Fox Farm Sledgehammer - which method do you use it ?

I filled my giant barrels and used only sledgehammer and adjusted ph to 6.5 and gave my fox farm ocean forest a 2.5:1 ratio of water to pot size to flush out all the salt build up.

But I read that it can be used while feeding so can I simply add it to my regular feed water and have it remove the salt? Is there a difference between doing a full flush by rinsing the roots with all new water or can the small amount of it be enough to remove the salts.

Lastly, do you flush with sledgehammer 1 week before harvest? and if you do, which of these two methods would you use?

i would like to know when to use this also. i just bought this today cause it sounded like it would be good for my plants.

Me too? Does anyone know? I know it seems like maybe people have moved on to somewhere else or the caring people with actual experience arn't tendin to much around here.

Sounds like you have a hydro setup? I can tell you about my experience with it but I'm in soil.

Edit: just realized this thread was old.

(smiles) Well, wether it be old or new I'm still interested so if you don't mind sir.. I'm quited interested in your potential elaborations..

I too am a Soil Fox Foil Farmer (smiles)

A friend and I both use the complete fox farm nute kit and a while ago he was telling me that the sledgehammer can be used while feeding but I wouldn't do that though. My logic is, if you follow the fox farm feeding schedule correctly you shouldn't need to flush aside from when they say to. Besides why use a flushing agent at the same time you're feeding, they would be working against each other. I do use it for a final flush but last harvests I experimented a little. since i use 3 gallon pots i flushed with 6 gallons of plain 6.5ph water then 3 gallons of sledgehammer solution. cant say that i've seen much of a difference in the last 2 harvests with or without sledgehammer. i say use as directed but a good flush is a good flush. if you don't over feed your plants throughout their lives then sledgehammer isn't really necessary as long as you do a proper final flush.

I just picked this up today on the advice of my local grow store owner. I decided to check it out online some when I got home. According to the fox farms web site you should use it ever 3 to 4 weeks as a flush even in soil. As far as weather or not you can add it right to your fertilizer or if it needs to be done as a stand alone is a good question that I will have to follow up on.
It almost looks like its meant to be done between feedings when you look on the Fox Farms chart.http://foxfarmfertil...feedingfox.html

Edited by The Growernator, 03 September 2011 - 04:06 AM.
wrong link

So I was doing some more research and I came across this info also on the FoxFarms site.

Should plants show signs of stress or color irregularities, flush your system with
FoxFarm BushDoctor SledgeHammer combined with FoxFarm Big Bloom.
Use Twice the volume of water as a typical feeding to remove unwanted salt
build-up and heal the root bio-culture. For edible plants flush the system again one to two weeks prior to harvest.
Note: This step is especially important when using coco based mediums as coco has a tendency to retain salts more than
peat-based soils. Always remember to adjust your pH.

I tried to use Sledgehammer per the feeding schedules but I think it did more damage than good. My plants were healthy but I decided to use it about halfway in flower...when I was transitioning from open sesame to beastie bloomz.

My plants were in 3 gallon pots and at the time I watered with 1 gallon or less and saw run off. I flushed with sledgehammer and used 3 gallons of distilled. Apparently that wasn't enough water, even though the last 2 gallons ran right through the soil. After some research I found out that the active ingredient in sledgehammer is a strong surfactant. It helps water flow easily through the medium...that makes sense since it is a flush right?

Turns out that the sledgehammer remained in my soil for longer than expected and my plant developed multiple deficiencies. The subsequent feeds were flowing right through the medium and washing away any nutrients that remained. I found this out because I had the same strain growing on the same regimen that wasn't flushed with sledgehammer and it showed no deficiency.

I obviously made a big mistake administering the sledgehammer but my bigger mistake was blindly following the FF schedule.

In my opinion, I would only use sledgehammer if there is a major salt buildup, pH problem, or for pre harvest flushing. If you are hellbent on following the FF schedule then make sure you mix the sledgehammer in 1 gallon and then flush with ALOT of clean water to rinse it out of there.

As for feeding at the same time you administer sledgehammer...I think it is pointless. You are flushing to cleanse the medium. Why would you add nutes? Plus the sledgehammer would most likely rinse it away.

Think of it as organic draino; the soil is the drain/pipe and the nutes and salt in the soil are the clog.

