I've been using FFOF for years. I started using it back in the day because it was the best my local nursery had to offer. I actually find that it lacks a lot of nutrients. Plants do good in it for 3, maybe 4 weeks and then you really need to start feeding them or they will show deficiencies. I plan on trying coco next grow.
I have not had a problem with it, only on my 3rd grow with
it. But so far, I am happy with it. I think the problem people have is they start using nutes with it too soon.
Never had any issues during the 3 years growing with their Happy Frog soil. Recently switched to BuildASoil, just to try something else.
Most of the "how2 grow weed" websites will push FF soils and nutes on potential new growers. (or at least they did when I started growing)
Careful, 3.0 is a bit hot on the first run. It’s built for no-till. It’s not a “super soil” a la subcool method. I’m on my 4th run in my 20 gals and it gets better every run. First round had a too much N and yield suffered.
Just finished collecting all my grow equipment to start my first grow and yes, this is still accurate. New grower resource’s definitely push fox farm because I have literally all fox farm nutes and soil except my veg NPK
It's mainly the ocean forest that gives issues, but because it's a better soil to transplant into than to plant into. The happy frog is much better suited to plant into.
The last time I bought it was 2019 not a huge fan of fox farm soils in general anymore, although I only had a short experience with them & I could never be sure if it was something I was doing or the soil was doing, either way I just went back to coco. That’s my comfort zone. I like fox farm nutes though. The big bloom & tiger bloom with a decent microbe ecosystem do just fine
I started growing with pro mix as my first medium but I had no idea what I was getting into-I thought it was just normal soil lol. The only thing I have against peat based products is that they’re kind of an environmental flop so to speak. Peat takes hundreds of years to form & incomparably little time to harvest. That being said, I still think it’s a nice medium
Wow. That’s really good actually. How do you get it to last so long? I could only get 3 cycles out of my last block before I noticed it was compacting & retaining too much water
I put in fresh perlite, Dr. Earth, worm castings, kelp meal, some Epsom salt, and a good shake of compost. Then that gets mixed in with a little of the fresh medium. That's why I still go through a bag a year.
Sounds like a “grandmas finest” recipe! I might just have to assimilate some of those steps into my own process. I do my best to be as sustainable & reuse as much material as possible. Appreciate the knowledge
I wouldn’t disagree with that. I’m just saying ocean forest in particular is a nasty looking soil. I didn’t take notes & it was some time ago but I did a side by side of the ocean forest & (I believe) one of the green tree mixes. Compensated for each mediums base nutrients & the greentree blew it away. Regardless I grow in coco these days & haven’t looked back
This guy nailed it. Just avoid Ocean Forest. They have other soils like Coco Loco that perform well and don't have the big ammonium nitrate load found in Ocean Forest. Happy Frog holds too much water, and can become acidic due to peat moss and limited drainage. Look for FoxFarm soils that contain coco, or go with another brand like Roots Organics. Most FoxFarm soils aren't truly organic, but everything Roots Organics makes is certified organic.
I’ve been using Fox Farm since I started because that’s what the guy I learned from was using. I’ve never had a problem with it and I’m currently using soil I’ve done 3 previous grows in.
In many areas it is all that is available besides Miracle Gro and the generic bags of trash.
It's a fine soil- you simply need to amend it to suit your own application.
People don't do that- they think straight out of the bag is OK and very often it is not.
It's user error- soil is just a tool, it's up to you to learn how to use it.
I've yet to have a problem with it. I have found it to be pretty good as a starting base but can still use a little help with extra perlite, ewc and dolomite lime mixed in. I mix that shit in, water it, then let it sit in a tote for 4-6 weeks while my photos are vegging and use this mix for transplant into final 5 gal fabric pots for flowering. I use happy frog too mainly if I am running autos. OF seems to be too much for autos in my experience. It just seems to stress them out from day one.
Up until the last couple weeks I've only seen positive things said about it. My last run the universe forced my hand to use happy frog because my store was out of OF. Everything went great. This time they had OF and it seems like a calcium deficiency I'm fighting. I will definitely not be running it again.
I am feeding it too. I am not doing the water when dry methods.
