Ocean Forest soil: What nutes best to use?

[skullking1990]

hello,

please help me with some experienced growers out there that use fox farm ocean forest soil. i would like to know what nutrients are best to use?


i just harvested my very first grow, and with much struggle overall was very happy with the end result of the buds. i used miricle grow for my medium, never ph the water until very late in the flower stage cause of difficiency, used generaal hydroponics organic go box for nutrients, and couple mollasses mixed waterfew times thru flower stage, along witha 450 watt viaspectra led.

i had many troubles with nute difficiency and learned rhat miracle grow not the best to use. i read bout the ocean forest soil and am happy with what i have found out for info, but cant seem to find good info about the nutrients to use. in short i was very happy with thego box and that its organic gave my buds a really great smoke. is it finr to use the go box how often should i feed and how. since the ocean soil is so rich in nutrients already.


thank you so much

 

[Marzbadrock]

Re: ocean forest soil what nutes best to use???

First off get yourself some dolomite lime and mix with ocean forrest. I use a quart jar full for 2 bags of soil. This will help maintain proper ph and add magnesium. You can veg plants in this soil for 4 to 6 weeks with no nutrients.
For nutrients I highly recommend nature's nectar. You can get quart jugs of nitro, phos, and potassium for about 40 to 50 bucks for all 3. You need nothing else. Do not ph! You can easily adjust dosages for your needs.

 

[bettygreen]

Re: ocean forest soil what nutes best to use???

Do not pH? Many nute "deficiencies" and "burns" are caused by pH issues. I didn't bother with pH for my first 2.5 grows, and my plants suffered. Especially in soil. It's simple science.

 

[TheFertilizer]

Re: ocean forest soil what nutes best to use???

Do not pH? Many nute "deficiencies" and "burns" are caused by pH issues. I didn't bother with pH for my first 2.5 grows, and my plants suffered. Especially in soil. It's simple science.

pH'ing in soil is redundant if it's living, and unnecessary if it's stabilized with lime, oyster shell flour or something else similar. With a living soil, the microbes adjust the pH themselves. Things like dolomite lime and oyster shell flour keep the pH at about 7.

Ocean Forrest isn't very mild soil, so whatever nutrients you do use, you should probably dial back the recommendations by a half or maybe even 4x of the suggested dose. As mentioned, Ocean Forrest can sustain growth with just plain water for quite a while.

 

[bettygreen]

Shouldn't the pH of soil be between 6-6.5? Are you honestly telling me that if I use water with a pH of 8.5 (my well water), that my organic soil will adjust that?

I understand I am no expert, but pH is extremely important in growing cannabis. It can be the root cause of many problems. To dismiss it as if it's not something to at least monitor seems to be poor advice.

 

[TheFertilizer]

Shouldn't the pH of soil be between 6-6.5? Are you honestly telling me that if I use water with a pH of 8.5 (my well water), that my organic soil will adjust that?

I understand I am no expert, but pH is extremely important in growing cannabis. It can be the root cause of many problems. To dismiss it as if it's not something to at least monitor seems to be poor advice.

6.5-7.0 is more like it. Yes if your soil has the proper pH buffering qualities you can water with 8.5 pH water and it will adjust it. In the case of dolomite lime and oyster shell flour, these substances "stabilize" the pH to a neutral level, so using lime will leave you with a 7.0 pH so long as there is plentiful lime to do the buffering. On the other side of things is when you have a living soil. The micro-organisms in soil eat organic matter and excrete nutrients the plant wants. Their excretions effect the pH balance, and so if you have a healthy, living soil, they will also adjust the pH of the soil to suitable levels all on their own.

This isn't dismissing pH, it's understanding it. pH is of course important, but with soil there are other ways that it is stabilized and regulated other than by monitoring it with pens and adjusting with pH up and down. These methods were adopted for use with hydroponic and soilless systems because they do not have buffering agents like lime, or living soil microbes. You should familiarize yourself with the differences between soil,soil-less, and hydroponic. pH is not something that is high-maintenance unless you are using soil-less or hydroponic mediums. If you're using a pH buffered and/or living soil, then your pH is maintained by the soil.

The other thing to take into account is if you're using synthetic fertilizers. Microbes eat organic matter, not the base elements that the plants want. If you feed your soil synthetic fertilizers, then they need to be pH adjusted for the roots to absorb them properly, because the microbes are not going to take them up faster than the plant's roots will, and so they will not digest them, and will not pH buffer them. So for this reason, if you're using supplemental nutrients, it's a good idea to pH adjust them whether you're using soil or not.

