Fox Farms -vs- Miracle Grow

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..If you are useing chemical fertilizers with "organic" mixes, you are most likely killing the beneficial organisms in the organic mix. Virtually nullifying the purpose of organics...IMO
 
from my experence if you must use mg, get the gardeners choice organic, go thur it and take out the bigger chunks of wood,add some perlite. start adding nutes in a couple weeks, work your way up with the nutes slowley. and it works ok.:farm:
 
White Owl said:
First off, let me say that I am a first-time medicinal grower and I'm just trying to get a grasp on all of the techniques. I'm hearing raving reviews on Fox Farms products. However, I'm also reading online sources that say that the plants do not need as much nutrients as the FF products put out. From what I'm reading, Miracle Grow seems to have exactly what the plants need without the risk of burning them with too much NPK. Heck, MG even has a Better Bloom equivalent! I'm just confused as to what the big difference is in the two from an experienced grower's point of view: Which line of products puts out the best buds? I'm not going for profit here...I just want to smoke the best medical weed I can grow without tasting that harsh, fertilizer flavor.
:smoke1:

Also, I was analyzing the feeding schedule suggested by FF, and it sure seems like I'm gonna be feeding my plants WAY too much! I mean, I did the math and everything...we're talking close to 50-60P in the 7th week? That just seems like a lot to me. From what other internet sources tell me, the plants should only need about 20-35P during that time (which MG provides).
:hairpull::watchplant:

Is there any real guideline to go by when it come to nutes?




Fox Farm all the way. Dont be cheap, you will regreat it. Start your grow right, order your things online if you dont have a store near you.

A cheap friend of mine also bought that MG crap, and all he does is complain, and compain, and complain some more, he is not happy with the results, he says next time "will be using Fox Farm produts"

My garden looks like its on steroids :D I only use FF products.
 
First @ Whiteowl...Just make sure whatever you put in your soil mix you personal read the bags all the way...Long story short I'm Physically Challenged so often times I need help...Now Remember and keep in Mind what @ Sir_Tokie said about you know your at threshold when you get slight tip burn ...I was mixing up a big batch of organic soil for my 5 gallon buckets ...I had to use the restroom so I asked My Soulmate to mix in the bag of plain perlite and I'd be right back ...Now I've been fighting slight tip burn since the start of this grow and I now know why ...I got the shed open yesterday there sits the pain big bag of perlite all pretty like yet there is perlite in the mix....HUmmmmmmmm moment ..Then the Oh crap sets in ...My love poured in the Whole bag of MG perlite that is fortified with time release fets thay I use to lightly top dress her lilly and iris and tulip beds cause My Princess loves her pretties and Yes though I grow MJ ...I love having her beds filled with pretties so she has all the colors she loves ...Laughs left behind the grill... but brought out west 4 boxes full of bulbs ...

So I'll be watering and letting it dry to near crisp ...then water again till the plants get a lil bigger ...Lesson learned hold it till after the soils mixed no matter what ...And mark the bags in the shed....Flowers .....MJ laughing hard ...Yeah like I could sift all that perlite out now ...NOT

Second @ gary18...Thankyou My Friend all I can say is I'm just me always and some folks like my view some don't...But I look at it this way if they read it and part helps that's a keeper the rest that does not work for them they can toss out with the trash ...And Man I love Mt too home sweet home no place on earth I'd rather be...

Learn something new every day it is good for you.

James
 
I'll chime in in support of FF. Those of us who've used it have had killer crops. I'm sure an experienced botanist (or botonist) could use coffe grounds, egg shells and worm farts and get a decent crop IF he knew what MJ plants needed at various stages. I'm a clumsy grower and heavy handed fertilizer-er, and FF has been very kind and forgiving.

The only problem I see with MG is that it is for potted plants, not pot plants. FF and several other nute outfits have grown up with the market and are more or less MJ dedicated. MG isn't.

Below is the link to FF's feeding schedule. Listen to what 4U2 says about 1/4 to 1/2 half strength at first even with MJ specialized nutes.
hxxp://www.foxfarmfertilizer.com/soilfeed.pdf.

Here are the N-P-K rates for the ones not on the chart: Tiger Bloom: 2-8-4; Big Bloom: .01-.3-.7; Open Sesame: 5-45-19; Beastie Bloomz: 0-50-30; Cha Ching: 9-50-10. And, as mentioned above that's not counting the micro-nutes that seem important to MJ.

