Grow Mediums Anyone try growing autos in Fox Farms Ko Ko Bop?

[Arthur]

Dropped fox farms about 4 years ago. Moved on to Oregons Constant Gardener and Nectar for the Gods. Nolookin back either. Same issues, low pH straight out of the bag. Can't start low with a peat base, just makes things worse as the peat begins breaking down.

Nectar #4 for the win in bag soils.

Am I south of you guys about 500 miles.

 

[Waira]

I highly advise staying away from fox farm products, especially their growing mediums. Not only are they overpriced for the quantity and quality of ingredients, their soil is often toxic to plants.

Last few bags of happy frog I bought in Oregon had a ph of 4.3, and the soil mix was about 10% thumbnail size river rocks. This is standard across the board for their soil mixes.

If you're in the PNW I highly suggest checking out E.B. Stone Edna's best potting soil or 420 mix if you can find it. The 420 mix is absolutely amazing quality.

Roots organics is also a great soil company. I used their Lush potting soil last year and wow am I impressed with the quality. Very minimal nute problems with some big plants in small pots outdoors. Normally that would have been quite the struggle.

either the E.B. Stone 420 mix or the ROOTS Lush are a great stand alone or base for building your own organic soil.

But please, do not give your money and frustration to Fox Farms. They produce a garbage product and have terrible customer service.

Hey bud! Good to see you back again ... thanks for chiming in on this, you took the words right outta me gob!

FuxFarms fragged' mixes are highway scrapings I wouldn't bury turds in ... For sure, regional sourcing differences are why some folks get OK bags, others get schwag!
For more widely distributed soils, Roots Organics is fine, Original 707, Lush is new to me?...
Ran a bag of the EB 420 a few years back, it did fine too, but more recently I looked at a stack at a nursery, and the bags were smelling raw, not cooked enough, and still generating heat/composting! Just a heads up on that,...
Royal Gold makes good coco products, and they have a new product last year or 2(?), King's Mix which is a coco based true soil, (not like Tupur, richer more complex blend)... I love it! It's very light though, so for outdoors it may be a watering pain, but for tents it's great... kept it's pH in line the whole way, stayed fluffy (thanks to the coco), played well with nutes/supp's... no coco CEC snafus which is why I like "true soils", not like coco+ few amendments or straight coco (soilless, more like hydro really)...
More regionally restricted, but maybe available in PNW is Sanctuary Soils (CA based)- this is the best bag soil I have found to date around here! Empire Builder (richer) and Victory Mix (lighter, some coco in it)...3 years of satisfaction, never had that in a soil EVER!
In fact last few runs I've mixed King's Mix 50/50 with Empire' for the tent auto's, giving it a bit heavier mix and better water retention... Same plan this year, plus dialing in the KIS Organics Nute Pack amended soil for near water-only runs.... it's cooking now in fact ....

 

[OregonBlackBear]

Glad you mentioned that about the 420 mix. It tends to come in hot and needs to sit for a minute. I left a couple of bags on my back porch for 10 months and when I finally got into them it was like fluffy chocolate cake. I just picked up six bags and am using them in a 45 gallon, so they're going to get mixed with amendments and left to sit until June.

 

[OregonBlackBear]

Can't beat the price on them either, 12.99 per 1.5 cf bag.

 

[Fire Nation]

Hey bud! Good to see you back again ... thanks for chiming in on this, you took the words right outta me gob!

FuxFarms fragged' mixes are highway scrapings I wouldn't bury turds in ... For sure, regional sourcing differences are why some folks get OK bags, others get schwag!
For more widely distributed soils, Roots Organics is fine, Original 707, Lush is new to me?...
Ran a bag of the EB 420 a few years back, it did fine too, but more recently I looked at a stack at a nursery, and the bags were smelling raw, not cooked enough, and still generating heat/composting! Just a heads up on that,...
Royal Gold makes good coco products, and they have a new product last year or 2(?), King's Mix which is a coco based true soil, (not like Tupur, richer more complex blend)... I love it! It's very light though, so for outdoors it may be a watering pain, but for tents it's great... kept it's pH in line the whole way, stayed fluffy (thanks to the coco), played well with nutes/supp's... no coco CEC snafus which is why I like "true soils", not like coco+ few amendments or straight coco (soilless, more like hydro really)...
More regionally restricted, but maybe available in PNW is Sanctuary Soils (CA based)- this is the best bag soil I have found to date around here! Empire Builder (richer) and Victory Mix (lighter, some coco in it)...3 years of satisfaction, never had that in a soil EVER!
In fact last few runs I've mixed King's Mix 50/50 with Empire' for the tent auto's, giving it a bit heavier mix and better water retention... Same plan this year, plus dialing in the KIS Organics Nute Pack amended soil for near water-only runs.... it's cooking now in fact ....

