Good to know. Sounds like I need to be more open minded when it comes to soil. I just started a run with FFHF. Once I start feeding I’m going to test runoff because now I’m really curious.
@beardless, I also have read a lot of posts about FF soils with problems. Since I have never use FF, I will not say anything good or bad about it.
I have always used Roots Original soil. I water only with RO, and adjust nutrient solutions to 6.5. I never have any ph issues, and stopped checking run off ph since it was always right at 6.5. I have gotten gnats in it though. But they go away with a good dry cycle between waterings.
Ill second the lack of issues with Roots and jacks. Literally effortless growing. I’m spoiled by it!
Soil ph can change as the nutrients break down in the soil. This can be natural in the beginning because you typically do not water to runoff. I would not worry a whole lot based on the look of the plants. Just keep monitoring, and now should be good to start feeding with nutes and with runoff. Should correct itself. Imo you should never feed higher then the proper ph range of soil, or no higher then 6.8 to try to correct. Best of luck.
When I started I used FF OF soil. Once I learned a bit about ph & ppm I always did a slurry test just so I knew what the baseline was. Thankfully I never tested one to be out of range. Ph upper 6 and ppm 2000 - 2400 if I recall correctly.
Maybe this question should be asked on it’s own thread. But I will start by hijacking this one.
I recently found out that HydroFarm bought out Roots, (Aurora Innovations). And also other companies that make nutrients and grow supplies.
Who is HydroFarm? What Country are they from? As consumers should we be concerned about this?
When i used the FFOF and treo i was always chasing pH and TDS problems. Admittedly i was inexperienced with Ph and tds. With the roots and jacks no such issues. Great results with no drama. What else could i ask for.
Coco and Jack’s here. Although I don’t chase ph & ppm I do ph & ppm all input and runoff.
@Ickey I don’t know the answers to your questions although I have bought products sold through / from HydroFarm. Things like my saucers, Growit Coco, and I think my trim tray.
I think it is a US company with corp office is CA. It’s stock is publicly traded on NASDAQ: HYFM
I’ve also been using Roots Organics Original soil without any problems, I use Grow Dots with it.
On hydrofarmdotcom, it looks like HydroFarm is in Petaluma, California. They have a few brands they now own:
Active Air
Active Aqua
Innovative Growers Equipment
Jump Start
Phantom
PHOTOBIO
SunBlaster
Autopilot
Gaia Green
Grotek
GROW!T
HEAVY 16
House & Garden
Mad Farmer
Roots Organics
Ill be checking out Roots Original.
Update us when you get runoff numbers. @Khaos850
Thanks Guys
Happy Canniversary!
Happy Canniversary @Sizzzl !!! Coco and perlite and Jacks for me. I only check ph of what’s going in because there are so many studies and journals of people using Jacks that if you use it in an inert media like coco, Promix or hydro, you know that your numbers will be in range as long as your ph meter is properly calibrated. I only check runoff numbers if I have issues.
Been a minute
What is ppm of your water with RO system ?
Im actually transplanting and feeding half dose in an hour or so lol. No run off numbers yet.
My RO is typically 40-50 PPM
Thats funny i have had the same experience uising Roots Organic and jacks. im religious on Ph and tds going in but dont ck comming out (Ph) as it has never been out of control. At least not regularly anymore (Ph that is).
Of course I forgot to get runoff numbers for you
@Sizzzl well I guess I’ll be jumping onboard the low PH train. My girls look as good as can be and I’ve had no issues but I just fed them and decided, what the heck, I’ll check runoff numbers. Sure enough its 5.8. I will be switching soils after this run.
I just got 2 bags of happy frog and both bags was at 5.4 ph. I thought my blue lab meter went bad so i got another one. But defiently was a bad batch. Came off the same pallet. I used pellet lime and it fixed its self in a few weeks. But im done with fox farm soils.
If that was true plants would struggle in happy frog but we know that isn’t true. What’s your method of testing?
Was this tested using a slurry test? I’ve tested a few straight from the bag that were low but not this bad