Building A Better Soil: Demonstrations & Discussions Of Organic Soil Recipes

[bobrown14]

Amy - nettle and comfrey are considered Green Manure... I think you found out how they get that name. Reason is, they are pretty high in N - that breaks down pretty quickly. In water its well yuk... I will make a nettle tea but in a mason jar with a lid on it - don't open for 6 months... when the material settles to the btm and the water gets clear again, its ready and no smell.

You can do this with comfrey as well. I mainly do this to use as a foiler... definitely don't wanna spray something that smells like poop on your flowers... prolly wont get that off!

If you're using LAB with nettles... there's no way around the poop smell. I don't know enough about doing FPE or the like to help with advice. I do know a lot about nettles and comfrey.

With comfrey we feed that to the worms... nettles we add some to an ACT but don't brew it long enough to stink up the place... also can make a tea with HOT water and let cool.. take a cup for your health and a cup for your plants health. It's a good one!

Grass fed Kangaroo... sounds like grass fed deer...

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Maybe this has been mentioned before.....not sure, sorry if so. Any advantage to growing companion rosemary for pest prevention?

 

[TheFertilizer]

Maybe this has been mentioned before.....not sure, sorry if so. Any advantage to growing companion rosemary for pest prevention?

Repellent companion plants are better as cover crops, since they will tend to keep the pests out of the pot that the plant is in. However, if you have a rosemary plant in a pot next to your cannabis plants, it's likely not going to do anything except just sit there untouched during any type of infestation, and maybe even drive pests toward the cannabis plants. On the other hand, if you have something more palatable to pests like a little tomato plant or something, then they will be more attracted to the tomato plant and less apt to attack the cannabis unless their population increases to the point where the tomato plant doesn't sustain them. Plus, you can then use the companion plant as a kind of "delivery" agent of systemic insecticides that you may not want to put on your cannabis plant; for example some people don't want to use neem or aza based products at all or late into flower, and so instead you can spray a "bait plant" with that insecticide, and it will then make the population on that plant unable to breed and spread to the others. The reason it's a "bait plant" is that the goal is to get the majority of the population concentrated on that plant.

I don't know that I really agree with the theory and think it can go haywire in practice. For one thing, a lot of pests can spread plant pathogens, so if you have some kind of other companion plant with a disease of some kind and the bugs do move over, then they could do more than simply infest your plants, but infect them with something as well. Not to mention the different types of insects that might end up being driven to your cannabis if they don't like the companion plant, etc. When you start increasing the biodiversity, then you also decrease predictability. I mean, if you look into it, most of the serious blights of pests around the world happened because they were introduced as a predator species to control some other pest and then got out of hand. The king toad is probably the most prolific example.

Personally I think cover crops are a great idea and will work a little better, so long as they're carefully selected. I mean, you don't want to put in a cover crop with a plant that some pest really loves if that pest is one you've had problems with because then you're just giving it food and a home and other plants to try out. Things like mint, rosemary, and other aromatic plants are usually not well liked by any pest species though. I've been wanting to try the cover crop mix I've seen at KIS organics for a while.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

As always.....killer answer, thanks Fert!

 

[Itibitiguy]

Careful with mint.... I think spider mites are a pest of mint

 

[bobrown14]

Careful with mint.... I think spider mites are a pest of mint

Spider fks are a pest for every plant.... hint - dont put a tomato plant in your grow room indoors. Every freakin pest there is will show up for the feast eventually. Its not a big leap from sick tomato plant to flowering cannabis. I tried it thinking the pests would search out the tomato... I was right.

For companion crops I think it's best to grow annuals for containers... that said I grow alfalfa as my companion crop in my raised beds we grow veggies in... outdoors its great... they are perennial same as Rosemary... I would not use Rosemary as a companion. Its a little fussy for me, having a sick plant as companion is inviting a disaster.

Try clover ... its tried and true... vetch is another one along with alfalfa.. The clover will thrive while the Cannabis plants are small, eventually they don't get enough light and die back giving the cannabis plant an N fix for a few weeks or more!

Wow.. did a little google and found this gem:

https://fifthseasongardening.com/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/CompanionPlantingGuide.pdf

Edit: I don't generally use companion crops with cannabis indoors in containers. I grow 30-50 days in VEG, then up-pot and grow another 45-70 days.. in flower the canopy grows pretty fast so not much time for a companion crop to grow... I like to keep a clean soil line and put fans on it and the wind is the best defense against pests. A constant breeze... you'd be surprised how difficult living can be for those little fcks.

 

[intuitional]

I found this guide for companion plants specific to cannabis. Seems to apply more to outdoor but some can apply to indoor planting as well.
Companion planting for cannabis

 

[Amy Gardner]

I found this guide for companion plants specific to cannabis. Seems to apply more to outdoor but some can apply to indoor planting as well.
Companion planting for cannabis

Super resource - thanks!

I already have some chamomile seed I'd been planning t throw in around the edges of my raised ganja bed. That's inspired me to get out there and get that seed in!!

.

 

[kelticBlue]

Chamomile is great but can grow vigorously. I had it as a companion but it had to be cut back. Got to big for me.
Scallions are good for the soil. (Spring onions or shallots) I had one for a long time.
Tarragon is supposed to improve flavor in herbs. But again it needs cut back from my garden.