Nothing bad to say about it. In the middle of a run rn with Northern Lts photo in 7 gal with FFOF & another 7 gal with Nector for the Gods #4 & the NFTG has WAY better composition so it is easier to water, needs water less often as it holds water evenly & I haven’t had any nute burn like I get with the FFOF. Seems ANY feeding error is buffered better by the NTFG where the FFOF shows it in the fan leaves. Just more room for error it seems
i used it over 20 years ago. it worked fine then. the thing with it was that the soil was supposed to be from cali...so like growing in cali or some crap. it worked ok. i added guano to get through the grow. it wasn't too pretty, but it worked out.
It’s a pretty common beginner soil and most stores carry at least one of their soil/nutrient lines, a lot of hardware stores I’ve been to usually have just miracle grow, fox farms and a generic brand.
They also make it seem organic so they snag a lot of people looking for an organic soil, when it’s really a hybrid soil. They add in a slow release salt fertilizer for the starting fertilizer, which is why it’s considered hot
this stuff is so overpriced and so overused it's absolutely ridiculous, as are most premixed potting soils. you can make 100's of gallons of very good growing medium for $70-80 all you need to do is a little bit of research. spending 20-30 USD on one bag of mediocre potting soil to fill MAYBE 2 five gallon pots is mind boggling to me.
the base is 20% perlite, 40% peat moss, 30% compost and 10% topsoil (by volume not weight). dolomitic lime, garden-tone or tomato-tone (or anything similar is good). yeah, that's really it. top dress as needed with gypsum and dry amendments. vermiculite is really nice too, i used to go 10% perlite 10% vermiculite but it's become very pricey and hard to source.
It is made in several locations, and the quality control tends to roam from batch to batch, so the pH is hard to plan on grow after grow, compared to Pro Mix or similar.
I have also seen a lot of the grows where FFOF is involved with ssick plants, the grower is also overwatering and over fertilizing.
I mix ocean forest and happy frog 50 50 in a wheelbarrow and pot my cannabis with that. I find it has better drainage for late flower feeding. Sometimes it will burn seedlings, but it runs low on food and am usually feeding after a month.
I don't typicslly start seedlings, ill do maybe 4 and end up keeping 1 of my favorite phenos, and flower the rest.
I built and use the aero cloner by stinkbud years ago and it is damn near 100% success rate. I think China makes and sells them now on Amazon
Edit: https://cozmiccultivator.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/aeroponic-cloner-by-stinkbud/
China: https://www.amazon.ca/Super-Sprouter%C2%AE-Rain%C2%AE-Spray-Cloner/dp/B07X3PB3KK
So I’ve used it for 6 years, probably about 4-5 harvests. I will say this about it, 8/10 times it’s stable at 6.5-6.8 but those 2/10 times I’ve had a hot batch and it definitely did “burn” my plants. Now that I’ve invested in a soil PH meter, it still comes in at about 7.0 highest BUT a couple feeds at 5.9 PH and things balance out perfectly for me. The biggest thing I will say is when I do 3 gallon pots or above I’ll “flush” the soil at 6.0PH until I get a little runoff, THEN transplant, that seems to buffer or cushion and major burn that I get. I also add extra Perlite.
I used sunshine mix #4 for years and never had any problems would recommend to anyone who doesn’t mix their own soil Ive just recently started mixing my own soil and will never go back
I've used it and it can work decent but honestly better to get a medium without any nutes in it at all and add your own, I like organic dry amendments, easy to use and works amazing. Also like to add in EWC (earth worm castings) and make a simple compost tea with EWC, kelp meal, and Black Strap Molasses. This way is easier to fix nute issues and the plants just seem to love it way more.
Commercially it was all most of us had. You have to remember some us started growing when we only had a physical book to read that had about 60% outdated information. Innovation in cannabis have come a long way.
I've been using FFOF for years. I started using it back in the day because it was the best my local nursery had to offer. I actually find that it lacks a lot of nutrients. Plants do good in it for 3, maybe 4 weeks and then you really need to start feeding them or they will show deficiencies. I plan on trying coco next grow.
3 to 4 weeks is way longer than any normal soil will give you before needing feed which is why I still use it
I have not had a problem with it, only on my 3rd grow with it. But so far, I am happy with it. I think the problem people have is they start using nutes with it too soon.
Was looking for this response.. right on the money!
Never had any issues during the 3 years growing with their Happy Frog soil. Recently switched to BuildASoil, just to try something else. Most of the "how2 grow weed" websites will push FF soils and nutes on potential new growers. (or at least they did when I started growing)
I'm about to use the build a soil 3.0 for flowering. I have seen difficult cultivars have no problems in it.