As a ps: Just jarred my first grow. Got 750 gms out of a 4.5'x8' room pushing 2 600w lights. That's .63 gms per watt, a pretty unrealistic goal for a rookie, but not impossible if you pay attention and use forgiving products.

Luck and peace.
 
If any of you follow my other posts, i used MG for my bagseed. Nothing but burnt leaves, yellow spots, etc. Pain in the ***.
This time i bought Fox farms Ocean forest and used that for my G-13 seeds.
I no longer question WHY here, i just follow directions.
I found MG is only as good as my "tin foil hat" thst i was using,lol.
(inside joke for those whom followed my threads, i love my tin foil)

My advice as a newby to you is, just give AS MUCH INFO AS POSSIBLE about your grow and you'll recieve the correct advice from many sources.

Good luck and peace........................
 
sunshine soil is quite popular around here.
i had some sunshine organic soil mix last grow, and really liked it. unfortunatly i can't find it now :(
 
Is it ok to transplant plants that are in time release mg soil to FF/equiv?

Mine are in 6"pots now and I was planning on moving them to 12" real soon.
 
White Owl said:
Now, just to clarify...I think I'm confused on what exactly the stages are. Is it:
1. Seedling/Cloning
2. Vegging
3. Flowering ("Blooming")
4. Harvesting/Drying ("Curing")

1. The term "Seedling" refers to a plant grown from seed. Sex of the plant is unknown in the seedling stage. A clone is an exact genetic copy of a host (mother) plant. Any mj plant with a growing tip (branch with leaves) can be cloned. Once a seedling is big enough to grow branches a clone can be taken from it. Clones need to be rooted so that it develops roots for survival and growth. Rooting a clone takes from 7-14 days typically. Once rooted a clone can be used for sexing or simply to create an exact duplicate of the plant it was taken from for future use. Once a suitable mother plant has been chosen clones can be taken from her for years without genetic drift.

Clones are awesome and make the mj grower's job MUCH easier! It gives you the ability to choose from an available mother plant (or many mothers) to develop your next harvest from and you no longer have to do the slow process of growing from seed and waiting to determine the sex of you plant as it will be an identical genetic copy of your female mother plant. You can keep your mother plant and developing clones vegging under long light conditions to keep it from flowering.... and you can keep this strain around as long as you have room for it.

2. "Vegging" refers to the plant's vegetative growth stage when it is kept under long daylight conditions 16/8, 18/6, 24/0, etc...and during this growth develops the roots and foliage of the plant.

3. "Flowering" or "Budding" refers to the plant's reproduction stage and is triggered indoors by giving the plant's 12 hours of UNinterupted darkness. After about a week to 10 days of 12/12 daylight/darkness marijuana plants in the vegetative stage begin flowering, also knows as budding.

4. "Harvesting" refers to doing just that! Cutting down the fully mature mj plants and trimming away the leaves and stems followed by drying the flowers or buds for consumption. "Curing" involves completing the drying process and storing the buds for a period to draw the last of the moisture out of the stems and this helps the fresh buds develop their flavor and taste and lose that 'green grass' taste. If you search "Curing" on the forums you'll find some good learning threads...

I hope this helps... It's a decent starting point but you can learn much more about each of these in many threads and FAQS if you do a little searching...

Peace!:cool:
 
Let me tell ya, I will never use MG again. Every plant that we used MG for had problems from the very get go. They all started turning yellow in the 3rd or 4th week of vegging. So, we had to use some PH down and that seemed to help. All of the plants were very stretchy. You would think this would have more to do with the lights than the MG, but I will explain in a minute about how I know this is not the case. Now the plants are in the flowering stage and we don't expect to get very much yield out of these plants. I think the MG was too harsh for the plants and therefore affected their entire plant life from sprout to flowers.

After that experience and reading several, several good reviews about FF, we used it on our next batch of plants. Same conditions as the first. We used the same lighting, same area, and same watering schedule. However, with the FF plants, we have not had one single plant start turning yellow. They all grew to be very bushy plants, not stretchy. The plants are just now entering flowering, so I have no results for that. But just from the difference in experience so far, I would vote for FF hands down.
 
dirtyolsouth said:
1. The term "Seedling" refers to a plant grown from seed. Sex of the plant is unknown in the seedling stage. A clone is an exact genetic copy of a host (mother) plant. Any mj plant with a growing tip (branch with leaves) can be cloned. Once a seedling is big enough to grow branches a clone can be taken from it. Clones need to be rooted so that it develops roots for survival and growth. Rooting a clone takes from 7-14 days typically. Once rooted a clone can be used for sexing or simply to create an exact duplicate of the plant it was taken from for future use. Once a suitable mother plant has been chosen clones can be taken from her for years without genetic drift.

