When to augment the nutrients already mixed in Fox Farm soil.

[garybo]

Hi and greetings from Florida.

This is the first year I will be using premixed bagged soil from Fox Farm and my plan is to grow in 5 gallon fabric pots which will be bottom layered with a mixture of Coco Loco and the upper half of the pot layered with Happy Frog.

My understanding is that the nutrients in the Fox Farm mixtures have a limited life and before the plants have reached their full life-cycle (4 plus months in my case) I should augment the soil with additives, which I’m planning on using Mega Crop by Greenleaf Nutrients.

My issue is when I should start to add the additives, I’m thinking around mid vegetable stage. Last thing I want to do is overfeed the ladies.

I’m open to any suggestions and thanks in advance.

 

[redeyedfrog]

Watch the plants vigour and colour, that should tell you everything you need to know, nothing wrong with using some seaweed as a water additive or a foliar will help things along nicely.

 

[eddy600]

with a mixture of happy frog and FFOF i supplement in about 3 weeks.The bottom of yours don't add any nutes so i would imagine yours would need added nutes sooner.I live where it is hot and a 5 gallon smart pot would need watered twice a day making growing harder,I would never use anything smaller than 30 gallons. As redeyedfrog said keep an eye on them start easy on the nutes a light foliar spray or 30 to 40% application of your chosen nutes

 

[garybo]

Hey guys, great advice and thankx.

I've been looking for this info for days on manufacturer websites. I should have come first and saved time. Thanks to you guys I at least have something to hang my hat on.

I’m a little paranoid since I lost a crop last year for being too aggressive and burnt my plants during their sprouting stage. That goof-up cost me a couple hundred bucks. A lesson I don’t want to repeat.

I would love to grow in 30 gal containers but due to Big Brother I must be discreet. I can physically move the 5 gal buckets around guerrilla style while following the sun during her trip into fall. Since I am retired and lost interest in golf, being the overseer of my crop gives me something to.

My seeds were germinated 2 days ago in jiffy pellets and as of today half of the crop have popped their sweet little heads up, looks promising.

After their second set of leaves develop I'm planning on tranx the pellets to 4" biodegradable pots filled with FF Light Warrior, then around the middle of April I'll transfer them to their permanent home of 5 gal containers and outside they go. I live in north Florida and timing should be on schedule for a late summer and early fall crop.

The reason for using the Mega Crop is that it was donated to me by an indoor grower and his ladies love it. I too have enjoyed their fruit.

I’m hoping to hone my skills at growing and have started to study up on how to read my PPM meter and as of this date I know enough on the subject to be dangerous.

If successful, I’ll upload a pic of my crop as of this date.

Thanks again.

 

[eddy600]

You have a nice selection of seeds good luck with your grow.Where i'm at i start popping seeds in the beginning of April to avoid Flowering and reveg issues,Larry the gardner lives close to you and could give you a wealth of great info

 

[Rob Roy]

View attachment 4300259 View attachment 4300260 Hey guys, great advice and thankx.

I've been looking for this info for days on manufacturer websites. I should have come first and saved time. Thanks to you guys I at least have something to hang my hat on.

I’m a little paranoid since I lost a crop last year for being too aggressive and burnt my plants during their sprouting stage. That goof-up cost me a couple hundred bucks. A lesson I don’t want to repeat.

I would love to grow in 30 gal containers but due to Big Brother I must be discreet. I can physically move the 5 gal buckets around guerrilla style while following the sun during her trip into fall. Since I am retired and lost interest in golf, being the overseer of my crop gives me something to.

My seeds were germinated 2 days ago in jiffy pellets and as of today half of the crop have popped their sweet little heads up, looks promising.

After their second set of leaves develop I'm planning on tranx the pellets to 4" biodegradable pots filled with FF Light Warrior, then around the middle of April I'll transfer them to their permanent home of 5 gal containers and outside they go. I live in north Florida and timing should be on schedule for a late summer and early fall crop.

The reason for using the Mega Crop is that it was donated to me by an indoor grower and his ladies love it. I too have enjoyed their fruit.

I’m hoping to hone my skills at growing and have started to study up on how to read my PPM meter and as of this date I know enough on the subject to be dangerous.

If successful, I’ll upload a pic of my crop as of this date.

Thanks again.

If you're worried about big brother flat green and black spray paint on a 5 gallon bucket is a better way to go than a bright orange home depot bucket. Don't forget to spray the inside rim at least to the soil level and take advantage of the blend in of natural cover. Good luck.

 

[garybo]

Rob Roy, great advice.

I found green (or many other colors to choose from) grow bags a couple of years ago on Amazon,
(Ming Wei Grow Bags 5 Gallon, Army Green 5-Pack) at about $12.00 for a 5 pack. They come is sizes from 3 gallon up to 100 gal. Also, the handles are on very sturdy so no worry about dropping them due to handle coming off.
When set in a bushy area they become almost invisible.

 

[garybo]

Couple of pics showing how well the green grow pots can be camouflaged.

 

[Rivendell]

I give you credit bud, I can't imagine trying to stay on top of watering 5 gallon fabric pots during the summer in Florida!

You must not be able to get away at all, I would imagine you have to water two or three times a day once in flower.