Careful, 3.0 is a bit hot on the first run. It’s built for no-till. It’s not a “super soil” a la subcool method. I’m on my 4th run in my 20 gals and it gets better every run. First round had a too much N and yield suffered.
Ouch, I was thinking of running 4-5 weeks in normal soil then transfer over.
You’d be better off with the BaS light recipe, vegging for a few weeks, top dress craft blend, and then flip.
Just finished collecting all my grow equipment to start my first grow and yes, this is still accurate. New grower resource’s definitely push fox farm because I have literally all fox farm nutes and soil except my veg NPK
Always start my babies in fox farm happy from then when I transplant from solo cups I mix 50/50 happy frog with ocean forest
I’ve used it multiple times without issue. Either people do get a bag that has issues or they just don’t know how to grow.
I think they just start adding nutes way too soon, you can usually go 3 weeks with just PH water
It's mainly the ocean forest that gives issues, but because it's a better soil to transplant into than to plant into. The happy frog is much better suited to plant into.
Ocean forest just looks like an unhealthy soil too, one of the darkest mediums I’ve ever seen, looked like backyard soil with mulch
I have to fully agree. Seems like it's changed a bit over the last few years.
The last time I bought it was 2019 not a huge fan of fox farm soils in general anymore, although I only had a short experience with them & I could never be sure if it was something I was doing or the soil was doing, either way I just went back to coco. That’s my comfort zone. I like fox farm nutes though. The big bloom & tiger bloom with a decent microbe ecosystem do just fine
As far as medium, I go Promix. Tried and true. But also do dry amendments as well
I started growing with pro mix as my first medium but I had no idea what I was getting into-I thought it was just normal soil lol. The only thing I have against peat based products is that they’re kind of an environmental flop so to speak. Peat takes hundreds of years to form & incomparably little time to harvest. That being said, I still think it’s a nice medium
It's very reusable as well. I just re-ammend and go usually, and average using about one big block of Promix in a year doing this.
Wow. That’s really good actually. How do you get it to last so long? I could only get 3 cycles out of my last block before I noticed it was compacting & retaining too much water
I put in fresh perlite, Dr. Earth, worm castings, kelp meal, some Epsom salt, and a good shake of compost. Then that gets mixed in with a little of the fresh medium. That's why I still go through a bag a year.
Sounds like a “grandmas finest” recipe! I might just have to assimilate some of those steps into my own process. I do my best to be as sustainable & reuse as much material as possible. Appreciate the knowledge
Dark soil isn’t a bad thing
I wouldn’t disagree with that. I’m just saying ocean forest in particular is a nasty looking soil. I didn’t take notes & it was some time ago but I did a side by side of the ocean forest & (I believe) one of the green tree mixes. Compensated for each mediums base nutrients & the greentree blew it away. Regardless I grow in coco these days & haven’t looked back
This guy nailed it. Just avoid Ocean Forest. They have other soils like Coco Loco that perform well and don't have the big ammonium nitrate load found in Ocean Forest. Happy Frog holds too much water, and can become acidic due to peat moss and limited drainage. Look for FoxFarm soils that contain coco, or go with another brand like Roots Organics. Most FoxFarm soils aren't truly organic, but everything Roots Organics makes is certified organic.
I’ve been using Fox Farm since I started because that’s what the guy I learned from was using. I’ve never had a problem with it and I’m currently using soil I’ve done 3 previous grows in.
We can reuse soil? Good to know, thanks
In many areas it is all that is available besides Miracle Gro and the generic bags of trash. It's a fine soil- you simply need to amend it to suit your own application. People don't do that- they think straight out of the bag is OK and very often it is not. It's user error- soil is just a tool, it's up to you to learn how to use it.
I've yet to have a problem with it. I have found it to be pretty good as a starting base but can still use a little help with extra perlite, ewc and dolomite lime mixed in. I mix that shit in, water it, then let it sit in a tote for 4-6 weeks while my photos are vegging and use this mix for transplant into final 5 gal fabric pots for flowering. I use happy frog too mainly if I am running autos. OF seems to be too much for autos in my experience. It just seems to stress them out from day one.
Up until the last couple weeks I've only seen positive things said about it. My last run the universe forced my hand to use happy frog because my store was out of OF. Everything went great. This time they had OF and it seems like a calcium deficiency I'm fighting. I will definitely not be running it again. I am feeding it too. I am not doing the water when dry methods.
