Transplanting to different soil brand?

[PLantAsEED]

I have 3 plants indoors that are around 2 months old, in 5 gallon pots, and have spent their whole life in FFOF Soil. I like FFOF but it's sure EXPENSIVE and I need a cheaper option! I will be transplanting them outdoors soon into 6cuft/45gallon boxes. I was planning on using 3 bags of FFOF($14) and 1 bag generic potting soil($2) per plant which would total $132. Given that I have never grown outdoors and the risk is high for pests, PM, bud rot, and theft I do not want to invest too much $ until I know what I am doing. Is there cheaper alternative that would not shock the plants with a new environment? Can I use generic potting soil and just amend with fertilizer?

The last time I tried a soil other than FFOF was "smoking tomatoes" and it was terrible. Ph was all over the place and drainage was terrible. I Still have a flowering plant struggling with it! Makes me nervous.

Thanks

 

[redshift75]

menards has 4cu ft bags of promix for like $13 right now. Thats what i opted for. That and i picked up 6cu ft of the house brand base soil mix from my local grow shop. They only had ocean forest and i couldnt find much else this year in my location. Ive used pro mix in the past and have no qualms with any of their blends and for the price over going super hot generic soil... ill run it ;) I know lots of others who run pro mix and tell me its easy to amend so im not thinking i should have issues. outside of one loaded with time release fertilizers. I dont have much issues. I dont even mind running straight manure although i wont run straight fresh manure.

Lots of good options besides FF to fit a budget that are quality blends. Check and see if any of your grow shops have deals right now on house blends.

 

[PLantAsEED]

menards has 4cu ft bags of promix for like $13 right now. Thats what i opted for. That and i picked up 6cu ft of the house brand base soil mix from my local grow shop. They only had ocean forest and i couldnt find much else this year in my location. Ive used pro mix in the past and have no qualms with any of their blends and for the price over going super hot generic soil... ill run it ;) I know lots of others who run pro mix and tell me its easy to amend so im not thinking i should have issues. outside of one loaded with time release fertilizers. I dont have much issues. I dont even mind running straight manure although i wont run straight fresh manure.

Lots of good options besides FF to fit a budget that are quality blends. Check and see if any of your grow shops have deals right now on house blends.

I like to pro-mix idea. I see it is listed as compressed peat moss. Is this any different the ff, or just without the nutes? Should my ph and watering practices stay the same? I've noticed that ff dries out rather well letting me know when to water.

Would this mix well with FF at a ratio of 4cuft promix : 1.5 cuft FF?

 

[redshift75]

I like to pro-mix idea. I see it is listed as compressed peat moss. Is this any different the ff, or just without the nutes? Should my ph and watering practices stay the same? I've noticed that ff dries out rather well letting me know when to water.

Would this mix well with FF at a ratio of 4cuft promix : 1.5 cuft FF?

Some people dont like pro mix they think it has bugs. I think they all have that potential. You can mix it down with any soil. I use manure. SO it will mix well with FF. I was going to mix it with happy frog soil conditioner the 3cu ft bags that are same price as the 1.5ft but they are on back order and ive been trying to get em since like february. So i just gave up and went with house brand. Pro mix has a good blend and has myco and some other things. Its just a different type of formulation in my opinion to achieve the same end results. Others may just use components that are more expensive precursors to their blends. Some load them up with amendments that would cost several hundred dollars to buy to be able to amend your soil yourself at the rate of 50lb bags x 10 different variations.... and what have you.


other then how its blended to me id put them on the same level. Where one may have more potential for available nutrients long term without it being packed full of synthetic time release nutrients like most low level commercial soils.

Depending how this grow goes i may end up a pro mix person over FF cause i dont like the pricing(cheaper to have my own soil made large scale 60cu ft+) and its always a struggle to get the blends i want. Im starting to put FF in the pile of brands that are marked up for cannabis people. Where Pro mix is right in the middle between getting your average price conscious consumer and pro level gardener willing to spend a few extra bucks(although pro mix certainly does have cannabis marketed blends for 2-3x the price IMO). Not saying FF doesnt have a proven record and decent blends. But they just dont feel that special anymore. But at the same stroke its hard to find good soil blends that arent full of synthetic nutrients, so it takes the headache of trial and error and learning away by simply choosing fox farm or even pro mix in this case.


long term my rule of thumb is it doesnt matter when it comes to mixing soils. They all end up on the same recycled dirt pile to refill pots next year. With the exception of mixing in garbage soil like miracle grow.