Is Fox Farm Inconsistent?

[SteveI]

I would pull any damaged leaves, they will not recover. They do make RO systems that are tiny for just taps. What I notice is in my water depending on weather, it fluctuates ppm and pH due to spring runoff, heavy rain, drought, and cold weather. The only water modifications I do is a active charcoal filter I plumbed into my tap under my sink.

Very good point. In my area, water comes from above ground sources, we have 4 seasons and can have extreme weather, so I can now see how it could fluctuate due to that. Thanks!

 

[Marzbadrock]

I do have a thread started "foxfarm soil and ph "..... I will update soon with pictures, I need a camera. My last one ended up in a cup of beer. I should have one soon so you can c what a plant looks like grown with no pH at all. Once you figure out how to grow in ff soils you will see for yourself its hard to beat, I'm putting some of my hydro friends to shame and its simple!

 

[MacEFL]

I too grow in soil and do not check the PH of my feed. I use Earth Juice products in FFOF. I bubble the EJ and water with a couple of aquarium stones for a day or two. Other than Ca I have shown no deficiencies.

 

[SteveI]

Once you figure out how to grow in ff soils you will see for yourself its hard to beat, I'm putting some of my hydro friends to shame and its simple!

I believe you as I have done it before, 4 times to be exact with FFOC and got awesome yields. This is the first time with FF nutes however (and also using a new bag of FFOC). I had been using General Hydro flora 3 part the 4 prior times. I had it left over from doing a 2x2 grow tent with a simple ebb and flow. I went to soil because I wanted a smaller simpler operation. My hydro experience was successful but I agree with you, I have gotten all the speed and quality product without the hydro complexity.

It sounds like I have been over-zealous with FF nutes and perhaps they are quite a bit stronger than the General Hydro Flora I had been using.

When you flush at the end of veg, you say it reduces the runoff ppm from 1000 to 400 ppm. Does that effectively washout all the soil based nutes? Or do you think the soil continues its breakdown and release of more nutes?

Would love to see your FF plant pics when you post them, gives me something to aim for.

Thanks!

 

[SteveI]

I too grow in soil and do not check the PH of my feed. I use Earth Juice products in FFOF. I bubble the EJ and water with a couple of aquarium stones for a day or two. Other than Ca I have shown no deficiencies.

I keep hearing about earth juice, maybe I should check that out! Ditch these FF nutes for now.

 

[Marzbadrock]

In veg I use only water, no nutrients at all. So I'd have to believe that the 1000 ppm runoff would be directly from the soil. I will do a test tonight and check runoff of soil directly out of bag and see what ppm is.

 

[Marzbadrock]

 

[Marzbadrock]

Shirt pics off camera phone

 

[SteveI]

Nice looking ladies!

Is the mesh for SCROG? I started doing that in hydro but then when to a "mini scrog" where I attached course fence mesh directly to the grow container, so I can take the whole thing out. Now I just use coat hanger hooks clipped to the sides of the smartpot with binder clips to gently pull the tall shoots down. It makes it a bit of tangles but it does the job in my small space.

 

[akaman]

I believe from personal experience that the best nuts line for beginners is botanicare, grow, bloom, liquid karma and sweet. They have other supplements but using the 4 part regimen above produces healthy, sticky plants. And its simple

what are your feelings on hesi nutes?

 

[Marzbadrock]

Yeah that's just a lil scrog I but for $10, I'm converting over to 12 individual scrogs.
I'm not familiar with hesi?

 

[SteveI]

Yeah that's just a lil scrog I but for $10, I'm converting over to 12 individual scrogs.

I don't have a picture of my prior setup using it, but home depot has a roll of green fencing that is really good for this sort of thing. The mesh is strong and very course, about 2" squares. Pair of wire cutters and you can fabricate a cage to go around the planter/container or attach to the top of it. Makes moving them around very easy and creates a "micro-scrog" for each plant. I had 4 of them in a 2x2 grow tent which worked out real well for the 8 lamp T5 flat lighting fixture I had above them.

 

[SteveI]

Here is my current setup:
The Ultimate Stealth Grow Machine

 

[SmokerJoe]

Been making these for a bit. is this what you were explaining?

 

[SteveI]

I've used cut pieces of this: YARDGARD 3 ft. x 50 ft. 14-Gauge Welded Wire-308301B at The Home Depot

I cut them and formed an upside down U "cage" that sits on top of the container, fastened with plastic cable ties. I can then move the whole container and scrog at once. Further, since the mesh was also on the sides of the upside down "U", I had a little more scrog to work with.