg Neuts at them until they are bigger (2nd or 3rd week of veg and even then very LOW doses of neuts)

 

[the gnome]

transplanting them directly into 3gal pots with FFOF in it is good for them.

I wouldn't do that

once my clones root i go to 16oz cup with FF OF cut 50/50 with perilte.
no nutes need for a few 2-3 weeks.
after that the nutes available in the OF get used up and leaves start to yellow.
then up-pot to 1-2 gal containers with OF 3:1 perlite

I wouldn't go direct to 3 gallon pots, 16az-1gal-3gall,
size them up as you go to your final size.
the roots will thank you for it
do a search on pot sizes, theres lots of good info on it

 

[Sourbear]

I wouldn't do that

once my clones root i go to 16oz cup with FF OF cut 50/50 with perilte.
no nutes need for a few 2-3 weeks.
after that the nutes available in the OF get used up and leaves start to yellow.
then up-pot to 1-2 gal containers with OF 3:1 perlite

I wouldn't go direct to 3 gallon pots, 16az-1gal-3gall,
size them up as you go to your final size.
the roots will thank you for it
do a search on pot sizes, theres lots of good info on it

Well for the type of grow that we are doing, and the clones that we received, it worked out FANTASTIC. The transplant went great, the roots where engulfing the tiny soil cubes. The clones that we purchased where pretty stinkin big. some where as old as 9/17 being vegged under cfl's in small blocks of soil.
The plants where just WAITING to get into bigger pots.
So We took them and transplanted them right into 3 gal pots with ffof. Im going to veg them for one more week, get clones then flip to 12/12. hoping to get at least an ounce per plant maybe 2. 400 watts vegged for 3 weeks, with just FFOF and organic flowering neuts.
They got their first watering Tuesday an hour after the transplant, and are starting to perk up more, I think the transplant is a success and im just going to flower these out in the 3gal pots. No need to re-pot during flower.