Hey growers, there's some great advice and knowledge here in this random thread lol. I would like to thank you all for chiming in with your own takes on soils I have learned a lot. I did want to ask a question, however.

So, I just had to kill a plant of mine cuz it hermied up and I was sad cuz it was a 1 plant run. Anyways, I was using Foxfarm soil and I did notice the Ph was low like 5.0 or 5.5. My plant got messed up due to this and my growing practices and I also feel like the genetics were not that good to begin with.

I am holding off on my next grow to have a full plan start to finish. Here is my predicament though, I have another bag of soil, and I have mephisto seeds now so for sure its good genetics. I want to use the soil because I paid money for it but I am wondering is there anything I can do to amend it to get a better Ph. Should I mix it with other products or just cut my losses and get some new fire soil from the many sources out there?

 

[Shadowgrows]

Personally, if I had identified as a major contributor to problems in my last grow, I would toss it and get something else. I have no opinion on products but if something does not work for me, why use it again?

 

[baked in the bluegrass]

Never used it before but I've used fox farms happy frog alot and I recently tried there coco loco and no issues at all.. both with bottled nutrients and organically. I have read alot of bad reviews on em but I guess depends on how it's stored (I have no clue on that just a guess).. im about to try coast of Maine Stonington mix in a earthbox jr with some worms..
hope you can choose some good stuff good luck :smoking:

I am a coco loco fanboi thru and thru but for soil I’d second the roots organic stuff.
I just ran stonington blend as a mostly water only grow and was not a fan.
I did use recharge and Epsom salt thru the grow as wel but not a single base nute was added during the grow just to see how it would do.
started the seeds in coco loco in a 5gal pot about half filled with the stonington.
plants looked okay and made it thru the grow mostly healthy but they were mighty hungry.
the best of the supersoil I’ve tried in my limited time was kindsoil. The plants made it to the end without any overt under feeding issues and such.
Good luck and I hope you crush it with the coast of Maine!

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

Hey growers, there's some great advice and knowledge here in this random thread lol. I would like to thank you all for chiming in with your own takes on soils I have learned a lot. I did want to ask a question, however.

So, I just had to kill a plant of mine cuz it hermied up and I was sad cuz it was a 1 plant run. Anyways, I was using Foxfarm soil and I did notice the Ph was low like 5.0 or 5.5. My plant got messed up due to this and my growing practices and I also feel like the genetics were not that good to begin with.

I am holding off on my next grow to have a full plan start to finish. Here is my predicament though, I have another bag of soil, and I have mephisto seeds now so for sure its good genetics. I want to use the soil because I paid money for it but I am wondering is there anything I can do to amend it to get a better Ph. Should I mix it with other products or just cut my losses and get some new fire soil from the many sources out there?

Which soil, HF, OF, the ko ko bop in the soil? A few find OF abit hot for autos. May be same with ko ko bop. Personally use HF but put a solo cup size divits and fill with a light seedling mix. Also cut my HF 1/3 or more with vermiculite/perlite mix.

 

[Fire Nation]

Which soil, HF, OF, the ko ko bop in the soil? A few find OF abit hot for autos. May be same with ko ko bop. Personally use HF but put a solo cup size divits and fill with a light seedling mix. Also cut my HF 1/3 or more with vermiculite/perlite mix.

It is Oceans Forest and my girl did really good all of Veg bit really bad in flower. I was thinking of rasing the ph with limestone and adding rice hulls to add aeration to the soil. However I might just buy better soil and use these other soils I got later for other plants or something.

 

[Bill.de.Cat]

It is Oceans Forest and my girl did really good all of Veg bit really bad in flower. I was thinking of rasing the ph with limestone and adding rice hulls to add aeration to the soil. However I might just buy better soil and use these other soils I got later for other plants or something.

It's all about experimentat ion and finding a way that works for us and our plants.