Fox Farm Ocean Forest

[Floridian]

I've used this soilo all the way frommseedling to flowered plant for many years,but it seems to be water reistant anymore.I just opened a new bad and planted two germinated seeds and I swear it takes a minute or two for a skosh of water to seep in.Theres a word for it hydra something.I know it sucks but I'm glad only ywo ferminated at this point because I cant get different soil until 10 AM.There OF used to best the best IMO,its different now.Anyone else jumping off the OF bandwagon?My hydro guy has something he swears by.In a side by side with tomatoes it blew OF away.I'm returning a bag and a half of earth to mother earth tomorrow

 

[Hammerhead]

if the water is not soaking in I would say you have your soil packed to tight..I use the same soil never encountered that.

 

[Floridian]

Thats definately not it bro its definately repelling water.I'm not using it for the other seeds thats for sure.And here I opened a brand new bag leaving half a bag I opened about 6 months ago.I wish I could think of the name of the other soil because according to my man it is the bomb

 

[señorsloth]

i am an expert ferminator, if your soilo seems to be water reistant anymore... you can add something to the water to break the surface tension so that it saturates better...i think it's just a few drops of dish soap but i could be wrong. i find though that it's not something new in the soil causing it.... it's all about how dry it gets, a moist bag of soil takes water easily but if it gets dry it takes forever to re-saturate it. you can take a tub full of dry soil and put it in the shower for 10 minutes, then go stir it and find it's only wet about an inch down...this happens to me a lot cause i recycle soil and always have an extra tub of happy frog laying around drying out in between cycles...

when it happens i tend too just put my shower on low or use some type of watering can, sprinkle some in, stir, sprinkle, stir, sprinkle, stir, and so on till it's all saturated, it takes a little while but as long as you don't let it get bone dry again it wont happen again.

the thing to remember i think is that any brand of soil that gets completely bone dry will be hard to get wet again, but it's not impossible, just takes patience... it happens in real life all the time, that's why deserts get flash floods whenever it rains, because the earth is much too dry to absorb anything...

 

[Floridian]

This is definately a last couple of years type thing,I used it for many years without hydration issues.Hell it seems like even the perlite is hydraphobic or whatever.Thanks for the advice man but its time I tried this other soil,hydro-shop owner swears by it.I mainly wanted to see if others have experienced this.It may be just a local thing.Hell I used to love OF

 

[Buddle]

I have used OF for years and I agree w/in the last yr or so it is NOT what it used to be.Not only is it not as hot, it is often harboring fungus gnats.It also doesn't have the amount of dolomite lime it used to.It's ph stable for maybe a month where as it used to be for a good six weeks minimum.

 

[señorsloth]

it's a well known fact that the recipe for ffof has changed in the past 5 years for the worse, but i don't think that's really the point, because i don't think those changes made it any more or less likely to absorb water...

dry soil doesn't absorb water well at all, all dry soil, not certain brands, that's why soil comes moist...if your hydro shop guys new magic dirt ever dries out you will have the same exact problem...you are better off in the end just slowly stirring water back into your ffof till it's moist again.

 

[habeeb]

hydrophobic


welcome to the wonderful world of peat.. did I say wonderful.. whoops

I myself hated watering in stages, and so switched to coco. no more watering in stages, no more perlite, no more big pots, no more dry patches in the peat, no more underwatered, no more overwatered .......

coco is civilized

 

[Friend]

hydrophobic


welcome to the wonderful world of peat.. did I say wonderful.. whoops

I myself hated watering in stages, and so switched to coco. no more watering in stages, no more perlite, no more big pots, no more dry patches in the peat, no more underwatered, no more overwatered .......

coco is civilized

if coco really eliminates the annoyances you just described, i might abandon the soil and switch over. been wondering what the fuss is all about

 

[Hammerhead]

thats why I dont use ffof by itself. I take all of there soil FFOF,FFLW,FFHF,EWC... I mix it all together. So far 3 years no issues..

I did find 1 bag of FFOF that was infested with Gnats.....I took it back and got a new bag...


Growing with coco is completely different then soil. Read as much as you can before the switch. I love coco myself but I still mix in soil...

 

[Musicianized]

I've yet to buy a bag off OF that didn't have gnats...

I hate new bags of that shit.. when it gets dried out it takes forever to get that shit moist.

I mix OF with HF, perlite and dolomite.. the plants love it.

 

[be.pro]

Fox Farm was bought by Scott's this past year, rumor has it that Fox Farm had to switch mountains and the owner knew it wouldnt be the same so he sold the company while it had a great reputation.
FFOF is an extremely rich soil, seeds that have just been germinated with a tap root showing dont need high nutrient soil until the first 2 sets of real leaves come out. seedlings live off of their cotyledons, these two first leaves provide the amount of nutrition seedlings need. In fact too much nutrition too soon can be harmful to seedlings and cause unwanted genders to occur along with leaf deformities/variegated coloring. do what works for you, just thought id share some food for thought.

Also, for soils that are showing hydrophobic characteristics you can add a wetting solution to the water and it helps penetration a lot, i.e. humboldt nutrients "sticky", coco wet, even a few drops of environmentally friendly dish soap does the trick. good luck! +~~

 

[Floridian]

Thanks a lot you guys,I left about 1/4th inch empty at the top and poured the water in.Its better now but I wont be using it again,hell I'd use farfard before I use this again

 

[LifeLess]

Like a dumbass i desided to try something different after 4 years without a single problem. Why i really cant say but i did. I picked up a bag of roots organic for my clones. Big mistake they were xplanted over a week ago and are just starting to look burnt. Today i picked up some ffof and re xplanted. Roots are half dead and havent grown at all. Ill never go outta the box again. FFOF,worm castings,extra perlite and a few scoops of domolite lime and there perfect. Im so pissed at myself i feel sick. I do run into a bag of extra dried out ffof from time to time. Its a pain at first but once the soil gets damp its all good. GL and stick to what works. Could someone plz give my a slap? lol

 

[greenluv707]

lived in arcata for many years, talked to folks who worked at the fox farm co. they allways told me the soil is from the tulip farms on the edge of town, the many green houses you can see glowing at night.lol. they are the biggest in cali and distribute all over the world with there bulbs.

ofcoures they treat it and bag it and sell it.........

ya i dont know what happen over at fox farms but sounds like there going to the wasteside.........
herd folks talk about seedlings being burned, newly transplanted plants hurt...........

it doesnt look good........