FFOF ( Fox Farms Ocean Forest ) made Simple - Autoflower

[CarolinaPothead]

I have heard that baker’s yeast would work … I personally never tried it. Heard oats in soil works too .
Might have to experiment myself.

BUT … I have used beer ( even flat beer ) in a compost pile.

I also dump out a beer on my compost pile every so often. It seems to help speed things up.

 

[Budzbuddha]

Ethos White Wedding ( clone 1 )

Recipe 420 base / Recipe 420 recharge dry fert / Ultra bloom
( Pumice / Dynomyco / EWC 15% container volume / 15-20 % mushroom compost )
Water Tap ( no gas off ) -

This a final clone that out lasted some other “ cuts “ ( hempy ) . Those had some kind of issue that I couldn’t pin down , so they got axed.
This one was an odd bird …. It started as a full perlite hempy , it was showing some of the issues like the others so as an experiment, I transplanted that entire perlite “ plug “ into my soil bucket. Bottom 1/3 was filled with mix above. I trimmed some root mass to compensate for volume.

It took a week or two to get settled in and has been moving along fine. I wasn’t sure if that entire medium / grow style swap was gonna work.
I figured it would shock or stunt but no , it started blooming way better than I thought. New soil container is same size 2 gallon blue bucket but with bottom hole drilled for soil grows and original hempy bucket put away. So this was a hempy to soil move.

Tap is not off gassed or anything else. Municipal runs at 235 ppm ( 7.2 -7.6 highest ) average. I don’t find it a problem source as I have been using gardens for years - remember when kids used to drink from hose ? Well …. Still Here

Really like Ethos gear lately , beautiful flowers and heavy scents.

This one as it might look like , is heavy fruit like / gas / pungent . Dark leaves / Good frost.
I have not been watching what week and all that , just letting it do it’s thing. If I really wanted to “ track “ I would go back into thread to figure out when I first started them.

HLG BLACKBIRD has rockin and rollin just fine. Really like this rig.

 

[Budzbuddha]

Thread update 2 :

Decided to do some clone cuts - Forbidden Zkittlez ( ethos )

I have a plant vegging that needed some pruning. That plant had a shit ton of secondary branching , so I snipped a few keepers and readied some presoaked rooters ( Clonex gold liquid ). Than some Clonex gel . Sometimes I do water clones in a mason but I went with plugs and dome.
They are under a Sun Blaze T5HO 8 bulb rig ( 4 on ) at 24/0 and dome. Heating pad to compensate for cold nights lately.

Not a big fan of those strains that throw multiple secondary branches so figured due it’s vigorous growth , they should clone easily.

Anyways , I’m starting to get some serious grow rotations in as I’m gonna be testing some lights very soon for a sponsor …. More later.

So here’s what my garden is lately , spread among various quantum rigs.

Ethos Forbidden Zkittlez ( plant & clones )
Ethos White Wedding ( flowering clone )
Blueberry Muffin ( hempy - flowering ) - has some issues but flowering.
4 Berta 2.0 ( NL ) - teen clones
1 Berta 2.0 ( NL ) - solo cup grow ( why not ? )
2 Muchacha F7 autos - ( early flower / some feed issues ).

and some solo cup grows for a cup challenge going on here.


Muchacha F7 autos

Well , not gonna sugar coat these two , have some uptake issues due to cold room ( 65° ) - added a heater this week.
One of them has been doing better than the other but I’m just gonna let them do their thing.
Room gets cold on its own and not too crazy about leaving a running heater in a closed room ( @ lights out ) .
Thinking of rigging a timer to it. So they suffered from some purple stalks and slowed drinking.



Berta 2.0 ( NL )

Newer layered mix with shroom compost .
They are doing well under Blackbird.



Solo cup grows and clone cuts

 

[Budzbuddha]

 

[CarolinaPothead]

Thanks for the info @Budzbuddha. Your grows always inspire me to want to learn more and grow better. You keep it real. 2 thumbs up!

 

[Budzbuddha]

Thanks for the info @Budzbuddha. Your grows always inspire me to want to learn more and grow better. You keep it real. 2 thumbs up!

