Fox Farm Nutrients/PH Balance

As a Re - Connected grower i found I had some problems with keeping the plants from Nutrient loss, a few years back I got back into things and got all set up then went for it.

Things were looking good for about the first four weeks then things started to take turns I was not ready for, total discoloration of leaves , slow growth , mites & spiders , even pill bugs ( also known as potato bugs by most ).

I went back to some ole roots of feeding by using common house hold items and goods for trying to get nutrients back in line , I did use old days old beer , soda pop , water , as a general feeding ( this worked great 30 years ago ) but I still had issues.

Just like as a kid hearing about Coffee grounds Egg shells Epsom salt and other things to help aid the growth of plants with lacking nutrients , this did help some but not all that much as I was just using straight tap water with a PH Balance of 7.3 and higher.

This all did help but not in ways i thought it would , as i could not get correct values of the nutrients ( of how much to use per gallon of water ) it was all guesswork until I got a chance to win a giveaway.

I did win the giveaway and got Fox Farm Nutrients ( used left overs ) but i did not care , being on a fixed income its hard for one to fork over money one does not have it was a Blessing , by the time i actually got them i was filled with joy with hopes of saving the grow.

With not much to go on or any kind of feeding schedule i had no idea of what nutrient to feed or at what stage or cycle , again it was all guess work , so I just gave what i thought they would need and just kept a good eye on things every day.

I did see some changes not enough to really make a difference as the grow I had was already like in the Flower Bloom stage , yes things looked promising but it was a fail from the start.

I finally got a chance to get the very same Fox Farm Nutrients ( Big Bloom - Grow Big & Tiger Bloom ) I also got a PH tester and the PH up and down , this was the answer I was looking for the Correct way to feed.

My standard tap water is about 7.3 and up after sitting a few days , OK now i have my gallon of water and add the Nutrient needed then shake and test , this only lower a couple of points from 7.3 to 6.8 this was still to high as the best range for any grow is from about at least 5.8 to max at 6.5.

Now i have my feeding and its still about 6.8 then it takes about 3 or 4 drops of Ph down to get a range from 5.7 to 6.2 give or take , this was great as iI seen a big change from being a beanpole to a solid mini tree.

The first three weeks i seen a huge difference in size - height - leaves by having the Correct Nutrient and Ph of feeding , now as things are taking off the next steps on schedule for feeding and what nutrients and how much again do make drastic changes.

By this time you are now roughly into the second or third week ( or 4th week including the first week of sapling just out of soil ) of vegetation , now you need to add all three nutrients for the feeding ( again maintain your PH ).

Break down standard tap water at about 7.3 with Fox Farm Big Bloom alone will bring down to about 6.8 , now add in your Grow Big and Tiger Bloom it will now take the 6.8 Ph and drive it down hard to about 4.8 to 5.5 this will now take about 2 or 3 Tablespoons of Ph up to get near the range of 6.0 to 6.5 ( but even close like 5.8 - 5.9 will not do any harm ).

Things were looking great and results were amazing then i hit a snag ( ran out of Ph up ) I did not really mind so much as after weeks of feeding and checking the Ph i got to learn a general scale of the balances ,

Like I have mentioned its very hard to get equipment and supplies when i a strict budget

so i just let things go and just kept to the schedule of the Fox Farm nutrients and seeing good things happen along the way , but I also did notice that things were not going like gangbusters but still showing great results.

I have done this now for most of my current grow and not really putting in the love like I did at the start , so lets say the average time was like 4 months to harvest and about 2 weeks curing product , now that time has stretched to about 6 or 7 months until harvest and still about same time for curing.

I will have to admit I do like the Fox Farm Nutrients as they do perform great ( just using the main 3 1 Big Bloom 2 Grow Big 3 Tiger Bloom - some really fantastic results , here are 2 examples of the results after only 5 weeks into grow

To bad i lost the final shots of this lady but i did find a picture at about two weeks in to the flower / bloom cycle

now I do remind you all this is just the main THREE NUTRIENTS but not having the correct PH Balance -- and yes some lower leaves will discolor and die - this is for the lack of light at bottom of plant.

BIG BLOOM

GROW BIG

TIGER BLOOM

if this is the results of only 3 Nutrients just think what all on the actual feeding list could do ? yes I would tell anyone from beginner to the seasoned grower that Fox Farm is a great product and they will be happy with the results !!

this is my Personal thoughts and uses of Fox Farm Nutrients

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still working on getting the entire line of Fox Farm Nutrients

a few months back i did get the small bottle bundle package of the Fox Farm list

Flower Kiss

Boomerang

Kangaroots

Microbe Brew

Bembe

i still stick with my baseline of 7.1 to 7.3 standard tap water

i will now add two teaspoons of PH Up this will now give me a reading of about

9.7 to about 10.1

and with following the schedule by Fox Farm for week 2

Big Bloom - Grow Big - Boomerang - Kangaroots & Microbe Brew - minus the Wholly Mackerel & Kelp Me Kelp You my actual reading for the final reading of PH was 6.29

from a 9.86 start

this is what i fed my Frankenstein Grow and its the second feeding and yes i have seen a good spurt in the growth new pictures posted on that thread ( even pictures of the meter readings on feeding )

some Nutrients will lower the reading while some will add to it

its alot easier to start High on PH than it is to add when Low on PH

tap at 7.1 now add the correct Nutrients give a good mix then test - PH reading

it will now sink to about 3.8 to 4.3 this means you will have to add about 1 Oz or more of Ph Up to get close to a 6.1 or 6.3 reading

so i would rather add in two Teaspoons from the start before adding any Nutrients

as if the reading is still too high then its easier to add a couple of DROPS of PH Down to reach my goal of 5.8 to 6.5 reading

so i really do not care if one week is reading 6.2 and the following week is 5.9 then the current week at 6.1 its all in the range i have set for the grow and try not to off set it

( best range 5.8 to 6.5 ) this is from personal to all research about the correct PH Balance Desired for the grow

i will have to find my pictures of the grow i had when i was not sure about the PH Balance of feeding but had fair amount of Nutrients and there not sure what to add or not when had leaf discoloration - as i was not aware that the actual PH readings would have been down at 3.6 to 4.5 give or take a few points

i stayed with the Nutrients and seen many things change once i got the Balance back in the proper range - alot of what i thought was lack or burn of Nutrients mostly all cleared up for the most part but the leaves that were beyond self repair those went into the soil as food

JAFO FUBAR Peace to all and Growers Luv