Look at that massive STEEMING pile of poop in my bathtub!
What's all that, and what is it for?
Rewind to this morning, when I gathered all the ingredients I needed to make dirt. My cannabis plants were more than ready to go into their "big girl" pots (seen underneath):
Morganic gardening demands particular dirt
As you may know, I grow "morganically", or more-than-organically. For me, this means using nothing (and I mean nothing) to turn cannabis seeds into cannabis flowers, except what they need:
- light
- water
- air
- dirt
Some people think it can't be done, but it can, and it's how I prefer to produce my medicine. Almost ALL plants for human use should be grown this way, but I digress. Back to the feces!
Ingredients & Directions
I've never actually done this before, so you and I are learning together right now. :)
First, a clean bathtub, for easy mixing and cleanup:
Then, a large bucket of fresh worm castings:
Black gold, as some farmers call it. Odorless, safe, and extremely nutritious for plants, including cannabis. I purchased this from a local organic vermiculturist (worm guy). He's a new contact, but I'm glad I found him. He's cool with stuff, prefers cash, survives by word of mouth. Professional guy though, nice FB page and website, all that. I can even get wigglers off him in the future, if I decide to produce my own worm excrement!
I picked through the dung pile, removing about 30 juvenile worms which had come for the ride (I'm gifting them to a friend). I also pulled out a bunch of wood chips and pebbles - not sure what they were doing in the poo.
It's lovely stuff, very heavy, full of all the minerals my plants need, and nothing they don't. Because it has passed through the gut of a worm, it's very fine. When it gets wet, it turns to muck. Roots have trouble penetrating dirt when it is this dense.
Perlite is volcanic glass which has been heated to expand it to a fluffy, stable, safe, inert material perfect for fluffing up dense dirt!
Chemically, perlite is essentially glass or sand - Silicon Dioxide. It's found all through nature and doesn't get absorbed by plants. It helps soil retain water.
I wanted to add coconut coir (the fibers on coconut tree bark), but couldn't locate any in time. I think I know where I can get it next time though. For now, I substituted a bag of dry sphagnum moss, which had a little lime in it. Lime is just pulverized limestone, containing calcium carbonate (raises pH) and magnesium (plant nutrient). Sphagnum moss is usually 'mined' from peat bogs (swamps), and is perfectly suited for adding fluff to organic dirt. The problem is, peat bogs aren't sustainable. Since coconut trees are much more so, I'm hoping to use the coir in my next crop!
After mixing the worm shit, perlite, sphagnum moss, and lime together, I sprinkled on some diatomaceous earth! This is something recommended to me when I posted here, where I admitted I'm semi-anti-mite.
Diatomaceous earth, as the name suggests, is earth (dirt) made out of diatoms, which are fossilized microorganisms. It's a whitish colour because the diatom fossils are made of Silicon Dioxide, much like the perlite. How it works is the tiny sharp glass particles get between the moving parts of insects (and mites), and cuts them up. This makes it an effective natural pesticide when added to dirt, without affecting nutrients or anything else about it.
Then, MIX!
To some readers, that all might sound kind of strange, but it's really just a bunch of worm turds, dry moss, and fluffy sand. My arm got pretty tired, but I got things well mixed.
After sterilizing the large pots, I used a couple coffee filters on the bottom to prevent too much nutrient loss (though I rarely overwater). Then I filled up the pots half way with my amazing dirt, transferred the plants over, and topped them up with more crud mix!
There's Beauty, the first plant done. Next was the other Northern Lights female, Kaila. Then I transplanted the 2 Steem OG plants, named Ace and No Beef.
There they are, after a light watering. Nobody looks too traumatized at this point, which means I didn't kill any of the major roots - yay!
Normally after a transplant, it's not the best time for photos, but it went so well, why not!
That was Beauty. Next is Kaila:
And the Steem OG plants, hopefully female, are No Beef:
And my favourite, Ace:
These 4 plants are just over 2 months old, grown from seed. If you watch for my upcoming posts, you'll see how well they do in their new dirt!
Cannabis is a safe plant to grow indoors, but we shouldn't be restricted to indoor growing. I personally love to live with my plants, and since I work from home, it doesn't make sense any other way. I love being able to control their conditions to the best of my ability, allowing them be as strong and healthy as they're able to, which is going to produce me the best possible medicine.
All they really need is for me to provide a healthy environment for them, and they'll thrive!
Thanks for reading my post about manure! Grow in peace.
DRutter
