I'm afraid i do not have your typing skills & i can not read the Roots Organics label without a magnifying glass but i will tell you what the label says that is different from the Great White & it is a cause for concern for label standards.

Roots Organics label for Oregonism says:

Bacteria content 275,000 CFU/ gram each of many different strains of bacteria.

The Great White says "269,786 CFU's per cc of each" of their bacteria.

Those two statements are hard to compare & i suggest one of them must be in error.

It would appear that the Great White is much more potent since it has a similar amount of CFU's but in only a cc (volume) versus the RO standard of a GRAM (weight)for that amount of CFU's.

all for now....

Thanks for trying... I really appreciate the effort.

I went to my local shop yesterday to pick up some supplies and I took a look at the Oregonism XL (again).

IT DOES have BT for sure, so that is one difference between it and the Great White I currently use. It also contains kelp and yucca extracts - another difference. IF the Oregonism truly lists ALL microbes included in their formulation, it comes up far short (in terms of variety, anyway) of the Great White. I'm not saying that everything in GW is necessary, or even appropriate, I just know it has a larger variety of organisms in it.

I'm sure it's entirely possible the the Roots Organics Oregonism is specially formulated to provide optimal results with their soils and nutes... my issue is still economy, so to speak.

GW is expensive. Nearly 40 bux for a 4 ounce container where I shop, while the Roots stuff is only $22 for 8 ounces. BUT that 8 ounce jar of Oregonism XL will only treat 30 plants (in three gallon containers) IF you follow the manufacturer's instructions. That's 30 - 3 gallon pots, ONE TIME.

Following the instructions on the Great white, I could treat nearly three times as many plants in the same size containers FOUR TIMES with a jar of product half as large.

PLUS, I'd have to go through the hassle of adding the Oregonism directly to each container, IF we are strictly following directions. GW's instructions say to add the powder to your res and then simply water it in.

I'm still interested in TRYING the Oregonism XL at some point; I considered trying to water some in with my compost tea this week, but it seems my local shop has stopped carrying the "single use" packets I was interested in using for my trial. I have plenty of GW to last until the end of my run, so I didn't see the point in shelling out the $22, when I had only planned to spend like $8.

Economics is very important in any grow, like they say, money dosnt grow on trees.

Remember that even if you use a 1/4 of the recomended dose for either oregonism or GW that they are living cultures and will grow and multiply.

So... a few tips on the Roots Organics soil.

1. No need to add any extra perlite. Drainage is SUPERB, even in my ridiculously humid spot on the globe. My girls are ready for more water 3-4 days after SOAKING.

2. Use gloves when transplanting. The RO soil has tiny splinters all through it. Keep your hands happy with some gardening gloves, or you'll be picking splinters out of your fingers for days.

3. RO soil is RICH. No feeding needed for 2-3 weeks after planting (in veg.). So long as they are NOT deficient or locked-out when transplanting in BLOOM, no need to feed the first week there, either.

4. Compost Tea, Molasses and Micorrhyzae... the more, the better (within reason). This soil just thrives with beneficials and sugars to feed them. Your plants will be VERY happy.
My girls will be exactly halfway through flower at the end of this week and they are already as fat as they typically were just before flush when I was using Fox Farms. Don't know if they will slow down or shrink up at the end, but so far everything seems rather promising as far as yields go. Quality is there. Already sticky as hell with more trichs appearing daily.

Great info weedwitch. I have always used fox farms in my soil grows. So you really believe that it beats Fox farms...Not trying to hi-jack..thanx for the info guys..peace and pot

I don't think you jacked the thread... your question is totally relevant, IMHO.

You can take my opinion for whatever it's worth to you, but in my limited experience with the ROOTS Soil, YES it is absolutely better than FF.

I've used Fox Farms Ocean Forest and Happy frog for YEARS and mostly loved it. I had a batch issue with some Happy Frog once - really high pH. But the MAIN issue I was having with the Ocean Forest is I kept finding THRIPS in my soil. Within 4 days of transplanting, I was getting thrips. Some folks will say it isn't the soil, but I also know of so many growers (including the guys at the grow store) having the same issue.

I've not had a problem with any bugs since changing to Roots Organics, but that's actually not the biggest benefit I've seen. My plants are just so HEALTHY and vigorous since switching to roots soil. I have not had a pH swing yet. It drains so well. My root growth is CRAZY!!! I can't say enough good things about RO Soil.

One last thing... I'm a Humboldt Girl. I love supporting local business. Fox Farms is in Arcata, California just a couple of miles from me. At one point, you couldn't have paid me to switch from FF. DESPITE ALL THIS, I tried the Roots Organics Soil and Ferts and I'll never look back.

RO is awesome, and they totally have my confident endorsement!!!

I'm looking forward to finding out my yields this time; always hard to predict, but I do believe they will be better than with FF. What I DO know is that the quality appears much enhanced. Healthy plants make better buds, and the Roots line is certainly keeping my girls healthy.

Glad you are on board WW!

to Roots Organics

I can not wait to try...will keep everyone posted of the results...Thanx ....Peace and pot

I was reading the label on that Oregonism XL at my local shop about 2 days ago. That is the only product they carry by RO.

The usage instructions say to add directly to your soil mix, but below that it says the recommended application is to mix it with your nutes and water with it.

U can add directly to soil, water in, or use it in a hydro system. Use at 1/4 recommended dose