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What is the NPK of your soils?
All of our soil products offer balanced nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. We pH adjust them to a neutral range of 6.3 – 6.8. Because of the premium organic ingredients that we use, there is no risk of burning your plants. Our soils are ready to use, right out of the bag. There is no NPK listed on our soil packages because they are not fertilizers, but growing mediums. The real power of our soils lies in the fact that they are teeming with beneficial micro-organisms. Our soils are never steam sterilized, which allows these microorganisms to thrive and convert the organic nutrients into a form the plant can utilize.
Why do I occasionally see fungi in my soil?
Here at FoxFarm we understand you may have questions regarding a natural phenomenon that can occur in our bark-based growing mediums. We would like to help you understand what this is. Within a few days of planting you may begin to notice a brownish-yellow fungal mass that appears on the surface of your mix. You may also notice small amounts of a green fungus that forms around the ventilation holes of your soil bags. You may ask yourself the following.
What is it? These fungi are actually a naturally occurring substance that can be found on certain types of barks, such as composted pine barks, which are a good thing. They let you know that the soil is alive and the biological micro-organisms within the soil are doing their jobs to assist in creating a healthy soil web.
Why does it happen? Pine bark is aged and composted for long periods of time before the final screening and use in our mixes. The natural ageing process of the bark occurs during the composting process and is facilitated by the microbes naturally found in our environment. With the proper conditions consisting of the right temperature and moisture, the fungi produce mycelium (white strands) in the windrows. This is the vegetative stage of the fungus. When the bark is properly aged, it is then blended into our mixes with other fine ingredients and bagged. With the right moisture levels, coupled with warm sunny days, these soil microbes will grow and you may see them in your bags. Healthy soils are ideal conditions for fungi to complete their life cycle.
Here, at FoxFarm, we treat organics as they were meant to be treated: as living organisms. This means that each soil blend is not steam-sterilized, but rather a living creature full of life. This may be why you have not noticed these fungi in other soils as they may be steam-sterilized. These natural fungi are the result of the ageing process and are a sign that your soil is continuing to be a healthy environment for a plant to thrive in. These mycelium will not harm your plants in any way.
We thank you for your continued support of FoxFarm products. For further questions regarding our products, please contact us any time.
What is the NPK of your soils?
All of our soil products offer balanced nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium. We pH adjust them to a neutral range of 6.3 – 6.8. Because of the premium organic ingredients that we use, there is no risk of burning your plants. Our soils are ready to use, right out of the bag. There is no NPK listed on our soil packages because they are not fertilizers, but growing mediums. The real power of our soils lies in the fact that they are teeming with beneficial micro-organisms. Our soils are never steam sterilized, which allows these microorganisms to thrive and convert the organic nutrients into a form the plant can utilize.
Are your soils sterilized?
No, we don’t sterilize our soils because that would kill the very beneficial microbes which are critical in making nutrients available to plants. Your soil should be alive, not sterile! Our mixes contain beneficial fungi and micro-organisms that help plants become more disease resistant and grow healthy root systems. FoxFarm soils and fertilizers are specially formulated to build massive microbe populations.
When do I need to add fertilizer to your soils?
Ocean Forest® Potting Soil and Original Planting Mix are nutrient-rich blends that won’t require any fertilizer at first. However, you may find it easier to blend dry-mix fertilizers like Peace of Mind®, Happy Frog®, American Pride® and Marine Cuisine® into the soil when you plant to make sure that the nutrients get to the root zone. If you’re using liquid fertilizers, start feeding in the second week according to package directions.
What is the difference between Ocean Forest® Potting Soil and FoxFarm Original Planting Mix?
Ocean Forest® is designed for container planting. It contains sea based ingredients and perlite for better aeration and drainage. Our customers tell us that Ocean Forest® is the finest potting soil they’ve ever used, and because container plants depend entirely on the soil they’re grown in, that’s important.
Our Original Planting Mix is designed for raised beds and in-ground plantings. It retains moisture and is ideal for ornamental landscapes. Both soils are pH adjusted to 6.3 to 6.8 and are nutrient rich. Each soil has a specific nutrient, humus, earthworm casting and peat moss content that make it ideal for its particular use.
Can I mix Ocean Forest® Potting Soil or Original Planting Mix with native soils?
Ocean Forest® Potting Soil is designed to be used exclusively in containers to deliver the most benefit to plants. Introducing native soil into container plantings can introduce disease-causing pathogens or pests into your container garden. However, if you do add native soil to container plants, mix two parts FoxFarm soil to one part native soil.
Our Original Planting Mix is designed to be mixed with native soil. It helps loosen clay soils, increase organic matter, and it inoculates the planting area with beneficial micro-organisms.
Can I use Original Planting Mix straight out of the bag in containers?
You could, but Ocean Forest® Potting Soil is a better container mix. It creates more aeration at the root zone and is designed to be used full-strength in containers.
What’s the difference between the Happy Frog® soils and your other soil products, like Ocean Forest® and Original Planting Mix?
Our Happy Frog® Soil Conditioner comes in a large, economical bale and is ideal for improving poor soils, mulching, and mixing into native soil for new in-ground plantings. Happy Frog® Potting Soil is an affordable alternative for container plantings that contains all the high-quality ingredients you expect from FoxFarm. Each bag is packed with earthworm castings, bat guano, mycorrhizae and humic acid to jump-start the garden.
Ocean Forest® is a premium mix that contains fine marine ingredients like fish, shrimp, crab, and kelp meal in addition to earthworm castings, bat guano, peat moss, and composted forest humus.
When would I use Light Warrior® instead of a potting soil?
Light Warrior® is actually a soiless medium designed just for starting seeds. It’s very lightweight and holds water well, which makes it perfect for germination. Be sure to thoroughly dampen Light Warrior® before adding seeds to make sure the water is absorbed. Once seeds germinate, use a continuous feeding program for seedling stage through harvest. For best results, see our feeding schedules.
Use a potting soil instead of Light Warrior® when you are potting up seedlings to a larger container or taking divisions or cuttings that will grow indoors in containers until they are ready to be transplanted into the garden.
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