Test 4 Fox Farm Full line = Grow Big (6-4-4)- Tiger Bloom (2-8-4)- Big Bloom (0.01-0.3-0.7)- Open Sesame (5-45-19)- Beastie Bloomz (0-50-30) - Cha-ching (9-50-10)
I've been eager to write about Fox farm for some time. It's an extremely popular and effective chemical based product. If you've read the above information than you understand the importance of a "living" substrate. A diverse and rich bacterial and fungal balanced medium contains enough beneficial organisms to out compete pathogens and disease causing bacteria and creates accessible stored nutrient content. Chemical fertilizers kill off much of the microbial life and allow for limited forms of absorption and resistance to disease. When some microbial life dies off the fragile "circle of life" follows. If for example we eliminated bacterial life, this will lead to an abundance of fungus. Enzymes produced from fungus are acidic. This drives the pH down creating nutrient lock-up and unattractive environments for life, specifically bacteria. Fox farm definitely suffers from this chemical kill off scenario. Two major things exposed this to me even before applications. First, all the micro-nutrients are applied through chemical composition with-in the primary grow and bloom products and they are also in Big Bloom. As microbial life is imperative in organic micro-nutrient absorption and chemicals kill microbial life we can infer that Big Bloom under these conditions produces minimal nutrient effectiveness hence most micro-nutrients must be applied chemically. Second, if we refer to the recommended feeding schedule posted on the companies web-site you'll see in week 7 and 8, they call for additional Grow Big. Remember that the majority of bacteria we're interested in are nitrogen loving and retain that specific nute for lengthy periods of time. This is exactly why many organic programs can eliminate nitrogen all together later in flowering. Here, the chemicals have eradicated these bacteria and hence eliminated nitrogen storage capacity requiring an extra dosage. This led me to restructure the schedule. I feel if your going to use chemicals you should apply them as such. Less over more applications. I treated this test as if no soil life was present. I decreased initial nitrogen and then divided it among vegetative and early flowering applications. My primary nitrogen weeks are 2 through 8. This also fell into my "curve" scenario of nutes - building to a maximum and then tapering off towards harvest. In no way do I want to discourage those of you who use Foxfarm, as far as chemical fertilizers go it's extremely effective. I think it's important to understand how your feeding your plants however.
Big Bloom is the all organic additive Fox farm uses. Early applications, with-out chemical additions, promote soil health and lush, consistent growth. After the additions of Grow Big and Tiger Bloom it's effectiveness tapers off. Although some positive effects are noticed the majority of organic nutrients are unavailable and bacterial and fungal life struggles to maintain populations, unable to react with the nutes. I lowered the overall applied amount and it had little impact. The solution is made of effective ingredients. Bat guano, earth worm castings and enzymes. These enzymes are this products saving grace in fact and are the primary reason I continued applying it with the chemicals.
Both Grow Big and Tiger Bloom are highly effective synthetic/chemical compositions. Lacking in diversity really is not an issue here, especially with faster flowering strains like this Skywalker for example. It's extremely predictable and easy to apply. Grow Big produced very rigid, similarly structured plants. Fan leaves were minimal but large and efficient. This is a general theme with this product. Stalk circumference and stem width was smaller and woodier but seemed efficient at transporting fluids and therefore nutes. Tiger Bloom promoted dense, sticky and heavy nuggets. The leaf to bud ratio was very low. Plants seemed to concentrate on building buds when they were suppose to. This resulted in solid harvests and heavy production. The marijuana was less pungent than organic application and the flavor was not as "sweet" but still impressive.
The "solubles" Open Sesame, Beastie Bloomz and Cha-ching are all chemical based nutrient boosts designed to add necessary nutrients during the usual growth surges flowering cycles endure. They are all mildly effective. I tried some plants with-out these "solubles" and had very similar results. Buds did however, grow more compact with use and had improved trichrome growth. Harvest was improved from applications of Hygrozyme, I'd imagine any enzyme based formula would be effective. This happens because it improves uptake of Big Bloom associated ingredients and organic matter. I'm convinced the microbial life struggles in this program. Added enzymes did improve nutrient diversity with-out relying on a "living" substrate. Foxfarm generally has low Brix levels.
I've always looked at Fox Farm as junk food for plants. But I even have Twinkies and Doritos in my cabinet. Who's really to say this junk food is not exactly what marijuana likes. This product is sure proof when applied correctly and results in formidable harvests. It did not create stand out numbers but was above average with minimal effort and low cost. I highly recommend it if chemical blends are what your into although highly recommend looking onto organics.
Ok I have been using big bloom and tiger bloom, big bloom 1 tbsp per qt & tiger bloom 1 tsp per qt every other watering. I water every other day. Now my question is if I stop the tiger bloom now and with future grows will the microbial life kill off in the soil not be an issue? I'm currently using Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil which i believe has a lot of microbial life you speak of? I am a new grower and trying to get a handle on the science involved.
Thanks
