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3 Way SbS, Amazon Bloom, Black Gold, and Ocean Forest Soils

S

SooperSmurph

Final Numbers

Buds were weighed after an overnight in a storage tub with 2 humidipacks mixed in, so the numbers here should reflect saleable weight.

Hash Trim was weighed after spending 2 days spread across a tarp in a room where the an average humidty was 22% or less.


Amazon Bloom
Buds: 366 grams
Hash Trim: 30 grams
Average per Plant: 122 grams

Black Gold
Buds: 467 grams
Hash Trim: 27 grams
Average per Plant: 156 grams

Ocean Forest
Buds: 470 grams
Hash Trim: 44 grams
Average per plant: 157 grams

All decimals are rounded to the nearest whole gram.

Thus far the Ocean Forest seems to be winning, but the smoke reports will have a sizable effect upon the final tally in terms of the "better" soil.
 
the gnome

the gnome

Active member
Veteran
its looking pretty tight there SS...
big thanks for taking initiative + personal time to do this.
quite a bit of disparity tween the top 2 and the amazon bloom.
I really didn't think there would be so much difference amongst top grade soils.
glad i don't use AB soil :bigeye:
Ive bee an OF user since i started indoor grows 3 years ago and never had a prob with it.

intresting to see what would shake out with other lower grade soils like miracle gro etc etc
 
S

SooperSmurph

I think the Amazon Bloom disparity may have been my fault, I should have added even more perlite than I did, considering the absence of small perlite particles in my bagged mix, better aeration almost always means better yields.
 
the gnome

the gnome

Active member
Veteran
SooperSmurph said:
I think the Amazon Bloom disparity may have been my fault, I should have added even more perlite than I did, considering the absence of small perlite particles in my bagged mix, better aeration almost always means better yields
Click to expand...

most definitely, I think strain OF is too heavy out of the bag so i cut it 3:1 or 4:1 depending
 
S

SooperSmurph

The Amazon Bloom mix we used here was 25% perlite by volume, but this was in the form of consistently large particles from my bag of chunky grade, my guess is that the small / powdered perlite particles played a big part in the yield difference.
 
jayjayfrank

jayjayfrank

Member
Veteran
me myself, i dont SEE that much difference, do you guys?

zeroing in on the right amount of aeration is crucial for any media, especially soil.

come back with a flavor report in two months for final tally i say.
 
S

SooperSmurph

jayjayfrank said:
me myself, i dont SEE that much difference, do you guys?

zeroing in on the right amount of aeration is crucial for any media, especially soil.

come back with a flavor report in two months for final tally i say.
Click to expand...
I whole heartedly agree sir, examples sit in jars awaiting their day of ripeness, this thread is by no means over, but final Numbers have thankfully come in.
 
Epiphyte

Epiphyte

Member
Real nice side by side...Thanks for taking the time. It's people like you that save me so much time especially considering I don't have the space to dabble much...I can't wait to hear the blind smoke report!
 
A

Alone

Another great side x side brother. Cant wait for the flavor report. Ive found that with FFOF soil, if it doesnt get flushed really well, the buds can taste abit like black licorice.
From the start, when I first started growing, Ive exclusively used FFOF soil. I just recently started adding Fox Farms chunky perlite to the soil. I found I had much better root zones. My girls are so happy this grow. When I took them out of the solo cups to be t/p'ed into 1gln pots I was stunned at the thick, even, white, healthy roots covering every bit of the soil. Ive never had root zones so happy now that they get all that extra oxygen from the chunky perlite. Im expecting the best garden Ive had this run.
 
S

SooperSmurph

Test jars have been distributed to my trusted tasters, I expect their report by Monday.
 
S

SooperSmurph

Taste Test was conducted in the following manner:

Three jars were delivered to a house that is occupied by various DJs, musicians, and hangers on who consume a lot of high quality cannabis.

The jars were labeled with stickers of different colors, and the only information given to the samplers with respect to the buds was that each jar was in fact different.

They were asked to rank the jars on appearance, potency, and flavor.

The results are as follows:

Appearance:
1st Black Gold
2nd Ocean Forest
3rd Amazon Bloom

Potency:
1st Ocean Forest
2nd Amazon Bloom
3rd Black Gold

Flavor:
1st Black Gold
2nd Amazon Bloom
3rd Ocean Forest

The Amazon made up partially for its poor yields with higher quality, further investigation with better grades of perlite is definitely warranted.
 
