I’ve been growing with Fox Farms Ocean Forrest soil for awhile now. I don’t really have any problems with it but I just feel like I could/should step it up a notch. Could some of y’all point me in a good direction or some advice on things that have worked well for y’all. Thanks in advance, much love!
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It depends on what you want to do to step up your soil game. Bagged soil is ok, but you could really step up your game making your own soil. Here is a great starting place.
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Awesome! Service from no less the OG’s Soil Knight 
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you could find out what’s in FFOC and then try to make your own blend with better ingredients. That’s what I’ve done with soil mix and ferts, just start with regular cannabis-industry stuff and then gradually replace them with my own choices.
I see soil mix broken into 4 components: peat (or coir), compost, aeration, and nutrients. I like about 30% aeration, 20% compost, 50% peat. I’m sure FFOC is similar.
Aeration is perlite or rice hulls. I’ve tested some peat/perlite base mixes to see which one I like best (the coarser ones), I use local compost and worm castings for the compost part, and then pick my favorite fertilizers (blood meal, fish meal, guano, kelp, alfalfa, etc) and add 3-4 tablespoons dry nutes per gallon of mix to start.
edit, here’s another example, Aurora tells you what’s in Roots 707, you can see their choices -
base - peat & coco fiber
aeration - perlite, pumice
compost - Composted forest material, worm castings
nutes - Bat guano, soybean meal, fish bone meal, kelp meal.
http://www.aurorainnovations.org/formula-707.html
FORMULA 707
INGREDIENTS
Peat Moss, Composted Forest Material, Perlite, Coco Fiber, Pumice, Worm Castings, Bat Guano, Soybean Meal, Fish Bone Meal, Kelp Meal
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should we add a 5th component of minerals/trace elements??? Maybe. Most peat moss base mixes have lime and gypsum added, I’m not sure anything else is needed. But you can add more stuff like granite dust, azomite, greensand, etc. if you want.
If you’re starting with pure peat moss or coir you will definitely need to add some lime to balance pH, and other sources of minerals. The base peat and coir mixes from companies like Promix will have lime & gypsum in there.
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I strongly believe in adding lots of rock dusts, gypsum, oyster shell flour, etc.
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What would be good for outdoor? Bigger size pot, also? Thanks for the replies so far amigos.
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Perfect response (I believe) is to recommend watching Mendo Dope’s You tube channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC8BFOdvurKpz-Y2U4Nroo8g Especially the last year or so. They have began utilizing a cover crop, and organic soil amendments, and its made a world of difference.
What nutrients are you already using if anything? We can try and assist as best as possible with the different background of growers here, based on what nutrients you already have.
I am an advocate for organic no-till. It may cost some money during the transition but save you lots of money in the long haul. Dry amendments like the folks before me have mentioned. I start with Malibu Bu’s blend, malibu compost, and rice hulls and or grow stones. 30/30/30 soil/compost/aeration. If you can get local and trust the source, get local. I would steer away from anything “Supersoil” or that needs to cook. Build a soil craft nutrient blend. I swear by it. And adjust with different ratios of the ingredients accordingly.
Also since its an outdoor crop, don’t forget to research IPM.
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Definitely bigger pot size, for outdoors, if you have the room. Fabric pots are the best!
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