Now all I have is lambsquarter as a companion plant. And some remnants of amaranth in my small container.
A big old lambsquarter in the corner of my earthbox, I am cutting back as I go this round. It help fix nitrogen in the soil.

I am am moving towards less companion in my containers. But that just me.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

I had originally thought that rosemary plant would be of benefit because it's extracts seem to be in all of the insecticides that are organic that I have come across. That being said, I have taking into account what was discussed earlier..... Great conversation though, loving the diversity of the answers.

 

[kelticBlue]

Also scallions , onions, garlic were used by stealth growers to help with odor control, if I recall.

And the chamomile after I cut it out I put some fresh in ewc tea slurry and some back into the soil as green manure.
Rad grows chamomile in a non 420 garden. I would too if I had the space. I love it as tea for seedlings to combat damp off. It is the flower for tea with chamomile.

edit: my future plans are to grow more like bobrown on a smaller scale and in an earthbox.

 

[Radogast]

Also scallions , onions, garlic were used by stealth growers to help with odor control, if I recall.

And the chamomile after I cut it out I put some fresh in ewc tea slurry and some back into the soil as green manure.
Rad grows chamomile in a non 420 garden. I would too if I had the space. I love it as tea for seedlings to combat damp off. It is the flower for tea with chamomile.

edit: my future plans are to grow more like bobrown on a smaller scale and in an earthbox.

One of my goals is to grower bigger chamomile outdoors

 

[Itibitiguy]

Lots of ground cherries for me outside this year

 

[bobrown14]

One of my goals is to grower bigger chamomile outdoors

I grew Chamomile in some mushroom soil and it was fantastic... flowers were everywhere it took over one of my raised beds.

For companion crops, think about plants that are N fixers similar to beans (legumes), many of them take N from the air and collect it on the roots .... specific micro-organisms helpful to the plants congregate at the roots and lend a helping hand. So when the canna plants are starting to block out the light, the cover crops die back right at the time when the canna plant could use a nice N fix to help her down the stretch. It won't be too much N.

What I've found recently is my containers (7.5gal)are so full of canna roots, there's not much room if any for companion plants .... be more competition plant than companion. So I don't run them. But folks that are growing in large containers its perfect...

Outdoors we do companion plants everywhere and kinda treat it like it's living art. I even have my preferential colors ... gold and purple, reminds me of NOLA.

Companion plants are a huge thing in the forest. Go for a hike in the woods in the spring before leaves are on the trees. Look on the forest floor and see all the cover/companion plants growing. They feed the worms...big time and the trees when they die back once the trees get leaves.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

I have the opportunity to lay my hands on another batch of mushroom compost. As I am presently putting my soil together , my thoughts are that it would be a great addition!?

 

[bobrown14]

Hey Guy and our Canadian growing friends that have been challenged with getting some organic amendments, I thought I'd share
a few resources I've stumbled on in my internet travels:

For neem and kelp and EWC (and other goodies):

Reindeers Neem Meal is the Neem seed meal obtained as a residue while extracting neem oil from neem seed kernels.

And another Canadian organic resource:

Organic and Natural Fertilizers

 

[Tony Urban]

Hey Guy and our Canadian growing friends that have been challenged with getting some organic amendments, I thought I'd share
a few resources I've stumbled on in my internet travels:

For neem and kelp and EWC (and other goodies):

Reindeers Neem Meal is the Neem seed meal obtained as a residue while extracting neem oil from neem seed kernels.

And another Canadian organic resource:

Organic and Natural Fertilizers

That's where I got some of my amendments. The shipping is a bit pricey.

 

[Guy Cavallero]

Thanks bob.. ..Im going to make the trip down to Black Swallow and Bustan first. Anything I can't locate from those two likely doesn't belong in my mix LMAO.
All kidding aside though, I've taken a screenshot of that site......thanks brother! I have to admit, but I did not realize where Neem cake meal came from. I do however have a local lady who has taken clones of her neem plant and is selling them off at $5 a clone. This is one of the reasons that I was asking about companion plants..... I thought maybe a neem and rosemary in each container could help.....

 

[GodOfPot]

For CCs mix between Bustan & Black Swallow the only thing you can't get is karanja & the proper barley....barley was pretty cheap
Organic 2 Row Malt (Great Western) : Homebrew Supplies Ontario Canada : Beer Grains Supply Co
Comes from Ottawa only took a couple days to get here. .

Karanja black swallow says they'll start carrying in spring hopefully, shoot me a PM if you want, I may be able to help you out with a little to get you started .

Question to SS or Bob...I see in the OP you mention collecting rain water to use mixing your batch...for all intents and purposes would snow serve the same purpose melted and brought to room temp?

 

[Guy Cavallero]

For CCs mix between Bustan & Black Swallow the only thing you can't get is karanja & the proper barley....barley was pretty cheap
Organic 2 Row Malt (Great Western) : Homebrew Supplies Ontario Canada : Beer Grains Supply Co
Comes from Ottawa only took a couple days to get here. .

Karanja black swallow says they'll start carrying in spring hopefully, shoot me a PM if you want, I may be able to help you out with a little to get you started .

Question to SS or Bob...I see in the OP you mention collecting rain water to use mixing your batch...for all intents and purposes would snow serve the same purpose melted and brought to room temp?

Nice.....wicked question.

I'll do that too, thank you my friend.