Slurry test? Fox farms happy frog!

WallyWhite · Nov 22, 2025

I am new to growing and I am going to be using happy frog soil to do my first grow in. I want to get a slurry test by testing my soil with distilled water, should I test the soil with the provided pH which is 7.0? Or should I pH down the distilled water to my desired 6.2 pH and then mix it into my happy frog soil where I would then get a slurry test? Can you help is greatly appreciated, I’m going to start running some test right now. Thanks in advance.

Phyto · Nov 22, 2025

If you’re running just happy frog as the media you shouldn’t need to do a slurry test. Just ph your nute water to around 6.0 when you fertilize.

WallyWhite · Nov 22, 2025

Phyto said:
If you’re running just happy frog as the media you shouldn’t need to do a slurry test. Just ph your nute water to around 6.0 when you fertilize.

I see, thanks again brotha!

I forgot to say that I am doing a mixture of happy frog and ocean forest, one bag to one bag. I heard that the soil alone will give its own nutrients and of course PH level for the first few weeks, so I need to just water with no added nutrients and just offset my pH level in comparison to the soil pH level so I can settle at a desired pH of mine? Do you know if this is true? And do you do this?

JIMKSI64 · Nov 22, 2025

On other journals and diaries including lostgirl on ILGM fox farms soils do have a problem with PH buffering where it can drop out the bottom.
In every event like this any treatment to raise the PH has failed. But extensive testing by Lostgirl has shown that the ph in fox farms does not matter and whatever is wrong with the plant will continue with the problem of driving down the PH until thats fixed.
It is a not useful data other than to point to a ph issue that has to be fixed but not by flushing and not by amending with ph up.

Overwatering/ wet feet/ dead roots going septic/ heater hose from thermoforge pointing right at a fabric pot.
And my Personal Favorite a guy who had a $19 PH tool and adjusted his tap water to 6.5 with a tool that was 2 ph off.
For weeks.

Ninjadogma · Nov 22, 2025

Folks always saying don't slurry, don't pH, don't bother with EC you are in soil you'll be fine.

Screw that! If you're new to the game, then yeah, stick a pen in it! Collect data! Lots of it. You will learn a lot from just watching that data. What you DON'T want to do is make any moves if you don't know how to interpret that data. And that comes with time and experience.

The first 30 days with soil is a honeymoon. You shouldn't see any issues. After some time, the roots have spread out, minerals have been depleted and replenished a few times by the microbes and mycos, water has been passing through the soil and gravity taking everything soluble (like your pH buffers) with it, and if you decide not to watch it you have no idea what's going on when things start to drift and the plant starts showing symptoms of it. And if you do nothing but just WATCH the data you are collecting, you are going to begin to see trends, like when your soil is ready for a recharge or an amendment. After a little bit of time you won't need the pens, you will have collected data that gave you a ballpark idea of when stuff just has to be done, like clockwork.

dreamnfox · Nov 23, 2025

Ninjadogma said:
Folks always saying don't slurry, don't pH, don't bother with EC you are in soil you'll be fine.

Screw that! If you're new to the game, then yeah, stick a pen in it! Collect data! Lots of it. You will learn a lot from just watching that data. What you DON'T want to do is make any moves if you don't know how to interpret that data. And that comes with time and experience.

The first 30 days with soil is a honeymoon. You shouldn't see any issues. After some time, the roots have spread out, minerals have been depleted and replenished a few times by the microbes and mycos, water has been passing through the soil and gravity taking everything soluble (like your pH buffers) with it, and if you decide not to watch it you have no idea what's going on when things start to drift and the plant starts showing symptoms of it. And if you do nothing but just WATCH the data you are collecting, you are going to begin to see trends, like when your soil is ready for a recharge or an amendment. After a little bit of time you won't need the pens, you will have collected data that gave you a ballpark idea of when stuff just has to be done, like clockwork.

100% this

WallyWhite · Nov 27, 2025

dreamnfox said:
100% this

Man looking so forward to getting this experience! I appreciate it brother!

WallyWhite · Nov 27, 2025

Ninjadogma said:
Folks always saying don't slurry, don't pH, don't bother with EC you are in soil you'll be fine.

Screw that! If you're new to the game, then yeah, stick a pen in it! Collect data! Lots of it. You will learn a lot from just watching that data. What you DON'T want to do is make any moves if you don't know how to interpret that data. And that comes with time and experience.

