Recharging Fox Farms Ocean Forest Soil

Ready to start my 2nd grow. I want to recharge the FFOF I used. I use Dr Earth top dressing nutes.

Whats the best way to recharge the soil?

Easy; just add about 1/3 worm castings. Usually compost makes the mix a bit heavy so add in some perlite and/or coco coir. Alternatively an aact can be brewed and poured over the spent soil.
That will reactivate the soil but then you’ll probably want to put back some NPK inputs and a mineral or two. I like to add in a slow release fertilizer as well. Amendments are really up to you and what you can easily aquire but some good choices I currently prefer to use are:
Chicken manure (Charlie’s compost brand)
Kelp meal
Neem seed meal
Insect frass
Garden gypsum
Dolomite lime
Crushed oyster shell flour

Letting it sit for 30 days will help normalize ph. Mix this all in to your base soil and keep it hydrated in a tote bin or something. Quantities do not matter as much as diversity; try to add lots of stuff in small amounts. I use the palm of my hand for measuring; as much as I can grab in a bag without it falling through is a handful. I put about a handful of each amendment for a 60 gal tote half full of soil; two if the tote is full.

@Richard Drysift has some great input, certainly should be noted

some of us may not want to spend $80 in soil ingredients to recharge $25 worth of soil though, like myself. I just run four 3g pots in a 4x4, I dont need a lot of soil, and i dont want to buy new every run.

between runs i add azomite (volcanic ash) and dolomite lime (ph buffer).

i use dry salts dissolved into water. regular feeding provides all the nutrients the girls need

this has worked for me. best of luck to you

visajoe1 said:

@Richard Drysift has some great input, certainly should be noted

some of us may not want to spend $80 in soil ingredients to recharge $25 worth of soil though, like myself. I just run four 3g pots in a 4x4, I dont need a lot of soil, and i dont want to buy new every run.

between runs i add azomite (volcanic ash) and dolomite lime (ph buffer).

i use dry salts dissolved into water. regular feeding provides all the nutrients the girls need

this has worked for me. best of luck to you

Click to expand...

Thanks

visajoe1 said:

@Richard Drysift has some great input, certainly should be noted

some of us may not want to spend $80 in soil ingredients to recharge $25 worth of soil though, like myself. I just run four 3g pots in a 4x4, I dont need a lot of soil, and i dont want to buy new every run.

between runs i add azomite (volcanic ash) and dolomite lime (ph buffer).

i use dry salts dissolved into water. regular feeding provides all the nutrients the girls need

this has worked for me. best of luck to you

Click to expand...

True but $80 worth of amendments could last the average grower a couple years. Most times all I need to add is home schooled ewc from my own worm bin in the basement which costs zero. I literally feed my plants kitchen trash I would’ve tossed out anyway.
That $25 bag of soil could last indefinitely if you keep on amending it. You can get away with just adding light minerals and compost for awhile but eventually you’ll need to provide more. There’s lots of ways to do this; just throwing it out there. Too many rely on nutrients imo organic is easier cheaper and more sustainable than any other method of indoor growing.