A lot of people would tell you start with FoxFarms Ocean Forest mixed with FoxFarms Happy Frog, and others will say Ocean Forest is good by itself. Both are right and I have used both. However, beware of premixed soil which have some nutrients already in the soil. The reason I don’t like using these is because it’s a complete guessing game when it comes to the nutrients in the soil being used all up which means you should then start feeding with synthetic nutrients. I prefer to use an inert soilless grow medium that requires ME to feed my plants from day one until the very last day when I chop them down. It’s difficult (in my opinion), to plan for a scheduled nutrient regimen because you don’t know when you should or can start feeding the plants with bottled nutrients. Some people like it, but I don’t. That’s my take “Tyranny anywhere is a threat to freedom everywhere.” — someone awesome
only have some experience with fox farm ocean forest and roots organic original. fox farm seemed okay but to much moisture retention for my liking so i would mix it with perlite next time. the roots organic i like better it seems to slightly dry out faster. i have my 2nd grow in them right now and they are thriving in it. idk if it's the soil or just from learning from past mistakes but i will be doing another ffof grow next. if i kept my 2nd grow outdoors it would dry even faster due to the heat from the sun and more aeration but it's mainly an indoor grow now due to lack of light outside. i watered friday im expecting it to dry by tomorrow night. i could probably water later tonight or tomorrow but soil is still moist and i don't want to risk dealing with over watering issues ontop of that but if i watered a little i doubt it would do any harm
I tend to learn towards Kellogg's organic patio plus, it is virtually the opposite of FF soils! Very low nutrient content, very high drainage! Will feed cuttings for a month or can be supplemented immediately like soilless! Main reason I like it is because of the high drainage. It's so effective that flushing and accumulative salt buildup are easy to deal with, as is the virtual inability to overwater! But again it's fairly inert, cheap, and if you get a wet/torn bag it will probably have knants! It's a holdover from the days when you risked a long time in prison to possibly blow the transformer in front of your house stealing electricity to produce 7+ lbs a month, you couldn't just keep going to the hydro store, we hit every Home Depot within a 100 miles every month to get all that dirt!
I use happy frog with 40% perlite Works for me and my plants Wedding cake Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
After person mentioned inert soil with minimal nutrients. He mentioned that it’s difficult to control the soil nutrient level with liquid nutrients if the potting is also high in nutrients.
Absolutely! When the plant is small synergistically it just doesn't has the transpiration capacity to both draw nutrient from the soil while simultaneouslay being washed over with more readily available nutrient. It's like giving a baby full serving of breastmilk and chasing it with a full serving of formula, it's too much! Initial soil composition is like the plants mother, it needs to nuture and provide a healthy growing environment for the plant to realize full potential. When your soil fails to do those things, then you are fixing a glass house with a stone hammer all season. Regardless, this thread is a great idea because soil selection one of the most important and underrated decisions in growing, and everybody has different variables in there specific grow rooms that make some soils more conducive than others, but make no mistake once you commit, there is no going back! I run from the school of thought that soil should be able to naturally handle the very first growth stages alone, but around 4 nodes I begin intro into feeding regime, by full veg all of the small amount of available nutrient that came with the soil is gone, and you can go pure hydro in a inert soil medium/ or running a full organic tea regime, but given normal operating conditions PH (unless you have some outlying variables) should be relatively stable!
I'm doing a experimental grow ATM with biobizz light mix and so far so good. My seedlings seem to love it its got really good drainage with plenty of pearlite I think they are one of only a few that are registered as organic produce.
Light mix is a great soil, but with many such soil prone to fungas gnats. I think mixed with EWC and bat guano that it grows absolute killer bud - I just find that soil to lack in magnesium and needs a good dose in veg and 3 weeks into flower on an 8 weeker.
I'm loving it so far only couple weeks in though same for my girls they are thriving right now its brilliant for self regulating pH but I've found its good at bringing it down but it will not and cannot buffer it up.
That will be the lime it contains. It's only good for 3 weeks then MG&CA deficiencies will show up very quickly. Make sure you transplant up or feed em or growth will stunt for a couple of weeks. I've noticed with that soil pretty much bang on 3 weeks the defs start showing up really quick, but have seen it in as little as 2 and half. I've got 5 NL in it now, I nearly always pot on after starting in coco into light mix, bio bizz or plagron. Both are essentially black peat but the quality is better than the big 100l bails of Irish peat moss you can get from garden centres for peanuts.
Thank you for the heads up I'll be keeping my eye out for that and stock up on some calmag my bottle needs replacing you now have given me the initiative so thanks for that also haha