Foxfarm soils run acidic.

piratebug said:

Any of the FF soil / soilless products need some sort of lime based additive if the person using those products will actually water their plants properly, (ie; water and feed to 20% runoff, and pot flush monthly, to remove salt build up). So, unlike companies like (Premier Tech Horticulture - Pro Mix, Black Gold, etc, etc), FF products no longer include pH range buffers in their mixes. What I mean... if you pour any water / feed mix holding a pH value greater than those products default pH levels, even something like pH 10, those products will buffer your water / feed mix down to whatever those products adjust their pH too. For example Pro Mix (HP) usually comes in between pH 5.7 to 5.9, then (MP) usually comes in between pH 5.9 to 6.1, and products like Black Gold (Organic) usually comes in between pH 6.2 - 6.4, and their (All Purpose) mix usually comes in between pH 6.3 - 6.5. But with FF products, they may start with a pH buffer of 6.4 to 6.6, but if your water / feed mix is not constantly kept within that same pH range, your soil / soilless mix will soon fall out of its optimal pH range! Which usually results in growers encountering many unnecessary deficiencies and lockouts because while you maybe watering / feeding in the proper pH range, 6.2 to 6.6, your soil / soilless mix is no longer in the proper pH range because those original inadequate starting pH buffering compounds have been flushed away before the grower even begins to flower their plants! So, like I said, if using FF, its best to add some sort of lime based additive to their mixes... (1 tablespoon dolomite lime per 1 gallon of a FF mix (HF, OF), or 2 tablespoons of calcitic lime per 1 gallon of a FF mix (HF, OF), every 5th week during a grow cycle).

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mysunnyboy said:

Never had a problem in many many years

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Couch_Lock said:

No but I did put up a IMGUR video of my first grow, 24 days into 12/12 Prayer Pupil.......I'm not much of a photographer or a master grower. Fairly noob at both. I will take a few pics of this grow, periodically.

I'm having a rough start germinating and taking care of my young seedlings this year. My humidity levels are EXTREMELY low so far in January, WITH a $40 Home Depot humidifier Im achieving 29 to 31% humidity. Im also leaving solo cups of water IN the tent w/ that POS humidifier.

Ordered ANOTHER humidifier on an Amazon flash sale last night. https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B07RQX4CJT/ref=ppx_od_dt_b_asin_title_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1

If that humidifier cant get my RH up to 50% or so this grow is gonna suck. Useful's Orange Cookies X Chocolate Diesel plant is doing well but ZERO of Heisenbeans Dos Si Dos beans have popped in 4 days! (Heat mat, dome, moistened with a misting bottle every 3 hours.) 0/4 on Heisenbeans PURPLE CRUNCH (dos si dos x purple punch). Heisenbeans PURPLE CAKE (wedding cake x purple punch) is 1/1 on germination, though.

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Chip Green said:

I can also attest to the original post. I use a Bluelab Leap pH soil probe, and have seen FFOF as low as 4.7 after moistened, right out of the bag.... rarely did I get a reading above 6. Happy Frog wasn't much different....The only thing consistent over many, many samples was inconsistency. I can't remember how much lime I used, as I stopped using it long ago.

It's great stater soil, but the 6.3 pH claimed is a complete fallacy. Even though I generally ignore this fact.

I've had great results with OF, treating it as a water only mix, for long veg periods, then topdressing dry organics..... That stuff will feed a plant on it's own for a lot longer than most growers are willing to accept.

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