My next grow was going to be grown in Fo Farms Happy Frog Using the fox farm trio nutrients. I’m not sure if that counts as an organic grow. If I started using the mycorrhizae and whatever that plant food is, would that alter the way I used the fox farm trio nutrients? Would I be ok to adjust the ph of my water using General Hydroponics ph adjuster?
I’ve had a really hard time understanding organic grows. I’m just don’t want to be wasting money on stuff if I end up just nullifying the eco system on my soil with chemicals
Nothing organic about it. Synthetic nutes already in Fox Farms soil. You can use organic products and nutrients to make an almost completely organic grow, but using FF soils with FF nutes is far from organic.
This is an fungal additive for transplanting. It is used to aid in the uptake of nutrients and stimulate root growth. It helps provide a symbiotic relationship between the plant, roots and soil taking in more of what the plant needs. It is sprinkled around the root system and in the hole where the plant will go. Directly apply to roots, but sprinkle, as too much can cake over the roots and cause issues.
Would the use of synthetic nutrients or any other inorganic stuff defeat the purpose of adding the myc? Would adding the myc make it necessary for me to deviate from whatever the instructions on my box of fertilizer says?
I didn’t see any benefit using golden tree. It also smells incredibly bad. Bad bad.
All I use has been:
Jacks 3-2-1
Silica
Epson salt
Hydroguard( Dwc and soil)
PH down (GH brand)
Been doing good. When I used FF soil I had many issues, I think because it’s hot. I flushed it entirely and then just feed every watering. I use the self watering base so I guess technically it’s always there if it wants it.
I do use the myco when transplanting, it helps with rooting. It helps build a symbiotic relationship. I don’t think the plant can tell or cares if it’s organic or synthetic. Even in DWC the hydroguard ( also an inoculate) helps with algae and root growth.
At the end of the day whatever soil over time will become depleted and need feed, synthetic or organic. I found it easier to cut to the chase and use synthetic after flushing the medium, I’ve had the best results I’ve ever had with this compared to trying to balance new soil with feeding specific additives and being inexperienced. My end goal is just good, cheap and effective smoke. Organic isn’t anything I have experience with.
So the jacks is your fertilizer, yea? Is it one bottle or multiple different bottles (base a, base b, etc)? Would the Epsom salt and silica be “additives” that you use in addition to fertilizer?
The jacks is a solid form fertilizer. You mix part A+ epsom salt and then part b. Combine. I then add the silica, ( I only use cal-mag if a specific strain needs it).
I mix it well with water and PH it. I make sure the PPM is around 1000. That’s pretty much it.
I don’t have a ppm meter. If you’re following the directions and adding the correct amount of fertilizer to a gallon of water, why is testing the ppm necessary? Is it because water quality varies? How do you know how to adjust? Like if your mix 5mL into a gallon of water and it comes to 1200ppm, do you start over and try adding 4mL to a gallon? Not sure if what I’m saying makes sense
Everybody’s water from the tap has a different ph my well water is 8.0 the city water in town is 7.0-7.6 if your growing in soil you want to ph your water to around 6.5. Adding nutrients changes the ph you might have to use ph up or down to get it to where you want it.
Just so you know nothing listed above except great white is listed as organic.
If I’m wrong holler.
I use the fox farm trio with little issue. Like any of the nutes anyone uses there is a learning curve. I had to come up with my own way. This is from the amounts of which one to not flushing the recommended way to flushing the recommended way. You basically have to learn to read the plants. That is true if useing FF, jacks, humbolt farms and yes even organic. @Spiney_norman might be able to help with organics.
If you decide to go the FF trio route @ me. I’ll try to help.
Yeah I learned that after it mixed weird. I mix it all separately. A gallon of water for A+salt. Another seperate gallon for B. Another separate gallon for the silica and hydroguard then mix all together and add the rest as tap water. I use a 6 gallon can to mix in.
With FF trio and humbolts liquid fertilizer, as well as reeferertilizer that I used, it was always some deficiency or toxicity here or there. After covertgrower suggested jacks and how he mixed it, it’s basically been a breeze, aside from adding cal-mag to certain plants in early flower it’s the same thing from seed to harvest.
