Does Fox Farm Suck?

[abudsmoker]

i will say since 2005 there has been a decline in the quality of product in the bag. What has happened is they have used up the sources of mosses and other additives and have had to outsource to other or cheaper options.

There is a clear decline in the root mass in my plant now a days. I point the finger the FF way.

Still the product in the bag is superior to most sources today.

 

[doggyd]

View attachment 1607240View attachment 1607241View attachment 1607242View attachment 1607243View attachment 1607246View attachment 1607248View attachment 1607249View attachment 1607250View attachment 1607252

This is my problem with FOX FARM SOIL. My ph is 6.8 and runoff is 5.3......I put extra perlite when i mixed the soil before i planted the seed.........I have not used any NUTES>>>>>>>HMMMMM ANYONE
I think I'm going to grow with some PRO MIX my next grow.....this is the second plant with FOX FARM SOIL and I have the same problem. I'm bothered!
Oh DAY 24 VEG

 

[ataxia]

I guess the moral of the story is FF doesn't suck if you amend it with lime and perlite

 

[irieie]

i use ffof soil from start to finish. i like the soil it is usually pretty rich but sometimes there are wood chunks that have been thrown in for filler. i mix about 30%-40% perlite in as well as dolomite lime sometimes.
i also use the entire nutrient line. the three bases, grow big, tiger bloom, and big bloom; the solubles as well as the bushdoctor products. these are all great products their chart says to feed pretty heavily and i usually feed at about 25%-75% of what they recommend. you also have to ph your solutions. one thing that is unavoidable with these products is a salt build up so flushing is recommend throughout the grow.
overall i think that most of their products are worth the price the solubles especially.

 

[hobbyhorse]

Everything fox farms makes is total crap in my amateur opinion. Overpriced and perform horribly. There are so many better products out there that won't burn the fuck out of your plants, that don't need to be ph'ed, don't need to be flushed constantly, and that don't need more crap added just to make it usable.

Fox farms you fooled me once, shame on you.

 

[max316420]

everything fox farms makes is total crap in my amateur opinion. Overpriced and perform horribly. There are so many better products out there that won't burn the fuck out of your plants, that don't need to be ph'ed, don't need to be flushed constantly, and that don't need more crap added just to make it usable.

Fox farms you fooled me once, shame on you.

user error

 

[max316420]

Straight FFOF, perlite and lime..

 

[1gamma45]

Fox farm is hands down some of the best product I have used for growing. I use FF Ocean forest soil. I use the growbig big bloom and tiger bloom in veg and the first 2 weeks of budding then I move to the Chaching beasty blooms and open seasame.


I will say these are powerfull nutes. You can easly over feed and end up with Nute burn in your plants. I suggest if you want to use FF start with the pre mixed stuff growbig big bloom and tiger bloom. Use 1/2 what they suggest on the feeding schedual and then once your sure you know how to use the pre mix add in the others again a little at a time. I find the longer strains the 10+ week ones on the FF feed schedual are more likely get burn then a shorty strian. Just from my XP.

add picks of FF results. Enjoy this is Super Lemon Haze form green house seeds.

 

[DesertSativa]

I am trying this for my next grow. It looks and feels great and will report on how well it works.

 

[Carlos24]

it couldbe your water?

 

[Pipe Dream]

I guess I don't understand thhe problem. I use OF successfully. I added some fish emulsion at first and they burned so ever since I don't even give them nutrients in veg, just fresh soil. I don't have a EC meter, that's why I'm growing in soil. I did get a new cheap TDS meter I am looking forward to trying it out this grow. So yeah the soil has nutes in it so when you water you would expect the runoff to be higher. If your talking about the nutrient line and your soil doesn't have added nutrients tan it must be from build up tha is being leached out. I always heard to combat this problem you should flush with diluted fertilizer solution, the EC should drop.

 

[Skyhigh88]

i use FF Ocean with FF Nutes and i have not ran into any problems and it's my first grow....

