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Soil Recipe For Success
As more and more people are taking on the commitment of growing their own dank, many questions arise. And which soil to use is one topic that is always debatable. I’d like to take a few minutes to talk about one popular soil company called Fox Farm. Fox Farm has a few different types of soil available for you to choose from. Light Warrior, Planting Mix, Ocean Forrest, and Happy Frog are the main types of soil they offer.
Light Warrior is exactly as the name implies. It is a very lightweight, fast draining airy mix that has a lot of perlite in it. It is good for starting seeds or clones in. A wetting agent helps when using Light Warrior to help penetrate the soil. Planting mix is thicker with good organic amendments and holds more moisture. Ocean Forrest is a very popular soil on the market and is loaded with lots of nutrients, almost too much for younger plants, and can be downright deadly to seedlings and clones.
Happy Frog is by far my personal favorite. It is a peat based medium that offers awesome air and water retention. It has organic goodies such as earth worm castings, bat guano, humic acid and composted forest humus. Along with beneficial microbes mycorrhizae and bacteria to help break down organic matter and help feed the plant’s roots. Happy Frog isn’t too “hot” it will not burn your seedlings or clones and it has great pH stability. Actually, I start my seeds in solo cups full of pure Happy Frog soil and have never had better success.
Recipe for Success
1 2.0 cubic foot bag of Happy Frog soil
3 cups of General Organics Ancient Forest Alaskan Humus
2 cups of Earthworm castings……Mix Well!
Water in plants with Recharge
This is a soil recipe made by one of the best online growers named Koma. Koma used Oregonism XL but I substituted it with Recharge.
If you want a worry free grow medium follow these simple guidelines. Happy Frog soil is perfect for seeds and clones but will need food after a couple weeks. I like to add a few ingredients to the mix when I transplant into larger containers. I start seeds in 16-20 oz solo cups of just Happy Frog soil, feeding them only Recharge and enzymes for the first 2 weeks. The ideal pH range for this mix to water in is 6.5-6.8 with 6.6 or 6.7 being optimal. After exactly 2 weeks they will be transplanted into a 1 or 2 gallon pot of Happy Frog soil plus amendments for 3 weeks exactly to veg then transplanted into their final containers, I use 7 gallon pots to flower in. I let them veg in the 7 gallon pots of soil mix an additional 2-3 weeks before flowering. The soil recipe is great for cannabis and with the added humus and castings help the plants grow throughout veg without the need for much fertilizer.
Cons-
The cons or negatives to using this soil are that it is a peat based media. When left too dry peat has the tendency to “concrete” or harden up making watering sometimes difficult. The water will just run down the inside of the pot and straight out the bottom. This can be remedied by watering before it gets too dry. I like to water in 1.5 to 2 gallons when they are in 7 gallon pots and they are happy for about 3 days. Also, a big issue with Happy Frog (and alot of other soils right now) is fungus gnats. This can be eliminated by using an azadirachtin product such as Azamax.
I hope this will help you as it helped me. I’ve had years of success using this soil recipe and I’m sure you will too. As always be safe and happy gardening! MrBowser
Comments
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Would this Happy Frog soil Recipe be good to sow seeds in or is this for more mature plants?
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bagged soil is over rated! try to find soil at your local nursery by the yard. I’m getting a yard (approx. 200 gallons of soil) for $62 vs buying bagged soil and getting 40 -50 gallons of soil for my $62
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I’m with You. Is that soil mix hot? I would add some Ocean Forest and some more Perlite.
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Looks like some people are hitting the dislike button for fun 🙁
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Interesting post, I am stoked more people are coming around to organic soil gardening!
I agree with the comment above about bagged soil being over rated though. bag soil will work in a pinch, but for true quality make your own or work with a local company that will make some for you!
When you buy bagged stuff you get whatever ingredients the company sourced to put in there (good stuff? cheap stuff? who knows what they used) and you are stuck with whatever ratios of ingredients the manufacturer decided on. (did they use too much of this? not enough of that? who knows!)
When you make your own mix (or work with someone to make one for you) you get to pick and choose your ingredients and can source the best stuff available to you. You can also tweak and perfect your recipe over time as you know exactly how much of each thing went into it.
Best of all, the process of learning about soil ingredients and what goes into making a quality soil will teach you A TON about gardening and make you a better more skilled gardener in the long run!
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I use HF and love it. When flower comes around I simply add my nutes. No problem seeding straight into it, and goes through veg flawlessly for my autos.
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I’ve been using Happy Frog for more than a decade with very good results. I’ve tried several others but came back to Happy Frog. What I’ve seen is that if you use a good quality potting soil and all other factors are optimal (temps, air flow, exhaust, right dosage of nutrients, proper lighting and no over or under watering and good water, I’m lucky my tap water is good and of course good genetics), you’re going to get a good crop.
Keep it simple! I only use two nutrients, Jack’s classic All Purpose and Jack’s classic Blossom Booster and a little Epsom and that’s it.
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