Fox Farms Soil: Ocean Forest or Happy Frog

[Tricks]

not bad, I usually pay 20 for OF and 19 for happy frog, which is a much better deal since the OF is only 1.5cuft and the HF is 2cuft.

I usually just dump my old dirt in the yard, use it to fill holes. It normally is just a huge root ball by the time I'm done, but it doesn't take long for the roots to decompose if you break it up well. Always give back to the earth

Man to show you how much it has gone up in the last 2 yrs, I just paid 27 for a bag of FF OF and 25 for LW!!! you can tell laws have changed at least close to these parts just by the prices!!! I would think there is something out there not geared towards this market very close to it for less than half that, I know I want to compare the LW to Jiffy seed and plant starter mix, I transplanted seedlings in it and they love it, and its dirt cheap LOL really only a few bucks

 

[Tricks]

I use a 20% perlite, 35% Ocean Forest, 35% Happy Frog, along with the last 10% being worm casings, bat guanos (Indonesian, Mexican, and Jamaican), Peruvian seabird guano, Mycos Maximum, some organic compost, and a few mosquito dunks crushed up in the soil.

I really like that combo, right now I have FF OF and LW, but I'm still playing, let me ask you this , it seems that last 10% would be hard to break down in the right amounts of each, do you have a break down of a small batch by any chance? After re-reading, I guess if took a bag of OF and one of HF and they were at least close to the same size (heard HF is a little smaller) take the 5 ingredients and divide, = 2% per ingredient, then just find out what 2% of the OF would be, and I'd have the correct amounts, or real close..am I right? Thanks Ice, or anyone else that wants to help an old newbie out! LOL

 

[Icemud]

I really like that combo, right now I have FF OF and LW, but I'm still playing, let me ask you this , it seems that last 10% would be hard to break down in the right amounts of each, do you have a break down of a small batch by any chance? After re-reading, I guess if took a bag of OF and one of HF and they were at least close to the same size (heard HF is a little smaller) take the 5 ingredients and divide, = 2% per ingredient, then just find out what 2% of the OF would be, and I'd have the correct amounts, or real close..am I right? Thanks Ice, or anyone else that wants to help an old newbie out! LOL

To be honest I just eyeballed the guano's and worm casings...but if I estimated the amounts of that last 10 percent it would be about 6% worm casings, and about 1% of each of the bat and bird poops... I just used the 3 gallon plastic pots that I used on my previous grow to measure/estimate percentages.. so lets say your total mix is 6x 3 gallon pots... I would add 2 pots of OF, 2 pots of HF, 1 pot of perlite, and in the last pot I would estimate values by filling it up to where I thought was suitable. So for a 6% worm casings, you would fill up about 6/10's of the last pot with worm casings and add it into a mixing bin...

 

[Tricks]

Thanks Icemud, soon as I'm up to it I'll give it a try, do you finish in the 3 gal pots? I know people use 5, but if I can get by with a 3 it would be a bit easier on me, thanks again friend

 

[Icemud]

Thanks Icemud, soon as I'm up to it I'll give it a try, do you finish in the 3 gal pots? I know people use 5, but if I can get by with a 3 it would be a bit easier on me, thanks again friend

Get yourself some smart pots.....much better than the traditional plastic and will allow much larger plants out of a smaller container. size # 3 is about the size of a 5 gallon pot, so a #2 or #3 would be about right for you.

 

[Tricks]

Thanks, I'll see if I can find them

 

[xave420]

i personally think that premier pro mix bx has worked the best for me my problem is trying to get the nutrients for as cheap as i can

 

[Tricks]

I have heard good things about that also, the last few days my health has been better so if it continues like this I plan on mixing my own soon, to cut cost and get the mix I want. Have you looked at Blue Planet? they are a site sponsor, but also I hear they are priced great..I know I want to give them a look. The sad thing is everyone and their brother are jumping in on this medical marijuana movement, which is great in some ways, but there are those who are in it just for the money, ok cool, but they want to make to much to fast and we are being taken advantage of, with over priced soil and nutes because they are geared toward this market, its marked up, thing is, it isn't a lot different than the stuff on the market for flower and veggie gardens that cost half that, and is produced for about the same cost as other soils and nutes I'm sure.

 

[Mr Mud-Pie]

Hey there guys I have a serious question about Happyfrog, I'm useing it for my 2 plants and my Unknown plant seams to have lost all leafs I think it was from over nuteing I tryed to flush and gave them some transplant into a better container I'm worry about them if you anyone can help me it would be greatly AWESOMe I'm rly high and worried about my babys :/ frist time grower. Thanks <3

 

[xave420]

i have heard mixed things about the soil you used but i would personally order new soil called premier pro mix, ive never heard anything bad about it and a grow site recommended it and that is all i will use for now on, they have different varieties . i use promix bx and there is nutrients allready in the soil. but what most likely happend is that ur plant got burnt with too many nutes. a lot of soils have nutrients in it for about 3 to 4 weeks until u need to start adding nutrients to the soil . hope this helps

 

[Tricks]

Hey fellow gardeners! I have been wondering where to put this comparison I was going to post on soil. First off thanks goes out to 420 and all the awesome members here who help each other it..it ROCKS!!!!

