What do you guys think of fox farm's soil mixes?

I have heard great things about the ocean forest!

pissed me off to no end!! Brought in these little mini spidy things. no one really knew what they were. some tried to figure it out but its a tough call with 3,0000 bugs out there.
I am baking the last back of OF in my grill at this very moment...lol

I should add...
The shop replaced the bag I brought em and gave me a full bag of HF and the stuff is great! no bugs!
They asked me to just toss the other bag but I figure if I cook it then I wont be tossing 22 bux in the trash

keyman said:

pissed me off to no end!! Brought in these little mini spidy things. no one really knew what they were. some tried to figure it out but its a tough call with 3,0000 bugs out there.
I am baking the last back of OF in my grill at this very moment...lol

I should add...
The shop replaced the bag I brought em and gave me a full bag of HF and the stuff is great! no bugs!
They asked me to just toss the other bag but I figure if I cook it then I wont be tossing 22 bux in the trash

Click to expand...

It was probably springtails and they are beneficial. I've never had anything but gnats and spriongtails in my FF soils.

Cory and trevor said:

Doesn't anyone go to Lowes and mix up soil themselves anymore? is it just me out here? I mix my shit like I have since 02'; 4 parts tops soil (organic 98 cents for 40 lbs) with 1 part each perlite vermiculite and peat moss. Toss in some sweet stuff (my proprietary blend of poops and amendments) and some myco, mix and it's good to go. I think I figured it out once to be about 2 bucks for 40 lbs of mixed soil and 99% of the time no bugs. a few times I did get them little flea looking thingys from the peat but they didn't hurt nothing that I could notice. I can't bring my self to buy the dirt, though I do use the full line of FF nutes at a tiny fraction of their recomended mix it's good stuff.

Click to expand...

i used to buy my own ingredients but i got sick of mixing it and then letting it sit for time for everything to activate now i just buy happy frog and i make compost teas to feed with when needed... also when you gotta mix over 500-700 gallons its a bitch of a job and much easier (yes more expensive) to buy happy frog but when you buy soil by the pallet its alot cheaper and thats what i do buy everything in the bulk

stumpjumper said:

It was probably springtails and they are beneficial. I've never had anything but gnats and spriongtails in my FF soils.

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Na, I dont think so. I have some post with picks in my history. I have seen others with the same bug. beneficial or not I did not want a million spiders visible to the eye crawling around my pots so I am gonna see how they like BBQ! 15-20 min at 160-175 hopefully gives them the hint to move on!

keyman said:

Na, I dont think so. I have some post with picks in my history. I have seen others with the same bug. beneficial or not I did not want a million spiders visible to the eye crawling around my pots so I am gonna see how they like BBQ! 15-20 min at 160-175 hopefully gives them the hint to move on!

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Almost looks like some kind of aphids to me.. Or mites..

thats what i just started with but i did a 3 - 1 ratio of ocean forest and light warrior. its drains great. i hope i dont have any gnat problems.

i mix 1 to 1.5 ratio ffof to hf with .5 cup each pellet and powdered dolomite to each cu. ft. mix. perlite till it looks good to me

stumpjumper said:

Ocean Forest ALWAYS has gnats.. Around here anyways.

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^^^^^^wat he said--- HF and OF have both gone down hill IMO in the last few years
been gettin full on gnats every time!!$**@&!?

pot of gold is a good reliable old timer soil...works every time or read the organic thread in here by Rrog--good stuf
almost any 'bagged' soil will give you a month b4 you have to seriously feed

i am amending this batch my next go-round with some good old 10 yr old compost from my friends manure pile....along with a few other things-

Get some crab shell in there to help with the pest larvae, maybe.

^^^^^^^allready got it in my next 'amendment' mix---^^^^^^^^^^


this was my 32-26-26 mix I made a couple months ago.....using the HF/OF for a base--
wish I woulda started with something else....the FF is full of unhatched larvae...I believe there were thrips in this batch....?

overall 'health' of my gurls is outstanding tho!!
and incredible growth with half the time! the feeding strength has blown me away! with just water!
and one stalk on a sativa I cannot put my hand around the circumfrence! it's a 'John Holmes' stalk! lol

had another problem with my friends very hard well water I was using ...
.the soil ph jumped above 8-- 8-9+
and the calcium was so thick built up in the reservoir that you could scrape your finger around the side and it was like white butter the residue was so thick!
almost messed up my nice biota I have going

just clouds of gnats from the fox farm.....!!
but I got something for their ass and it has been working out good to decrease the amount---
diatomaceous and thurengenis....... has been helping a lot to counteract the gnats

i use the little kidz swimming pools to cook my mix and I have been adding all the coffe grounds -egg shells and lots of good organic ammendments for the last couple months....I will keep cooking it and adding supplements till this cycle is over and by spring with my friends 10yr old manure compost I should be golden!

no more HF/OF purchases tho ....
this soil base should last me the next year or so---
with amendments