Foxfarm Ocean Forest and Fox Farm nutes

S

SteveI

New Member
I am growing with FF Ocean Forest and just started using the Fox Farm nutes. I am reading many threads on here that say to NOT ph your water/feed when using FF soil. Can that really be true? I know it has buffers in it but it seems like those shouldn't last that long.

I notice that Fox Farm nutes are extremely acidic. After mixing, my pH is usually in the low 4 range and so I have add pH-up. I notice that compared to Flora, I have to use many many times more pH up to get the FoxFarm nutes into the 6.5 range. With Flora I would not notice much is any PPM increase from adding the ph UP. But with Fox farm, it requires a 200 PPM increase to get the feed to a 6.5, which seems excessive.

So the big questions are, when using Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil
(1) Should you pH your FoxFarm nutes?
(2) Should you pH your RO water in the first 3-4 weeks when only watering
(3) Should you pH your RO water after the first 3-4 weeks for between feeding waterings?
(4) Should it be concerning that Fox Farm nutes require so much pH up in order to get into the 6.5 range? What is the best way to handle that?
 
ive used 1 bag of ffof used mainly on rooted clones
fed plain water
I coulda probably added some bloom boosters in bloom but I didn't plant stayed nice and green from beginning to end
wasn't a big clone didn't veg long was in a 2 gallon airpot and went into bloom
and as far as the ff nutes if your gonna use it id cut it back from what it recommends
give a plain water feed every 3rd or every other watering to help keep the salt buildup from the nutes down
ro water should be ph neutral shouldn't need to ph it before you use it on your first 3 weeks or your in between waterings
again cut the ff nutes back
 
Hello Stevel

I know you are invested so I would suggest... no nutrients at all for a long time as OF is already hot. After your last transplant wait until the plants are older then use FF nutrients as CHH suggested, sparingly. When you use very little you should not need to compensate with PH up
 
Am using FFOF on my 1st grow, the stuff is hot. I'm invested also, so my plan is just to let the plants use up the nutrients and then add nutes. it's day 27 in the pic & I'm still getting some small nute burns on the edges of the leaves.

rsz_2002.jpg
 
(4) Should it be concerning that Fox Farm nutes require so much pH up in order to get into the 6.5 range? What is the best way to handle that?

Use lemon juice for ph down and baking soda for ph up....I use FF soil and nutes, and started this last go round.

Excellent results, no added salts, cheap.
 
SABO said:
Am using FFOF on my 1st grow, the stuff is hot. I'm invested also, so my plan is just to let the plants use up the nutrients and then add nutes. it's day 27 in the pic & I'm still getting some small nute burns on the edges of the leaves.
Click to expand...

I think the bag says it will feed up to 3 months!!... your plants look beautiful
 
Buckshot said:
I think the bag says it will feed up to 3 months!!... your plants look beautiful
Click to expand...

Thanks Buckshot, am trying......Another thing that I am doing is holding back on the water, I am really trying to make the plant work hard and expend energy and use the nutes in FFOF right now. I figure that the more it has to work, the more nutes that the plants will need to burn off, instead of burning the leaves.
 
Buckshot said:
Hello Stevel

I know you are invested
Click to expand...

Thanks Buckshot!

Sorry to be such a noob, but what is meant by "invested"? I see it used elsewhere on here. Just curious if it means you already bought stuff or if it means you are perceived as a fanboy of something (e.g. FF fan = invested in FF)?
 
Hi Stevel,

How old are your plants? Are you using straight FFOF or did you cut it with another medium? When did you start adding nutes? Do you have a picture or 2? I think "Invested" means that you actually already purchased it. That's what I meant when I wrote invested.
 
Thanks SABO!

My typical grows have been: FFOC with no nutes and distilled non-pH'd water for the first 3-4 weeks. I do a micro grow in a large PC case with LED lights. The total volume is approx 1 cubic foot, approx 1 square foot of area. I start with a 12/12 cycle and other than starting the first week in a small cup with FFOC I immediately transplant to the final 2G smartpot with FFOC where it grows the rest of the way.

