Roots Organic Soil VS. Fox Farms Soil.

went with Organicare pure earth

light, fluffy, coco goodness

ffof looked good

roots looked good too

I abstain.

anyone used general organics nute line? Be good with roots soil?

Considering this is my first flowering, this is what fox farms allowed my buds to look like. This is my easy ryder which still has 2 weeks left.

I am using fox farms soil line w nutes and just tap water. I could of done without the nutes as the soil is a super soil. View my sig for more info. Its really great and plants love it.

Does anyone know how long ago Fox Farm started making soil on the east coast? I think the drainage problem might have attributed to my really shitty chemical tasting weed that I used advanced nutrients sensi grow and bloom and flushed for 6 WEEKS.

I personally like Roots Organics. didn't even need to add perlite because it came with a generous amount in it. It seems a lot more on the airy side then ocean forest. I used FFOF on my last grow, and its definitely good stuff but I had to put a crap load of perlite in it to achieve good drainage though. It is also a bit hotter then Roots IMHO. I hear that some pople actually do a mix of FFOF and Roots Organics. Doesn't sound like a bad idea at all. To be honest I might just try out the Roots straight coco soilless next run. I can tell how the plants like a lot of drainage and oxygen in the root zone. FFOF doesn't come with enough drainage capability out of the bag IMHO.

FFOF can also cause nute burn... and list goes on... I have FFOF along with fox farms other line.. You use that with big and chunky perlite you wont be sorry.. Super soils rock.

Roots has a lot better drainage. i jus tested the runoff from my roots organic with a water and vile ph and it was at 4 or lower. Is this ok? i assume not. I havent planted anything in the soil yet should i flush the pots of soil several times? Should the water i flush them in have hydrated lime in it?

I would water the soil with some roots oregonisms xl.

You should first bubble the XL with an air stone in water until the ph is at around 5.8 to 6.5. That means that the fungi the bacteria ratio has become more balanced, and that ratio of fungi to bacteria will change the ph of the roots soil if I'm not mistaken. If you put oregonisms xl in and its a lower ph that means the fungi count is higher then the bacteria. Remember that bubbling will raise the ph. It causes acids that the fungi release to volatize into the air. If the ph is below 3 it has gone anaerobic don't use it. That happens because you have inadequate air in the water. If the xl brew ph doesn't steadily rise over 12-24 hours you should try adding a small amount of molasses to the brew. It will feed the bacteria and cause them to multiply. They release alkaline slime and that's why a higher bacteria count causes ph to rise.

im am going to get BMO's line can i use Super plant tonic, grow it green, the bud formula, or the foliar spray instead i pretty sure they all have endo and ectobacteria. Will any of these raise my ph? and what about mixing in dolomite lime into my soil?

any one else had a prob with the ph of thier roots organic soil. and i am also curious if anyone has used roots outdoor/large pot soil formulas: greenfields, formula 707. suppose hold more water and comes with less perlite

durbanmistyman said:

any one else had a prob with the ph of thier roots organic soil. and i am also curious if anyone has used roots outdoor/large pot soil formulas: greenfields, formula 707. suppose hold more water and comes with less perlite

Click to expand...

Haven't tried the outdoor formulas. I did have a slight ph problem at the start with the soil for indoors. I believe the roots soil probably comes with a higher fungi count because it has rock phosphate, soybean meal, and kelp. All of those help with fungi growth. They probably do that on purpose because I have heard it is much harder to grow and multiply fungi than it is bacteria.If you have a higher fungi to bacteria ratio your soil is more on the acidic side. If you have a higher bacteria ratio to fungi your soil is more on the basic side. Cannabis i believe likes close to a 1:1 ratio. That is why she likes a ph of 5.8 to 6.8. Ph is related to the microbiology in the soil. If your soil ph is to low I would first try to add a microbial tea with a ph of 6.0 to 6.5. Remember that molasses will help raise bacteria(and raise the ph) over time in a tea. Ofcourse a quick fix to ph is hydrated lime however. The lime would probably slowly affect your micro heard over time, but I would personally try a microbial tea first.

Good thing about ocean forest is it comes at an acceptable ph.

Thanks justice man any idea if part of the BMO line will in a tea will do instead of organisms xl? and how long should i wait after applying the tea to measure the ph of my soil?

durbanmistyman said:

Thanks justice man any idea if part of the BMO line will in a tea will do instead of organisms xl? and how long should i wait after applying the tea to measure the ph of my soil?

Click to expand...

Ya i mean you don't have to use XL you can just use anything that has microbial life in it. BMO says they have "endo and ecto bacteria" in their nutrients as well as tonic. I don't know how much life is in BMO. If you use a very light dose of Roots Buddha grow that should brew you a fine microbial tea. It's just Earth worm casting Bat guano, sea kelp, molasses, and humic acid i believe. It will have a bit more "nutrition" then just using xl though, but that's okay if it's light.

This is the upside of fox farms IMHO. It comes PH adjusted with the correct microbial life in it so you don't have to correct it yourself. My other theory is maybe if the soil sits to long certain microbes take over when there is an abundance of food for them.

justiceman said:

Ya i mean you don't have to use XL you can just use anything that has microbial life in it. BMO says they have "endo and ecto bacteria" in their nutrients as well as tonic. I don't know how much life is in BMO. If you use a very light dose of Roots Buddha grow that should brew you a fine microbial tea. It's just Earth worm casting Bat guano, sea kelp, molasses, and humic acid i believe. It will have a bit more "nutrition" then just using xl though, but that's okay if it's light.

This is the upside of fox farms IMHO. It comes PH adjusted with the correct microbial life in it so you don't have to correct it yourself. My other theory is maybe if the soil sits to long certain microbes take over when there is an abundance of food for them.

Click to expand...

thanks jman il give it a try im trying to get everything in order b4 i germ any beans to put in this soil.

roots organic is the best imo

RootsOrganicMan said:

roots organic is the best imo

Click to expand...

I was going to go with FFOF but i live on the east coast and i do not want any type wood(bark,wood chip) in my soil.Im going to have buy both and compare the two.

i used ocean forest a couple of times but i switched to the 707 bag and it seems like a better base for clones and babies the ocean forest bag used to burn them a little but if you mix in some of the brown bag but for me and my organics so far the 707 is killer

im guna try the other roots organics for my next outdoor

I've never used Fox farms, but I can say that Formula 707 is working great for my seedlings.

I'm just wondering if anyone amends it at all before the final transplant. I was thinking of adding a lil guano, perlite, maybe a few other things to help beef it up a lil more.

I just started using my BMO line with it. The SPT did wonders for my 3 week old strawberry haze.

Arsenal420 said:

I've never used Fox farms, but I can say that Formula 707 is working great for my seedlings.

I'm just wondering if anyone amends it at all before the final transplant. I was thinking of adding a lil guano, perlite, maybe a few other things to help beef it up a lil more.

I just started using my BMO line with it. The SPT did wonders for my 3 week old strawberry haze.

Click to expand...

yea my plants love the spt i havne used any of the other BMO line. i use iguana juice for base and rotate feeding and watering with spt half strength. cant wait to use the 707 in my outdoor autoflower grow this year