Fox Farm Ocean Forest Soil and Ph?
- Thread starter max316420
- Start date
benny blanco
Active Member
I said my main grow is hydro, but I have a extra closet with a 1000hps that I've used for soil. I use ffof and fflw without ever checking soil ph and runoff. Everything always turned out fine
max316420
Well-Known Member
actually I haven't had problems in the fox farms yet.... It's actually the promix I have been having problems with, I haven't got to the flowering with the new fox farms soil. Someone posted that you don't need to add lime and If that was the case then why do most soil companies add it to the mix. But riddle me this, If I'm pouring water that is PH'd to 7.0 on the dot then why with the same runoff water is the ph magically down to 5.4, next ur gonna say because there are nutes built up in my promix. Well smarty pants lol I did the same test with BRAND NEW fox farm ocean forest and still got a low reading with the runoff meter.... I am starting to believe that Lime and a higher ph (of the soil) is very important and I am def gonna give it a shot and see what happens... BIG PROPS TO THE GUYS THAT SUGGESTED THE LIME, IF THIS WORKS YOU GUYS ARE NOW MY NEW GODS......and the real reason why i wanna figure my promix problem out is because I went a little nuts and bought a SHITLOAD of it
Around 7CuFt. The bale will not quite double when it's all fluffed out.
Are going to expand the whole bale at once? The peat moss I use is from the same company (Premier), and also comes in a 3.8CuFt bale, although I think I've seen some 3CuFt sizes. Anyway, I've never expanded the whole bale at once, no room. My wheelbarrow will handle about 2cf easily, so that's the amount of mix I do at the time.
WOW!! Lots of trash talk after I got off. Funny how people react to lime, even though farmers have been using it ever since they figured out how to crush limestone in quantity, to sweeten acidic soils.
The thing is, now you have some and can find out for yourself just what it will or won't do, no matter what the "know nothing, know it all's" say. Thanks to BT for that great description.
I never knew about it till I moved, but was using it without realizing where I used to live. I used to live in SoFla and we would get dump truck loads of "screenings" for like $25. The screenings were from the first aggregate screen at a concrete plant and was like a very coarse sand. I would toss a shovel or 2 in each batch of mix, mostly for weight. Everything grew great. I moved to the mountains, made my mix and everything went to shit. THEN, I heard about lime and researching backwards, discovered that the concrete plants in SoFl use oolitic limestone for their aggregate. SoFl is practically solid oolitic limestone. Mystery solved as to why I never had problems with the mix in Fl and a $5 bag of dolomite lime solved my mix problems up here. So simple and so cheap.
When you use it, you'll find out for yourself and see who's talking straight and who's blowing smoke.
Wet
max316420
Well-Known Member
Dude I couldn't agree more and thank you thank you thank you, now here is what i'm thinkin and I know this has already been explained but im gonna get me a huge garbage can to mix a whole bail at once, it's premeir promix bx and i got lots of it... My moms should be spitting out enough babies within about a month so I would like to have everything ready.. so if im mixing a whole bale at once how much total should I use and should that last long enough for around 2-3 of veg in it and then my whole flowering cycle? O and one more quick question: How come I don't have this ph issue in veg only bloom? gotta get off the computer til this evening but any imput is greatly appreciated
ClamDigger
Active Member
im not sure how people hate on Dolomitic Lime.
any mix with Peat will become more acidic over time.
and what happens when your ph is too low?
Cal.Mag issues
what does lime fix?
CalMag issues.
any mix with Peat will become more acidic over time.
and what happens when your ph is too low?
Cal.Mag issues
what does lime fix?
CalMag issues.
Los Muertos
Active Member
Seems like if the FFOF is kept out of the elements, it's dead-on 6.5. Unfortunately, the only place around here that sells it keeps it outside and it's always < 6.0. I guess being constantly water logged breaks something down? I usually add a few tbsps of lime, but I always test the soil first. If it ain't broke, don't fix it.
Bublonichronic
Well-Known Member
WOW...all i can say....good luck to you sir! and when the lime dosent fix your poor growing skills....remember what i said and hit the rep button!!(actually dont, lookin at some of the people with a shitload of rep makes me not want any!) and you dont listen do you? checking runn off is a newb thing to do, that alone shows how little you know, lol
cowboylogic
Well-Known Member
From looking at your journal and reading your feeding schedule. My guess too much calcium locking out potassium.
ebcpsavedmylife
Member
hey saw the title on the thread and just thought i'd post my two cents, currently have my first grow with ffof going on right now, great results thus far. they've been in it for about 2 and a half 3 months maybe, planted directly in it from root plug and lovin every minute of it. seems a little hot, like everyone seems to say, a few weeks before their last transplant i gave a diluted dose of gh's nova: grow to plants that were showing deficiencies. other than that, very satisfied with my results so far. soil ph ranges from 6.3-7, the runoff a little lower, but i don't really concern myself with that unless the soil shows it too. i use a slightly more alkaline water to compensate the soils lower ph.
so it uploaded in a strange order but you get the picture
so it uploaded in a strange order but you get the picture
max316420
Well-Known Member
awsome ladies dude, but my ph runoff is 5.4 which i am guessing is way to low LOCKOUT, gonna go with the lime and mix it with the shitload of bails of promix i got and give it another shot... and to the fuckface that is calling me a noob, GO FUCK YOURSELF!!!! I would like to thank everyone for their imput....
