Fox Farm Planting Mix or Ocean Forest?

[FunkDoctor]

Just curious to see what everyone's favorite soil is? have been using Promix and might make the change. Is Promix crap?

Also, should I get Fox Farm Planting Mix soil or the Ocean Forest?

Ocean Forest looks more complete, but should I be worried about it being TOO hot to start seedlings in? (I would cut out any N ferts)

Just curious what people think is the best soil out there. any recommendations or input is welcome!

 

[quadracer]

Fox Farm Ocean Forest is great stuff, plant directly in it! And if you are growing outdoors, you should do this sooner rather than later. It's almost too late.

 

[thekingofNY]

Fox Farm Ocean Forest is great stuff, plant directly in it! And if you are growing outdoors, you should do this sooner rather than later. It's almost too late.

sorry but imo thats fucking horrible advice. With light feeders, or just young plants or clones, FFOF will burn them and stunt their growth. Granted its not going to kill them and they recover. But I aswell as lots of others here have experienced that.

I've heard great stuff about there happy frog soil, Its supposidely FFOF minus as much bat guano i wana say. I got a bag the other day to finish off my soil run, and it looks alot different than FFOF, have yet to use it to comment on quality. Price was great at 20 bucks for 2.0 cubic ft here tho,

 

[Iron_Lion]

Just curious to see what everyone's favorite soil is? have been using Promix and might make the change. Is Promix crap?

Also, should I get Fox Farm Planting Mix soil or the Ocean Forest?

Ocean Forest looks more complete, but should I be worried about it being TOO hot to start seedlings in? (I would cut out any N ferts)

Just curious what people think is the best soil out there. any recommendations or input is welcome!

Ocean works great straight out of the bag, but if you have the extra cash I'd recommend a 50/50 mix of FFOF and FF light warrior. I've never had my roots grow so fast until I started with this mix. I've read alot that says for the best results mix all 3 FFOF, planting mix and light warrior. I have yet to try the trio but plan on using them together next grow.

 

[Calimed]

I put some brainwreck clones in ffof with about 30% coco/perlite and within 5 days I have multiple roots coming out the bottom of my 1 gallon smart pots.

 

[pinecone]

I use Ocean Forest right out of the bag for everything including seed starting and rooted cuts. I've never noticed any burning or stunting with it and I've used it a lot.

Pine

 

[feltonmuggs]

I've used FFOF with wonderful results. With some of my hearty-er strains I've added guano and earthworm casting to the mix. I always add perlite to assist drainage, roots love a layer of perlite! And I've also had 100% success with clones into FFOF.

 

[quadracer]

sorry but imo thats fucking horrible advice. With light feeders, or just young plants or clones, FFOF will burn them and stunt their growth. Granted its not going to kill them and they recover. But I aswell as lots of others here have experienced that.

I've heard great stuff about there happy frog soil, Its supposidely FFOF minus as much bat guano i wana say. I got a bag the other day to finish off my soil run, and it looks alot different than FFOF, have yet to use it to comment on quality. Price was great at 20 bucks for 2.0 cubic ft here tho,

I've never had that problem. Judging from some of the other comments in this thread, people would agree with me.

I've started plenty of seeds and numerous strains from clones, never had a problem with it.

 

[quadracer]

What is the NPK of your soils?

All of our soil products offer balanced nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. We pH adjust them to a neutral range of 6.3 – 6.8. Because of the premium organic ingredients that we use, there is no risk of burning your plants. Our soils are ready to use, right out of the bag. There is no NPK listed on our soil packages because they are not fertilizers, but growing mediums. The real power of our soils lies in the fact that they are teeming with beneficial micro-organisms. Our soils are never steam sterilized, which allows these microorganisms to thrive and convert the organic nutrients into a form the plant can utilize.


Are your soils sterilized?

No, we don’t sterilize our soils because that would kill the very beneficial microbes which are critical in making nutrients available to plants. Your soil should be alive, not sterile! Our mixes contain beneficial fungi and micro-organisms that help plants become more disease resistant and grow healthy root systems. FoxFarm soils and fertilizers are specially formulated to build massive microbe populations.


When do I need to add fertilizer to your soils?

Ocean Forest® Potting Soil and Original Planting Mix are nutrient-rich blends that won’t require any fertilizer at first. However, you may find it easier to blend dry-mix fertilizers like Peace of Mind®, Happy Frog®, American Pride® and Marine Cuisine® into the soil when you plant to make sure that the nutrients get to the root zone. If you’re using liquid fertilizers, start feeding in the second week according to package directions.


What is the difference between Ocean Forest® Potting Soil and FoxFarm Original Planting Mix?

Ocean Forest® is designed for container planting. It contains sea based ingredients and perlite for better aeration and drainage. Our customers tell us that Ocean Forest® is the finest potting soil they’ve ever used, and because container plants depend entirely on the soil they’re grown in, that’s important.

