Roots Organic Soil VS. Fox Farms Soil.

I actually mix my roots organic with my foxfarm, only for veg tho, until they go into my supersoil, mainly consisting of roots. But with about 40/40/20 roots / FFOF / and happy frog, I had a great blend that gave me huge results in veg!!!! and i would use the mix over any of them by themselves, ive tried it all, the just right xtra has to much clay in it.. and really stumpd the growth of my plants... like the damn thing didnt even want to live!!! the FFOF does have nicer water drainage, and density, which i believe is better. but ROOTs is much lighter therefor i usually have to add a little on top after a couple waterings. and each one with 25% happy from, they all do great with a little happy frog mixed in!!!!

Just make your own compost... and if when I don't have enough I just run to the local nursery and grab their organic soil and have never had any issues. GL brother

just to put my 0.2 cents in i have been growing in ffof for 3 yrs and what i noticed
is that the have a few problems not only doo i always get a cal-mag def but the put neematodes to fight offf
flies witch is killer to the mj plant and the always have a prob with the fungus nats i called the rep to ask
him what is the prob with the nats and alphids he coulnt give me a stright ansr so i pitched and moved to the next best thing
i love thr RO and Sunshine mix4not nearly as many problems as ffof they use to be great but the past few years have been shitty but
thats just my 0.2cts

FFOF used to be better than it has been recently. I am switching to something else because i'm fed up with that crap. You need to add perlite or something to get it to drain, and some bags will not hold water worth a crap. It acts as if its coated in oil. FF Happy Frog has given me better results. Mixing FF soils with sunshine #4 is cheaper, and drains better.

And, i agree with og18, always a fucking cal mg def. with FFOF! And, yes, fungus gnats, too. And the WORST water retention! I'm done with Ocean Forest.

I ran out of good soil and didnt want to drive to store last time, and for just one plant, i used Miracle Gro organic. (with myco and guano added) I got fatter, tastier, better looking nuggets than i ever got with FF. I didnt see that one coming, but i think i might try MG for next round.

I agree with all those who say to make your own soil, especially if you are using homemade compost.

That's awsome I've just done a side by side test with a bod hi strain dream lotus and the ocean forest fox farm was the biggest yielder but the roots organic was right behind it , the roots organic flushed so much nicer though and the plants in roots organic faded a lot sooner they were the same height and both in five gallon buckets I would of said different before this test but I must say ocean forest fox farm , I used house and gardens nutrient line but it was a controlled test.

I like both product lines. I did an all Fox Farm grow and an all Roots Organic 5ml Master Pack grow back to back, both in FF OF soil, one with TLO cooking the other without... (neither line is strictly organic, but pretty close in the case of the RO Master Pack...the only ringers with that are some of the flowering nutes are not organic...but I went 3 out of 6 plants w/o those non-organic nutes from the RO pack...we all know that the FF line besides the Big Bloom is not organic nutes, right? Right...ok. carry on...) and got great results from both, though the FF YIELDS were better, the RO TASTE and HIGH were better...but the real mix was the soil. I used FF OF on the first batch (germed in FF Lightwarrior, which is the best germing soil on the market, imho...expensive but worth it...), no transplants after putting in the seedling into final pots. The RO grow was FF OF soil that I cooked using the TLO methods from the Rev's books, with RO Amendments from the 5 ML masterpack. This was a much more productive grow and the yields, while smaller than the first grow per capita per plant, the quality was way better than the first grow...taste, looks, smell, and high...just less budd. So it's a toss up.


(lights were a +450LED ProGrowLED with sidelighting from 4-pack T5 stack in Jardin90 tent...I know, but I gotta keep my heat and energy costs down in this spot...)

So now I'm doing a Formula 707 FF Ocean Forest 50/50 mix cooked with TLO amendments...100% organic with RO Organics only with of course FF Big Bloom compost teas and lots of added organic bat shit and mineral brewed nutes...always the what have you with me, as long as its organic and not too hard on the plants.

Both lines are cheap, accessible, easy to use, and effective. Roots gives you a nice organic top of the line leafy and deep heady smoke; FF is easier to work, reliable, and gives a nice respectable mentholy smoke with more crystalization and trichromes. At least this was experience with this back to back.


