This thread was created to help those who seem to overthink the ease of use of this highly ammended bag soil. I see many growers both new and experienced seem to post “ issues “ when trying to run this medium.
I am merely showing a simple no frills method of container / bag grows for autos. Since feeding requirements will be for average 90 ( + or - ) day average for autoflower growth , this will fit it perfectly.
No multi bottle nonsense ... No special water requirements ( use tap ) ... No boosters
FFOF is one of the most complete “ off the shelf “ bagged medium one can by ..... ready to use alone.
Other growers I talked with , mentioned regional differences among stock.
Ingredients: Composted forest humus, sphagnum peat moss, Pacific Northwest sea-going fish emulsion, crab meal, shrimp meal, earthworm castings, sandy loam, perlite, bat guano, granite dust, Norwegian kelp, and oyster shell (for pH adjustment).
Medium is prebuffered to 6.3 .
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I will list
2 versions of soil setup .......
1. Plain FFOF soil run only
2. Pelletized dry nute ammended ( self feed )
Begin with the final container size you wish to run ...... I run 1 gallon SOG bags and 3/5 gallon plastic black or air pots ( air prune ). Smart bags will work also. You will be planting
directly to pot. You can also grow a seedling in a solo with a seed starter mix and plant as plug into this medium too. But for this , I will show you that FFOF is not quite as
hot to seedlings as some report.
You will
NOT be feeding the seedling at all with outside Nutes. It will feed on its own from the medium only and will acclimate “ faster and easier “ than dropping
more Nutes on top of this charged medium.
Water :
TAP ( whether allowed to vape off 24 hours or not ) it will work.
No RO , distilled , holy water , unicorn sweat or other “ special “ water sources. Your ONLY REQUIREMENT is to PH correctly.
PH range for entire autoflower run :
6.3 to 6.5 ( No more No less ) .
Soil is pretty aerated on its own but works much better with added perlite. I tend to shoot for 25%
minimum more by volume of medium used.
I am using a simple 1 gallon grow bag for a
SOG grow of 9 plants for a tent I am running. However adjust your volume of perlite to container size you choose.
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Your mix should resemble something like this ....
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This bag is half filled
AND HERE IS WHERE YOU CAN RUN TWO DIFFERENT VARIATIONS.
1. Fill remainder with same mix .
2. Add a tablespoon of Dry Fertilizer ( Dr. Earth 5-5-5 or megacrop 1 tsp ).
When running FFOF solo .... I merely MIST this half fill with water to hydrate it , then cover fill to top.
For Dry Ammend : I am using Dr. Earth LIFE fertilizer ( 5-5-5 ) or Megacrop
This method is similar to Canucks grow method using dry fertilizer and coco grows he does with autoflowers.
Note : I found Dr. Earth LIFE at the 99¢ ( half off ) in 1 gallon bags ! .... needless to say I grabbed a few .
Dr. Earth Fruit and Veg and Flower Girl are both good options also.
For some LED grows : CalMag “ may “ be needed occasionally and will only need be added 1tsp per gallon of water before use.
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FFOF by itself will carry an auto for weeks
on its own ........ on water only. The pelletized feed will self charge and supplement myco as plant moves thru bloom. The alternate method is merely top dressing FFOF in those grows running bag FFOF only.
I do not flush or leach medium upon final weeks ..... I merely continue watering requirements.
NO FRILLS .
You will find the plants prefer feeding on its own terms instead of dumping a brew all over it .
Just keep your PH in range and you will see how well this bagged soil does.
Hope this helps. PEACE.