Now if your like me and living on a fixed income but you don't and won't let that stop you from growing only the best meds you can for yourself, then you may want to check out this potting mix made by Masters Nursery called Bumper Crop, has a lot of the same stuff as the other organic soils, at half the cost, I paid 13.99 for the same size bag of Fox Farm which cost 23.99..II found it at a little nursery, you won't find it at Home Depot, they have a few different types, Black Forest, Gardner's Gold and Bumper Crop, check em out, I'm going to do a mix of FF, Roots Organic, Light Warrior and Bumper Crop, or something close to that since I have them all, and see which mix works best....I'll also post all 3 in the review section, can we post links to those sites, FoxFarm and the others, to show all 3 soils, or do I have to take a pic of them and post it that way? thanks and as always

 

[Tricks]

Get yourself some smart pots.....much better than the traditional plastic and will allow much larger plants out of a smaller container. size # 3 is about the size of a 5 gallon pot, so a #2 or #3 would be about right for you.

Hey bro, got em and they love em! well its a generic brand, they are grey, and it has more of a felt look and feel to it, but they seem to work great! I read something that said you have to sit them on a grading of some sort, anything like made like a grill rack or something like that, I have mine on those blue plastic racks that cases of Pepsi arrive at the store in, a guy a grow shop told me that's what he uses, and they have worked great for me so far, and the manager of the store gave them to me! The idea is to allow the roots to breathe from the bottom also, when set up like this your roots get air pruned which is good, but what can happen when smart pots are used inside and placed on a solid surface is the roots can grow through the bottom and lower sides of the pot, which isn't good, if your outside, no big deal they'll just grow into the dirt, but inside this can be harmful to the plant. I think I read that on this site but can't swear by it, thanks for the tip on the smart pots though, again I love em!

 

[DrJames Byers]

Used HAPPY FROG for autoflowers, regular boys and girls,60 day wonders, never had a problem with inadequate nutrition, but some people just like mixing their own and with good success..keep experimenting you young botanists!

 

[Tricks]

Hey there guys I have a serious question about Happyfrog, I'm useing it for my 2 plants and my Unknown plant seams to have lost all leafs I think it was from over nuteing I tryed to flush and gave them some transplant into a better container I'm worry about them if you anyone can help me it would be greatly AWESOMe I'm rly high and worried about my babys :/ frist time grower. Thanks <3

I really don't think its the Happy Frog, thats good soil, I have done a lot of research and the only thing negative I heard about any Fox Farm soil is there are some complaints of Ocean Forest burning young plants, and Subcool advised cutting it with light warrior another Fox Farm Product. Did you look at the roots when you took it out? if so were they snow white? they don't have to be, but I have found those the be the healthiest. Did the leaves droop before falling off, or change color, yellow at all? there are a lot of things it could be, maybe under feed, are you adding nutes? because some plants require more feeding than others. If you haven't added any nutes then there is no need to flush, if you have there are a number of things you can try, just not to much at once, and never feed after transplanting or topping until you see new growth.

If you have feed the plant and you think its over fed, then you can flush it, just remember to use twice as much water as there is soil, another thing that can happen is lock-out, its caused by a build up of salts in the soil among other things, the sell something for that or you can use a drop of dish washing liquid to a gallon of water and water with it, to be honest you'll have to look up if that breaks lock-out or helps prevent it, I don't recall. This can happen from over watering too, but I don't think you did that if the other plant seems fine. The best thing to do, is get yourself a PH and nute testing kit, you put some of your soil in there with water and some of the powder that comes with the kit, and it will tell you how much of N P and K (I think I got those right) you have in your soil, it will also check the PH. You may also want a PH tester for water, that way you can test the waters PH before using it, then you can either use the dirt testing PH kit to test it once its in your soil, or test the run off, with your water PH tester. I hope this may have helped some, its hard to say just what the problem is without knowing if you feed, if you checked your PH and other things, but I hope this gets you on your way, or at least helps you learn a little something, I have learned so much here on 420 in such a short time! this place rocks!

 

[sinners]

I used happy frog and fox farm nutes and got a qp off a 3 foot plant

 

[xave420]

what are smart pots and what do they look like/?

 

[sinners]

I use super roots air pots they work really good. They air prune the roots so your plants never get bound..just google it got mine of amazon but some
Shops carrie them I got two 2 gallon pots about 25 bucks with shipping

 

[jbljake]

Love this thread. Lots of info. I had this same question a couple weeks ago when I was looking at the two bags in the store. Went with the cheaper (ocean forest).

I started from seed in rockwool cube and transplanted straight into 100% FF OF. Still only adding straight water. She seems to be loving this soil & drainage is adequate.

Btw the Happy frog was MORE expensive @ my local grow shop.

Come check out the grow journal to see how it works out.

JblJakes Indoor Top Skunk 44 March 2013

 

[luvtogrow]

Have always used the foxfarm ocean forrest until current grow, using roots organic. It's the best i've used.

 

[jbljake]

Would that be those cool bags that also purpose as a grow bag? Roots Organics Potting Soil 1.5 CF

Do they just have the one soil/ is that what you are using?

Also: I would love to see some results or comparison between the two soils. This is something I might do when I start cloning.