Foxfarm soil

[Alistair Young]

Hi,

My name is Alistair and this is my first post.

I just started some seeds in FFOF and they've sprouted. These sprouts are in 20 ounce styrofoam cups. I've read a good number of the posts on this site concerning FFOF soil, yet I still don't have the information I'm looking for.

I imagine that the seedlings should fill out these containers and be ready for transplanting in about 2 to 3 weeks from now. Some people add bloodmeal, bone meal, and potash to their soil. I'd like to do the same when it comes time to transplant into bigger containers. However, as noted in some of the posts that I've read on this site FFOF already contains organic nutrients in the soil. I'd like to mix in the bloodmeal etc., but I think it might be too strong for the plants. Is it advisable to add anything to the transplant medium when the plants are only 2 to 3 weeks old?

From my reading it seems as though adding bone meal shouldn't hurt because bone meal is a slow release fertilzer. I'd like to add the potash also, because I've noticed a lot of the liquid organic fertilizers don't contain high concentrations of potassium. Nitrogen on the other hand is easy to add as a liquid fertilizer, so if adding bloodmeal directly to the FFOF soil before transplanting is too much, I can easily add a high N fertilizer later on.

So, if I want to mix in bloodmeal, bone meal, and potash into the FFOF soil before transplanting is it safe, or should I only add bone meal and/ or potash, or add nothing and wait awhile and then add organic liquid fertilizers?

I've used FFOF soil for my other grows, but this time I want to try 100% organic fertilizers. The liquid fertilzers Grow Big, Big Bloom and Tiger Bloom (Of these 3 fertilizers only Big Bloom is 100% organic; the other two are organic based, but not 100% organic) seem to work well, but even though the Open Sesame, Beastie Bllom and Cha Ching make the flowers nice and big, for various reasons I don't like them.

Also, another question. I've used FFOF soil for several grows now and I've never added perlite because the information on the bag that the soil comes in says that the soil is already aerated. Some people add perlite to FFOF soil and some don't. What is the general consensus?

Thanks,

Alisair

[CaliGrower]

With FF you don't need any added nutrients until the flowering cycle. FF has a GREAT reputation as a growing medium for marijuana in soil. Good luck!

[Alistair Young]

Thanks Caligrow. I'm getting advise from different forums and I intend to use the information to come up with a plan that will work fine for my needs.

I've never grown organic before because to me it seems hard to get the required amounts of N. P. K, , micro nutrients, and trace elements from organic sources. Man-made fertilizers have high N. P. K values such as 30, 10, 10, for example, and it seems impossible to get those high numbers from organic ferts. That's why I wanted to use bloodmeal and bone meal because these are organic with rather high percentages such as 15 for bloodmeal and 13 for bone meal. Some organic fertilizers are rated with small percentages of N, P, and K, such as 1.5, 1, and 5 ( I just made these numbers up, but you get the point) for example, and that hardly seems as though it would work, but many people use them and they claim that they work well. Do you or anyone else here understand how fertilizers with such low percentages of these elements work and provide enough of everything that the plants need?

Thanks again,

Alistair

[Alistair Young]

For various reasons I'm going to transplant from the 20 ounce cups into 3 or 4 gallon pots for the remainder of the grow ( I know that transplanting planting is usually done in smaller increments, but I'm doing this way for this gow anyway.). Is it ok to layer the soil? The top could be pure FF soil and then maybe a few inches deeper a mix of FF soil and bone meal for example. My reasoning is because 3 weeks after transplanting into the bigger pots I plan on puttting them into flowering when they will need extra phoshorus. At first they won't need the extra phosphorus because they will still be vegging, then 3 weeks later they're put into flowering. So, pure FF soil on top and the bone meal-FF mix for the remainder of grow.

Also, what do others do for K? Do they blend it into the soil when the plants get big? At what point of the grow must K be introduced into the fertlizer routine? Should potash be mixed into the soil, or can it be dissolved in water and useed as a liquid fertilizer.

And finally, Shouldn't nitrogen be introduced into the soil after the plants are a few weeks old? I know that FF has nitrogen in it, but I understnad that plants love lot's of N.

Caligrower gave me his 2 cents. Does anybody else have expeience with FF soil and growing organic, that might be give me more ideas?

All help is greatly appreciated,

Alistair

[CaliCoast]

Originally Posted by Alistair Young

Thanks Caligrow. I'm getting advise from different forums and I intend to use the information to come up with a plan that will work fine for my needs.