Clones are awesome and make the mj grower's job MUCH easier! It gives you the ability to choose from an available mother plant (or many mothers) to develop your next harvest from and you no longer have to do the slow process of growing from seed and waiting to determine the sex of you plant as it will be an identical genetic copy of your female mother plant. You can keep your mother plant and developing clones vegging under long light conditions to keep it from flowering.... and you can keep this strain around as long as you have room for it.

2. "Vegging" refers to the plant's vegetative growth stage when it is kept under long daylight conditions 16/8, 18/6, 24/0, etc...and during this growth develops the roots and foliage of the plant.

3. "Flowering" or "Budding" refers to the plant's reproduction stage and is triggered indoors by giving the plant's 12 hours of UNinterupted darkness. After about a week to 10 days of 12/12 daylight/darkness marijuana plants in the vegetative stage begin flowering, also knows as budding.

4. "Harvesting" refers to doing just that! Cutting down the fully mature mj plants and trimming away the leaves and stems followed by drying the flowers or buds for consumption. "Curing" involves completing the drying process and storing the buds for a period to draw the last of the moisture out of the stems and this helps the fresh buds develop their flavor and taste and lose that 'green grass' taste. If you search "Curing" on the forums you'll find some good learning threads...

I hope this helps... It's a decent starting point but you can learn much more about each of these in many threads and FAQS if you do a little searching...

Peace!:cool:

One part I'm confused about a little here. A seedling with a branch tip can be made into a mother for cloning, how do you tell it's female if you haven't flowered it yet?

Thanks :)
 
IMO, I would NEVER use MG for MJ! Just my 2 cents on that.

When I grow I try to keep all nutes at bare minimums. I never use the full amount recommended. I always use at most half or less. I try to keep everything as clean (least nutes possible) and natural as possible.

Good Luck
HazeMe
 
So I've made my decision...FFOF soil all the way. My plants DO NOT like MG soil! However, I'm at the cloning stage now, and I have another question....
When putting baby clones in dit, is it ok top use FFOF soil or should I use a milder orgaqnic soil? I've heard that FF soil is too rich for baby clones.
 
I have yet another question along those lines, how about a mix, I have a friend that is using 4 parts FFOF, one part Organics Choice by MG, one part Perlite. The five clones he put into soilmix in 4in pots 10 days ago, they started out strong but seemed to have stopped any new growth at all about five days in. Liting is 2 400wt hps,two sets of 4 flor ( 4ft ), that have the plant & Aquarium bulbs. This is in a 4ftx6ft enclosure, the room has 4 of these, contructed of 2in styrafoam stuck together by nitting needles, pretty nice. The flors are for side lighting.
Today the stems are losing alot of color, but the rest is still a healthy green.
:confused:
 
If you surf around the sick plant forum for any length of time and read every day the new posts of plant problems. You will see a recurring theme with MG soil. Not to say you can't grow nice plants in it but after reading sick plant section for better part of a year there tons of posts of sick plants with beginners growing in MG. Just what I have learned I wouldn't touch it with stick just by the amount of problems I have read with it. Every now and then you read of people having success with it but thats to far and few between.
 
I have perfect sucess with MG. If any of my plants were ever not liking anything it was me adjusting the PH. Its all about going at it the right way. To many people that us MG soil also use a fert thats high in N. With the soil having a butt load already there is no need for more. I cant stand people saying dont use it. Its more like dont use it if you do not know how to work it correctly. My plants couldnt be happier in veg when using MG. You just have to make sure to add a good blooming nute after a little bit to give that soil a kick.
 
I agree caretaker but the thing is most beginners don't know how to use it(just check the sick plant forum) and about the only person who would be asking "what soil should I use" would probably be a beginner. Depending on which MG you get you can easily burn little guys and increase that chance if your and over watering beginner.

For beginners I would say it can easily cause you problems. If your going to use MG make sure you know darn well what kind of MG you should be using and what nutes you should not give and which you should is all.
 

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