What is fox farm Happy Frog lacking?

I've used several different soil mixes but happy frog was my first and favorite, only reason I stopped using it is because of gnat issues with it, but most other soils I've used come with bugs too so I'll get over it. My first complaint other than bugs about this soil is it doesn't seem aerated enough, though I'm no expert I've only done a couple harvests so i wouldn't really know. Aso Ive seen many people make there own fully ammended recipes with this soil using stuff like worm castings, Bone/blood meal, coco etc. I'm not looking to make a fully amended soil but I was wondering what everyone would recommend adding to this soil to make it an all around better soil. I was gonna transplant my clones first into cups with lightly amended soil, then wait until I get some big roots and need to start feeding to transplant in a nicely amended soil probably 3-5 gallons that they will be flowered in, so I was wondering what everyone would recommend adding to either of these mixes.

Make your own soil.

what me and several other people use
peat moss, pumice, worm castings, compost, crab meal, neem meal, kelp meal, rock dust (basalt or glacial). Some people mix in coco too.

Adding coco coir will help with aeration, water retention, and may also help keep a more stable pH. Most potting mixes including Happy Frog are sphagnum-based, and sphagnum peat by itself is an acidic material. Coco coir has a pH which is more near neutral (still not quite). It might also help to add some additional dolomite lime at 1-2 tbsp per gallon, depending on your water source and when/if you plan to transplant again.

As far as general purpose dry fertilizers go: Espoma Bio-Tone Starter Plus or another Espoma-Tone product such as the Garden-Tone. These products already include things like poultry manure, bone meal, alfalfa meal, cocoa meal, greensand, humates, etc. as well as various microbes.

If you do use the FFOF or HF try cooking it for a month. It will be much better cooked when you add a nice tea to it before cooking. It is a start on the organic pathway. Once you see what this will do cooked you will be hungry to make your own mix. Baby steps. Prosperian here on RIU runs it this way. He uses Roots Organic though. Here is a recent picture of Prosperian's work grown in the way as described above. He only added a very minimal amout of 1-2 things towards the end of blooming. Straight water 98% of the way with CaMg+ every other watering. Can't argue with that picture. Take care.

All it needs is some Happy Frog Jump Start

GandalfdaGreen said:

If you do use the FFOF or HF try cooking it for a month. It will be much better cooked when you add a nice tea to it before cooking. It is a start on the organic pathway. Once you see what this will do cooked you will be hungry to make your own mix. Baby steps. Prosperian here on RIU runs it this way. He uses Roots Organic though. Here is a recent picture of Prosperian's work grown in the way as described above. He only added a very minimal amout of 1-2 things towards the end of blooming. Straight water 98% of the way with CaMg+ every other watering. Can't argue with that picture. Take care.

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what should I use in the tea I feed it before cooking? it seems everyone uses a different tea I just like to know what people are using.

Budies, here is a little more info. on the subject. I use tap water to start the cook. Everything else is in the soil. I run a little molasses (1 tbs./gal at flowering) and CaMg+ (1 tbs./gal as needed). Figure 1.5 cu. ft. bag per plant will take you through all transplants and top dressings to harvest. I recommend transplanting multiple times to freshen the soil in the pots. I go from solo, 1 gal, 3 gal, and finally 5 gal Geopot fabric containers with Velcro seams. Thanks Gandalf for bringing this question to my attention.

Two plastic containers to hold the soil for 4-5 plants in 5 gal pots. One to hold the soil the other to catch the run off.


Holds moisture pretty well with this setup.


I had these on standby but did not need them.


As you can see, the soil keeps up with the plants. No burning or over feeding here.

Thank you Pros.

• You must spread some Reputation around before giving it to prosperian again.
  
  
  
  

Happy Frog works great if you add 15 to 20 % perlite to it, a handful of fresh EWC's, or a quart of mixed up Super Plant Tonic solution per gallon of soil, and turn it every three days for two or three weeks. If you notice gnats or other bugs crawling around, mix up, and water in some Neem Oil (I use Dyna-Gro's version), every 5 days (three times). You end up with a soil that's alive, mellow, and bug free.

As far as adding things, lightly topdressed guanos, or mild guano teas, or quality bottled nutes like Earth Juice, General Organics, or BMO. Because I like to feed only as needed. Mixing up super soils, takes away some of that control, and having OCD, I need to tend, feed, and give my ladies attention throughout my grow, otherwise it nerves me out. lol

GandalfdaGreen said:

If you do use the FFOF or HF try cooking it for a month. It will be much better cooked when you add a nice tea to it before cooking. It is a start on the organic pathway. Once you see what this will do cooked you will be hungry to make your own mix. Baby steps. Prosperian here on RIU runs it this way. He uses Roots Organic though. Here is a recent picture of Prosperian's work grown in the way as described above. He only added a very minimal amout of 1-2 things towards the end of blooming. Straight water 98% of the way with CaMg+ every other watering. Can't argue with that picture. Take care.

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It would be nice if you would let Us know what the abbreviations mean.

Dead thread .....

FFOF - Fox Farm Ocean Forest soil
HF - Happy Frog soil ( same company ) milder soil.

Both work fine.

Simple is best: your HF with 10% EWC and 10% Perlite. Keep it simple......it's easier to add than remove. Deficiencies (GENERALLY) won't kill your plants, might need a little TLC is all, a quick tea or topdressing they bounce back. They're strong plants.. Adding too much is recipe to kill plants, or hurt them to a point your buds will suffer.
Over thinking=over feeding, over watering...over the top nutrients.
I truly believe less is more. I've seen plants grow outside the best weed I've ever smoked.....and all that was is taking handfuls of bag seeds and throwing them into the woods. Just let em grow.