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Tips To Make Organic Soil For Cannabis

Many growers say that buying the right seed is the first step to flag off your cannabis growing journey. In my experience, preparing healthy soil is the fundamental step that ensures a healthy harvest. Never consider soil as an afterthought in the process.

Great soil ensures healthy cannabis plants, and I believe, a better-tasting harvest. Growing in a well-built organic soil is good for you, your buds, and of course, the planet.

What is Healthy, Is It Organic Soil?

Let us take the example of a forest. Think of the Amazon rainforest. It is abundant with life and rich with biodiversity. A plethora of different creatures comprises a lush ecosystem. It is loud with chirping birds and calling insects.

Now, imagine a monoculture plantation—a patch growing only one species of tree. There is no diversity and hence, fewer birds and insects. Plantations like these are prone to disease, infestation and are eerily silent.

The rainforest soil is healthier and filled with vital life force. It is replete with a variety of organics components like fungi, bacteria, and micronutrients. You need to prepare a similar soil, teeming with life force.

If you use a basic soil mixture without such components, that will deprive the plants of many nutrients, and they will suffer. You can also buy some high-quality organic soil.

All plants, including cannabis, thrive and evolve in sync with a diverse ecosystem. However, why produce lackluster weed when you can harvest luscious, premium cannabis by only paying attention to the soil?

Organic Soil: Basic building blocks

Organic soil is based on three materials – organic base, aerator, and organic compost.

The organic base material is responsible for holding your soil components. You can use coco fiber or natural humus for it.

Aerators are materials that fluff up the texture, improve drainage, and enhance root development. You can use substances like vermiculite or perlite as aerators.

Organic compost is decomposed organic waste. This can be anything from decomposed leaves to kitchen waste.

To build your soil from scratch, mix equal quantities of all of these. You can also source local soil if you are lucky to live in an area with thriving marijuana cultivation.

High-grade soil has multiple parts. After the base materials are done, you need to add some more components to ensure a biodiverse ecosystem in your soil to meet the needs of your plant babies. Check the list of ingredients in any organic soil mixture. It has elements like Coco fiber, pumice, peat moss, perlite, premium worm castings, kelp, bat guano, soybean meal, fishbone meal, greensand, feather meal, alfalfa meal, and leonardite.

Best Organic Soil Components For Cannabis

However, cannabis has some more specific needs from its soil. Additions like humus, coco fiber, and peat improve soil’s physical structure and are important for a copious harvest. They improve the essential characteristics of the soil, such as pH level and texture.

Soil Texture for Growing Cannabis

The texture of the soil and its physical structure is crucial for a bountiful harvest.

I love getting my hands dirty on the soil. Don’t be afraid and dig your hands in the dirt to know the soil texture.

How does it feel? Does it feel like clay, or is it sandy? Is it thick? Does it feel loose and airy? The texture is crucial because it will help you understand the aeration and drainage properties of the soil.

pH Level required for Cannabis Growth

Basic pH test strips or digital readers are the best devices to use for ascertaining the pH level. A pH level between 6 and 7 is appropriate for cannabis.

After you understand the pH level, and if it is acidic or basic, you can adjust accordingly. I use soil amendments like pH level down or pH level up can correct any pH imbalances.

Organic Nutrients For Cultivating Marijuana

Like every other living being, plants need nutrients to survive. In addition to the macronutrients, Cannabis plants need a lot of micronutrients to thrive.

You need to create a suitable soil profile for your cannabis babies. Look for nutrients specifically designed for cannabis. Also, check the stage of growth they are to be added to the soil. Nutrients are a ratio of nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium or N-P-K.

In the seedling or clone stage, the N-P-K ratio required is 5-3-4. Vegetative plants need 5-2-3, and 5-5-3 is the ideal ratio in the flowering stage.

You can also add organic amendments to improve the N-P-K levels.

  • Soil Amendments for Nitrogen: worm castings, Guano, and crustacean meal.
  • Soil Amendments for Phosphorus: chicken manure, bone meal, and glacial rock dust.
  • Soil Amendments for Potassium: Compost, wood ash, and seaweed meal.

Does this sound complicated? It did to me when I started all those years ago. I used to buy all-in-one nutrition kits to maintain the optimum nutrient ratio. They took away the guesswork from the process and made every nutrient needed from seedling to maturation available. You can go for them too.

In the meanwhile, start building your understanding of organic soil. As you get acquainted with using these kits, play around with additives, and experiment with these elements, you will eventually become comfortable about making custom soil mixes to produce a tasty, aromatic trichome-rich harvest.

Micronutrients that the cannabis plants need

 

As I have already told you, cannabis plants require micronutrients. However, many growers do not pay much heed to them, but they are a crucial component of growing cannabis.

Micronutrients for cannabis plants include:

  • Manganese
  • Copper
  • Zinc
  • Iron
  • Sulfur
  • Magnesium
  • Calcium

If this sounds too much to remember, I have good news for you. It is likely that the soil already has most of these micronutrients by the time you have prepared your soil and added the organic additives.

However, passionate growers like me do like to get into the details of them. I check my soil thoroughly and adjust the level of these micronutrients.

If you, my friend, want to dive deep too, work with secondary nutrient soil amendments like calcium-magnesium blends. Experiment a little and see for yourself how these minute adjustments impact the growth and flowering.

What Does Organic Living Soil Mean?

Let me now take you through the living aspect of the marijuana ecosystem. When you grow cannabis in soil, it develops an intimate relationship with the environment.

The plant builds a complicated network of roots that not only soaks in oxygen, nutrients, and water it connects with the fungi and bacteria living in the soil. With a focus on creating a healthy fungus and bacteria population, make it easier for your cannabis plants to absorb the essential resources from the soil.

A thriving microscopic community of living microorganisms in the soil can help enhance the health of your plant. Some bacteria and fungi populations help the plant in warding off diseases and pests.

You can add soil amendments to create a flourishing microscopic support system for your plants. Bat guano and worm castings promote healthy bacteria growth. For healthy fungus, choose from humic acid, kelp meal, or Mycorrhizal inoculant.

Congratulations on making it this far. Following this guide, you can successfully create super soil for your plantation.

This all-natural soil will boost the plant’s health, enabling them to produce a good and beautiful harvest.

Now that you have a fair share of ideas about the soil, you can happily proceed with procuring the seeds. I like to get my seeds from the top online website. With guaranteed germination and stable genetics, they make it easy for me to get a great harvest. Homegrown Cannabis Co is my absolute favorite.

I hope I have demystified the process of creating organic soil for your marijuana plant babies. I am signing off today with a wish of a bountiful harvest for you. Have a blast growing your own.