Varieties: seed unless it says clone.
Cheese - Dinafem Auto.
OG Kush - Reserva Privada
Industrial - Dinafem
Shark Attack - local clone
Critical Plus - local clone
OG Kush #18 - Caliconnection


Cheese, OG, and Industrial responded best to FF nutes. SA, C+, and OG18 all liked RO better.

Neither. Build your own.

Not being snobby. Just sharing my experience. Give it a try.

Fox farm is too hot, roots organic has been much better in my experience and it gives my flowers a very floral and sweet smell in comparison to other soils.

Just wanted to add my input...I have fox farm happy frog... And I'm not happy. The drainage is shit... I'm sorry but I don't want to have to buy perlite to add to this shit. I'm going to give roots a try and add perlite to this soil for my outside grow since it have a lot of bugs in it...

i love ocean forest peronally. I've switched to roots to try organic growing but I got bigger yields with ocean forest. This is now my 2nd run with roots. I didn't cook it long last time so Im giving it one more shot. I've never tried happy frog though.

black jesus said:

Just wanted to add my input...I have fox farm happy frog... And I'm not happy. The drainage is shit... I'm sorry but I don't want to have to buy perlite to add to this shit. I'm going to give roots a try and add perlite to this soil for my outside grow since it have a lot of bugs in it...

Click to expand...

The bugs man... Fox farm have hella crap in it...it's not a huge problem but it adds to the work...I thinking of doing a sog with maybe 20+ plants. It will be easy for something to start snacking on my plants when the shot was already on my soil

black jesus said:

The bugs man... Fox farm have hella crap in it...it's not a huge problem but it adds to the work...I thinking of doing a sog with maybe 20+ plants. It will be easy for something to start snacking on my plants when the shot was already on my soil

Click to expand...

I add nematodes to it before I use it and wait one week before use.

I personally create all my base soils with mixture of Roots original and happyfrog

Hello all - I have been indoors now for two years with great success. Roots 707 is all I've ever brought in. Have recycled from day one, as time passed I stopped introducing new 707 bags. Now, I've got a global PH crash. - Introducing new amendments as instructed by The Rev. Meanwhile experimenting with SubCool's supersoil bags and recipes. I'm very motivated, precise and energetic. Have been taking notes and putting in thousands of hours happily working at this craft. Good times indeed but as any of us know, things can become complicated. ---- Peat moss is the 1st ingredient in Aurora 707 mix. I question wether this Peat is decomposing sending my PH through the floor over time. Furthermore complicating PH as I re amend my soils with each run with things such as Feather, bone, etc, etc... Not to mention any nutrients from spikes or bottom compost layer left over. ---- This reclaimed, recycled, possibly over fed, heap of organic matter, breaks down the already acidic peat moss. Leaving me with a PH of 3. Lime time.... read read read read.... Dropping peat from my mixes, moving to homemade coco base / perlite. Looking for a better solution for closed loop recyling scenarios. - Time... Thanks guys

Look forward to talking and sharing idea. Growing some downright killer stuff. Great output, top shelf. ---- Huston I've got a PH problem....

Peace and love

Tron

In the meantime i'll be roaming around talking to myself about peat moss and yelling out SPAG-NUM!!!!!

ivioto said:

Hello all - I have been indoors now for two years with great success. Roots 707 is all I've ever brought in. Have recycled from day one, as time passed I stopped introducing new 707 bags. Now, I've got a global PH crash. - Introducing new amendments as instructed by The Rev. Meanwhile experimenting with SubCool's supersoil bags and recipes. I'm very motivated, precise and energetic. Have been taking notes and putting in thousands of hours happily working at this craft. Good times indeed but as any of us know, things can become complicated. ---- Peat moss is the 1st ingredient in Aurora 707 mix. I question wether this Peat is decomposing sending my PH through the floor over time. Furthermore complicating PH as I re amend my soils with each run with things such as Feather, bone, etc, etc... Not to mention any nutrients from spikes or bottom compost layer left over. ---- This reclaimed, recycled, possibly over fed, heap of organic matter, breaks down the already acidic peat moss. Leaving me with a PH of 3. Lime time.... read read read read.... Dropping peat from my mixes, moving to homemade coco base / perlite. Looking for a better solution for closed loop recyling scenarios. - Time... Thanks guys

Look forward to talking and sharing idea. Growing some downright killer stuff. Great output, top shelf. ---- Huston I've got a PH problem....