Our Original Planting Mix is designed for raised beds and in-ground plantings. It retains moisture and is ideal for ornamental landscapes. Both soils are pH adjusted to 6.3 to 6.8 and are nutrient rich. Each soil has a specific nutrient, humus, earthworm casting and peat moss content that make it ideal for its particular use.


Can I mix Ocean Forest® Potting Soil or Original Planting Mix with native soils?

Ocean Forest® Potting Soil is designed to be used exclusively in containers to deliver the most benefit to plants. Introducing native soil into container plantings can introduce disease-causing pathogens or pests into your container garden. However, if you do add native soil to container plants, mix two parts FoxFarm soil to one part native soil.

Our Original Planting Mix is designed to be mixed with native soil. It helps loosen clay soils, increase organic matter, and it inoculates the planting area with beneficial micro-organisms.


Can I use Original Planting Mix straight out of the bag in containers?

You could, but Ocean Forest® Potting Soil is a better container mix. It creates more aeration at the root zone and is designed to be used full-strength in containers.


What’s the difference between the Happy Frog® soils and your other soil products, like Ocean Forest® and Original Planting Mix?

Our Happy Frog® Soil Conditioner comes in a large, economical bale and is ideal for improving poor soils, mulching, and mixing into native soil for new in-ground plantings. Happy Frog® Potting Soil is an affordable alternative for container plantings that contains all the high-quality ingredients you expect from FoxFarm. Each bag is packed with earthworm castings, bat guano, mycorrhizae and humic acid to jump-start the garden.

Ocean Forest® is a premium mix that contains fine marine ingredients like fish, shrimp, crab, and kelp meal in addition to earthworm castings, bat guano, peat moss, and composted forest humus.


When would I use Light Warrior® instead of a potting soil?

Light Warrior® is actually a soiless medium designed just for starting seeds. It’s very lightweight and holds water well, which makes it perfect for germination. Be sure to thoroughly dampen Light Warrior® before adding seeds to make sure the water is absorbed. Once seeds germinate, use a continuous feeding program for seedling stage through harvest. For best results, see our feeding schedules.

Use a potting soil instead of Light Warrior® when you are potting up seedlings to a larger container or taking divisions or cuttings that will grow indoors in containers until they are ready to be transplanted into the garden.

http://www.foxfarmfertilizer.com/faqfox-soilgrow.html#anchorsoil1

 

[Mr.Hades]

sorry but imo thats fucking horrible advice. With light feeders, or just young plants or clones, FFOF will burn them and stunt their growth. Granted its not going to kill them and they recover. But I aswell as lots of others here have experienced that.

I've heard great stuff about there happy frog soil, Its supposidely FFOF minus as much bat guano i wana say. I got a bag the other day to finish off my soil run, and it looks alot different than FFOF, have yet to use it to comment on quality. Price was great at 20 bucks for 2.0 cubic ft here tho,

Happy Frog is a great soil mix consisting of forest humus, earthworm castings, bat guano, mycorrhizae bacteria and humic acid and more.

FFOF consists of earthworm castings, bat guano, and Pacific Northwest sea-going fish and crab meal. Composted forest humus, sandy loam, and sphagnum peat moss. The reason FFOF sometimes burns plants is because of the extra fish and crabmeal.

Both are great mixes and also contain perlite. They look similar out of the bag but each contain different main nutrient sources.

FF Planting mix is the original mix consisting of earthworm castings, bat guano, Norwegian kelp meal, composted forest humus, sphagnum peat moss, and more. But you have to add your own perlite as it has none in the mix.

I have all 3 mixes at the moment and I use them in conjuction with eachother because they all contain similar ingredients but each have something the other doesnt.

^_^

I used FFOF alone this run for my seedlings as it doesnt need any ferts added the first 3-4 weeks and they turned out great. I think people burn theyre plants with it because they add nutes in the beginning with this soil which you do not need to do.

The FF original planting mix with a little perlite added is great for seedlings.

 

[headfortrinity]

Ocean forest is nice stuff, but it is a hot mix. I planted a bunch of tomatoes and peppers seeds into it and they were stunted from the get go. the next batch I mixed the ffof 50/50 with sunshine mix #4 and they did great. It definitely depends on the plants needs.

 

[FunkDoctor]

thanks for the input!

do a lot of people put a layer of perlite in the bottom of their containers for drainage/root health? could one use all perlite at bottom, or should it be a mix of soil/perlite? interesting...

 

[Mr.Hades]

^^^YEs it is definately a hot mix... Id say if you were to use it for seedlings Id mix it with the original planting mix and a little bit of perlite, or maybe some clean coco coir.

