Alternative to Fox Farm's Ocean Forrest?

[Harry Red]

Fox Farm's Ocean Forrest is $25 a bag where I live. While it is really some good stuff, that is very expensive.

I have a couple of bags of Miracle Grow Organic ($4 a bag) that I use in the garden so I tried a test run with a seedling but it didn't compare to the FF soil. It's much more dense, the plant didn't green up very well and grew slowly. I tested the soil and found it was very nitrogen deficient. I'm thinking I could add blood meal 12-0-0 and it might kick the nitrogen levels it up to where they needs to be. What do y'all think?

I live in po-dump nowhere but I do have access to Lowes. Can anyone suggest a good alternative to FF that can be purchased at Lowes (with perhaps a bit of tweaking) that will give good results?

I read where Kellog has a good, inexpensive soil, but the Lowes in my area doesn't carry that brand.

Thanks for any suggestions!

[grandma]

Kitchen scraps make for a great compost make for a great plant!
Or just buy a cheap mix that has the least bark and un-decomposed material, and mix with worm castings. Take a sample to the hardware store to get the PH measured.
Don't buy $25 expensive brand names to grow a weed.

[RooRman]

You can play with the amounts, which is the nice thing about making your own mix. This should get you started:

1 Bag of Pro-Mix BX Seed and Clone (Peat, perlite and dolomite lime)

10-20% Perlite: for added drainage and soil aeration. Use closer to 20% for flowering mixes.

10-30% Worm Castings: for nitrogen, added micronutrients and aeration.

1-2% Dolomite lime: Pro-Mix BX Seed and Clone has this already added! So I don't add it. Basic Pro-Mix, to my knowledge, does not. Dolomite lime helps stabilize the pH of the soil. Pro-Mix is mainly peat and as the peat breaks down the soil gets more acidic. Dolomite lime is used to combat this natural lowering of the pH.

2-4% Kelp meal and/or Bat guano: For additional macro/micornutrients.

[Harry Red]

Thanks for the suggestions Grandma and RooRman!!

Or just buy a cheap mix that has the least bark and un-decomposed material, and mix with worm castings.

Yes, this is kinda what I had in mind. I can't seem to find anywhere around here that sells work castings or many other organic ferts.

I have no source around here for the pro-mix stuff either, RooRman. I looked at Lowes, Home Depot and the other couple of garden centers and hardware stores and they all carry basically the same thing, Miracle grow/Scotts and that's about it, with the exception of a few homemade concoctions of mostly pine bark and cow dung.

I noticed that Dollar General has a generic potting soil that doesn't say anything about containing time released ferts on the bag.

I guess I'm just going to have go with trail and error to find an inexpensive alternative to the FF.

[RooRman]

Originally Posted by Harry Red

...I have no source around here for the pro-mix stuff either, RooRman. I looked at Lowes, Home Depot and the other couple of garden centers and hardware stores and they all carry basically the same thing, Miracle grow/Scotts and that's about it, with the exception of a few homemade concoctions of mostly pine bark and cow dung...

Did you try Agway?

[Harry Red]

Unfortunately, there is no Agway anywhere near me RooRman. I understand there is a local nursery that carries worm castings and I plan on going by there to check 'em out. They may very well have promix or a similar product.

Thanks for all your help!!

[Harry Red]

Hey RooRman,

I'm thinking that I could just use plain sphagnum peat from Lowes/Home Depot. They also sell perlite and dolomite lime (pellets which I could just crush). I found worm castings locally as well so that should do it for my base mix.

I found some premixed potting soil at the DG that has perlite, dolomite lime, peat and other composted materials but it's kinda dense and heavy. I could add about 10%-20% of that to the base mix and give it some bulk.

Would that work?

[RooRman]

Yes of course it will work! Thats practically all Promix is (peat and perlite).

Go easy on the lime though, it is only meant to combat the peat breaking down and the natural lowering of the pH. Use the lime in small quantities in relation to the rest of your mix.

Sounds like your doing just fine.

[Harry Red]

Thanks RooRman. That's what I'm going to try next.

Do you know of a good basic nutrient mix I could whip up for the veg and flower phases. Perhaps some combination of bone and bloodmeal, used in conjunction with FF Big Bloom (ecw & bat guano)?

I've got plenty of FF Grow Big and Tiger bloom and considering how little or that you have to use, it should last me for quite a while. I'm going through the Big Bloom fast but it's not very expensive and seems to work well.

[RooRman]

There are many dry ferts. you could add directly to the soil mix. Bone and Blood meal will work, but they take a long time to break down and provide any nutrients that would benefit the plant. I prefer kelp meal and fish meal instead for dry fertilizer. You do not want to add too many ferts. to the soil-mix from the start, this is bad for seedlings and makes it hard to judge the nutrient content of the soil at any given point during the grow. I let the liquid nutrients do most of the work feeding the plant as these can be applied at the appropriate time.

I have not used Fox Farms Big Grow/Bloom but I have used FF Tiger Bloom. If you are using Tiger Bloom with other flowering ferts. I recommend you don’t exceed 50% strength (2 tsp. per gallon). The Tiger Bloom will burn the plants if they are overfed, it is very strong stuff. It is much better to underfeed then it is to overfeed and need to correct problems on otherwise healthy plants.

If you want to use bat guano read this...
Bat Guano for Organic Indoor Gardening w/RooRman

Tiger Bloom and Bat Guano is a good combo.

[Harry Red]

I'm going to take your advice and stick with liquid nutes. FF Big Bloom contains the following: Earthworm castings, bat and seabird guano, rock phosphate, sulfate of potash magnesia (a mined natural mineral) and Norwegian kelp.

Fox Farms recommends using it during both veg and flowering. I've also been adding small amounts of Grow Big during veg. I'll be flipping to 12/12 in a couple of days and will do as you advise, 1/2 strength Tiger Bloom from here on out.

Thanks RooRman!!

Harry

[RooRman]

+Rep for good luck!