Ammonia smell in Happy Frog soil

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Dawgssszzz

Dawgssszzz

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When I left for work Saturday around 1:30pm, my plant was very healthy. I come home to it curling down with brown and yellow stains on the leaves. So I flushed it with water, now it smells like ammonia. Can this plant be saved? What can I do?
 
Ammonia smell in happy frog soil
quirk

quirk

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Ammonia smell is pretty good indicator of saturated medium. As @Flexnerb indicated, adequate drainage is crucial as is a light, fluffy, airy medium providing plenty of oxygen pockets for root development. Your mix appears saturated and compact = the kiss of death. Solution. plenty of perlite, elevate pots, air circulation and do not water too often, letting the medium dry between watering. Good luck.
 
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Dawgssszzz

Dawgssszzz

9
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Ammonia smell is pretty good indicator of saturated medium. As @Flexnerb indicated adequate drainage is crucial as is a light, fluffy, airy
medium providing plenty of oxygen pockets for root development. Your mix appears saturated and compact = the kiss of death.
Solution. plenty of perlite, elevate pots, air circulation and do not water too often letting medium dry between watering. Good luck.
I transplant into fresh soil. Hopefully that'll restore the plant. The old soil was extremely saturated. I honestly don't know how as I watered once a week and this is a 5 gallon pot so I figure it doesn't need excessive water. And I started this plant 11/16. I did notice as I ran my fingers into the soil, the ammonia smell is not there anymore.
 
oldskol4evr

oldskol4evr

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sure a cat hasnt been at your plant
bad compost also smells of ammonia
also that looks like one those bags,did you by chance wash it first before use?some times they put a waxy barrier on them for some reason,those that i have used i washed them first,you could also have bad drainage as mentioned
 
Dawgssszzz

Dawgssszzz

9
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sure a cat hasnt been at your plant
bad compost also smells of ammonia
also that looks like one those bags,did you by chance wash it first before use?some times they put a waxy barrier on them for some reason,those that i have used i washed them first,you could also have bad drainage as mentioned
I don't own a cat nor is it growing outside
 
Aqua Man

Aqua Man

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Toss some microbes in after a slurry test. Specifically denitrifying. Something like "fishshit" or...

off the wall you can grab the shit used for cycling aquariums as they are denitrifying bacteria? I have never tried it but in my mind it should work.
 
SacredTreeOrganicFarms

SacredTreeOrganicFarms

Sacred Tree Organic Farms
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Start plants in smaller pots and then transplant up as they grow, much easier to control watering that way
Biggg agree. That lil baby would go weeks without needing watering in a 5 gallon! I always start in a 4in starter pot if you have seeds and after 2 weeks go to no more than a 3 gal pot! After a few weeks in that you can go up or flower!
 
SacredTreeOrganicFarms

SacredTreeOrganicFarms

Sacred Tree Organic Farms
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Kinda looks like its blasted with light too?
I could see that as well... depending on lighting obviousl, but if not too much light all that lock out could give that false fluorescent burn look I assume😢
 
Mr. Molecule

Mr. Molecule

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This was like 13 years ago, but the one and only time I bought Happy Frog instead of Ocean Forest, I bought like 15 bags (this was back when I was growing for a living) and as soon as I started cracking bags open, a noxious ammonia stink was very apparent. I took it as evidence that FoxFarm was slamming Happy Frog together in a rush without letting all the ingredients "cook," a process that they appear to do a good job with on Ocean Forest. It seemed to me that their quality control on the Happy Frog was not at all on the same level as for Ocean Forest.
 
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