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**az2000** · 07-20-2019, 10:09 PM

Originally posted by demcc3 View Post

I am 10 days into flower on my second indoor grow. Its Northern Lights and she's growing in a 50/50 mix of Fox Farms Happy Frog and Ocean. I heard earlier today from a member on a Facebook group that Fox Farms is trash yet he didn't back himself up with recommending which soils were better (par for the course in that group).
Same thing with Nutrients...I've been using 2/3 of Fox Farms trio. I just don't have Tiger Bloom. What I'm ultimately looking for are those nice elongated thick buds (isn't everyone LOL ?) Will only using Big Bloom get me there? Oh forgot to mention...Plant went through veg with 400wMH I switched it over to 400w HPS for flower.

I've never used FF soil or nutes. From what I've seen, the soil appears to be heavy, slow-drying. I think cannabis likes lighter, faster-drying soil. If I used FF soil, I'd probably add 50% perlite. I probably wouldn't use Ocean Forest. It seems confusing to me the way the soil has a significant amount of nutrients. I would never know when (how much) to feed. I like to be in more control (no nutes in the soil.).

My soil is 50-60% Pro-Mix HP (which itself contains 35% perlite). 20-25% Kellogg Patio Plus potting mix. And 20-25% perlite. It's not a sexy soil. But, it works well for me. Dries in 2-3 days. Very little nutrients built into it. Maybe enough for 1-2 weeks. I start feeding 1/8th to 1/4 strength one week after sprouting. Full strength within a week. I feed every watering.

Regarding the nutrients: I think all the cannabis-themed, multi-bottle "lineups" are gimmicks, overly expensive for what you get. You never know what NPK ratio you're feeding. Just 3ml of this, 8ml of that.

I like to know the NPK ratio I'm feeding. I do about 2-1-1.7 in veg, 1-1-1.7 in transition. Finish flower at 1-2-1.7. I create those ratios by using ordinary, inexpensive products. My base nutrients are Grow More - Sea Grow. I add fish emulsion in veg to raise N. I use bat guano in flower to raise P. I use potassium sulfate to raise K through the grow (or langbeinite if I need more magnesium). I have a spreadsheet that lets me see the NPK ratio resulting from a multi-bottle "lineup's" schedule. I can recreate that in the spreadsheet using other products. To me, looking at it that way was a new dimension to growing (and saved a lot of money on themed products). I think my soil microbes are happier with more organic-derived nutrients.

A lot of people grow with FF soils and nutrients. It must not be "bad." But, the soil doesn't seem optimal (IMO). And, nutrients are just nutrients. You don't need matched sets of bottles (if you can do the math to know what you're doing with unmatched bottles).

If you'd like to see my feeding schedule, or the spreadsheet I use, let me know. I'm not trying to evangelize In fact, I'd say what I do is needlessly complicated. I think cannabis grows just fine with a NPK ratio 1-1-1. Like Jack's Classic (or, my Sea Grow All Purpose). I've grown a great plant using my light soil and nothing but cheap MiracleGro "Tomato" (which is 1-1-1.2 ratio). Sometimes I wonder why I fine tune the ratios.

**Spidermite** · 07-20-2019, 10:45 PM

Ocean forest and fox farms nutrients work just great. You can trust me on that one. But yes you need all 3 bottles

**FatBoy40** · 07-20-2019, 10:58 PM

I believe the only difference between two is FFOF has about 6 weeks worth of nutrients in it you just add PH'd water. FF Happy Frog you must add nutrients after the seedling stage to the best of my knowledge. Im using FF Trio plus Beastie Bloomz. I'm currently in the 4th week of flower.

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