 

[FunkDoctor]

Thoughts on using LC's Soiless Mix instead of Fox Farm Ocean Forest?

( LCs Soiless is 6 parts promix/2 parts perlite/2 parts castings/1 tablespoon lime per gallon mixture)

My plan: I am thinking of using LC's mixture above with Peace of Mind organics added. I will do this instead of buying Fox Farm Ocean Forest. should be close to same thing right?


sounds like if you add a mix of organic goodies in Peace of Mind to just Promix that mix you listed along with lime, that you have a perfect mix

ingredients for Fox Farm Peace of Mind Fruit and Flower:

Feather Meal, Bone Meal, Hydrolyzed Fish, Fish Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Sulfate of Potash Magnesia, Blood Meal, Bat Guano, Rock Phosphate, Kelp Meal, and Gypsum. humic acid and mychorizae...


thoughts?

 

[Woall]

So FFOF has perlite already in it but I should add in more perlite if I am planting seedlings? I don't want to buy a whole bag of FF original mix just so I can mix a litte bit of it in with FFOF for my seedlings, because I will be using primarily FFOF for the rest of the grow... I wouldn't have any future need for the FF orginal. I am about to plant a couple of seedlings and I am wondering if I should pick up something at wal mart like perlite to add in, or if I should just go with straight FFOF. Thanks.

 

[master shake]

I'd highly recommend happy frog soil over the ocean forest any day. In my experience with it, ocean forest has always been too hot for seedlings and stunts their growth significantly (after a while they pick up the pace). Happy frog is lighter on ferts, has some guano but contains mychorrizae or however it's spelled and none of that dead marine life. Ocean forest works for starting but not near as well. I'd consider using OF after 3-4 weeks, but would definitely have to find some mycho to add.

I haven't done a side by side but have used same genetics and can see the differences within.

21 days from seed in HF:


about same age in OF (smaller ones, the bigger plant is a mom and even she thought it was too hot):

 

[charles_bronson]

Thoughts on using LC's Soiless Mix instead of Fox Farm Ocean Forest?

( LCs Soiless is 6 parts promix/2 parts perlite/2 parts castings/1 tablespoon lime per gallon mixture)

My plan: I am thinking of using LC's mixture above with Peace of Mind organics added. I will do this instead of buying Fox Farm Ocean Forest. should be close to same thing right?


sounds like if you add a mix of organic goodies in Peace of Mind to just Promix that mix you listed along with lime, that you have a perfect mix

ingredients for Fox Farm Peace of Mind Fruit and Flower:

Feather Meal, Bone Meal, Hydrolyzed Fish, Fish Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Alfalfa Meal, Sulfate of Potash Magnesia, Blood Meal, Bat Guano, Rock Phosphate, Kelp Meal, and Gypsum. humic acid and mychorizae...


thoughts?

thats pretty much what i was gonna do. im slowly moving into making all my own stuff, already using only teas and ammendments. next run i was gonna do the lc mix with 6 parts sunshine #2, 2 parts ewc (or maybe that alaska forest humus??), 2 parts perilite, 2tbl/gl dolomite lime, and add the ff peace of mind fruit and flower to the box recomendations. ill use only ewc/kelp/guano teas brewed 24-48 hours and add mexican guano (N), indonesian guano (P), or maxicrop dry extract (K, trace, hormones) depending on what it seems like they need. its basically a revised suby/lc setup, just no liquid karma (ive got some b'cuzz bloom stimulator if i was in the mood to cheat)

right now im using a bag of ocean forest, a bag of light warrior, 2 cups ewc/kelp, 1 cup pom fruit and flower, and 1 tbl/gallon dolomite lime cooked for a month. im using only the above teas and having some really really healthy kush and dawg plants two and a half weeks into flower. they look just as healthy as they did with ocean forest/perilite/ pure blend pro last couple runs. im thinkin the smoke will be nicer though

 

[AbbieDoobie]

Here's what I do... I use Light Warrior with a small amount of perlite added to start seeds and raise small seedlings, you know, in a beer cup. When it's time to go into the 1 gallon pot, that's when I switch to Ocean Forest, but I still mix in some Light Warrior and perlite. Probably 1/2 FFOF, 1/4 LW, 1/4 perlite. Then when they are big plants and I'm going for 3 gallon pot, then it's 3/4 FFOF and 1/4 perlite.

~Abbie

 

[CANNACO-OP]

actually took cuts and rooted once in the ocean forest, it worked.


happy frog or ocean forest in our mind, think there was a poll out there on this, wasn't there?

 

[Woall]

can Light Warrior and/or Happy Frog soil be found at stores like Lowe's, HD or Wal Mart? I got my FFOF from the hydro store but I really don't want to have to go back there... I get so paranoid going in those places. And it seems a little impractical to order a big bag of soil through the mail.