I use LST to keep the plant low and off the lights and after trying a number of varieties, found the opposite to common advice to be true. Tall fast growing plants like white widow work better in this cramped environment. The indica varieties I've tried simply do not fill up enough space and I would need to grow multiple of them to maximize yield. For risk management I only ever want one plant, so the sativas win out for that.

Here is my most recent pic with a nute lockout/deficiency that I am getting advice for in a different thread. It think it might be cal-mag, maybe as a result of only using distilled water. It started before I even started adding nutes.



pic126.JPG
 
have a picture without the led on?
 
Been reading alot on unsulphured molasses, might be a solution for the Cal/Mag problem. It's to build up the soil in order to provide the plants the nutes they need. Might be a simple fix. Also, a real experienced member here told me to have epsom salts ready when using distilled water, it's loaded with Cal/Mag also.

Let me know how it goes, cause I'm using distilled water also and an OZ of prevention is better than a pound of cure.
 
SABO said:
Been reading alot on unsulphured molasses, might be a solution for the Cal/Mag problem. It's to build up the soil in order to provide the plants the nutes they need. Might be a simple fix. Also, a real experienced member here told me to have epsom salts ready when using distilled water, it's loaded with Cal/Mag also.
Click to expand...

Thanks, interesting idea for sources of cal/mag. I have bottle of cal/mag. Just put some in and fed her. I'm assuming the leaves won't recover but if it works, new growth should look ok. Will post some pics in a week or so on the results.
 
No problem, how old are the plants? What week of flowering are they in? I might be flipping next week & would appreciate more information so that I don't run into this problem myself.
 
if the cal mag doesn't work try phosphorous
also make sure no lockout
 
SABO said:
No problem, how old are the plants? What week of flowering are they in? I might be flipping next week & would appreciate more information so that I don't run into this problem myself.
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7th week. I started them at 12/12 and started to see hairs at 4 weeks.
 
invested = you have invested your cash in those products already.

Check my journal how I evolved away from Ocean Forest and all FF nutrients... and more importantly why I left them. I had nutrient lockouts just like the ones shown here that get worse by the way if you do not compensate with a Epsom salt flush. When I contacted FF to talk about issues I was having with certain strains they blew me off because I spoke about cannabis. I was pissed because I was using most of their products and they shut me down!!! I am still using the feeding routine in my journal but have started a trial of the Doggett & Simpson Growology System on my new starts and I have to say they are looking great. I am using it on a wide variety of strains so I will know more soon, however before I even started I sent them an e-mail and told them of my intentions and they responded positively and look forward to my input... that is the exact opposite of FF :hmmm:...

I wish you much luck on your grow.
 
I would pH adjust your nutrient mixture to pH 6.5. If using distilled or Reverse Osmosis water you will need to supplement calcium and magnesium to make up for what the water is lacking. Your leaf damage appears to be from a calcium and magnesium deficiency and possibly pH fluctuation. You want pH 5.8 for hydroponic and soiless (peat moss and coco coir) and pH 6.5 for soil.

Here is a nutrient availability chart

pH_chart7.jpg



Here is a cannabis leaf deficiency chart

cannabis_leaf-deficiencies31.jpg



here is the Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver and the Plant Abuse Chart

Cannabis Plant and Pest Problem Solver - Pictorial

Plant Abuse Chart
 
Buckshot said:
Check my journal how I evolved away from Ocean Forest and all FF nutrients... and more importantly why I left them. I had nutrient lockouts just like the ones shown here that get worse by the way if you do not compensate with a Epsom salt flush.
Click to expand...

Buckshot, do you have the link for your journal and info on Ocean Forest? Also, is there info on how to do a Epsom Salt Flush in there? I am using FFOF right now and am using distilled water. I started adding unsulphured molasses (Cal/Mag) today and have bought some epsom salts just in case.
 
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