Fox Farm Soil Feeding Schedule - WAY too strong?

Good morning. I am brand new to the board but not brand new to growing. I will give myself an ol introductory post this evening but for the moment I need to vent this question and frustration with some experienced folks.

After months of research and planning into my newest grow, I transplanted 4 beautiful and healthy clones from a very reputable source 3 weeks ago.

The girls are in a 50/50 mix of Fox Farm Ocean Forrest and Royal Gold Tupur.
1-400W MH running 24/7, Temp below the lights 78-85 , Air-flow and humidity are all good.

Week I used fresh clean water and let the nutrients in the soil do their job. Everything looked so nice until I fed them only 30% of what the Fox Farm tables says to use for week 2 transplants. 30% of their suggested nutes in their suggested soil and feeding table and the girls are STRESSED!. It looks like way too much nitrogen and I am seeing the beginning stages of nute burn. Leaves are cupping up to where they are almost rolled up like a joint in some places. They are also twisting to the left. On Saturday I did a moderate (2 gallon flush with 6.9ph tap through each of the 5 gallon pots.

Runoff Ph was between 5.0 and 5.3, way lower than I was expecting, given the soil is brand new and I have ph'ed all the water I have given them, but thats for another post.

Anyhow, to summarize, I'm hoping some of you friendly folks might be able to tell me

1) The Fox Farm Soil Feeding schedule is sh "Hot" or strong.
2) Why on their own chart it says I should but "Feed every other watering" and to "Feed 2 times per week" I dont water NEARLY often enough for that to make any sense at all. http://foxfarmfertilizer.com/images/pdf/SoilENG-Q2.pdf
3) What modified or scaled back schedule would you suggest for Fox Farm Nutes?
4) That Im freaking out over nothing and my girls will be okay,lol!

Hey there... So, I used to grow in Ocean Forrest and not need nutrients for most if not all of my veg period.
Not selling, just mentioning that if you have nutrient rich soil and add nutes you may have some burning.

Hope the rest of your grow goes well though... and welcome.

thanks for the reply. I spoke with a very knowledgeable young man over at Fox Farms Product support. He thinks it may be caused for two compounding reasons.

1) On their chart, the "Seedlings and clones" week should really be started closer to week 6 of Veg and the plants should be left alone in the Ocean Forrest with tap water until that time. I started on week 2 after transplant as their chart would suggest.

I still couldn't understand how I saw such stress and Nitrogen toxicity from a 30% solution of their suggested stregnth.

2) Watering a nutrient solution in a large pot before the plant had deep enough root structure likely left a "hot spot" of moist medium that the roots started feeding on when they got deep enough.

Regardless. Im' going to water as normal with straight tap water for the next 2 weeks and will introduce the fox Farm Nute schedule at 25% on week 5 or 6 of Veg.

ffof for me works well just dont feed or use a organic line and just build the soil for a while w/ no nutes untill you see buds, also a cup of lime in a 5gal, will help you in about 6 weeks with the ph issues. i like vermisoil, vermifire drains well so you can water frequently. looks great keep em rollin!

FF tiger bloom is very acidic, be careful with that stuff

whats the ppm of your tap water?

maybe consider r/o filtered

you'd be surprised what a high ppm tap water will do to newly rooting plants in a nutrient rich soil such as ffof

I had the EXACT same thing happen last year. I used happy frog soil in 4gal icing buckets from the bakery, with a cup of dolomite lime mixed in and the full fox farm nute line. For the first 3-4 weeks, I give nothing but tap water every other day. It comes out of the tap at 6.8-6.9 pH and 130ppm and I just let it ride. Everything was good. After that, I picked up on FF feed schedule at their 2 week mark. I used it at 50% strength every other watering, once a week adding cal-mag 1 tsp/gal, and pH'ing to 6.8. My leaves starting getting all wavy/curly womperjawed on the new growth and getting the burnt spots on the older leaves that looked like a cal/mag def and nute burn. I was stumped. Someone recommended that I lower my ph. Did I mention this happened on altogether 5 different strains? I gave it a try even tho I had heard 6-7 pH is fine, I started pH'ing plain water and nute water to 6.3. Not 6.2, not 6.4, I wanted to be consistant, lol. Low and behold, after a week, the new growth was fine and the lockout look quit progressing. After a couple more weeks, I trimmed off any funky leaves left behind and it never reared its ugly head again. I just looked for some old pics, but cant find any with that problem. Now, I cant say that will fix your problem, but it did mine. I have since switched to the General Organics line that comes in that little box/kit thing, and I still feed every other watering, every other day, and pH to 6.3. I hope this helps, I know how frustrating it feels. Peace

Just wanted to let

jaibyrd7 said:

I had the EXACT same thing happen last year. I used happy frog soil in 4gal icing buckets from the bakery, with a cup of dolomite lime mixed in and the full fox farm nute line. For the first 3-4 weeks, I give nothing but tap water every other day. It comes out of the tap at 6.8-6.9 pH and 130ppm and I just let it ride. Everything was good. After that, I picked up on FF feed schedule at their 2 week mark. I used it at 50% strength every other watering, once a week adding cal-mag 1 tsp/gal, and pH'ing to 6.8. My leaves starting getting all wavy/curly womperjawed on the new growth and getting the burnt spots on the older leaves that looked like a cal/mag def and nute burn. I was stumped. Someone recommended that I lower my ph. Did I mention this happened on altogether 5 different strains? I gave it a try even tho I had heard 6-7 pH is fine, I started pH'ing plain water and nute water to 6.3. Not 6.2, not 6.4, I wanted to be consistant, lol. Low and behold, after a week, the new growth was fine and the lockout look quit progressing. After a couple more weeks, I trimmed off any funky leaves left behind and it never reared its ugly head again. I just looked for some old pics, but cant find any with that problem. Now, I cant say that will fix your problem, but it did mine. I have since switched to the General Organics line that comes in that little box/kit thing, and I still feed every other watering, every other day, and pH to 6.3. I hope this helps, I know how frustrating it feels. Peace

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Dude, you just calmed my nerves and helped my patience out a little. Same exact thing is happening to me 5 years later! Thanks from a noob.