Peace and love

TronView attachment 3423607

Click to expand...

that's a pretty girl there.
What I would do, Is mix in gypsum, biochar, and oyster meal. Also crab meal as a nutrient helps as well. Oyster shells for aeration are nice as well, although i'm not sure they do anything, but they look nice..
Also peat is already decomposed so I doubt it's that, more likely the accumulation of nutrients and dissolved solids, especially if you use blood meal.
I don't like lime.

Fantastic! Love this site. Now, when do I get to sleep!??!?

greasemonkeymann said:

that's a pretty girl there.
What I would do, Is mix in gypsum, biochar, and oyster meal. Also crab meal as a nutrient helps as well. Oyster shells for aeration are nice as well, although i'm not sure they do anything, but they look nice..
Also peat is already decomposed so I doubt it's that, more likely the accumulation of nutrients and dissolved solids, especially if you use blood meal.
I don't like lime.

Click to expand...

Thanks for the suggestion! Stocked up my shelves and will get after it. Question. So I can better understand before leaping. You had suggested to mix in gypsum, biochar, and oyster meal. Also crab meal as a nutrient helps as well -- This is to help raise my PH without the use of lime? This is because while lime may stabilize and raise my PH it is also bringing unwanted things to the table? --- I will begin my search for the answer as well. Thank a million!

greasemonkeymann said:

that's a pretty girl there.
What I would do, Is mix in gypsum, biochar, and oyster meal. Also crab meal as a nutrient helps as well. Oyster shells for aeration are nice as well, although i'm not sure they do anything, but they look nice..
Also peat is already decomposed so I doubt it's that, more likely the accumulation of nutrients and dissolved solids, especially if you use blood meal.
I don't like lime.

Click to expand...

Have just finished incorporating gypsum(9c), biochar(6c), oyster meal(3c), crab(6c). Also some rice hulls (1cuft), lobster compost (1/2cuft), quality castings (1/2cuft), and perlite (1cuft). ---- Now, was it enough...?!! I did not go over board, however is all relative. I walk around in my dirt stalls!! Who the hell even knows how many cubic feet are here. Maybe its time I count! [ -EDIT- Alright LxWxH this stall and its now 24.5 cuft ]

Appreciate all of you!

-EDIT- Yet another question. My 15 gallon Vortex Brewer is going to ding soon, shall I water my soil stalls with it? (Microbeman is all I've ever followed for teas)

AND what about this bag of shell flour at my feet???

Much love and respect
I CAN NOT STOP READING THIS SITE!!!!! ARgggghhhh I love it
Realizing im an ass and rambling in a thread... apologize. I'll step it up. Thx

ivioto said:

Thanks for the suggestion! Stocked up my shelves and will get after it. Question. So I can better understand before leaping. You had suggested to mix in gypsum, biochar, and oyster meal. Also crab meal as a nutrient helps as well -- This is to help raise my PH without the use of lime? This is because while lime may stabilize and raise my PH it is also bringing unwanted things to the table? --- I will begin my search for the answer as well. Thank a million!

Click to expand...

yes that is correct, also it's a good way to incorporate other advantages of those as well, the chitin in the crab meal, the biological "condo" that is the biochar, calcium, etc.
The crab, biochar, and oyster meal will do more for your soils ph than the gypsum, but the gypsum can help sorta "absorb" any excess salts you may have, increase drainage as well,sometimes excess organic nutrients will turn a soil acidic, and have too much undissolved nutrients in it to promote healthy plants, and the gypsum sorta "buffers" that, to a degree
For me, if ph is a severe issue, d-lime is a last resort, but to be honest I've never had a ph problem since turning to living organics. SO my experience in remedying this isn't as comprehensive as i'd like it to be, in order to give you solid advice.
I know for me? a good homemade compost literally seems to cure everything, sounds stupid, but i'm serious, I don't know what magic is in my compost pile, but it's the best cure-all for my plants.. hell even a compost and silica tea seems to kill spider mites for gods sake...
My good ole compost pile...
wish I would have know how well they work 20yrs ago.