What FoxFarm Happy Frog Potting Soil Is Made Of
The mix contains composted forest humus, sphagnum peat moss, perlite, earthworm castings, bat guano, humic acid, and oyster shell and dolomite lime for pH adjustment. The body of the mix is aged forest material and peat, and the perlite opens it up for air and drainage. The castings and guano are the slow organic feed that makes it a potting soil rather than a bare medium. FoxFarm adjusts the pH with lime and oyster shell so the mix leaves the bag in the range where roots take up nutrient. It is ready to use as is. What sets Happy Frog apart from a bagged mix of similar ingredients is the life FoxFarm adds to it. The mix carries fifteen mycorrhizal fungi. Four Glomus species cover the endomycorrhizal side, and Pisolithus tinctorius at 414 propagules per cc leads an ectomycorrhizal side of Laccaria, Rhizopogon, Scleroderma and Suillus. Five Bacillus strains ride with them at 60 CFU per cc each, the bacteria that cycle organic matter into forms the roots can take up. FoxFarm describes the microbes as improving root efficiency and encouraging nutrient uptake. The humic acid in the mix is there to help the same process along. Happy Frog is built for containers. FoxFarm's directions cover container gardens filled to an inch below the rim, houseplants, and hanging baskets and planter boxes at full strength. Trees, shrubs and roses go in a pot two to three times the width of the root mass. An established planter gets a top-dressing worked in around each plant and watered through. The feed in the bag carries a planting through its first weeks. FoxFarm's own advice is to follow with its liquid fertilizers once growth and bloom are under way. The 12 qt bag is the houseplant and seedling size. The 2 cu ft bag, 51.4 dry quarts, is the one that fills patio pots and raised planters. United Compost and Organics guarantees the analysis.
Getting the Most Out of Happy Frog Soil in a Container
Happy frog soil arrives with its microbes dormant and its peat on the dry side. The first job is to wake it up rather than to feed it. Moisten the mix in a tub before it goes in the pot, working water through it until it holds together in the hand without dripping. Dry peat sheds water rather than taking it. A pot filled dry and watered from the top drains down the sides and leaves the middle of the root ball parched. Fill to an inch below the rim and firm it gently, never packed. The perlite is in there to hold air, and a mix compressed with the heel of a hand loses most of it. Water thoroughly after planting and then let the top inch dry before the next watering. A living mix wants the wet and dry cycle that keeps the roots and the fungi breathing. Hold the fertilizer for the first two to three weeks. The castings and guano are already feeding the plant. A liquid feed on top of them in week one pushes salts into a root zone that does not need them yet. When the plant is growing hard, start the feed at half strength and read the leaves before going higher. Skip the sterilising of pots and tools. Peroxide drenches and bleach-washed pots undo the reason to pay for an inoculated mix, and a clean pot with a rinse is enough. Top-dress rather than repot where the plant is happy, working a 3 in layer in around the stem and watering it through. That renews the microbes and the organic feed without disturbing roots that have already colonised. Store the open bag closed and out of the sun, and use it within the season. The life in it does not keep forever in a hot shed.
Key Features
- Forest humus, peat and perlite: The body of the mix, open and free draining.
- Earthworm castings and bat guano: Slow organic feed in the bag for the first weeks.
- Fifteen mycorrhizal species: Glomus for endo, Pisolithus, Laccaria, Rhizopogon, Scleroderma and Suillus for ecto.
- Five Bacillus strains: 60 CFU per cc each, cycling organic matter to the roots.
- Humic acid: To help nutrient uptake.
- pH adjusted: Oyster shell and dolomite lime; ready to use from the bag.
- For containers: Pots, houseplants, baskets, planter boxes, potted trees, shrubs and roses.
- 12 qt or 2 cu ft: The 2 cu ft bag is 51.4 dry quarts.
Technical Specifications
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Brand | FoxFarm |
| Product | Happy Frog Potting Soil |
| Ingredients | Composted forest humus, sphagnum peat moss, perlite, earthworm castings, bat guano, humic acid, oyster shell and dolomite lime (pH adjustment) |
| Endomycorrhizae | Glomus intraradices, aggregatum, mosseae, etunicatum — 0.028 propagules/cc each |
| Ectomycorrhizae | Pisolithus tinctorius 414.4 prop/cc; Scleroderma cepa, geastrum, citrinum 22.4 each; Suillus granulatus 11.2; Laccaria bicolor, laccata 5.6 each; Rhizopogon amylopogon, fulvigleba, luteolus, villosuli 5.6 each |
| Bacteria | Bacillus amyloliquefaciens, licheniformis, subtilis, pumilus, megaterium — 60 CFU/cc each |
| pH | Adjusted with oyster shell and dolomite lime |
| Use | Container gardens, houseplants, hanging baskets, planter boxes, potted trees, shrubs and roses |
| Directions | Fill to 1 in below the rim; water thoroughly; top-dress established planters with a 3 in layer |
| Sizes | 12 qt (714303, UPC 752289590016); 2 cu ft / 51.4 dry qt / 56.6 L (714302, UPC 752289590023) |
| Guaranteed by | United Compost & Organics, Inc. |