The first 30 days with soil is a honeymoon. You shouldn't see any issues. After some time, the roots have spread out, minerals have been depleted and replenished a few times by the microbes and mycos, water has been passing through the soil and gravity taking everything soluble (like your pH buffers) with it, and if you decide not to watch it you have no idea what's going on when things start to drift and the plant starts showing symptoms of it. And if you do nothing but just WATCH the data you are collecting, you are going to begin to see trends, like when your soil is ready for a recharge or an amendment. After a little bit of time you won't need the pens, you will have collected data that gave you a ballpark idea of when stuff just has to be done, like clockwork.

Couldn’t have gotten better advice! Thanks so much!

pnwbluntman · Nov 28, 2025

Again... @Ninjadogma always giving these new guys the secrets of doing things right. Lol
Seriously, he knows his stuff, if he tells you to jump, you better be asking how high. Lol. He is one of the few people on here that will take the time to help, and offer people the correct information that is backed by science as well as experienced growers, not some guess work that other people are trying to hand out that is not right as well will not teach you the reasoning behind why it should be done a certain way.

WallyWhite · Dec 4, 2025

Ninjadogma said:
Folks always saying don't slurry, don't pH, don't bother with EC you are in soil you'll be fine.

Screw that! If you're new to the game, then yeah, stick a pen in it! Collect data! Lots of it. You will learn a lot from just watching that data. What you DON'T want to do is make any moves if you don't know how to interpret that data. And that comes with time and experience.

The first 30 days with soil is a honeymoon. You shouldn't see any issues. After some time, the roots have spread out, minerals have been depleted and replenished a few times by the microbes and mycos, water has been passing through the soil and gravity taking everything soluble (like your pH buffers) with it, and if you decide not to watch it you have no idea what's going on when things start to drift and the plant starts showing symptoms of it. And if you do nothing but just WATCH the data you are collecting, you are going to begin to see trends, like when your soil is ready for a recharge or an amendment. After a little bit of time you won't need the pens, you will have collected data that gave you a ballpark idea of when stuff just has to be done, like clockwork.

Good morning! So I’ve germinated all my seeds and just checked this morning and they have all popped, my soil has been in my solo cups for four days as I pre-soaked the soil before. My slurry test initially with the soil runoff was 4.9 pH with distilled water. My plan to offset this low pH of the soil is to water my seedlings that I am going to be planting with 7.6 pH distilled water, which will be balancing me at 6.2 pH. Does this sound reasonable? Do you think 7.6 pH distilled water is too high to water the seedlings with? Thanks in advance ninjadogma!

WallyWhite · Dec 4, 2025

pnwbluntman said:
Again... @Ninjadogma always giving these new guys the secrets of doing things right. Lol
Seriously, he knows his stuff, if he tells you to jump, you better be asking how high. Lol. He is one of the few people on here that will take the time to help, and offer people the correct information that is backed by science as well as experienced growers, not some guess work that other people are trying to hand out that is not right as well will not teach you the reasoning behind why it should be done a certain way.

Yeah man he gave some good advice! I’m just trying to soak up anything and everything that I can from the real experienced growers! Appreciate all the help!

pnwbluntman · Dec 4, 2025

The best way to have a full understanding is to sit down and read on how ec works and ppm levels. As well as looking into what each nutrient does, and how the ec tests the nutrient concentration. Then once you have an understanding on that, look into the basics of environmental controls. You shouldn't be worried about CO2 or doing anything additional things in my opinion for the first couple grows so you can focus on getting a basic understanding and a routine going. Using stuff like CO2 is all about timing and knowing the right amount. But if you can't dial in your basic feed and environment, you will waste money and overwhelm yourself with too many variables

Ninjadogma · Dec 4, 2025

WallyWhite said:
Good morning! So I’ve germinated all my seeds and just checked this morning and they have all popped, my soil has been in my solo cups for four days as I pre-soaked the soil before. My slurry test initially with the soil runoff was 4.9 pH with distilled water. My plan to offset this low pH of the soil is to water my seedlings that I am going to be planting with 7.6 pH distilled water, which will be balancing me at 6.2 pH. Does this sound reasonable? Do you think 7.6 pH distilled water is too high to water the seedlings with? Thanks in advance ninjadogma!

Yikes, 4.9 was that new soil coming in that low?

I'd like to ask you other folks using the FF stuff are the buffers that hard out the gate or could we be looking at a pen calibration issue?

You got the right idea, applying some "Kentucky Windage" to get that soil pH fixed. Your 7.6 going in shouldn't be an issue but it's a little trickier to set a particular input value and expect a specific output value back.Whether you need to go up or down, I would suggest you just decide on a safe input number and work longer with more water than use an unsafe input value to correct. Hopefully that makes sense.

The concern is if your pen was off... if that 4.9 was really a 5.8, then that 7.6 water you put in would have really been 8.5. I've had bad pen experiences so I have trust issues. independently test some water with a pH test solution and then see what the pen says.

