So I also made a thread on Fox Farms soil...but to me I think alot of people are growing good with Roots soil so I just wanted to see if anyone had anything at all to say about the soil and how you ammended or changed anything through your grow. I wanted to do a mix of 70% roots soil 20% fox forest light warrior (which I will also use to start my seeds) and some earth worm castings. Any suggestions are appreciated.
I don't use Roots Organic but I might be able to help. Roots Organic "Ingredients: Coco fiber, peat moss, perlite, pumice, premium worm castings, bat guano, kelp, fish bone meal, soy bean meal, feather meal, greensand, leonardite, and alfalfa meal." Fox Farm Light Warrior "Contains an organic blend of mycorrhizae fungi (a powerful root stimulator), sphagnum peat moss, horticultural perlite, earthworm castings, granite dust, humic acid, and oyster shell (for pH adjustment). Plant directly into Light Warrior. Great for starts, transplants, and growing plants indoors and outdoors. " So you've already covered quite a few amendments. I'd consider adding some humic compost to the mix, and adding a cubic foot of pumice to your overall mix. Consider adding some Need seed meal for some preemptive defense as well.
I use roots and only add perlite ~25% (eye measured) and some dolomite lime to control ph because just like fox farms roots has acidic soil. Still don't understand why both roots and fox farms are making soils that have a ph of 5.7-5.9 when everyone knows 6.2-6.5 is the sweet spot.
Are you planning on feeding them with liquids, or going water only? The standard mix faded out on me around 4 weeks flower, if I remember correctly, with heavy feeding plants. It could definitely use some more kick if you're planning on going all the way with just it. I'd probably add Guanos, Rock Phosphate, and Kelp Meal, in addition to the EWC. Either that, or you can hit them with Fish and Kelp every third watering or so once you switch. I also had good results using the Age Old Liquid Bloom with it. Also, you'll want a liming agent for it, as it's going to swing a little acid on you.
I agree with Sam87. The people at my garden store say that Roots soil is good for about 4 weeks of growth as far as the nutrients are concerned. In the summer I add my own compost to bulk it up a bit but in the winter I use the Roots Budha Bloom, Grow, Trinity, HP2, and HPK to get through flowering. And yes, it can get a bit acidic so garden lime is good to have
You might try this soil recipe. I've used it for years and love it -- along with a weekly foliar feed. If you don't add anything like non-organic nutes -- SALTS -- or Gravity sort of stuff, you can use the soil at least once more by just cutting a hole in the old root ball and sticking in a rooted clone. Two runs on the same bucket of soil. Here it is: [FONT="]The Rev's Soil Recipe[/FONT] [FONT="]Modified by and for the use of OMG[/FONT] [FONT="]1 bag Fox Farms Ocean forest potting soil[/FONT] [FONT="]3 to 6 lbs. Worm castings[/FONT] [FONT="]½ lb. Bone meal[/FONT] [FONT="]½[/FONT][FONT="] lb. Bat Guano (bloom)[/FONT] [FONT="]½[/FONT][FONT="] lb. Blood meal[/FONT] [FONT="]½[/FONT][FONT="] lb. Soft Rock Phosphate[/FONT] [FONT="]2 tbls. Dolomite lime (powdered)[/FONT] [FONT="]½[/FONT][FONT="] cup Greensand or Azomite[/FONT] [FONT="]1 tsp. Powedered Humic Acid[/FONT] [FONT="]½[/FONT][FONT="] bag Compost[/FONT] [FONT="]½[/FONT][FONT="] gallon Crushed Oyster shells[/FONT] [FONT="]1 gallon Perlite[/FONT] [FONT="]1 gallon lava rocks (small as possible)[/FONT] [FONT="]1 quart vermiculite[/FONT] [FONT="]1 small brick of COCO Coir[/FONT] [FONT="]½[/FONT][FONT="] to 1 lb. Cottonseed meal[/FONT] [FONT="]¼[/FONT][FONT="] to [/FONT][FONT="]½[/FONT][FONT="] lb. Kelp meal[/FONT] [FONT="]Add other amendments as needed (alfalfa meal, seabird guano, calphos, etc[/FONT][FONT="].[/FONT] Just scale it up to match the number of bags of soil you're using. After mixing, loading barrels and cooking, I get about a 6.5 pH. Occasionally, I need to top-dress the buckets with some guano and bulb food, and I use Budswel in the last few weeks, but this recipe will carry most plants through to harvest.
These soils aren't built specifically for cannabis. Every plant has a different preferred pH range. Also, both these companies have bottled nutrient lines to cover the deficiencies in their soils. This way they make minimum 2 sales per grow instead of just 1 with an all-in-one soil. Some people only buy bottles as they're needed, and end up making ~10 purchases before they harvest. It's actually sort of demonically genius.