Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
isnt it still written on the side of the bag that the base pH of FFOF is 6.8?
FF Oceans Forest ph at 4.5
- Thread starter Rad420
- Start date
- Thread starter
- #22
Rad420
Active Member
I know my ph pen is ok as I brought it to my local hydro store yesterday to have it checked against a blue labs one and it was less than 0.1 off in their test solution.
I'm doing a second test with another sample of the soil straight out of a brand new bag.
I'm doing a second test with another sample of the soil straight out of a brand new bag.
- Thread starter
- #23
Rad420
Active Member
Just says "ph adjusted for optimum nutrient uptake"
Doesn't give a number though
Doesn't give a number though
- Thread starter
- #24
Rad420
Active Member
Believe me that I'm not making this up. I started the seeds in peat pellets and they were just fine in there but as soon as some nice roots started coming through, I put them into solo cups with the FFOF the one staring just stopped growing and started curling and has slight burn marks on it. The other was still growing but seems to have slowed down now too.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
even orchid soil is not pHed that low. If your numbers are accurate then something is drastically wrong with that soil and you need to contact Fox Farms.
- Thread starter
- #26
Rad420
Active Member
So I sent them an email and we will have to wait for a reply. I'm not too hopeful as their 1800 customer service number that's on their site and on the side of the soil bag doesn't even work. Just says that this number is not assigned. I've really lost faith in this company and their products.
- Thread starter
- #27
Rad420
Active Member
I grew better weed with better yields as a teenager using miracle grow! Wtf!
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
I have been using the same FFOF and Roots 101 mix for the last 7 years, and this great soil has not worn out yet. There were several years in there where I ran exclusively FFOF, from seedings on through the finish. If they have changed that fundamentally since then, I would not buy any more either, but since you are the first I am hearing of with this problem, they will be out of business soon if what you say is true. You can not grow cannabis in pH 4.5 soil... it is impossible. The only way to fix this would be to follow the advice from my buddy up above, or just not use the wrecked soil... but I ask you why I haven't heard of this before?? Why are not all of the forums screaming to dump FFOF?? Yours has to be an anomaly or sabotaged somehow before you got it.
Don't u do a slurry test from deep into the pot, not on top, or fresh bag soil???
Never done it, but seems what I remember hearing
Never done it, but seems what I remember hearing
FFOF has sphagnum moss which has a low ph (4). There's no dolomite lime in FFOF out of the bag. The soil is buffered using oyster shell. The soil has a tendency of slowly dropping ph over time causing severe lockout down the road. I add 1/4 cup pelletised dolomite lime per bag, this will maintain ph in proper range.
Emilya Green
Well-Known Member
Thank you Marzbadrock, that makes a lot of sense. I should have known, being "ocean" anything in the name, it had to involve shells. I too find the soil acidifies a bit over time as the sphagnum breaks down, and a good flush will clear that out of there, and as I moved over to organic gardening where pH wasn't as much of an issue, and added dolomite to boot... the acidification has never been an issue for me.
Here though, we are talking an outrageous pH in the fry 'em if you got 'em" category... Any ideas how this might have happened? Could the soil be that old and that acidic, assuming the moss would break down over time?
Honestly I'm not sure. I think that theres a plethora of issues that can cause the same problem. Acidic water, too much phosphorus, buildup of salts, oyster shell not active, sphagnum overpowers....so each garden and gardener is different.
However, in my garden this is my conclusion. I have a lengthy backstory to this, if you like to hear it I will post it....but I believe between the phosphoric acid from ph down and the sphagnum in the soil the ph just dropped out of range.
Imho, I believe if you grow in FFOF adding lime, using non salt based nutrients and not ph'ing is the way to go. I owned a hydro supply shop for years n had products available anytime. I used GH, GO, AN, age old organics, down to earth, botanicare, biobizz.....pretty much all of them. The best results everytime were non synthetics, not ph. Companies like biobizz, nature's nectar state on their products do not ph.
If you want to use salt based nutes, ph then perhaps FFOF is not the way to go.
