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soil Fox farm soil users I have a question...

Vegas_Chili

Vegas_Chili

Ok so I bought myself a bag of fox farms ocean forest soil, and it's the first time I use it. Right now I'm pretty disappointed with the soil. I've heard too much good reviews from it,but I must of gotten a bad batch or is it normal?

I barely used up like 1/8 of the bag, literally nothing and I'm finding nickel sized rocks? Take a look, and any advice or suggestions I'm open.




-Walt
 
Screen it and use it. I have found stuff in bags of soil that I could defend myself with. At $10+ per cu ft.,it's not worth tossing. I personally love the stuff for older seedlings (4-6 sets of true leaves).

By the looks of the photos backdrop,you are starting up some seeds???? I don't suggest that mix for this stage of growing. Try something light. This is a shot of the stuff I use and I still screen it! I don't have my priorities straight though. :lol: :lol:

11505660433_7aed9a1ae2_b.jpg
 
Pr0digal_son said:
Screen it and use it. I have found stuff in bags of soil that I could defend myself with. At $10+ per cu ft.,it's not worth tossing. I personally love the stuff for older seedlings (4-6 sets of true leaves).

By the looks of the photos backdrop,you are starting up some seeds???? I don't suggest that mix for this stage of growing. Try something light. This is a shot of the stuff I use and I still screen it! I don't have my priorities straight though. :lol: :lol:

11505660433_7aed9a1ae2_b.jpg
Click to expand...
Thanks Prodigal, that was my first thought. To just screen it and use it because it has some big chunks of wood too. The thing is that it's gonna be like if I payed for rocks and chunks of wood but oh well, no big deal.

My concern too was if it's always like this because I initially wanted happy frog,but they didn't have ATM so I chose this.

I'm using this as my seedlings get bigger and a couple of mature plants that are going from hydro to soil. Jiffys and some other soil are for starting the seeds.

Is there any type of soil you recommend to transplant into after they germinate in the jiffys?

Thanks for the advice.

-Walt
 
You will not find that much in every bag,no. You will find filler in most mixes though. I prefer it over Happy Frog(drains better),but where I grow,we get biblical rains in the spring,you don't have that problem :lol:

I used jiffy's one time,too much babysitting for me! I would guess?..just a guess,that if you transplanted a jiffy with a new sprout into a charged mix,by the time the roots grew through the mesh,it would be mature enough to not burn up. I am not suggesting that,might be something for you to test on a single plant though.
 
I recently bought 2 bags of Fox Farm Happy Frog, and had similar size rocks in 1 bag, and none in the other. Currently have a bag of Ocean Forest as well, though my seedlings are still too small for me to use it yet. I did use it for my wife's poinsettia, and haven't found anything out of the ordinary in it yet. Like prodigal son said though, you'll find things like that in most mixes. I've found 6 inch long and 1 1/2 inch round sticks, as well as a lot of smaller sticks in some of the mixes I've used this year. 
I can't comment on the ocean forest just yet, but the happy frog is good stuff. I had some plants that were struggling in a cheap mix I'd bought, and since switching them from the cheap stuff to HF they've exploded with new growth. 
 
Been through a bunch of bags of Fox Farms and can't remember any rocks in them. I'm sure they were there, just not enough to notice.
 
As for the twigs, it depends on my mood, but i would just leave them in probably since they are well decomposed.
 
I've used it straight for sprouts with no problem, but now i cut it down with some cheap coco choir bricks and extra perlite so it's not as "hot".
 
I've had general good luck with Ocean Forest with only the minor small twigs in it ever. Miracle Grow on the other hand I have literally gotten mulch when purchasing "seed starter", not cool. 
 
I second the screening it and cutting it down with perlite/coir/vermiculite for seedlings.
 
Thanks for the help and advice, I just bought it because I'm a noob in this building the soil jazz.

PaulG posted up a recipe that seems to be pretty easy and I'm gonna give it a try. It's just that I won't be using that much soil (I think) and it would be pointless to buy bales and large bags of ingredients to build a soil and not have space to store it or use it. Maybe if I feel the need I'll jump on it and do a mix but for now I'll be using fox farm and/or give happy frog a try.

-Walt
 
ive bought two bags of happy frog and so far both are loaded with the same size rocks in your picture. i was starting to wonder if it was on purpose, "magic rocks". ive been alittle busy lately, but i want to call happy frog just to ask, why so many rocks? and im also using it on young plants, 2-3 sets of true leaves and theyre not looking unhealthy nor am i seeing any crazy growth.
ab2npw.jpg
 
After moving to about 15 or so 5 gallon buckets (and this year probably root pouches), I'm starting to re-think using Ocean Forest due to expenses.  I told myself I'd go ahead and buy the bags again this year and then decide if I wanted to change next year.  I've never noticed any rocks the past 2 or so years I've used Ocean Forest.  I have found very small twigs in it - not a ton or anything, but that's no big deal to me.  It'll be interesting to see what I find this year.  Complicating things is the fact that I used to be able to get them for around $17 per 1.5 cf bag in the past, but the cost has gone up to around $20 now.  Not a monster increase for the amount I use, but still ...
 
Ive been very happy with all the bags of FF OF. I must have bought 10 bags of the stuff by now. Very good quality stuff.
Maybe the quality of the bags vary by location? Either that or you just got a bad bag which is most likely the case.
 
ive bought two bags of happy frog and so far both are loaded with the same size rocks in your picture. i was starting to wonder if it was on purpose, "magic rocks". ive been alittle busy lately, but i want to call happy frog just to ask, why so many rocks? and im also using it on young plants, 2-3 sets of true leaves and theyre not looking unhealthy nor am i seeing any crazy growth.
ab2npw.jpg



Yeah, I see... well I did screen some of it yesterday and there's not really that many but I did find some...

Lmk what fox farm says if you get the time to call. I'll be ok with the bag, I want to get happy frog next time because it has extra soil. That's if I think I'll be needing more.

-Walt
 
I emailed Fox Farm about the rocks I'd found in one of the bags of Happy Frog I'd got. This is the reply I got-
Hello Chris,
 
Thank you for contacting FoxFarm with your comments and concerns, I’d be glad to help. I’m sorry to hear that you received some rocks in your soil, I can assure you this is an anomaly, I have heard of it once or twice, I believe it happens when the loaders get close to the ground when gathering raw materials from the yard. If you do happen to encounter this again, which I hope you do not, or even in this case, if you would like to give us the manufacture date from your bags, we can look into our retained sample for quality control purposes, and even help you with an exchange if you find that to be necessary. I hope this helps, Thank you for the compliments, and we truly apologize for any inconvenience this may have caused you.
 
Thank you for growing with FoxFarm, have a great New Year!
 
 
Unfortunately I'd already disposed of the bag so couldn't let them know the manufacture date. 
 
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