Can Sprouts Survive in FoxFarms O.F. ?????

[dankfest999]

Do any of you have experience starting sprouts in Fox Farms Ocean Forest, or a mixture containing it?
We have been using a 50/50 mixture of FFOF and Pro-mix to house our month old girls, but those beans were started in small solo cups with *only* pro-mix (which has no nutes) for first 2 wks. Transplanted into the 50:50 mix. We did this because the Pro-mix has a lot of peat/sphagnum and is very airy... lets the heavy FFOF soil drain more easily.
I am wondering if anyone thinks its safe/unsafe to germinate sprouts and place them directly into the 50:50 FoxFarms/Promix mixture?

I figure if noone knows, i'll repeat what we've done with our other girls because it worked well enough; however, I'd def like to get maximum growth rate out of these, because theyre catching up to older plants.


p.s. we are using a veg suppliment now, but i know that i should not use this on the sprouts/seedlings.

[geetardude]

Hey,

I'm pretty sure Fox Farms Ocean Forest is excellent for sprouts. I'm not sure about that 50/50 mixture, but F.F. by itself works fine. It's what I use, anyway.

[buzb8lvr]

It can be just a tad hot for seedlings but nothing bad. If FFOF kills a seedling then it probably wouldn't be a healthy plant anyway. ProMix is great too (what I switched to from FFOF actually) so I don't think you'll have any problems at all.

[waterlotus]

yes, i used o.f. straight up for my two week old babes last spring....added a bit of perlite to get the faster drain/dry....didnt need nutes for first two weeks (was told at nursery to wait two weeks to avoid burns) and i was pleased with results. i have not found a better soil product, even from fox farm, yet. i would make sure the nursery is keeping the bales on pallets...i also am a very staunch supporter of ALWAYS using hygrazyme in soil....seems like a lot less probs/way fatter root mass and stems.

[ClosetHack]

I've started many seeds in Fox farms ocean forest when I was picking up premixed bag of soils for my garden.

Problems seem to arise in this soil due to it's heavy compost composition. Add some peirlite, and do not over water and they shall do fine. I'd say 9 out of 10 problems arising from this soil, and problems with seedlings seems to be tied to over watering the plants, and not allowing the bottom of the pots to dry sufficiently before the next watering. Organic material needs moisture to break down and allow the plants to receive nutrients from it, but Leaving the soil wet allows for steady contact between younger sensitive roots, and nutrients resulting in fert burn for young seedlings.

The wet-dry cycle is an incredibly important aspect to an organic grow, allowing oxygen into the medium, and keeping the soil life healthy.

Also many amend their soils further with dolomite lime for cal-mag and ph buffering the acidic breakdown of peat, but this soil already contains calcium-oyster shell for these purposes. If you plan to re-use the soil amend with dolomite after the first run in the mix.

Most problems with this soil stemmed from these issues, and the symptoms caused by these issues.

Pro-mix on the other hand is not an organic product, and I have no experience with it personally. It does contain a starter boost of synthetics fertilizer but I've seen many use it without issues with seedling starts.