It’s also dirt cheap in comparison at least for me. I think it was about $175 for 100lbs of A+B. Enough for 4000+ gallons of feed. Roughly $0.04 a gallon mixed.
If you mix up perlite and coco coir in your soil, after so much you’ll need to run a lower PH. I found that out the hard way too.
PH pen and PPM pen is a must, without it it’s a huge risk if your aiming for good end results. I overwatered all the time so the self wicking pots really made them shoot to life.
I go from 1 gallon of water for the first 4-5 weeks of life to 1 gallon a day during stretch and early flower. Mid flower to late flower it slows down. No way I could keep up with that proficiently without some form of auto watering or over/under watering. Realistically you could DIY the wick systems, the wick is about $7. Other than that a tub/bowl with lid that can hold the weight of the plant.
Anyway, the above made me go from barely getting a plant to late flower and keeping it alive to having explosive growth and massive yields of good bud. I also only need to check on them 3x a week.
I went with DWC because when there was an issue or salt build up in the soil, it was hard to “reset”. A 5 gallon bucket and lid with an air stone, it’s like a 1 minute total fix worst case scenario. That’s also how I found out the same PH of 5.8 worked better in my soil on my wicking pots because it was mostly perlite and coco. About 33% each of the three.
With the above I went from maybe 1oz of decent stuff my first year with 3 grows to 2-4 oz per plant per run. I’m sure it could be much better with more experience, but I’m good with where I’m at personally. “Set it and forget it” basically, haha.
So wait. You are mixing all the nutrients separately? You have a gallon of A and a gallon of B and gallon of whatever else? I always wondered if I should be doing it that way. Do you just give the plant an even amount of each gallon? Like if you want to give a gallon of water total, you give a quart of A, quart of B, and so on?
What I have now is 4 different bottles. A, B, solid start, and rock solid. I fill up a gallon jug, then add 5 mLs of whatever combination of those 4 the directions tell me to. So it’s all mixed up into one gallon. Is that wrong?
I use Jack’s with silica. Mix is: silica, 3 ml/gal, Part A, 3.6 grams, Part B, 2.4 grams, Epsom, 1.2 grams.
Target TDS between 900 and 1,000 ppm in veg, 1,100 ppm in flower. Always mix silica first as it will turn to jelly and sink to the bottom if you don’t.
Maybe that’s what I’m misunderstanding. If you have an exact nutrient mix like that, how do you adjust the ppm? Are you adding more/less of A or B or Epsom salts? How are you deciding which component to add more or less of?
You read the plants. In general it’s a good mix/ratio. Some plants will want more nitrogen during veg or some will want less during flower for example.
For me, out of 8 plants so far 6 have went well as-is, 2 needed more epsom salt ( I just used cal mag). One out of the 6 was showing slight signs of too much nitrogen but not enough to cause concern.
It’s a great starting point and usually even with deficiencies that vary from strain to strain, it’s balanced enough to pull a successful grow from with minimal issues or experience.
Do you want to give as much fertilizer as you can without seeing burn or are you just trying to stave off deficiency? Like a plant can be growing and healthy, but more fertilizer can make it bigger and healthier right? I can recognize a deficiency and I can recognize nute burn, but I’m not sure I can recognize a plant that’s good but could be better. Just comes with time I guess?
There are a lot of factors that go into mixing the correct strength. You don’t change the ratio of nutrients but you can up or down the strength of the mix. The amount of light, ambiend humidity, ambient temperature, at what stage plants are etc. Low light levels means plant witll not uptake like with proper light, more chance of burning plants along with other issues. Getting the environment right goes a long way toward having a successful grow.
I think I’m starting to get it. I understand that “5mL per gallon or whatever is just a guideline and that it can be more or less depending on how your water comes out of the tap. And I see how it’s useful to diagnose a problem/confirm nute burn. I’m not sure I understand how I would choose which bottle to go up or down with to hit the target ppm. I guess if you’re at a stage where the plant needs lots of phosphorous, I’d use less of the other bottle. Not sure if that makes sense
