Foxfarm's Ocean Forest Potting Mix

[TheBeagle]

How is this stuff anyone use it? I talked to the guy at HTG and i told him i needed a soil for start to finish and he said this is pretty good? if so.... what would ya recommend for nutes/bloom Something to make it take off

[kruztydj]

Use sun shine mix number 4 as it far more stable. Ocean forest sucks and costs way to much. s/s #4 is the best medium I've ran both normal or hydro.

[raf]

I use ocean forest and I love it. 13$ a bag at hydro store close to me. I cut it with perlite 3 parts soil 1 part perlite. I grow organic and this mixs works great. general organics is a great line. you can buy there go pack fore about 30$. a little pricey but it is well worth it in my opinion. organics make for great tasting product. but if you go with a synthetic nut line than i would say sunshine mix would be good. pro mix is ok. but had some ph drift. ocean forest works great for organics but not very good with synthetics.

[Croppled1]

I found the Sunshine number 4 mix comes in 1 cubic bushel bags with handles - that meant allot for me the other bags are over 50 pounds . It also expands with moisture to nearly twice the volume . It was on sale where I buy now too . It is suppose to have all the perlite and ph mixed in ready to go . Others can comment if they run it that way .

[thanks2]

FFOF has a lot of fans. The plus is there are a lot of nutes in the soil, so you can save on fertilizers. There are a couple of negatives though. First the plus becomes a minus with seeds and clones. Many strains have no problem with hot soil, like ffof, but it will burn some seedlings and clones. So to be safe, a milder soil is better that will accommodate all strains. The second draw back of the plus, it is hot, is that it is reactive. The more nutes in a soil the more chances of getting lock out from adding liquid fertilizers.

 

The last main problem is stability of PH. FFOF is peat based, and peat has a PH around 5, so the soil tend to drift to a very low PH. People report PHs in the 4s on occasion. As the soil ages the PH goes down. This makes a lot of new growers pull their hair out constantly dealing with nute lockout ether from PH issues or the reactivity of the soil. The PH drift can be combated with dolomite lime.

 

If you are using really large pots, 10 gallons plus, you could use ffof with no added nutes with mature plants and not worry about its downfalls. A good way to grow organic. Not sure if it would support a really heavy feeder though, I have never used this soil for this method.

[Tyin'Flies]

I use FFOF for my soil grows and haven't had any issues with it. I haven't had any problems with it burning clones or with the PH of the soil.

 

it's a pretty decent "ready-to-go" soil.

[BassManD]

I mix one part light warrior to three parts ocean forest and also add dolomite lime to the mix. The plants then get water only for the first four weeks before I start adding nutrients. I've been using earth juice grow/bloom/micro and this has worked very well for me. Haven't had any ph or lockout issues.

[dondjinn]

Ocean forest is great!!! Ppl just need to wrap their brains around the fact that you shouldn't follow a feeding schedule. Let the plants tell u what they want. And when. For newbs that can't help but follow the schedule, cut 50% perlite and feed at 50% nutes max until the plant tells u it wants more. In most cases less is more. Keep it organic!!!

Peace

[Estimated Prophet]

My local grow shop just got a pallet of FFOF that was actually hot temperature wise, which means that they are bagging it before it is done composting. Hopefully an isolated incident.

[+JuztBudz]

While I have had some minor problems with FFoF in the past, once you figure out it's quirks, all will be good. I've run into an occasional bag that was somewhat hot, probably due to them bagging it up while it was still composting, and one time a bag introduced pests to my garden, but all in all, it works quite well. I mix it with additional perlite (or some palm coco), additional worm castings, lime and a bit of bat guano. This allows me to not further feed for about 4 weeks. I never use FFOF on my new plantings, a bit too hot for my taste, instead using any type of starter soil. Presently I use a variety of organics when I finally am told by the plants that it is time to start to feed. I use bat guano's as a top feed, bat guano tea and other additions. I use molasses as a sweetener and to feed the plants during the final two week flush. j.b.

[wingdings]

I've been running Ffof for quite a long time. Using burnones soil recipe. 6 parts soil 2 parts vermicompost 2 parts perlite 2 tablespoons dolomite lime per gallon of soil mix. Transplant In a 5 gallon smart pot for flower with 5tablespoons n guano 8 tablespoons p guano 1 tablespoon kelp meal from bongaloids? recipe . You will need to feed cal mag and micronutes throughout flower and some will feed heavier with extra bottled nutes here and there. I don't ph anything that i feed. Results are phenomenal

[Ezrah]

Keep in mind Ocean forest changes there recipe, they are no longer using redwood I think they are using pine, it goes acidic much quicker now especially towards the end of the grow so jsut keep that in mind.