Organic Fertilizers

Marijuana Horticulture

by Jorge Cervantes

Organically grown cannabis has a sweeter taste, but implementing an organic indoor garden requires horticultural know-how. The limited soil, space, and the necessity for sanitation must be considered when growing organically. Outdoors, organic gardening is easy because all of the forces of nature are there for you to seek out and harness. Indoors, few of the natural phenomena are free and easy.

Remember, you are Mother Nature and must create everything! The nature of growing indoors does not lend itself to long-term organic gardens, but some organic techniques have been practiced with amazing success.

Most indoor organic gardens use potting soil high in worm castings, peat, sand, manure, leaf mold, compost, and fine dolomite lime. In a container, there is little space to build the soil by mixing all kinds of neat composts and organic nutrients to cook down. Even if it were possible to build the soil in a container, it would take months of valuable growing time and it could foster bad insects, fungi, etc. it is easier and safer to throw old, depleted soil outdoors, and start new plants with fresh organic soil.

Organic nutrients, manure, worm castings, blood and bone meal, etc, all work very well to increase the soil nutrient content, but nutrients are released and available at different rates. The nutrient availability may be tricky to calculate, but it is somewhat difficult to over apply organic fertilizers. Organic nutrients seem to be more consistently available when used in combination with one another. usually, growers use a mix of about 20 percent worm castings with other organic agents to get a strong, readily available nitrogen base. They fertilize with bat guano, the organic super bloom, during flowering.

An indoor garden using raised beds allows true organic methods. The raised beds have enough soil to hold the nutrients, promote organic activity, and when managed properly, ensure a constant supply of nutrients. The raised beds must have enough soil mass to promote heat and fundamental organic activity.

Outdoor organic gardens are easy to implement and maintain. Using compost tea, manures, bulky compost, and other big, smelly things is much easier outdoors.