I've never grown organic before because to me it seems hard to get the required amounts of N. P. K, , micro nutrients, and trace elements from organic sources. Man-made fertilizers have high N. P. K values such as 30, 10, 10, for example, and it seems impossible to get those high numbers from organic ferts. That's why I wanted to use bloodmeal and bone meal because these are organic with rather high percentages such as 15 for bloodmeal and 13 for bone meal. Some organic fertilizers are rated with small percentages of N, P, and K, such as 1.5, 1, and 5 ( I just made these numbers up, but you get the point) for example, and that hardly seems as though it would work, but many people use them and they claim that they work well. Do you or anyone else here understand how fertilizers with such low percentages of these elements work and provide enough of everything that the plants need?

Thanks again,

Alistair

Originally Posted by Alistair Young

For various reasons I'm going to transplant from the 20 ounce cups into 3 or 4 gallon pots for the remainder of the grow ( I know that transplanting planting is usually done in smaller increments, but I'm doing this way for this gow anyway.). Is it ok to layer the soil? The top could be pure FF soil and then maybe a few inches deeper a mix of FF soil and bone meal for example. My reasoning is because 3 weeks after transplanting into the bigger pots I plan on puttting them into flowering when they will need extra phoshorus. At first they won't need the extra phosphorus because they will still be vegging, then 3 weeks later they're put into flowering. So, pure FF soil on top and the bone meal-FF mix for the remainder of grow.

Also, what do others do for K? Do they blend it into the soil when the plants get big? At what point of the grow must K be introduced into the fertlizer routine? Should potash be mixed into the soil, or can it be dissolved in water and useed as a liquid fertilizer.

And finally, Shouldn't nitrogen be introduced into the soil after the plants are a few weeks old? I know that FF has nitrogen in it, but I understnad that plants love lot's of N.

Caligrower gave me his 2 cents. Does anybody else have expeience with FF soil and growing organic, that might be give me more ideas?

All help is greatly appreciated,

Alistair

Yeah like CG said FFOF is good to use straight out of the bag. I add extra perlite for drainage but some don't and have no issues. But don't add anything to FFOF especially blood meal, you would probably run into a N toxicity situation if you did add it. I've done that with blood meal before.

As far as nutrients go synthetic nutes are designed for speed and power while organic ferts tend to meld into the soil and provide long term nutrients as well as short term nutrients. That is why organic growers swear by recycling their soil while replenishing it with amendments such as bat guano, worm castings, myco among other things. Organic nutrients such as green sand don't release to their full potential in one season hence soil recycling. So you can definitely provide the necessary nutrients at the right amounts at the right time with organic nutrients but it's more of a balancing act imo.

Layering is another advanced technique based on the fact that in nature, soil is not one consistency(like in most pots) but rather formed in layers based on the layout of the natural terrain. I have never layered but it's always sparked interest so if you do experiment with it that'd be cool. I have some basic layering models I can dig up.

[basementhydro]

I don't remember any specifics about layering soil, it's just sort of an instinct I have from watching my parents and grandparents do it. To be honest I'm not even sure I remember it right.

But here's how I do it:

First off, make sure you've got your bottom of the planter set up how you want it. A common practice in my family is to save broken terra cotta planters and break them up further into small pieces to line the bottom of other pots to facilitate drainage without losing soil. However you do it, make sure you've got the drainage set up how you like.

Fill the pot about 1/3rd with whatever soil you're using. Watering tends to transport nutrients downward, so there isn't much point in putting fertilizer on the bottom. Then, depending on the depth of the pot, I'll put 3-4 layers of fertilizer between soil making sure to have soil on the top of the final layer.

If you're going to water from the bottom you can layer throughout the pot. Depending on the potency of your fertilizer, the size of the pot, and how nutrient-hungry your strain is you'll want to keep the total amount of fertilizer in mind. The layering (in my opinion) greatly encourages a lot of root growth since the plant is always looking for and finding fresh food. Because of this you can end up toxicly over-feeding your plant if you put too much fertilizer in the pot.

When in doubt, underfeed. It's easy to mix up a little liquid food and water later on. Not so easy to get fertilizer out of the pot.

I like to put my hydroponics nutrient solutions to work in this manner - when I have to change the reservoir I use the old solution to feed my vegetable garden. (Don't forget to watch out for where your water runs off to - you don't want hydro nutrients washing into a stream or pond or something.)