Growing Cannabis in Soil? Don’t Forget These Additives
Water-based organic fertilizers are easily absorbed by plants and make providing nutrition to cannabis plants easy and convenient.
Different growers use different methods, but these are the three organic inputs that are the most popular. These methods focus on organic and DIY methods of fertilizing. Using organic ingredients makes for premium buds that are perfect for smoking and consuming medicinally as well as recreationally.
Molasses is also a good source of iron for plants.
Molasses
Growers say that adding molasses to their cannabis plants make stickier buds. Molasses is also rich in nutrients and adds sugars and carbohydrates that help the plant flower and blossom.
Here’s how it works: The organisms in the soil eat the dense and sugary molasses. They then release the nutrients for your plant to uptake, and the presence of beneficial organisms in the soil multiples.
(Read also: Companion Plants for Cannabis)
This improves the concentration of microorganisms in the soil, improves moisture retention, enhances soil structure, and boosts overall efficiency.
Other benefits to feeding your marijuana plants molasses include warding off harmful pests and fungi, and also preventing weeds. It helps to maintain a healthy balance of nutrients and also prevents salt from building up in the soil.
How to Use Molasses
When you use molasses, select an organic brand and simply add 1-2 tablespoons for every five liters of lukewarm water. Water with the mixture once or twice a week, and stop using it two or three weeks before you plan to harvest.
Always use unsulphured molasses. Sulphered molasses will harm the microbe populations in the soil.
Some people will aerate their compost tea with an aquarium pump.
Compost Tea
As well as adding compost and fertilizer to your soil, you can help cannabis plants grow by applying compost tea. Compost tea is an organic and self-sustaining source of fertilizer that is crucial to many grows. You can make it yourself to save money. Compost tea protects against pests and helps you to have an organic and healthy grow. It is made by adding water to compost, allowing the water to steep for a while, and then applying the tea to your plants. Essentially, compost tea is liquid compost.
What is in compost tea? It depends on what you put in it. The composition of bacteria and fungi are beneficial to your plants and boost nutrition concentration in the soil. This makes your plants stronger and also protects them from disease. Bacteria and other microbes eat the food in the soil that otherwise would be eaten by pests.
(Read also: The Importance of Good Soil Health)
How to Make Compost Tea
There are many methods to making compost tea and it depends on what tools you have available and how much effort you are willing to put into your project. The basic way to make compost tea starts with a 5 or 10 gallon bucket filled with water. Use a mesh to separate your compost from the water and help to keep things clean. Some people will aerate their compost tea with an aquarium pump. After 24 to 36 hours the compost tea is ready to use. Letting it sit allows for the release of chemicals such as chlorine.
How to Use Compost Tea
You can water compost tea into the roots, or use it as a foliar spray. The key ingredients in compost spray is compost and water. This can be in the form of vegetables, fish, worm castings, kelp, or any other nutritious substance.
Guano is one of the most potent natural fertilizers in the world.
Bat Guano
Manure and especially bat guano made into a tea is a popular soil additive. Adding manure to water helps prevent plants from burning and also helps them to stay properly hydrated. Bat guano tea adds phosphorus and nitrogen to the soil. It helps to promote a healthy, biologically diverse soil with more efficient nutrient absorption. This eventually reduces the overall need to use fertilizer.
Improving your soil content with manure teas is a great way to have healthy plants with luscious leaves and fat buds. Prevent pests, weeds, and boost the nutritional content of your soil by preparing nutritional teas for cannabis plants. It’s a method that derives from biodynamic and organic gardening methods and it helps grow big buds with great flavor.
(Read next: 5 Flowering Stage Tips for Cannabis)
Geoflora Nutrients delivers a balanced charge of beneficial bacteria and over 19 organic ingredients with diverse macro and secondary nutrient profiles, which work together to produce a simple yet effective solution for cultivators who want to see results – without the hassle. Their products are OMRI Listed and include registered CDFA OIM ingredients, ensuring that they abide to the highest organic growing standards so that you can grow organically, and with confidence in your fertilizer. For more information, visit geofloranutrients.com or email [email protected]