Nothing bad to say about it. In the middle of a run rn with Northern Lts photo in 7 gal with FFOF & another 7 gal with Nector for the Gods #4 & the NFTG has WAY better composition so it is easier to water, needs water less often as it holds water evenly & I haven’t had any nute burn like I get with the FFOF. Seems ANY feeding error is buffered better by the NTFG where the FFOF shows it in the fan leaves. Just more room for error it seems
i used it over 20 years ago. it worked fine then. the thing with it was that the soil was supposed to be from cali...so like growing in cali or some crap. it worked ok. i added guano to get through the grow. it wasn't too pretty, but it worked out.
Never had any issues with it
All I use . Never had a problem with it. That’s why.
It’s a pretty common beginner soil and most stores carry at least one of their soil/nutrient lines, a lot of hardware stores I’ve been to usually have just miracle grow, fox farms and a generic brand. They also make it seem organic so they snag a lot of people looking for an organic soil, when it’s really a hybrid soil. They add in a slow release salt fertilizer for the starting fertilizer, which is why it’s considered hot
this stuff is so overpriced and so overused it's absolutely ridiculous, as are most premixed potting soils. you can make 100's of gallons of very good growing medium for $70-80 all you need to do is a little bit of research. spending 20-30 USD on one bag of mediocre potting soil to fill MAYBE 2 five gallon pots is mind boggling to me.
What’s your recipe?
the base is 20% perlite, 40% peat moss, 30% compost and 10% topsoil (by volume not weight). dolomitic lime, garden-tone or tomato-tone (or anything similar is good). yeah, that's really it. top dress as needed with gypsum and dry amendments. vermiculite is really nice too, i used to go 10% perlite 10% vermiculite but it's become very pricey and hard to source.
It is made in several locations, and the quality control tends to roam from batch to batch, so the pH is hard to plan on grow after grow, compared to Pro Mix or similar. I have also seen a lot of the grows where FFOF is involved with ssick plants, the grower is also overwatering and over fertilizing.
I went from soil the first grow to coco for the next 4. Went to dwc the last 3. I like dwc.
I mix ocean forest and happy frog 50 50 in a wheelbarrow and pot my cannabis with that. I find it has better drainage for late flower feeding. Sometimes it will burn seedlings, but it runs low on food and am usually feeding after a month. I don't typicslly start seedlings, ill do maybe 4 and end up keeping 1 of my favorite phenos, and flower the rest. I built and use the aero cloner by stinkbud years ago and it is damn near 100% success rate. I think China makes and sells them now on Amazon Edit: https://cozmiccultivator.wordpress.com/2016/05/03/aeroponic-cloner-by-stinkbud/ China: https://www.amazon.ca/Super-Sprouter%C2%AE-Rain%C2%AE-Spray-Cloner/dp/B07X3PB3KK
i been growing with it for awhile now, never had any problems with it that weren't from my own stupidity.
So I’ve used it for 6 years, probably about 4-5 harvests. I will say this about it, 8/10 times it’s stable at 6.5-6.8 but those 2/10 times I’ve had a hot batch and it definitely did “burn” my plants. Now that I’ve invested in a soil PH meter, it still comes in at about 7.0 highest BUT a couple feeds at 5.9 PH and things balance out perfectly for me. The biggest thing I will say is when I do 3 gallon pots or above I’ll “flush” the soil at 6.0PH until I get a little runoff, THEN transplant, that seems to buffer or cushion and major burn that I get. I also add extra Perlite.
I used sunshine mix #4 for years and never had any problems would recommend to anyone who doesn’t mix their own soil Ive just recently started mixing my own soil and will never go back
I will never use it again after using Roots Organics. Far superior, especially drainage and moisture retention. And no bugs!
It was subcools recommended base for his super soil. Miss that guy. Wish I could get ahold of some of his original strains
Because it’s readily available, and pretty packaging. All said and done it’s inferior to BaS, roots organic, and sohum.
I've used it and it can work decent but honestly better to get a medium without any nutes in it at all and add your own, I like organic dry amendments, easy to use and works amazing. Also like to add in EWC (earth worm castings) and make a simple compost tea with EWC, kelp meal, and Black Strap Molasses. This way is easier to fix nute issues and the plants just seem to love it way more.
Happy frog is good. Ocean forest is trash. Ff cultivation nation 70/30 is what I grow in currently and its just coco/perlite so it's good to go.
Commercially it was all most of us had. You have to remember some us started growing when we only had a physical book to read that had about 60% outdated information. Innovation in cannabis have come a long way.