Is it true about Fox Farm potting soil

[THsea]

Same as "Phyto". Been using fox farm products for years. The only pest i've ran into has been from my own doing. not the soil.

 

[Eledin]

Been using FFOF for over ten years, never had any bug issues. As said, you can get soil critters in any soil, it normally has more to do with how it's stored and for how long by the retailer, than at the production level. I will say I live pretty close to the original FF plant, so the soil I get is very fresh.

Thats a good point. Maybe many grow shops stocked in their soil because everyone is buying it and its cheaper the more you buy (I assume) so its sitting there forever in some ocasions. I never had that happen with any of my soils, most I found was green moss which is harmless for the plants but then again, I ammend it myself, never tried to store my ammended soil for research purposes I just mix all 3 weeks before use.

 

[Natep]

Fox farms is a mid grade soil. There are better options out there.

 

[THsea]

Fox farms is a mid grade soil. There are better options out there.

such as?

 

[Tmick]

FF is so over rated it’s nuts. It’s also stupidly expensive. Every FF grow I did I had fungus gnats or some other bugs. Mostly gnats.

I rarely have bugs after stopping FF.

I use HP Pro mix as a base. Check your local nursery for non-fortified potting/grow soil and add a few things like pearlite, composted sphagnum, worm castings or composted cow manure. Buildasoil Craft blend will cover most everything else for mineral, chitin amendments.

Here is a soil recipe :

5 parts HP pro mix with mycorrhizae - not cheap but consistent and good. The mycorrhizae supplement helps build a healthy mycelium biome that helps transport food/minerals to your root system. Good fungus.

3 parts potting soil - most any kind - I use a local nursery private label (cheap) brand that is mainly composted pine mulch and composted spahgnum. It looks and feels like black potting soil. This can be fairly inexpensive. Try to avoid any with a wetting agent added if you can.
The stuff I use has it and if left to dry too much, it’s stubborn about re-wetting. It will re-wet, it just not instant. It’s hard to find soil without wetting agents.

1 part worm castings or composted cow manure. Composted cow manure is 1/3 the cost of worm castings. Regular bagged cow manure smells like cow shit. Composted cow manure doesn’t stink and is rich black dirt like worm castings.

2 parts coarse pearlite. Small consumer “one pot” bags are expensive. The big bulk bags are way cheaper per application. HP Pro mix has pearlite already but I like a little more. It’s good for roots. The better the root, the better the fruit.

Buildasoil Craft Blend at recommended rate. Also not cheap but it goes a long way.

You won’t need to start feeding until week 5 or 6.

I use well (hard) water and ph everything to 6.5

 

[amneziaHaze]

Hi I am new to doing my very 1st grow,,7 days in ..actually I got anxious and started early using my small bathroom. I am concerned about fungus gnats and spider mites
after looking at some videos ..it was mentioned that fox farms potting soil had fungus gnats in it >>?? let alone not good for Germination I will be growing outside when itwarms up in April God forbid I want them in my house. Thx

Any soil that is stored oitside in the rain has 90% chance to have fungus gnats

 

[Phil.D.]

I had lousy luck with FFHF. There are many better options. Promix hp, roots organic, Build a Soil 3.0 or light to name just a few.

I dry out my Pro Mix for a while before I grow and haven’t had any pest issues.

 

[Gmix]

If your buying soil that’s been stored outside then you’ll get bugs with it however if you buy soil stored inside you shouldn’t

That’s the point of buying these expensive soils as they are usually stored inside.

It’s not fox farm it’s the place where there buying them from

I used to buy cheep soil from the garden centres until I brought a bag of gnats

before I could never figure why folks paid the extra & brought hydro shop soil

Ever since I changed where I buy my soil from I’ve never had gnats in the medium when I bought it

Personally I’d deal with them via nematodes munch much gone

 

[amneziaHaze]

I had lousy luck with FFHF. There are many better options. Promix hp, roots organic, Build a Soil 3.0 or light to name just a few.

I dry out my Pro Mix for a while before I grow and haven’t had any pest issues.

