So I kno I need to get some plant good eventually prob that three pack by fox farm. But with everything thats in Fox Farm ocean soil, do I need to get anything else to add to the mixture? Like perlite etc?
I'm doing pure FFOF. Ammended with the FoxFarm liquid fertilizers. I added compost to a couple of my pots and the results weren't as good. The soil compacts more and I started adding a small bit of natural dish soap (7th Gen, Almond Oil) to help penetrate, but performance wasn't as good. I'm considering trying a blend of Coco Coir (Coconut Huks). It's cheap and does nicely for rooting and transplanting. It's relatively nutrient-neutral but can effect the PH. Think of Soil as a meal. Dinner. You can survive off of swiss cheese and hard salami, But if you wanna be a rockstar athlete you gotta get like servings of each group, etc. You can grow a plant in pure tap water, but it won't be pretty. FFOF is a great start, maybe try some Coco Coir. Fertilizer is key though. Think of the soil as a pet. It's got a bunch of things living in it, only one of them is the plant. You gotta feed the soil. It will feed the plant.
so your saying making sure I get plant food as well to feed it. Like perlite and such isnt as important?
so ya I understand I need to get plant food. But I remember someone saying I should mix like 20% perlite into the fox farm?
FFOF has plenty of perlite in it. I grew my last plant in nothing but FFOF, i had problems but it was my own ineptitude, would have been fine if I had not overfed (turns out the instructions on my nutes call for higher than needed concentration).
I just used 1/3 perlite and 2/3 FFOS on my first grow with terrific results. I also used the 3 pack of nutes. Nothing the first 30 days, then 1/4 recommended strength for a few weeks then 1/2 strength all every other watering. I never went past 1/2. Each time I switched nutes I did the 1/4 first.
If you're in a dry climate...no need for perilite. If you're in a more humid area, you might consider it to keep water retention down and not worry about over-watering or root-rot. If your pots are well drained and don't sit in stagnant trays, FFOF has the consistency to keep it from spoiling. The coco coir will hold MORE water, so don't add this if you feel you'll have over-watering problems.