 

[cocobitzz]

I am kind of impartial to FFOF soil... When I ran it straight it was horrible, pH problems like crazy, even burned some of my plants early on. I took a bag of some coco mix they had at the horti shop and mixed that together with some perlite. That helped, but I should have added lime for sure. I would say next time I will use lime, but I am switching over to hyrdo.

Like everyone says, lime and perlite and it's not a bad mix.

Also, I do have a HORRIBLE case of fungus gnats that came from the soil though. I know all soils are a crapshot, but wtf.

 

[hoagtech]

I am kind of impartial to FFOF soil... When I ran it straight it was horrible, pH problems like crazy, even burned some of my plants early on. I took a bag of some coco mix they had at the horti shop and mixed that together with some perlite. That helped, but I should have added lime for sure. I would say next time I will use lime, but I am switching over to hyrdo.

Like everyone says, lime and perlite and it's not a bad mix.

Also, I do have a HORRIBLE case of fungus gnats that came from the soil though. I know all soils are a crapshot, but wtf.

If you guys like lyme and perlite, you should try sunshine mix #4: Lime, Perlite, sphagnum peat moss and a wetting agent to assist your feedings. Ive been using it against fox farms on my displays and havent noticed a difference between the two that wasnt caused by user errors (me). I heard Fox farm uses oyster shell to control ph but they have def cheapened their ingredients so they probably go lite on the mix and heavy on the chunks of bark.

I want them to not add perlite SO I can screen all the twigs and shit and mix in my own perlite.

 

[max316420]

I also read that oyster shells weren't that good at keeping ph, I just supplemented with lime.

 

[hiluxphantom]

I know foxfarms nutrients aren't as good as the flora nova line by general hydro and I've heard bad shit anout all the soils from my local shop, it has alot to do with where you get them. i just use some spagnam peatmoss and bioflora and seaweed kelp with no sewer sludge i think from natures way and my plant was doing great for something I found growing in my front yard till someone poured gasoline all over it. I've heard fox farm had some cat hair n other weird stuff from my local shop guy too. Dirt companies are slackin!

 

[max316420]

I think your hydro store guys was trying to sell you something else.. maybe overstock? Just because they work or own a hydro shop doesn't mean they know everything about growing.. This one hydro shop i used to go to, the 2 guys working there were dumb as a box of rocks

 

[lampworker]

I have sworn by Fox Farm for years but feel the need to change it up now. The last two cycles I have noticed strange smells coming from the bag of soil when I open them. It was a different smell each time but it was an off smell. I suspect somewhere down the line the soil was contaminated by a broken nutrient container or road salt runoff in storage or something. I didn't check my EC but I had serious burning issues with fresh clones put into a 3:1 FF OF/ perlite mix. It took two weeks minimum each time to flush it out enough for normal growth to resume. I used only R/O water during this time. I tried diluting the ratio by using half coir and half OF for the "soil" part of the mix. It seemed to help. The next time I transplanted I went with straight Promix BX and things have turned around quite a bit. I am going to switch to an organic line soon as I feel the nutrients are slipping a little too. This could be just me but I had never gotten Grow Big with salt chunks in the bottle until recently. When I brought up these issues with my grow store rep trying to pinpoint the problem the owner was there and told me that he thought the OF had smelled a little off on the pallets upon delivery. He also mentioned that the growth of the company had caused them to open a production site in North Carolina. All these things have caused me to lose some faith in the product. The soil problems could have happened after the product left their factory but that wont matter. I am not going to buy their soil anymore. No matter who the blame falls on, the sale is gone regardless.

 

[max316420]

I'm liking their soil but not greatly impressed by their food, with my advanced my buds were ALOT fatter at this point of flowering. I'm following their feeding schedule just not seeing the beefieness

 

[xXOnyxXx]

#1 - how old is thew soil?
#2 - my run off is always higher than what i put in if the soil still has any nutes left in it. this is normal because you're flushing through the soil so you run off should be higher than your feeding.