Drying out doesnt help they can survive years in dry soil then the water wakes them up

I use those meat eater plants they are full allways gnats love rotten smell and they smell like that white flies like them as well but they dont fly away from main plant much

 

[Gmix]

Fuck it, Im gonna say it
Ive seen people saying how it was better in the past. And I have a speculation. Now everyone and their mothers is buying fox farms and all of the sudden it comes with critters and half decomposed stuff, hence why soil mites otherwise they wouldnt be there. I have never had soil mites in my 12+ years of using ammendments and it’s obvious theyre having trouble trying to meet the demand. Again, just voicing my thoughts since most people are happy with the soil, I just wanna talk about the not so good side too but that doesnt mean it’s a bad soil. It’s very solid thats why everyone in the US is buying it. Homemade beats mass produced also, but takes more effort.

Somewhat agree
IMO they never used to sell stuff like happy frog fox farms in bulk like they do to today
It was expensive ( still is ) and was usually sold in hydro stores nowadays any old Jim on eBay sells it and might not store it like it should be

 

[Gmix]

Drying out doesnt help they can survive years in dry soil then the water wakes them up

I use those meat eater plants they are full allways gnats love rotten smell and they smell like that white flies like them as well but they dont fly away from main plant much

Yeah tbh if you want to sterilise soil you bake it

 

[Natep]

such as?

Build a soil I would say is the best out there. But if you are going to be using synthetic nutrients you can go as simple royal gold or pro mix or sunshine 4. All as good or better. Build a soil is living soil. You can pretty much just add water. Then amend with craft blend and worm castings

 

[Gmix]

Build a soil I would say is the best out there. But if you are going to be using synthetic nutrients you can go as simple royal gold or pro mix or sunshine 4. All as good or better. Build a soil is living soil. You can pretty much just add water. Then amend with craft blend and worm castings

Maybe I’m being old fashioned and not moving on with the times but this pre loaded soil I’m not a fan off
It’s like the art of making your own soil from scratch has become a lost art
I kinda see it as growing for dummies with all the work taken out darn you don’t even have to feed them
I’d rather build my own soil

I know I’m being a stick in the mud
I dunno I just see it as taking the fun outa growing

Change my mind as they say

 

[THsea]

Maybe I’m being old fashioned and not moving on with the times but this pre loaded soil I’m not a fan off
It’s like the art of making your own soil from scratch has become a lost art
I kinda see it as growing for dummies with all the work taken out darn you don’t even have to feed them
I’d rather build my own soil

I know I’m being a stick in the mud
I dunno I just see it as taking the fun outa growing

Change my mind as they say

Poeple dont like change. If its worked for them in the past, why change it? I've always said just stick with what works for you. But if you are growing healthy plants, who cares what medium you are using.

 

[delzone]

Have to say, I bought FF Happy Frog last year and did not see bugs. However, the soil was very rough with twigs and bark. I mixed it with worm castings. My wife tried to grow herbs, bok choi and Romaine. They started but didn't thrive. Apparently the soil had no nutrients in it. However i was able to grow plants pretty well.

Now I've ordered Espoma Organic Potting Soil Mix, and plan on adding worm castings and either perlite or coco coir or both. The quest for Organic grow continues ...

 

[amneziaHaze]

Yeah tbh if you want to sterilise soil you bake it

Wouldnt that kill all your mykos?

 

[Gmix]

Wouldnt that kill all your mykos?

Yes it would kill them
I wouldn’t do it. I was just saying that’s the only real way to sterilise it or the old hack
There maybe other ways I don’t know about

 

[Ladman]

I had problems with the current grow that I suspect were caused by dead myko. We had a long heat wave into the end of October which I think killed off most of the myko in the local Walmart Promix. My plants were slow growing and didn't really start to thrive until the roots hit the reservoir in the SIP pots. I would say it set them back 3 weeks.

 

[amneziaHaze]

Yes it would kill them
I wouldn’t do it. I was just saying that’s the only real way to sterilise it or the old hack
There maybe other ways I don’t know about

i mean a bottle of great shark or some cheaper would work i guess.just how good does it rewet after the bake

 

[Gmix]

i mean a bottle of great shark or some cheaper would work i guess.just how good does it rewet after the bake

No idea read folks do it back on overgrow but never paid that much attention to it