Nullis
Moderator
Sorry folks but the lack of punctuation and shit really makes it kinda difficult to read five pages of that bullshit. At least Wetdog types like a literate fucking human being.
Technically oyster shell is the 'liming agent' (good things from earth and sea); calcium carbonate, just like eggshells or garden lime. Calcitic lime is calcium carbonate (garden lime). Dolomitic limestone is just lime which has at least 6% magnesium (calcium magnesium carbonate), often more. So oyster shell would be a form of calcitic lime, as would pulverized eggshell. They just don't contain any magnesium.
Definitely a good idea to add some dolomite if you don't plan on transplanting again in the next few weeks.
Technically oyster shell is the 'liming agent' (good things from earth and sea); calcium carbonate, just like eggshells or garden lime. Calcitic lime is calcium carbonate (garden lime). Dolomitic limestone is just lime which has at least 6% magnesium (calcium magnesium carbonate), often more. So oyster shell would be a form of calcitic lime, as would pulverized eggshell. They just don't contain any magnesium.
Definitely a good idea to add some dolomite if you don't plan on transplanting again in the next few weeks.
I would say Ocean Forest is more like a true soil, more than say Roots Organic which are more truly soil-less mixes. Light-Warrior is also a soil-less mix, with added microbiology. Ocean Forest is a soil in the sense that it contains humus or thoroughly decayed organic matter, also present in earthworm castings; both of which harbor their own natural microbiology. OF also features sandy loam, and this along with the humus/compost is pretty much the ideal garden soil. The sphagnum peat is there to aid in water retention, and along with the perlite, the structure of the mix to make it more suitable for container use.
660nm420
Active Member
Why does every post on riu turn into this useless bickering? I just wanted to know if ffof is any good but i think it's less work to continue mixing my own soil than to continuing reading all this useless negativity.
She's beautiful people!WOW! Bye bye now. I feel stupid-er having bounced into this thread.
She's beautiful people!WOW! Bye bye now. I feel stupid-er having bounced into this thread.
ebcpsavedmylife
Member
I'm not sure about that man, I measured mine the other day and it was damn near 5. I haven't experienced any lockout yet, despite a very slight phos deficiancy that was easily fixed with some veg nutes. In my opinion, the runoff is not necessairly as important as the PH of the medium itself. I don't have that many plants at this point in time though, and I devote a lot of time and attention to each and every one, just go with what the plant tells you.
max316420
Well-Known Member
Your ladies are still in veg right? I never had any sort of problem in veg, it's only about 2 weeks into bloom is when this shiiieeet starts... that's why I was kinda stumped but also did some reading and found out that it's a very good possibility that they don't add enough lime for the life of the plant and it gets depleted after so many waterings.. I also read that the shells in ffoc are not really that good of a buffer. So I've never really had to measure my soil out so ya I'm gonna ask a retarded question, What is the easiest way to measure 1 cf of soil? I use the black pots and never actually asked the actual holding capacity of them. And I know that reading the run off is not the most accurate way to measure your soils ph but what had me all fucked up is that I ran straight water thru my pots that was ph'd to over 7 and the runoff even after a couple of gallons was below 5.4.....That kinda has me stumped and trying to figure out how it could be lowered so much
max316420
Well-Known Member
Ok this is for the non believers hopefully this will shut you up and admit that promix needs to be supplemented with something that will buffer the ph... So reading thru this thread I must admit that I had some small doubts that the ph could be that off and I just suck with promix so I decided to go to Home depot and get those little capsule soil ph testers just to see what the say, believe it or not they actually had what looks like a decent digital soil ph meter so I said fuck it and I'm gonna buy it and give it a shot... Test number One- I tested the Fox Farm Ocean forest soil that I just transplanted my new ww babies into RESULTS ph of 6.5-6.7 ALL GOOD BAAABY BABY.... Next test- just transplanted clones into ffof RESULTS 6.6.... So one last test and the most important one of them all PROMIX with my ladies that are half way thru bloom RESULTS ph of 5.3 WOW no wonder im having problems??? So if you still don't believe me here are the pics to prove it (i know the meter might not be 100% accurate, but it has to be somewhat close)
max316420
Well-Known Member
It is obvious that you can't read or don't read, why don't you read the threads and see whats goin on first before you put your 2 cents in...THANK YOU!!!!! And what the fuck if I was a "noob"??? Cause if I was I wouldn't be using RUI cause of assholes like you that gotta comment and them themselves probably don't know what and the fuck their talking about. People come her for help and it's prickbag assholes like you that have to make comments and scare people away.. HOPE YOU FEEL COOL
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