Changing Soil Mixes

[JWM2]

Ok so the last month or so I’ve been fighting with Fox Farm Ocean Forest and it’s got me bummed out. I used it for years and never had any issues but I’ve read that we now get it from their east coast facility and that’s next to a landfill and there’s been reports of copious gnats and all kinds of weird shit being found in it. As well as it being really high in ph which is a major issue I’ve been having with it.

Thus locking out vital nutrients and stressing my plants.

So it’s time to make a change.

I’ve been checking out BioBizz Allmix and Sunshine Mix #4 as possible alternatives. I usually use:

40% FFOF
40% Canna Coco
20% Perlite
And a bit of dolomite lime for ph buffering, added calcium and magnesium.

I like this recipe because it’s simple and not too hot for seedlings. It also allows me to control the nute feeding schedule based on what each plant needs. Now that being said I’d like to keep the main recipe but just swap out the FFOF for one of the other two.

I like BioBizz, so I’m partial to that brand in general. I use their nutes and have had excellent results with them. They don’t seem to burn the plants and the plants love them (when the ph is in range to allow proper nutrient uptake).

My questions are. Does anyone have experience using these other soils as a base? What admendments do they need if so. Are there other soils I should consider instead if I can get access?

I know I can get these two quite easily at local hydro shops so I’d like to keep it local if possible to save on shipping costs.

Any thoughts? All replies and info are appreciated.

 

[rootexcess]

Things like pro-mix and sunshine mix are pretty much all the same. Many of the general peat mixes will be similar, and you always have the option to amend it with everything FF uses. Don't overthink it. If you are adding dolomite lime and you think FF is too high in PH you are actually potentially drawing the PH up even more by adding this. Do a slurry test and see what the PH is at that point.

 

[DismalDude]

I've used FFOF for years,get it from a local shop in town.They keep it outside.I'ver never gotten any bugs or unwanted insects ever. I have added perlite but that's it.Until just recently that's what I've been using and having great results with.Now,thankfully I have a shop that will order Nectar #4 for me as needed.I pay $25 for a 1.5 liter bag but if I buy aver a certain number of bags I get a discount.Just running this soil on my curren t grow and am using NFTG nutrients I wanted to run it as well as I can.I used to use Black Gold,Happy Frog,etc. FFOF is good shit here but I believe Nectar #4 to be superior.

 

[DismalDude]

Ok so the last month or so I’ve been fighting with Fox Farm Ocean Forest and it’s got me bummed out. I used it for years and never had any issues but I’ve read that we now get it from their east coast facility and that’s next to a landfill and there’s been reports of copious gnats and all kinds of weird shit being found in it. As well as it being really high in ph which is a major issue I’ve been having with it.

Thus locking out vital nutrients and stressing my plants.

So it’s time to make a change.

I’ve been checking out BioBizz Allmix and Sunshine Mix #4 as possible alternatives. I usually use:

40% FFOF
40% Canna Coco
20% Perlite
And a bit of dolomite lime for ph buffering, added calcium and magnesium.

I like this recipe because it’s simple and not too hot for seedlings. It also allows me to control the nute feeding schedule based on what each plant needs. Now that being said I’d like to keep the main recipe but just swap out the FFOF for one of the other two.

I like BioBizz, so I’m partial to that brand in general. I use their nutes and have had excellent results with them. They don’t seem to burn the plants and the plants love them (when the ph is in range to allow proper nutrient uptake).

My questions are. Does anyone have experience using these other soils as a base? What admendments do they need if so. Are there other soils I should consider instead if I can get access?

I know I can get these two quite easily at local hydro shops so I’d like to keep it local if possible to save on shipping costs.

Any thoughts? All replies and info are appreciated.

Iwould recommend using SLF-!00 in your rotation to not only break up nutrients in your soil and make them available for uptake but to minimize nutrients enough to make a difference overall in the grow.

 

[CaliRooted]

707 or Greenfield's

 

[oldskol4evr]

Ok so the last month or so I’ve been fighting with Fox Farm Ocean Forest and it’s got me bummed out. I used it for years and never had any issues but I’ve read that we now get it from their east coast facility and that’s next to a landfill and there’s been reports of copious gnats and all kinds of weird shit being found in it. As well as it being really high in ph which is a major issue I’ve been having with it.

Thus locking out vital nutrients and stressing my plants.

So it’s time to make a change.

I’ve been checking out BioBizz Allmix and Sunshine Mix #4 as possible alternatives. I usually use:

40% FFOF
40% Canna Coco
20% Perlite
And a bit of dolomite lime for ph buffering, added calcium and magnesium.

I like this recipe because it’s simple and not too hot for seedlings. It also allows me to control the nute feeding schedule based on what each plant needs. Now that being said I’d like to keep the main recipe but just swap out the FFOF for one of the other two.

I like BioBizz, so I’m partial to that brand in general. I use their nutes and have had excellent results with them. They don’t seem to burn the plants and the plants love them (when the ph is in range to allow proper nutrient uptake).

My questions are. Does anyone have experience using these other soils as a base? What admendments do they need if so. Are there other soils I should consider instead if I can get access?

I know I can get these two quite easily at local hydro shops so I’d like to keep it local if possible to save on shipping costs.