 

[garybo]

Rivendell, hmm, you got me a little perplexed. For the past 2 yrs I've been growing in 5 gal containers and usually water every 3 days (nutes added every other watering and folair feed with the watering), or when my moisture meter tells me different.
Perhaps it's that I have a mixture of 1 part vermiculite with 6 parts of Fox Farm soil. Vermiculite is added to hold both water and nutes like a sponge when the soil dries out so the roots can still drink and feed.
I probably have an advantage over some folks here since i'm retired and have nothing else to do but mess with my gardening plants.
Hey, thanks for your input, that's why I picked this forum, it's folks like you and others that take the time to chat and advise.

 

[Rivendell]

Your soil does play a major roll, if your not adding any extra perlite or some other sort of aeration I can see why you don't have to water often. I have never tried growing in almost straight FF so it might very well hold a ton more water than mine does.

My base soil, after a few years of experiments is below. I use 45 gallon fabric pots outdoor. At the hottest part of the summer here, they can drink five gallons a day with out blinking.

One 2.5 cu ft bag of Just Coir or bricks expanded at home.
One 2 cu ft bag of Jobes Organic Potting MIX, not potting soil. Adds a fair amount of aeration and a bit of peat.
One 16 Qt bag of perlite.
One 1 Cu ft bag of Coast of Maine Lobster Compost
One 1 Cu ft bag of Coast of Maine Composted Cow Manure
Two 4 Lb bags of Espoma Tomato Tone.


Bottom line is if its working for you, that's all that matters. It's really that simple. I wish I could help with your original question, but as I said above I have no experience that would be helpful. I will say, the water only organic route would remove the question all together.

 

[garybo]

This is the first year that I went completely (almost that is) with a pre-made soil mix. I stay away from perlite for obvious reasons. So, I'm in an experimental mode this year and I'll be keeping a close eye on the plants, especially the leaves. I think I could have saved part of the crop I lost if I had listened to the leaves when they were telling me (by turning brown) that the roots were being overfed. If only I had flushed them a week earlier I may have saved some. Hindsight is 20/20.

Interesting soil mixture you have there Rivendell, and with your permission I may dabble with your recipe next year for comparison to mine, which is:

For seedling I use FF Light Warrior.

For vegetable stage:

6 parts FF Happy Frog
1 part coco fiber
1 part vermiculite course A3
2 parts worm casings

and for flowering stage the menu is:

6 parts FF Coco Loco
1 part coco fiber
1 part vermiculite course A3
2 parts worm casings

My intent is to start the seedling’s off in a 4" biodegradable pot of FF Light Warrior, then before going into vegetable the 4" pot is put into a 5 gal fabric pot which is bottom layered with the mixture of Coco Loco and the upper half of the pot is layered with the Happy Frog mixture.

If all goes to plan, as the root matures, it will grow from the jiffy pellet into a mild solution of nutrients (the FF Light Warrior), then continue to grow into the heaver nutrients of the Happy Frog and later the Coco Loco.

And with the advice from redeyedfrog and eddy600 about augmenting FF's built in nutes, I have recently added to my grow plan a note to start feeding in the early vegetable stage. Perhaps when flowering starts, I may add some goodies such as sweet candy and recharge.

This will be my first time using the above grow plan and if I’m successful, I hope to be rewarded for my efforts by getting a minimum one pound of pot per plant (on the average). Plenty of smoke for me and ma until next year’s crop.

Thanks for listening and sorry for being so winded. That's how we retired folks are.

 

[danjac82]

Really nice selection. Love Jack Herer when it’s good. Really interested to see how Krippling Buzz light Gear does for you. I’ve looked at that and his afghan cow for a while

 

[garybo]

Danjac82, when the crop comes in, I'll let you know and invite you to come over to the ranch and join us in our annual herb tasting party.

 

[Buss Relville]

ive always only used pro mix or light warrior to start, this year i started with black gold amended with worm castings and earth juice rainbow mix. my plants always get very hungry a few weeks in, and i have never noticed any burning or early stress from excess nutes, so hopefully this early amending is a good thing.

 

[Buss Relville]

I would def consider adding some heavy P nutrient ( like bird or bat guano) during the flowering cycle.

 

[garybo]

ive always only used pro mix or light warrior to start, this year i started with black gold amended with worm castings and earth juice rainbow mix. my plants always get very hungry a few weeks in, and i have never noticed any burning or early stress from excess nutes, so hopefully this early amending is a good thing.

Interesting, I would love to know how it went this year with the new mixture. I throw in worm casting as well with the FF mix.

 

[garybo]

I would def consider adding some heavy P nutrient ( like bird or bat guano) during the flowering cycle.

I"m thinking for adding some Sweet Candy during flowering, your opinion?

 

[Buss Relville]

Interesting, I would love to know how it went this year with the new mixture. I throw in worm casting as well with the FF mix.

will report back. I followed the recommendations of this dude, grows massive outdoor ladies.

https://www.icmag.com/ic/showthread.php?t=352135

 

[Buss Relville]

I"m thinking for adding some Sweet Candy during flowering, your opinion?

Not personally familiar, i have heard of bud candy, not sure if same though. my recipe calls for top dress with guano, but anything with high phos/ low nitrogen should do the job.