Fox Farms Soil: Ocean Forest or Happy Frog

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PhishyPhil

New Member
hey everyone, i'm still learning about soil and reading the bags really didnt help me out. if anyone out there has an opinion on why one of these would be better than the other, i'd really love to hear about it.

i'm confident that both are fine, im just really curious as to the differences.

thanks!
 
I am currently using the Ocean Forest with great results. I added pearlite about 20% and 5% vemiculite to mine. Next grow I will likely do about 40% pearlite for better drainage late in the grow. I am not familiar with the Happy Frog. I believe Tiger Balm is currently growing with the HF.
 
I just started reading up on growing, and was wondering, if I were to use this soil, would I still need to add nutrients later? And if so, how long after starting?
 
BizarroStormy said:
I just started reading up on growing, and was wondering, if I were to use this soil, would I still need to add nutrients later? And if so, how long after starting?
Click to expand...

i'm by no means an expert here but my last grow was ocean forest and nutes were still needed/added.

im really just curious why Happy Frog is a bit cheaper than the Ocean Forest.
 
PhishyPhil said:
i'm by no means an expert here but my last grow was ocean forest and nutes were still needed/added.

im really just curious why Happy Frog is a bit cheaper than the Ocean Forest.
Click to expand...

PP,
I could be wrong but look at the bag size between Ocean & Frog. I think the Frog is a smaller bag size.

Ocean has plenty of nutes to cover seedlings for the first 2-3 weeks. After that and possibly a little sooner nutes are needed. I used Fox Farm Grow Big for veg and for flower I use Big Bloom, Tiger Bloom, Open Sesame, Beastie Bloomz, and Cha-Ching. Also added molasses and General Hydro Flora-Nectar.
 
I just picked up a bag of happy frog and it's awesome soil. I don't have any experience with ocean forest, but I can say that the happy frog is a very nice airy medium.
 
FrostyBuds said:
FF Happy Frog is a land soil with all the good land stuff like microbes and fungi. FF Ocean Forrest contains similar stuff as Happy Frog but also contains sea fish and crab meal in it minus the beneficials HF claims. Many claim to mix a bag of OF and HF together to get the best of both.
Click to expand...

thanks for that.

i think after i move i'll try to do 1 in each, and 1 in a 50/50 mix. same strain, same nutes, ill periodically test the ph for differences as well. always fun to extra multiple objectives you can do between start and finish.
 
This is a super soil, just water only. Substitute any FFOF for the Root Organics. Use the plain soil maybe some perlite to start seed, clones.

This is a Subcool soil recipe.
This is yet one more Soil Mixing tutorial. This one is going to focus on making a batch in the city while keeping it neat and tidy. First we use a tarp and a sheet of plywood under so the shovel will slide easily as we mix and scoop.

Here is the recipe to make this concentrate!
You cannot grow plants directly in this super concentrate!

6 Bags Roots soil or equivalent high quality supped up grow soil
Note**I am trying a new product made by a local company that contains less fir bark called Harvest Moon
25 pounds Pure Worm Castings
½ cup Azomite trace minerals
2/3 Cup Sweet Lime IE Dolomite
1 Kilo Bone meal / IE 5 Pounds
1 Kilo Blood meal ( I use a bit more bone than Blood in this recipe)
1 Kilo Bat Guano bloom formula preferably Fruit bats
3/4 cup Epson Salts
The Perlite and Coco I happen to have and it will make a better mix but it is not necessary.


First we take the tarp and the Lucky rug and lift the edges to form a 2 sided pan.
So now we put on the muck boots these help me kick the soil around and get it mixed up well.

So lets make a nice pile of Roots soil.
We layer the ingredients so they can be mixed well.
Now we put our backs into it and mix like crazy
I alternate cans untill the pile is gone.
So we add water and let it cook in the sunshine. 30 days is best for this concentrate and it can be used to condition soil as detailed in the soil 101 thread. Do Not Put Clones or Seeds in this mix!

I will use this for a full year just adding like 30-50% in the lower potion of the container and plain roots in top portion. As the concentrate gets older I can use more. To re use I just recondition.


It's a great mix. It can be portioned out also, so it can be made with one bag, and 1/6 of everything else.
__________________
 
PhishyPhil said:
hey everyone, i'm still learning about soil and reading the bags really didnt help me out. if anyone out there has an opinion on why one of these would be better than the other, i'd really love to hear about it.

i'm confident that both are fine, im just really curious as to the differences.

thanks!
Click to expand...


Sup PhishyPhil,
There are a few differences between HF and OF.

Ocean Forest
Ocean Forest is FF's Creme of the crop. Its their highest quality and best selling soil. Its ph adjusted and usually around 6.3-6.8.
It has high quality earthworm castings, high quality bat guano, fish meal, shrimp meal, crab meal, & norweigan kelp meal. They also throw in sphagnum peat, perlite, composted forest humus & oyster shells. Its a very rich soil and has been known to burn a few plants, but this happens far less than ppl will lead you to believe.

Happy Frog
Happy Frogs 2.0 cu has a lower MSRP than a 1.5cu bag of Ocean Forest, and that's because Happy Frog is supposed to be a cheaper alternative to Ocean Forest for regular container plants.
So to start off, the nutrients aren't as strong in Happy Frog as they are in Ocean Forest.
Happy Frog contains sphagnum peat, oyster shells, composted forest humus, earthworm castings, and bat guano. Another major difference between Ocean Forest and Happy Frog is that happy frog contains mycorrhizae, and humic acids which as you know roots love. Its rare, but some bags of happy frog have sometimes had unstable ph's so now dolomite lime is also added to Happy Frog for stability.

You're plants will love either, and some ppl even mix them. Its really up to you bro..

take it easy


DR:peace:
 
wow drojo, thanks for that reply, full of information.

some people have mentioned mixing in perlite to the FFOF, im curious as to if thats required or just a personal preference? one thing i noticed about FFOF is that it already had alot more perlite than my previous dirt ;)
 
Well FFOF, is honestly good to use right out the bag, but if you wanna further optimize the soil you can add 10%-25% of perlite ;)
 
Setting Sun said:
I recall ms.Fox from grow support saying that FFOF tends to compact towards the end of a grow if you don't add extra Perlite.

I'm currently using a mix of FFOF with 33% Perlite and it's working real well.
Click to expand...

question about mixing, and i know it will sound nooby, im sorry, but when you say mix in 1/3 perlite; do you mean just mix it evenly throughout the soil? or do u mean like, fill the bottom of the bucket with 33% perlite then top off with soil?

just wanna make sure before i make a mistake, thanks a bunch for the info guys ;)
 

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