Thanks , it’s a green thang

lol

 

[driver77]

Thanks , it’s a green thang

lol

I just want to thank you for this entire thread. I use ffof and ffhf with their trio of nutes and was struggling! I've read through a couple times and still pick up things I missed shared by you and others. Thank you soooo much for your insights and sharing of obvious experience and knowledge. This thread is what brought me here and then convinced me to stay. As you know there is a lot of "bro" knowledge out there and sometimes hard to sort through. You showed how simple it can be, and for us micro managers that have to stare at our plants for hours trying to sort through all the things we've read and make sense of it to apply to our grow.......just exhale and relax...Budzbubbha has been there done that and willing to share. lol ty

 

[Hollatchaboy]

Way to go budzbubbha! Lol

 

[Weednocus]

Oh come on now. It can't be that simple. You need a dozen bottles, you need to test runoff pH and if it's not in range you have to flush and flush over and over again until the runoff pH is within range. Don't forget the silica! It's a must for any grow. You can't just plant in decent soil and let the plant grow. It won't do it. You have to fuss with your plants everyday. They can't be left alone and you need to feed at 2000 ppm to pump up those buds. Large doses of PK boosters are a requirement for growing dank. Good soil isn't enough. You have to pay through the nose for products with cool names and fancy labels. You have to bubble your water for a week to remove the chlorine or else the plants will stop growing and die.




In all seriousness though, I had a couple plants in 1.5 gallon pots of Ocean Forest that were given nothing but water from the hose all summer. Other than a few yellowing leaves they grew just fine with nothing but Ocean Forest and are flowering right now.

I recently planted 6 plants in a mix of 50/50 FFOF/HAPPY FROG and five scoops of Black Kow mixed together with two inches of lava rock at the bottom of 5 gal fabric pots. Plants are doing great.

 

[CarolinaPothead]

I recently planted 6 plants in a mix of 50/50 FFOF/HAPPY FROG and five scoops of Black Kow mixed together with two inches of lava rock at the bottom of 5 gal fabric pots. Plants are doing great.

I use a very similar mix and i dont have to add anything until after the 1st month. I had 1 plant last time i tried to kill. No nutes, didnt ph the water. I just gave up on it. The fkr was ugly as crap but still gave me over 4 zips of sticky ass bud( alot of larf but im making edibles so who cares? The other 2 plants just got the fox farm tiger bloom and calmag and were great. So yes you can grow fine with just ffof and a few flowering nutes. It really is pretty damned simple. Im learning more and making my own soil blends now but for someone starting out like i was, the @Budzbuddha ffof method will get you started on the right track.

 

[tswiz]

Just gonna add a few of my own learnings to this excellent post.
Everyone has a different quest, mine is similar to the OP.
Easy, fast weed that is at minimum, equivalent to mid shelf dispensary grass.

Honestly, growing is 1/3 the battle. Knowing when to harvest and how to cure will get you way past store bought buds.

Industrial growers pull the whole greenhouse/room at the same time based upon some samples they've taken. Same for how they cure the weed. It all comes out of the cure room at the same time, they have business & accounting concerns driving the time table.

We, on the other hand, can get to know each plant by name & inspect every cola on a regular basis. We can also let the trichomes go as late or early as we wish. Two plants of the same strain, pulled at different times can yield a whole different taste and effects profile. Factory farming simply can't compete with that, no matter what their marketing teams tell you. I've fallen for some flashy CBD weed marketing, I admit it. In fact, I've even bought from online dealers *because* their marketing was so on point, knowing full well that I was getting an average product. Had to show my respects.

1. I soaked the seed for a day in RO water for 24 hours before using the paper towel between two plates method. This softens up the seed casing so that it won't choke your seedling out before the leaves have a chance to pop out. Helmets are stressful to remove.
2. A solo up of Happy frog inside 5 gal of FFOF should be enough insulation against hot soil. I had previously done 1 gal but feel that a smaller amount will allow the seedling a stronger start without burning up.
3. I don't test PH, instead I use RO water. RO machines are easily found in grocery stores so I don't consider it too exotic. FFOF is already balanced, as are the nutrients to be added in flower. There are no other variables to throw the PH off so I don't bother testing.
4. FFOF is easily enough to feed the plant until flower time. So it's only water for the first 4-5 weeks.
5. When flower starts, I go to Tiger Bloom, CalMag & Epsom salt. Epsom has done well to kick the flavor up a notch 1/2 teaspoon per nutrient feed.
- I don't get all fancy with the measurements either, a cap of Tiger, a cap of CalMag mixed into a litre of RO water, done. Another 1/2 or 1 litre
as the plant gets bigger.
6. I use fabric pots & water from the bottom after the plant is about 5 inches tall. It has worked out quite well.
7. If you water from the bottom, use round plastic oil change pans, a buck each at the dollar store. They are deep enough to hold bottom watering. Regular Home Depot type pans can overflow and mess up your floor.
8. Next grow I'd add something to stand the pots on so that water hits the bottom surface with even distribution. Realistically though, the water will find its way into all the soil and the roots will find their way to the water. It's kinda what they do.
9. Nutrient feeds and straight RO water alternate during flower.
10. I've tried a similar approach to photo periods but it needs tweaking, some photos are not hardy enough after 4-5 weeks of veg to support big honkers and they'll flop over, which denies them equal distribution of light. Because they'll run longer in veg, you'll have to switch to Grow Big or other veg nutrient until the stems are big enough to hold decent sized buds. The larger amount of vegetation will in turn require more water, then nutrients. You can alleviate some of this race condition by lolly popping in late veg.