 

[bettygreen]

Tell that to my plants. Trust me, after having pH issues, I've read up on my grow medium. I'll just make sure I take any advice from you with a grain of salt.

Soil pH 6.5-7? No.

Also, I am using non-organic nutes.

Your original comment was a blanket statement reH. You cannot make such proclamations. It does a great disservice.

PH is important. Period.

 

[TheFertilizer]

Frankly, you're in over you're head. You came in here trying to correct Marzbadrock about something you understand very poorly. Maybe tell your theory to his plants *cough*Plant of the Month Winner - September 2015 / Nug of the Month Winner - January 2016*cough*

Go do some more homework please.

Adjusting your pH when growing in soil damaging your plants!

 

[Marzbadrock]

Thanks fert! Some people think that they understand soil n it just goes over their head. 12 years of growing in ocean forrest for me n I've tested ph every possible way. Ocean forrest will go from ph 5.4ish when wet n as it dries will rise to 6.8 or so when dry. This allows different elements to be picked up throughout the wet to dry cycle.
Lmao! Could you imagine all the farmers out there trying to ph the rain n their well water for the crops we eat.....

 

[bettygreen]

First of all, we're not talking about outdoor cultivation of food crops.

Second of all, I just checked the pH of my soil, and it's 7.5. Glad I CHECKED it.

You still have to check to make sure everything is working as it should. It's careless to blow pH off, I don't care how long or far you've been pissing, if your pH gets off, for some reason, your plants are going to suffer. Not everyone is growing perfect plants, and pH is a way for them (me) to keep tabs on if things are going okay where I can't physically observed issues.

Does CHECKING your soil & fert solution pH cause harm to your organic plants. No. Just checking causes absolutely no harm.

There are caveats to almost every rule. To give one blanket statement, pH doesn't matter in organic grows, is wrong. As you keep stating, bad pH can harm the microbes in your soil and also affect nutrient uptake.

I might not know all the proper terms, but I understand the process enough to know that organic or not, pH matters. Whether we're talking about container grown tomatoes or cannabis, checking your pH is smart advice.

 

[Greenery999]

Frankly, you're in over you're head. You came in here trying to correct Marzbadrock about something you understand very poorly. Maybe tell your theory to his plants *cough*Plant of the Month Winner - September 2015 / Nug of the Month Winner - January 2016*cough*

Go do some more homework please.

Adjusting your pH when growing in soil damaging your plants!

6.5-7.0 is more like it. Yes if your soil has the proper pH buffering qualities you can water with 8.5 pH water and it will adjust it. In the case of dolomite lime and oyster shell flour, these substances "stabilize" the pH to a neutral level, so using lime will leave you with a 7.0 pH so long as there is plentiful lime to do the buffering. On the other side of things is when you have a living soil. The micro-organisms in soil eat organic matter and excrete nutrients the plant wants. Their excretions effect the pH balance, and so if you have a healthy, living soil, they will also adjust the pH of the soil to suitable levels all on their own.

This isn't dismissing pH, it's understanding it. pH is of course important, but with soil there are other ways that it is stabilized and regulated other than by monitoring it with pens and adjusting with pH up and down. These methods were adopted for use with hydroponic and soilless systems because they do not have buffering agents like lime, or living soil microbes. You should familiarize yourself with the differences between soil,soil-less, and hydroponic. pH is not something that is high-maintenance unless you are using soil-less or hydroponic mediums. If you're using a pH buffered and/or living soil, then your pH is maintained by the soil.

The other thing to take into account is if you're using synthetic fertilizers. Microbes eat organic matter, not the base elements that the plants want. If you feed your soil synthetic fertilizers, then they need to be pH adjusted for the roots to absorb them properly, because the microbes are not going to take them up faster than the plant's roots will, and so they will not digest them, and will not pH buffer them. So for this reason, if you're using supplemental nutrients, it's a good idea to pH adjust them whether you're using soil or not.

This is my first grow in FFOF. My seedlings just started in plain soil in solo cups. When I transplant to 5 gallon buckets of FFOF I was going to use the FF nutes diluted after 4 weeks. Does this sound right. I was going to use tap water but let the tap water sit for 2 days to evaporate chlorine. The nutes should lower the ph of the tap water but the FFOF should stabalize it.

 

[Edzzed]

And the end result was ?????