A

Alone

Very interesting findings. If BlackGold is 1st in appearance and flavor then I just may switch. Potency would be nice too, but appearance and flavor are the most important to me. Now you have me thinking hard about switching.
Ive used FFOF since my first grow many moons ago and Ive always been told my buds are the tastiest, and look the best, but sometimes lack in potency..or kick to it.(maybe culled to early?)
I may use BlackGold under 1 lamp, and FFOF under the other lamp, and see whats up.
 
S

SooperSmurph

the gnome said:
agreed alone

maybe a mix of BG and OF would be a tasty medium :)
Click to expand...
Right now i'm doing a mix of 2 parts FFOF to 1 part Royal Gold Tupur, really helps increase water retention even if the medium has begun to dry out, while not harming aeration. RGT is a mix of coco, peat moss, forest hummus, and perlite, with oyster and gympsum.
 
M

Marco61

Member
SooperSmurph said:
I think the Amazon Bloom disparity may have been my fault, I should have added even more perlite than I did, considering the absence of small perlite particles in my bagged mix, better aeration almost always means better yields.
Click to expand...
I disagree, you should not have added anything to the soil mixes. You were trying to compare which product was better out of bag, by altering the soil mix you fudged the results. What you were using wasn't Amazon Bloom, but your own mix with Amazon Bloom as the base.

The test should have been pot, drainage stones in the bottom, with unaltered soil added. Then the results would have reflected the quality of each product. A follow up test could have been pot, drainage stones, 6 cups of perilite added to each mix per cubic foot.
 
S

SooperSmurph

Marco61 said:
The test should have been pot, drainage stones in the bottom, with unaltered soil added. Then the results would have reflected the quality of each product. A follow up test could have been pot, drainage stones, 6 cups of perilite added to each mix per cubic foot.
Click to expand...
Sorry but no, any test like this would have resulted in almost instant failure because unadulterated Amazon has very poor drainage / aeration.

All the same, :thank you: for stopping by!
 
calientecarlos

calientecarlos

Active member
Veteran
Been runnin Black Gold for years bc price and availability... glad it's favored at least over ffof lol. FoxFarm was always way too hot. If first step is ever rinse the shit out of soil get diff crap!!

Thx soop!!
 
M

Marco61

Member
SooperSmurph said:
Sorry but no, any test like this would have resulted in almost instant failure because unadulterated Amazon has very poor drainage / aeration.

All the same, :thank you: for stopping by!
Click to expand...

Then you aren't testing out the soil mixes. lol

I thought this was to compare the products. How can you judge each product if you are changing the products? This 3-way comparison was pointless as what you were using did not represent the product itself. This would be like trying to see which of 3 cars are faster, realizing one of them has less horsepower and torque so you give it a 10 mile headstart. The first sentence of your OP was inaccurate just b/c you were worried about the end results.
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]Today we lay down the framework for a side by side with three types of soil, no other variations[/FONT]
Click to expand...
[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif].[/FONT] What you did was setup the experiment in reverse. You were more focused on getting large numbers and not comparing the soils. Anyways best of luck to ya, this is not how I would try to run an experiment.
 
R

RB56

Active member
Veteran
Marco61 said:
Then you aren't testing out the soil mixes. lol

I thought this was to compare the products. How can you judge each product if you are changing the products? This 3-way comparison was pointless as what you were using did not represent the product itself. This would be like trying to see which of 3 cars are faster, realizing one of them has less horsepower and torque so you give it a 10 mile headstart. The first sentence of your OP was inaccurate just b/c you were worried about the end results. [FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif].[/FONT] What you did was setup the experiment in reverse. You were more focused on getting large numbers and not comparing the soils. Anyways best of luck to ya, this is not how I would try to run an experiment.
Click to expand...
I wouldn't think of this as an experiment - more a demonstration that all of the test soils could be made to work OK. I grow similarly - Fox Farm Happy Frog in 5 gallon buckets with Jack's Classic fertilizers with every watering after they have roots. Soil is almost a hydroponic medium in this context. I think testing the soil itself would take hundred gallon containers, something like that. It was interesting to see what each soil looked like and read some first hand impressions.

Bigger concern for me is the apparently false assertion in the first post that Fox Farms has been bought by the devil. [addressed by first post Ninja edit]
 
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