 

[CarolinaPothead]

Just gonna add a few of my own learnings to this excellent post.
Everyone has a different quest, mine is similar to the OP.
Easy, fast weed that is at minimum, equivalent to mid shelf dispensary grass.

Honestly, growing is 1/3 the battle. Knowing when to harvest and how to cure will get you way past store bought buds.

Industrial growers pull the whole greenhouse/room at the same time based upon some samples they've taken. Same for how they cure the weed. It all comes out of the cure room at the same time, they have business & accounting concerns driving the time table.

We, on the other hand, can get to know each plant by name & inspect every cola on a regular basis. We can also let the trichomes go as late or early as we wish. Two plants of the same strain, pulled at different times can yield a whole different taste and effects profile. Factory farming simply can't compete with that, no matter what their marketing teams tell you. I've fallen for some flashy CBD weed marketing, I admit it. In fact, I've even bought from online dealers *because* their marketing was so on point, knowing full well that I was getting an average product. Had to show my respects.

1. I soaked the seed for a day in RO water for 24 hours before using the paper towel between two plates method. This softens up the seed casing so that it won't choke your seedling out before the leaves have a chance to pop out. Helmets are stressful to remove.
2. A solo up of Happy frog inside 5 gal of FFOF should be enough insulation against hot soil. I had previously done 1 gal but feel that a smaller amount will allow the seedling a stronger start without burning up.
3. I don't test PH, instead I use RO water. RO machines are easily found in grocery stores so I don't consider it too exotic. FFOF is already balanced, as are the nutrients to be added in flower. There are no other variables to throw the PH off so I don't bother testing.
4. FFOF is easily enough to feed the plant until flower time. So it's only water for the first 4-5 weeks.
5. When flower starts, I go to Tiger Bloom, CalMag & Epsom salt. Epsom has done well to kick the flavor up a notch 1/2 teaspoon per nutrient feed.
- I don't get all fancy with the measurements either, a cap of Tiger, a cap of CalMag mixed into a litre of RO water, done. Another 1/2 or 1 litre
as the plant gets bigger.
6. I use fabric pots & water from the bottom after the plant is about 5 inches tall. It has worked out quite well.
7. If you water from the bottom, use round plastic oil change pans, a buck each at the dollar store. They are deep enough to hold bottom watering. Regular Home Depot type pans can overflow and mess up your floor.
8. Next grow I'd add something to stand the pots on so that water hits the bottom surface with even distribution. Realistically though, the water will find its way into all the soil and the roots will find their way to the water. It's kinda what they do.
9. Nutrient feeds and straight RO water alternate during flower.
10. I've tried a similar approach to photo periods but it needs tweaking, some photos are not hardy enough after 4-5 weeks of veg to support big honkers and they'll flop over, which denies them equal distribution of light. Because they'll run longer in veg, you'll have to switch to Grow Big or other veg nutrient until the stems are big enough to hold decent sized buds. The larger amount of vegetation will in turn require more water, then nutrients. You can alleviate some of this race condition by lolly popping in late veg.

Its an awesome thing growing. I am finally becoming more confident with these autos and leds and no longer freak out everytime I have an issue. I really like the organic style. The taste is better IMO and the stuff is clean. This last run everytime I roll a J, the ash is snow white and just falls away. No harshness either. The GG's were hungry but these Mephisto 3BOG's are well into flower and ive yet to feed. When I do itll be a cap of TB and a cap of cal-mag. Maybe some recharge if needed. Ive contemplated going coco or promix but right now im content with my amended amended soil mix. I even throw a handful of eathworms in each bucket now. They seem to keep the soil nice and airy. Hey thanks for contributing. This page has been helpful to alot of folks, myself included. BB is a freaking guru of cannabis. He gives us lots of good info.