Any thoughts? All replies and info are appreciated.

go hard friend,wont know to you try,why not just go to a local soil depot and start from scratch,ive seen most reply's from you that you know how to grow and spot def,if you dig,so depending on how much you need,i get a yard of garden soil for 40 bucks,i dont like the saw dust in it though,so went to sifted top soil,red in color,did a layer test,came up with equal amounts of sand and clay,then took and put a yrd of high grde compost ,has crushed granite plenty of organic matter,there is the minerals,the top soil ph and npk were all depleted,so to add to the silt to equal out as the other two,added soil from my garden,used kiddie playground wood chips,clean and small ,i guess i had about 120 bucks all together on soil and amends of blood and bone meal,got 2 harvest from it so far and plants love it

 

[JWM2]

Thanks for the suggestions guys. I appreciate it.

 

[eastcoastjoe]

If it were me i would ditch the bagged soil all together and mix your own from scratch. Your basically doing the same amount of work by amending ocean forest with other things. You could save a lot of money and have better quality control building your own soil. I have a good amount of experience doing it and would be happy to help you if you decided to give it a try

Ok so the last month or so I’ve been fighting with Fox Farm Ocean Forest and it’s got me bummed out. I used it for years and never had any issues but I’ve read that we now get it from their east coast facility and that’s next to a landfill and there’s been reports of copious gnats and all kinds of weird shit being found in it. As well as it being really high in ph which is a major issue I’ve been having with it.

Thus locking out vital nutrients and stressing my plants.

So it’s time to make a change.

I’ve been checking out BioBizz Allmix and Sunshine Mix #4 as possible alternatives. I usually use:

40% FFOF
40% Canna Coco
20% Perlite
And a bit of dolomite lime for ph buffering, added calcium and magnesium.

I like this recipe because it’s simple and not too hot for seedlings. It also allows me to control the nute feeding schedule based on what each plant needs. Now that being said I’d like to keep the main recipe but just swap out the FFOF for one of the other two.

I like BioBizz, so I’m partial to that brand in general. I use their nutes and have had excellent results with them. They don’t seem to burn the plants and the plants love them (when the ph is in range to allow proper nutrient uptake).

My questions are. Does anyone have experience using these other soils as a base? What admendments do they need if so. Are there other soils I should consider instead if I can get access?

I know I can get these two quite easily at local hydro shops so I’d like to keep it local if possible to save on shipping costs.

Any thoughts? All replies and info are appreciated.

 

[JWM2]

Yeah I may end up going that direction. It’s not that I can’t do it, it’s just years ago I found the FFOF, coco, Perlite Mix worked well for me. But not so much anymore. Reading about lots of issues lately especially in this area with our local hydro shops so it might be time to go another direction.

 

[Skunked]

Yeah I may end up going that direction. It’s not that I can’t do it, it’s just years ago I found the FFOF, coco, Perlite Mix worked well for me. But not so much anymore. Reading about lots of issues lately especially in this area with our local hydro shops so it might be time to go another direction.

Build that soil!

 

[Monster762]

707 or Greenfield's

Agree roots organic is the best I’ve run so far. I mix it down 50/50 with peat perelite and mykos added.

 

[CaliRooted]

You really only need to amend your own soil if your not planning on bottle feeding I do both in different spots. One place I only tea and water the other just 707 and veg+bloom and that's all. The amendi g soil takes some time to get a good mix that actually does what you want it to do

 

[Jack og]

Yea I’m disappointed with the happy frog and ffog soils atm as well and have started my own living soils for next batch

 

[CaliRooted]

Yeah I started on ffof years ago and went with Aurora much better quality of soil

 

[Dbear180]

I've been running in reg ss4 for about 5 years now & I prefer it over promix or any other soilless mix. I like to water once a week in 7 gal pots & the large pieces of peat & perlite in the ss4 seem to keep it wet longer compared to the promix which seems to be a little finer in peat texture & granular size of the perlite. If I'm in a pinch or some jerk bought all the ss4 tho, I still buy promix, i just end up watering like every 5 days instead of 7.

 

[crimsonecho]

Biobizz and plagron mixes worked well for me so far. Never had any pest infestation. Just a couple of gnats here and there. Also no weird shit in it.

 

[Jack og]

Biobizz and plagron mixes worked well for me so far. Never had any pest infestation. Just a couple of gnats here and there. Also no weird shit in it.

HEY seen what you can do and if that’s your secret! Immgame!

 

[crimsonecho]

HEY seen what you can do and if that’s your secret! Immgame!

Thanks man, i am still new to this but getting the hang of it.

 

[JWM2]

Plagron? I’m gonna have to check that out. Hope it’s available.

I think I narrowed it down to the FFOF in this batch being really low ph. I think it might have sat for awhile and the bark and peat moss have started to decompose causing the really low ph value in my slurry test.

The coco is damn near ph neutral 6.8-7.0 and Perlite doesn’t do anything as far as I can tell.

So I tested some FFOF from this batch and sure enough it’s down around 6.0. It’s suppose to be 6.3-6.8 as per their website. Doh.

I knew that was the case but second guessed myself for god knows why. It’s at a remote location so I don’t get to visit but a couple times a week. That’ll change in November when I get my own rack up and running here.

 

[crimsonecho]

Plagron? I’m gonna have to check that out. Hope it’s available.

https://www.plagron.com/
I like the bat mix. It is not organic per se but all “natural”. Can you even certify guano as organic?
Anyway its just peat moss and bat guano. Ph adjusted. Works well for me.
But all the quality shit will do the job in the end.