T<\/span>he pear tree in Meg Fender\u2019s backyard is her pride and joy. She said, in many ways, it\u2019s one of the key elements of her garden\u2019s health.<\/p>\n \u201cThat tree has been producing major amounts of fruit for over a decade,\u201d Fender said. \u201cSo much that I sometimes can\u2019t even keep up with it during the picking season. A lot of it ends up on the ground.\u201d<\/p>\n She used to be bothered when bruised and worm-ridden fruit littered the garden. But now she looks forward to scooping up those damaged pears and tossing them into her compost pile, along with items like coffee grounds and wood ash.<\/p>\n \u201cAll that decaying matter, stuff you\u2019d probably call waste, is really not waste at all but excellent organic matter that I use and reuse all over my garden,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n Fender\u2019s been growing medical marijuana in Guerneville, California for a number of years. She credits her success in the garden to good compost management and soil upkeep.<\/p>\n All her yard decay \u2014 including the stalks, fan leaves and roots from the three Northern Lights cannabis plants she harvested last fall \u2014 ends up in the compost heap.<\/p>\n \u201cI started with full regenerative growing techniques a few years back, so no synthetic fertilizers or anything, just really good attention to soil life diversity,\u201d she said. \u201cMy roses, the fruit trees, the pot plants \u2014 all get soil and teas and worms mixed from the compost pile. I guarantee you,\u201d she adds, \u201cthe taste of those [Northern Lights] flowers will blow you away.\u201d<\/p>\n She\u2019s right. A couple of tokes and I\u2019m sold. It\u2019s pure earth.<\/p>\n The diversity Fender is talking about is the product of her meticulous efforts at, quite literally, the ground level. She\u2019s created \u201cliving soil\u201d teeming with a micro-universe of bacteria, protozoa, fungi and other tiny beneficial creatures that reproduce naturally in healthy, tended soil.<\/p>\n Like feeding a growing child a nutritious diet, amending soil with living matter \u2014 rather than synthetic fertilizers in so-called plant food \u2014 provides plants a natural energy base and inoculation against disease that can\u2019t be topped.<\/p>\n Recycle it All<\/strong><\/p>\n Rev, author of the marijuana grow book \u201cTrue Living Organics\u201d<\/a> \u2014 a playbook for how to convert an indoor hydro room to an all-natural, synthetic-free cannabis cultivation space \u2014\u00a0 said living soil isn\u2019t just the best way to grow, it\u2019s the only natural way.<\/p>\n \u201cLiving soil is the only way Mother Nature intended soil to be \u2014 full of life,\u201d Rev said. \u201cIn nature, nothing goes to waste and everything is recycled.\u201d<\/p>\n The assortment of biodiversity repeatedly produced in living soil \u2014 from things like nitrogen-rich clover to beneficial nematodes that control pests \u2014 creates a closed-loop, symbiotic environment that feeds plants while they feed off organic matter in the soil.<\/p>\n Rev\u2019s techniques for fostering dynamic soil begin with understanding what various soil amendments you need to bring to the table, nutrient wise.<\/p>\n \u201cOwning or having access to high-quality earthworm castings or compost, or both is key,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n Worms are masterful digesters of organic material, refining matter into nutrients that are reduced to their most usable form by plants. Worm castings are the materials deposited by worms, also known as vermicomposting or the production of worm manure.<\/p>\n \u201cHave a water source that is free from chloramine (a biocide) and not too salty,\u201d Rev said. \u201cRecycle all of the plant matter you do not use and recycle your soil, roots and all.\u201d<\/p>\n Rev warns against ever using liquid fertilizer on your plants\u2019 soil, and suggests instead making living teas for additional nutrition if needed. Compost teas can be made using a basic concoction of compost, manure and water that\u2019s aerated. Along with feeding your soil, teas can be sprayed over the tops of plants.<\/p>\n \u201cPlants are quite capable of taking care of themselves,\u201d he said. \u201cNobody ever has to fertilize a rain forest.\u201d<\/p>\n Rewards From Nature<\/strong><\/p>\n Tim Blake knows a few things about healthy soil. A Northern California cannabis farmer for most of his life, he is the founder of the respected Emerald Cup<\/a> \u2013 the largest outdoor, cannabis competition in the world, recently celebrating its 14th year.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat\u2019s happened is, if you look across this country, we\u2019ve just peeled across from the East Coast to the West and ripped off all the topsoil,\u201d he said. \u201cTaken it and used it all up, spit it out and we\u2019ve got all this dead soil.\u201d<\/p>\n The effect has been the need for widespread use of chemical fertilizers to amend that beleaguered soil.<\/p>\n \u201cI feel that in another year or two, you\u2019re not going to have any green sands or phosphorous left in the soil,\u201d he said. \u201cThey\u2019re going to be gone.\u201d<\/p>\n Soil lacking in those elements means poor plant health \u2014 a situation of garbage in, garbage out.<\/p>\n So last year\u2019s Emerald Cup sought to highlight that issue and included the \u201cRegenerative Cannabis Farm Award.\u201d<\/p>\n Jesse Dodd, who helped Blake create the category, said their intent was to \u201chonor those farms that are cultivating in a way that promotes environmental health while growing safe, pure, high-quality medicine.\u201d<\/p>\n Three farms were awarded for regenerative cannabis farming efforts: Dragonfly Earth Medicine<\/a> in British Columbia (international); Green Source Gardens<\/a> in Oregon (national) and Moongazer Farms<\/a> in Mendocino (California).<\/p>\n \u201cWe hope to create a catalyst of positive competition filled with information sharing, land stewardship, ethical marketing, watershed consciousness, and love of nature, living soil and biodiversity,\u201d Dodd said.<\/p>\n Fender feels like regenerative farming provides her with an important linkage between life and death.<\/p>\n \u201cOne thing dies in my garden and another one flowers,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s this big circle of happy plant growth, then death \u2014 and in between we get to enjoy this wonderful homemade cannabis.\u201d<\/p>\n Rev seconded that sentiment.<\/p>\n \u201cThe effects from cannabis, when sourced from very happy plants, tends to relate that happiness into the experience,\u201d he said. \u201cHappy plants make for happy smoke.\u201d<\/p>\n Originally published in Issue 25<\/a> of Cannabis Now. <\/em>LEARN MORE<\/strong><\/a><\/p>\n TELL US, <\/strong>have you ever tried any of these farming techniques?<\/p>\n The post Microlife: Growing Cannabis Organically<\/a> appeared first on Cannabis Now<\/a>.<\/p>\n
Regenerative farming literally feeds the earth. The pear tree in Meg Fender\u2019s backyard is her pride and joy. She said, in many ways, it\u2019s one of the key elements of her garden\u2019s health. \u201cThat tree has been producing major amounts of fruit for over a decade,\u201d Fender said. \u201cSo muchContinue Reading<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":51,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"false","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[50,5,306,85,88,1064,1065,1066],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18364"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/51"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=18364"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18364\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18365,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/18364\/revisions\/18365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=18364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=18364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cannabiscultivatornews.com\/home\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=18364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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\nRead More: Microlife: Growing Cannabis Organically<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"