FFOF ( Fox Farms Ocean Forest ) made Simple - Autoflower

Zanonomicon

Member
One “ deficiency “ I noticed after a few runs that seems to be common is potassium in later bloom.

I have tried to compensate with dry fert but doesnt seem enough. I am planning to use Seabird guauno ( Down to earth) to see if this will help bump . Next set of testing mixes i will begin introducing that specific element ( around week 3 or 4 of bloom ) to hedge against potassium becoming exhausted.

Rest of mix seems to hold fairly well but potassium ( yellow leaf edges to tip ) can definitely show in later weeks of bloom. So some tweaking will be needed.
I've been trying to find the right amount of Bone Meal (3-15-0) and then Langbeinite (0-0-22) (Down to Earth) first plant I gave the combo to was definitely too much and I gave half of what was recommended on the box. Last plant I tried it with was just a tsp of both.
 

CapnBligh

Member
Thanks for the great base plan OP. I like how you are encouraging everyone to experiment with their own mix. It's Soil Making 100, let's look at what bag soil has and go from there.

I do have a question for the group. When I am mixing up my water for the correct PH range. I get Paul Walker level drifts with the PH using citric acid.

Baseline PH is 8.2 out of the faucet after it has bubbled with an air stone for about a day. I made up water last night, ph down to 6.6 and bubbling for an hour. Just checked it and it is up to 7.5. Is that normal?
 

Zanonomicon

Member
Thanks for the great base plan OP. I like how you are encouraging everyone to experiment with their own mix. It's Soil Making 100, let's look at what bag soil has and go from there.

I do have a question for the group. When I am mixing up my water for the correct PH range. I get Paul Walker level drifts with the PH using citric acid.

Baseline PH is 8.2 out of the faucet after it has bubbled with an air stone for about a day. I made up water last night, ph down to 6.6 and bubbling for an hour. Just checked it and it is up to 7.5. Is that normal?
Oxygen actually increases the pH. I found this out when I discovered the sprayer I was using was coming out of the nozzle at 6.8 even though i pH'd to 6.5. I now pH my water to 6.1-6.2 for the sprayer as that comes out at 6.4-6.5.
I don't really think you should need to bubble the water, just sitting out for 24 hours should be enough for the chlorine to evaporate. I only use my bubblers when I'm making compost tea. When I'm ready to feed the tea I stop bubbling and pH, although I usually need to raise the pH for the tea.
Additionally though, if your pH your water and then leave it for a while the water will break down the substance that is used for balance and then return to its base pH level. So you should really pH just before you water your plants. Most soil for growing has a pH of 6.5, so when you pH your water to 6.5 it allows the pH in the soil to remain the same. Watering soil at 6.5 with 8.0 water would be tougher for the soil to bring down on its own and the water could end up altering the pH of the soil. That is at least how I've come to understand things. I could be wrong but I feel like that makes total sense to me.
 

CapnBligh

Member
Oxygen actually increases the pH. I found this out when I discovered the sprayer I was using was coming out of the nozzle at 6.8 even though i pH'd to 6.5. I now pH my water to 6.1-6.2 for the sprayer as that comes out at 6.4-6.5.
I don't really think you should need to bubble the water, just sitting out for 24 hours should be enough for the chlorine to evaporate. I only use my bubblers when I'm making compost tea. When I'm ready to feed the tea I stop bubbling and pH, although I usually need to raise the pH for the tea.
Additionally though, if your pH your water and then leave it for a while the water will break down the substance that is used for balance and then return to its base pH level. So you should really pH just before you water your plants. Most soil for growing has a pH of 6.5, so when you pH your water to 6.5 it allows the pH in the soil to remain the same. Watering soil at 6.5 with 8.0 water would be tougher for the soil to bring down on its own and the water could end up altering the pH of the soil. That is at least how I've come to understand things. I could be wrong but I feel like that makes total sense to me.
It does make sense about the ph rising due to the citric acid breaking down. I didn't even think about checking what comes out of the sprayer. I thought about using phosphorus acid but it's a lot easier weighing out the crystals vs the liquid. I bubble for a few hours due to me being new to this game and not anticipating when I will need water. That, and my wife hates it when I leave jugs of water sitting out haha.

Thank you for the info!
 

Zanonomicon

Member
It does make sense about the ph rising due to the citric acid breaking down. I didn't even think about checking what comes out of the sprayer. I thought about using phosphorus acid but it's a lot easier weighing out the crystals vs the liquid. I bubble for a few hours due to me being new to this game and not anticipating when I will need water. That, and my wife hates it when I leave jugs of water sitting out haha.

Thank you for the info!
Hopefully she likes weed. ;)
 

CapnBligh

Member
Hello RIU people. Any reason to not use the Happy Frog general and bloom dry fertilizers for this method? I have a couple of half bags in the car hole from last summer and would like to use them unless there is a big NOPE on those.
 
This thread was created to help those who seem to overthink the ease of use of this highly ammended bag soil. I see many growers both new and experienced seem to post “ issues “ when trying to run this medium.