 

[420 Garden]

I hear you loud and clear. Some people that find out about RIU jump on here and just start spitting out bro science. If you take the time to read/research, you will find answers to most of your questions. But understand that you can talk with people on here that have literally decades of growing experience. Take the time to learn to grow then enhance what you do. It will make for a more enjoyable experience. Just be respectful, give all the info about your grow that you can. People will help you out. I was new at one time just as many have been. You will always learn more from listening.

 

[CarolinaPothead]

I hear you loud and clear. Some people that find out about RIU jump on here and just start spitting out bro science. If you take the time to read/research, you will find answers to most of your questions. But understand that you can talk with people on here that have literally decades of growing experience. Take the time to learn to grow then enhance what you do. It will make for a more enjoyable experience. Just be respectful, give all the info about your grow that you can. People will help you out. I was new at one time just as many have been. You will always learn more from listening.

Oh yeah, there is alot of bro science floating around. Not as bad here as it is on Reddit but its here. In my experience, the ones that usually talk the most smack dont ever seem to be growing anything. Ive had people trash my little 3-4 plant grows and shit talk my pictures like im "showcasing". I just know that there are others out there who are right where I was a couple years ago and I hope that my experience might help them with theirs. Its how i progressed, watching and reading and occasionally asking for help. I am having fun growing and i enjoy seeing what some of our master growers here are up to and learning from their experiences. Best hobby ever.

 

[s4cruiser]

Fantastic thread and has been super helpful for an autoflower newbie. These are in either 3g or 5g fabric pots, bottom 1/3 layer is FFOF with EWC, Dr Earth 4-6-3 and perlite. Then a dusting of myco. Top layer is FFHF with perlite. I have Recipe 420 recharge and ultra bloom for amendments when needed.

These are crop king seeds (yes i know they have an iffy rep…I have Mephisto seeds for the next run) 6 days from sprouting…just trying not to over water and dial in the DLI. They seem happy so far!

 

[CarolinaPothead]

Fantastic thread and has been super helpful for an autoflower newbie. These are in either 3g or 5g fabric pots, bottom 1/3 layer is FFOF with EWC, Dr Earth 4-6-3 and perlite. Then a dusting of myco. Top layer is FFHF with perlite. I have Recipe 420 recharge and ultra bloom for amendments when needed.

These are crop king seeds (yes i know they have an iffy rep…I have Mephisto seeds for the next run) 6 days from sprouting…just trying not to over water and dial in the DLI. They seem happy so far!

View attachment 5275446View attachment 5275447

Everything looks fine. You have a good plan. You could probably stand to add a bit more perlite next time for better drainage. What strain? And which Mephistos? Im using Dr Earth amendments too and so far i love them. Do you have cal-mag? Ive found that a capful every week or 2 keeps them happy. Good luck, and Welcome to RIU!

 

[s4cruiser]

Everything looks fine. You have a good plan. You could probably stand to add a bit more perlite next time for better drainage. What strain? And which Mephistos? Im using Dr Earth amendments too and so far i love them. Do you have cal-mag? Ive found that a capful every week or 2 keeps them happy. Good luck, and Welcome to RIU!

thanks for the welcome!

It looks like not much perlite as I top dressed each pot with straight FFHF since the mixed soil settling a lot more than I anticipated. My two layers were mixed 3 parts soil to 1 part perlite.

These plants are all crop king - blueberry, gelato and critical mass CBD. The Mephisto seeds ready for the next run are double grape, strawberry nuggets and skywalker.

I do have a bottle of cal-mag at the ready if needed!

 

[CarolinaPothead]

thanks for the welcome!

It looks like not much perlite as I top dressed each pot with straight FFHF since the mixed soil settling a lot more than I anticipated. My two layers were mixed 3 parts soil to 1 part perlite.

These plants are all crop king - blueberry, gelato and critical mass CBD. The Mephisto seeds ready for the next run are double grape, strawberry nuggets and skywalker.

I do have a bottle of cal-mag at the ready if needed!

I havent run crop king but i hear they are much like ILGM whose gear i have run. You can get decent harvests from these breeders its just their phenos are very variable. Youll love the Mephistos. My 3 all look like clones they are so similar.

 

[420 Garden]

Ummm Mephisto.....

 

[CarolinaPothead]

Ummm Mephisto.....

Frosty as hell ! I cant wait to try more of their gear. Creme de la Chem and Mango Smile both look awesome. Hell all their strains are fire