Fox farms nutes work well especially when used properly I suggest getting sledge hammer as well really helps when flushing for salts and all that… now the soil you are using is most definitely organic it’s full of beneficial microbes and microscopic life that break down natural amendments and feed your plants, now this is where things start to contradict with fox farms the soil they make is organic and good stuff the bottled nutes they use have high salt content and that tends to damage your organic food web in the soil but most of the beneficials will go away anyways once the soil has been used up unless continuing on with organic dry amendments, my suggestion with using fox farm trio and soil is to make sure you have sledgehammer for flushing, when using bottled nutes you don’t need beneficials
In the soil becuase the nutes your giving are 100 percent usable by the plants roots…
I used to use fox farms and although it got me through my first 2 grows and they work great… I was unimpressed by constant flushing and and the whole nute mixing rituals just didn’t appeal to me
Benefits of using organic dry amendments/
It’s Simple
Very little effort
Works well and the plants will be healthier (beneficials in the soil help prevent disease and sickness as well as many other things that bottled nutes don’t)
Although PH is still important you don’t have to monitor run off hardly ever
I never mess with TDS meter any more with my current system
Just ph’d water most of the time
No flushing or resets unless serious issue occurs
Also less watering after your soil food web is built the soil seems to hold on to moisture a little better
Over feeding is very hard to do
cons/ not many of them for me others may disagree
Over feeding is hard but it can happen and flushing those amendments out isn’t an easy job
You absolutely have to have microorganisms in the soil to break down nutrients for the plants without it your plants won’t get what they need ( not really a con but necessary info)
Figuring out how to amend and how much to amend depending on strains and phenos can be difficult to get it pinned down especially with finicky phenos
After amending it takes several weeks for those nutrients added to be broke down by microbes and be usable for plants you have to stay on top of feedings 1 week too late can cause some mad deficiencies
With mineral or chemical ferts (bottled nutes)
Pros/
Nutes are immediately available to the roots if you do run into issues the plants recovery is much faster
Feeding schedules although they may need to be tweaked help stay on track and ensure your plant is getting exactly what it needs when it needs it
Some are relatively inexpensive (fox farms being one of the more pricey options)
Cons/
Can disturb and disrupt natural soil biome (microorganisms) higher chance of disease and what not
They grow plants but do not improve soil health (that’s where the magic happens)
Extremely high risk for over feeding and burning (nobody wants it to happen but it’s a lot easier to fix vs organic method)
Most other cons are severe in large growing operations like large crop growing farms and things like that not so much somebody growing in a bag of soil haha things like…
desertification of our farm lands causing the planet to warm not a big deal if your growing indoors ina pot or grow bag
It’s 100 percent up to you how you want to grow and you will have tons of support no madder which side you grow on!
A lot of us jump around some grow the same way they have for many years, in the last year (my first year growing indoors) I have grown in coco coir with fox farms and I tried GH nutes on one plant, I have grown soil with fox farms nutes, and this cycle I have switched to organics and I love it and also I’m going to be switching to hydro this coming summer just to see if I like that… everybody is different and grow a bit differently I suggest sticking to what you’ve been doing because your plant looks good and healthy that’s all that madders if you want to switch it up and try it different there is no harm in learning a different way of growing or just simply using different nute lines they will all grow plants some are more intricate than others…
Sorry for the long chat haha so organic grows don’t need flushing whatsoever just another perk
Also there have been studies that show that organically grown in soil plants tend to have better and higher terpene content so that’s leaning on the quality side of things depending on how much you as the patient like to enjoy the aromas and flavors of your crop