I am merely showing a simple no frills method of container / bag grows for autos. Since feeding requirements will be for average 90 ( + or - ) day average for autoflower growth , this will fit it perfectly.

No multi bottle nonsense ... No special water requirements ( use tap ) ... No boosters


FFOF is one of the most complete “ off the shelf “ bagged medium one can by ..... ready to use alone.
Other growers I talked with , mentioned regional differences among stock.

Ingredients: Composted forest humus, sphagnum peat moss, Pacific Northwest sea-going fish emulsion, crab meal, shrimp meal, earthworm castings, sandy loam, perlite, bat guano, granite dust, Norwegian kelp, and oyster shell (for pH adjustment).

Medium is prebuffered to 6.3 .

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I will list 2 versions of soil setup .......

1. Plain FFOF soil run only
2. Pelletized dry nute ammended ( self feed )


Begin with the final container size you wish to run ...... I run 1 gallon SOG bags and 3/5 gallon plastic black or air pots ( air prune ). Smart bags will work also. You will be planting directly to pot. You can also grow a seedling in a solo with a seed starter mix and plant as plug into this medium too. But for this , I will show you that FFOF is not quite as hot to seedlings as some report.

You will NOT be feeding the seedling at all with outside Nutes. It will feed on its own from the medium only and will acclimate “ faster and easier “ than dropping more Nutes on top of this charged medium.

Water :

TAP
( whether allowed to vape off 24 hours or not ) it will work. No RO , distilled , holy water , unicorn sweat or other “ special “ water sources. Your ONLY REQUIREMENT is to PH correctly.
PH range for entire autoflower run : 6.3 to 6.5 ( No more No less ) .

Soil is pretty aerated on its own but works much better with added perlite. I tend to shoot for 25% minimum more by volume of medium used.

I am using a simple 1 gallon grow bag for a SOG grow of 9 plants for a tent I am running. However adjust your volume of perlite to container size you choose.

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Your mix should resemble something like this ....

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This bag is half filled AND HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN RUN TWO DIFFERENT VARIATIONS.

1. Fill remainder with same mix .
2. Add a tablespoon of Dry Fertilizer ( Dr. Earth 5-5-5 or megacrop 1 tsp ).


When running FFOF solo .... I merely MIST this half fill with water to hydrate it , then cover fill to top.

For Dry Ammend : I am using Dr. Earth LIFE fertilizer ( 5-5-5 ) or Megacrop
This method is similar to Canucks grow method using dry fertilizer and coco grows he does with autoflowers.

Note : I found Dr. Earth LIFE at the 99¢ ( half off ) in 1 gallon bags ! .... needless to say I grabbed a few .
Dr. Earth Fruit and Veg and Flower Girl are both good options also.

For some LED grows : CalMag “ may “ be needed occasionally and will only need be added 1tsp per gallon of water before use.

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FFOF by itself will carry an auto for weeks on its own ........ on water only. The pelletized feed will self charge and supplement myco as plant moves thru bloom. The alternate method is merely top dressing FFOF in those grows running bag FFOF only.

I do not flush or leach medium upon final weeks ..... I merely continue watering requirements.
NO FRILLS .

You will find the plants prefer feeding on its own terms instead of dumping a brew all over it .

Just keep your PH in range and you will see how well this bagged soil does.

Hope this helps. PEACE.
You saved me so much lol I’ve watched so many YouTube videos. Searched far and wide lol i didn’t want to use nutes the whole “feeding schedule “ seems like a pain. Well for me at least because i work a lot. So just good ph water and good medium eh ? lol thanks man
 
I use FFOF & Miracle Grow Performance Organics.

I try to do 60/40-70/30

More miracle grow than FFOF and my plants love the mix. No additional nutes needed. I fill 1 gl milk jugs with hot water and let them sit for a couple days at room temp. And water with them. I have well water. Never phd.

Anyways ordering a 38.5qt bag of FFOF next week as I'm about out. Would recommend FFOF to anyone.

BTW man GREAT THREAD. Will convert a couple of soil users I'm sure haha
I use the same miracle grow organics work great! Despite what people think. But for my so called super soil i use part mgo and part ffof. So i don’t want to use nutes. But i know i might need it. So what do i do ? Just top dress with mix? To give nutes or can i just top dress to replenish
 

Boatguy

Well-Known Member
I use the same miracle grow organics work great! Despite what people think. But for my so called super soil i use part mgo and part ffof. So i don’t want to use nutes. But i know i might need it. So what do i do ? Just top dress with mix? To give nutes or can i just top dress to replenish
I would just topdress with compost, or an organic fert. The brands dont really matter.
I have Neptunes local, so i would just supplement with their liquid ferts through the finish. Lots of ways to do it
 
Whats a good organic fertilizer? And i mean are nutes absolutely necessary or can i just keep top dressing. And to input only going to be using for flowering period. (Growing autos)
 