However, in my garden this is my conclusion. I have a lengthy backstory to this, if you like to hear it I will post it....but I believe between the phosphoric acid from ph down and the sphagnum in the soil the ph just dropped out of range.
Imho, I believe if you grow in FFOF adding lime, using non salt based nutrients and not ph'ing is the way to go. I owned a hydro supply shop for years n had products available anytime. I used GH, GO, AN, age old organics, down to earth, botanicare, biobizz.....pretty much all of them. The best results everytime were non synthetics, not ph. Companies like biobizz, nature's nectar state on their products do not ph.
If you want to use salt based nutes, ph then perhaps FFOF is not the way to go.
Killian
Well-Known Member
I use ffof soil and love it. Is it possible it's your grow environment or critters. If you really think it's your soil why don't you transplant and try another brand. Hope you get it figured out. I guess it's possible to get a bad bag of soil but I've never had an issue with ffof.
- Thread starter
- #34
Rad420
Active Member
I totally get using soil from the pot but I was just curious what it is out of the bag. I figured the test works the same way and tells you the same thing regardless where the sample came from.
Thanks for the replying and for your advice. It does make sense what you are saying. I'm still learning and trying to perfect my method and find my specific ingredients that work for me (soil/hydro, nutes, lighting height). Indoor growing is all new to me.
Believe me it wasn't even on my radar that it could be the soil. I have heard only good things about it but I went through everything in my setup with help from forums and my local hydro store and that's all the was left. I googled if anyone else had these issue and did find a few cases of people claiming they had the same issues. That's when I started looking into it. My local hydro store guy has never heard of these issues as well and couldn't believe it was that low.
I'm curious what fox farm has to say if they reply to my email.
Killian
Well-Known Member
I emailed Fox farms about ph drift and they were very quick to respond. I'm sure they will reply. Good luck with your grow.
Killian
Well-Known Member
Look at my vanilla kush pineapple chunk journal post #103. Fox farms response might answer some of your questions.
Straight up, I've forgotten more than I know! I been using the same method for years now, I do what works best in my grow. I'm willing to share with anyone that wants to try, only issue is it's so easy people dont believe me. No ph.
FFOF with 1/4 pelletised dolomite lime per bag
Water only for for 5 to 6 weeks or until the switch to flower
Nutes- Natures Nectar (cfda and omri)
Nitro
Phos
Potassium
Once in flower I feed per gal of water until the stretch is over (week 1 and 2)
12ml N
4ml P
4ml K
From time flowers set until just before final swell (week 3-6)
10ml N
6 ml P
8 ml K
Final swell (week 7)
4ml N
6ml P
10ml k
Then last week
Water
Works ok for me.
FFOF with 1/4 pelletised dolomite lime per bag
Water only for for 5 to 6 weeks or until the switch to flower
Nutes- Natures Nectar (cfda and omri)
Nitro
Phos
Potassium
Once in flower I feed per gal of water until the stretch is over (week 1 and 2)
12ml N
4ml P
4ml K
From time flowers set until just before final swell (week 3-6)
10ml N
6 ml P
8 ml K
Final swell (week 7)
4ml N
6ml P
10ml k
Then last week
Water
Works ok for me.
Dankman_420
Well-Known Member
Dankman_420
Well-Known Member
Nice work @Marzbadrock
- Thread starter
- #40
Rad420
Active Member
Those looks sweet. I'm definitely saving your feeding schedule and going to have to try this. Appreciate all the feed back from everyone on here.Straight up, I've forgotten more than I know! I been using the same method for years now, I do what works best in my grow. I'm willing to share with anyone that wants to try, only issue is it's so easy people dont believe me. No ph.
FFOF with 1/4 pelletised dolomite lime per bag
Water only for for 5 to 6 weeks or until the switch to flower
Nutes- Natures Nectar (cfda and omri)
Nitro
Phos
Potassium
Once in flower I feed per gal of water until the stretch is over (week 1 and 2)
12ml N
4ml P
4ml K
From time flowers set until just before final swell (week 3-6)
10ml N
6 ml P
8 ml K
Final swell (week 7)
4ml N
6ml P
10ml k
Then last week
Water
Works ok for me.