I tried to use Sledgehammer per the feeding schedules but I think it did more damage than good. My plants were healthy but I decided to use it about halfway in flower...when I was transitioning from open sesame to beastie bloomz.

My plants were in 3 gallon pots and at the time I watered with 1 gallon or less and saw run off. I flushed with sledgehammer and used 3 gallons of distilled. Apparently that wasn't enough water, even though the last 2 gallons ran right through the soil. After some research I found out that the active ingredient in sledgehammer is a strong surfactant. It helps water flow easily through the medium...that makes sense since it is a flush right?

Turns out that the sledgehammer remained in my soil for longer than expected and my plant developed multiple deficiencies. The subsequent feeds were flowing right through the medium and washing away any nutrients that remained. I found this out because I had the same strain growing on the same regimen that wasn't flushed with sledgehammer and it showed no deficiency.

I obviously made a big mistake administering the sledgehammer but my bigger mistake was blindly following the FF schedule.

In my opinion, I would only use sledgehammer if there is a major salt buildup, pH problem, or for pre harvest flushing. If you are hellbent on following the FF schedule then make sure you mix the sledgehammer in 1 gallon and then flush with ALOT of clean water to rinse it out of there.

As for feeding at the same time you administer sledgehammer...I think it is pointless. You are flushing to cleanse the medium. Why would you add nutes? Plus the sledgehammer would most likely rinse it away.

Think of it as organic draino; the soil is the drain/pipe and the nutes and salt in the soil are the clog.

Exactly the issue I have. My perfectly healthy plants in 3 gallon containers turned to shit 2 days after flush. I flushed 3 gallon pots with 2 gallon of Sledhammer 2tsp/gallon. I also added 2tsp of Big Bloom to the last gallon.

The topmost leaves got brown rust all over them though the veins were still green. Some of the topmost leaves just brittled up and died. I am really ticked off. I was at 24 days of 12/12. I would never use Sledghammer again. I think it stays in the soil.

I mean I had perfect plants with nice colas going until this.

I sent FF an email gently asking what I did wrong. I got a reply that said the Fed Gov considers growing canibis illegal and gave me no help. WTF no sheet!... If it wasn't for us you would have ANY business FF.

I am now with Blue Planet organic nutes. Fuc* Fox Farm!

I wish I would of read this thread before buying and using Sledgehammer.

As in the last 2 posters, I decided to use it to flush my 7 week old chem dawg, which looked like it was having deficiencies. Well the flush with sledgehammer has made it worst.

No amount of water can flush out the remaining sledgehammer that stays in your medium.

Ive only used plain water for the past 3 feedings and everyday a leaf burns up n dies.

FAIR WARNING:STAY AWAY FROM FOX FARM SLEDGEHAMMER.

I had an issue that had might of came up around the time that FoxFarm's Sledgehammer was was used too, I'm not too sure.. but I think we should look more into this..

Faaaack.... Im using fox farm now and have been for a one harvest and I had no problem with it....my plants are in 2.4 gallon pots and I water with 24ozs every 3-4 days. I'm 'blindly' following the ff schedule that says to flush except I'm using Clearex for my flushes. I used it like 3 days ago and have seen those same rust spots...smh. I'm feeding now and hopefully that clears this shit up

I use Sledgehammer for my preflower flush and my final flush that's it !

Edited by 1shot67, 28 December 2012 - 03:03 AM.

What if you've burned your plant from over fert and its suspected toxic salt buildup. This product would help right?

What if you've burned your plant from over fert and its suspected toxic salt buildup. This product would help right?

I only use this on my last 10 days... I would just use water to flush out your grow medium

Bumpin up the old thread.....

I use SLedgehammer with my plants and so far I've had no issues with it. I'll try to get some pictures up here tomorrow because my lights are off for the night, but I try to stick to the following schedule....

Feed, Plain water, Feed, Light flush with 1 tsp/gallon, Feed, Plain Water, Feed, Light Flush with 1 tsp/gallon....and so on.
During the last two weeks I use no nutes, just flush with 1 tsp/gallon first, then 2 tsp/gallon the very last week.

If you want you can pull the whole plant when harvesting depending on how big it is, roots and all. Let them soak in a vase of water overnight and it will draw out more nutes, almost like water curing. Then dry and cure like regular.

Another option which I havent tried myself is to boil the roots after the plant is harvested to suck out the nutes. I'm a little skeptical to try this though because I feel the rising steam would destroy some of the trichomes.