Boatguy

Well-Known Member
Whats a good organic fertilizer? And i mean are nutes absolutely necessary or can i just keep top dressing. And to input only going to be using for flowering period. (Growing autos)
Liquid nutes is the way i do it. Neptunes rose and flowering.
Plenty of others out there.
Top dressing does the same thing... i just feel like the liquid nutes are more quickly taken in by the plant
 

Costanza77

Active Member
This is a great post. My first grow was synthetic, but I'm currently planning out my next grow and I wanna go 100% organic. I've been reading some conflicting info on Ocean Forest not being organic anymore. Does anyone know what the story is with the FFOF? So far my plan for the next one is 1 gallon of FFOF on the bottom of a 3 gallon pot, 1/3 cup of Geoflora veg on top and then 2 gallons of Happy frog on top of that. Was planning on putting the dirt in the pots 3 weeks ahead of planting the seeds and just watering until then and maybe alternating with some recharge. was also planning on adding some Langbeinite along with the Geoflora bloom
 
This is a great post. My first grow was synthetic, but I'm currently planning out my next grow and I wanna go 100% organic. I've been reading some conflicting info on Ocean Forest not being organic anymore. Does anyone know what the story is with the FFOF? So far my plan for the next one is 1 gallon of FFOF on the bottom of a 3 gallon pot, 1/3 cup of Geoflora veg on top and then 2 gallons of Happy frog on top of that. Was planning on putting the dirt in the pots 3 weeks ahead of planting the seeds and just watering until then and maybe alternating with some recharge. was also planning on adding some Langbeinite along with the Geoflora bloom
This is gonna be frowned upon lol. But i use fox far ocean forest on the bottom then perlite then mirace gro organics the black bag. Got me thru some grows. Do you add recharge to water or soil?
 

Costanza77

Active Member
This is gonna be frowned upon lol. But i use fox far ocean forest on the bottom then perlite then mirace gro organics the black bag. Got me thru some grows. Do you add recharge to water or soil?
What I do is the night before I plan on watering with recharge, I measure out the amount of recharge and mix with a gallon of water then I let it sit overnight. When I use it I will water the plant with plain ph water until runoff and then wait a few minutes and then add about 12 oz of the recharge water mix all around the base of the stem. I also did an experiment where I soaked a seed in the recharge water and germinated in a paper towel soaked with recharge. The stem was 3 times thicker than normal and the plant was shorty and bushy so its probably not the best idea to germinate with the stuff but I had to find out.
 

Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Sorry about lagging on things ....

Here is a bin of a ” new “ blend that I had made for 2 plants I am testing it on. She’s looking nice and uniform on color / topped also.
KKP STRAIN - ( King Kong Poison x GG4 ) .

This batch is blended with 70% Recipe 420 potting / 30% FFOF ( by container size volume ) / Pumice / EWC / DYNOMYCO / 1 scoop of Recipe 420 dry fert. Test Grow Container size is 1 gallon under 18/6 veg . No cooking necessary.

Water only run ... ph at 6.7 tap . My tap runs at 7.2 before minor adjustment .... Alaska ph down crystals ( citric acid ) , a small pinch .

Normally , I would transplant this bitch into at least a 5 gallon .... but mostly looking at longevity of mix .
Besides I have way more seeds of this strain than I can count so , if all is well then I will move thm into appropriate sizes as I do further grows. All of my original layered mixes seem to find their “ best “ use in autos , but I am looking at photo runs ( longer veg ) so this mix will definitely work for those 90-100 day autos.

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Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Also should add .... I screened the medium ( each ) to remove and view “ things “ that may be in bag. Kicked out the twigs .
added a TBLS of Neem meal as a Pest management “ preventative “ . As most will agree that bugs infect pallet loads of medium from time to time. Not only feeds micros , but is a good Bennie for your soil.

Medium is more uniform and free of ” debris “ .... still on fence with DYNOMYCO, it kick started cups well but found Great White / Recharge a bit more better during grow when I l recharge “ top dress. It is more pelletized than GW , maybe that is why it is not as noticeable in plant growth. Might try crushing it down and introducing that in later grows.

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Costanza77

Active Member
That's a really good idea picking out the twigs and crap, I didn't even think about that. I noticed on my last grow using ocean forest that there were tons of twigs in there. I've never tried the dynomyco but I swear by recharge, I use it on all my plants it from the cannabis to the veggies I grow it always produces great results. I used it on my first white widow auto a few months ago that was dying and I thought for sure was a goner, well that widow is getting harvested in 2 more days and even though its tiny as hell like 9 inches from the soil the entire thing is one huge bud, its probably only about 20 grams of bud but its just so dense and I don't think that it would've survived without the recharge. Here is pic of the little girl along with her sisters that had a better start.
 

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Budzbuddha

Well-Known Member
Thanks @Budzbuddha for the thread! 3rd grow, and defo most successful thus far. Alternating top dressings with OceanForest and Dr E dry ferts. Watering with tap water with 1/2 tsp epsom and 3ml cal mag, ph'd to 6.3-6.5. So far so good!


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Great looking girls …. Whole idea of thread was to get some peeps out there trying different variations … I’m still “ experimenting “as always.

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