On a separate note, I appreciate the compliments but I'm no expert at this shit and if I come across that way, mea culpa. Most of what I have to share is rather simple gardening advice, and if that helps anybody else, that puts a smile on my face.

You don't want to put me on a pedestal. What's the lyrics from that Tool song? I will elevate you.. Just enough to bring you down

dreamnfox · Dec 4, 2025

WallyWhite said:
Good morning! So I’ve germinated all my seeds and just checked this morning and they have all popped, my soil has been in my solo cups for four days as I pre-soaked the soil before. My slurry test initially with the soil runoff was 4.9 pH with distilled water. My plan to offset this low pH of the soil is to water my seedlings that I am going to be planting with 7.6 pH distilled water, which will be balancing me at 6.2 pH. Does this sound reasonable? Do you think 7.6 pH distilled water is too high to water the seedlings with? Thanks in advance ninjadogma!

Double check the pH pen, that is incredibly low pH for soil.

pnwbluntman · Dec 4, 2025

Ninjadogma said:
Yikes, 4.9 was that new soil coming in that low?

I'd like to ask you other folks using the FF stuff are the buffers that hard out the gate or could we be looking at a pen calibration issue?

You got the right idea, applying some "Kentucky Windage" to get that soil pH fixed. Your 7.6 going in shouldn't be an issue but it's a little trickier to set a particular input value and expect a specific output value back.Whether you need to go up or down, I would suggest you just decide on a safe input number and work longer with more water than use an unsafe input value to correct. Hopefully that makes sense.

The concern is if your pen was off... if that 4.9 was really a 5.8, then that 7.6 water you put in would have really been 8.5. I've had bad pen experiences so I have trust issues. independently test some water with a pH test solution and then see what the pen says.

On a separate note, I appreciate the compliments but I'm no expert at this shit and if I come across that way, mea culpa. Most of what I have to share is rather simple gardening advice, and if that helps anybody else, that puts a smile on my face.

You don't want to put me on a pedestal. What's the lyrics from that Tool song? I will elevate you.. Just enough to bring you down

If you ain't pushing some crap on people, then they definitely should listen. I don't see you out here telling people anything wrong only giving them that slight nudge in the right direction. But you would appreciate my hand tattoo talking about tool, lol I have the three sided face from their album cover on my hand lol

pnwbluntman · Dec 4, 2025

Yea it might be time for a calibration, or if you got the pen and never calibrated. (They do not come calibrated out the box 90% of the time)

Ninjadogma · Dec 4, 2025

pnwbluntman said:
The best way to have a full understanding is to sit down and read on how ec works and ppm levels. As well as looking into what each nutrient does, and how the ec tests the nutrient concentration. Then once you have an understanding on that, look into the basics of environmental controls. You shouldn't be worried about CO2 or doing anything additional things in my opinion for the first couple grows so you can focus on getting a basic understanding and a routine going. Using stuff like CO2 is all about timing and knowing the right amount. But if you can't dial in your basic feed and environment, you will waste money and overwhelm yourself with too many variables

Yup, it's an eye opener, and when you get a grasp of the basics of that along with the whole sybiotic ecosystem of soil, you get a better sense of what is going on and how you will nurture it. You'll learn you can get superb results using easily sourced stuff from your local garden center too, but until then? Just buy the cannabis stuff and follow their system

JIMKSI64 · Dec 4, 2025

I got a fresh bag of HF downstairs.
If poster will lay out his slurry test method I will test my bag.
If the way he tests is not the same as mine I will also slurry the way I do it and post test results as well as described test method.

JIMKSI64 · Dec 4, 2025

ps.
I do not post the numbers in my diaries entrys but I do test soils and now soil conditioners from FF.
I have entries for 5 bags of OF and 7 of HF and all tested 6-7 ph.
multiple years multiple sources

Ninjadogma · Dec 4, 2025

JIMKSI64 said:
I got a fresh bag of HF downstairs.
If poster will lay out his slurry test method I will test my bag.
If the way he tests is not the same as mine I will also slurry the way I do it and post test results as well as described test method.

See? Now THAT's how to roll up your sleeves and help a fellow grower out.

Slurry test? Fox farms happy frog!

Slurry test? Fox farms happy frog!

WallyWhite

Phyto

WallyWhite

JIMKSI64

Ninjadogma

dreamnfox

WallyWhite

WallyWhite

pnwbluntman

WallyWhite

WallyWhite

pnwbluntman

Ninjadogma

dreamnfox

pnwbluntman

pnwbluntman

Ninjadogma

JIMKSI64

JIMKSI64

Ninjadogma

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