Do you already use compost when growing cannabis plants outside? You might think your plants get all the nutrients they need from the soil. And even though that’s basically true, by adding your own home made compost, you can improve the soil, add extra nutrients and get a better harvest. And all of this in a simple and eco-friendly way. Compost converts waste in nutrition. In this blog you can read everything there is to know about making your own compost and how that can help you growing cannabis outside!
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The Advantages Of Making Your Own Compost For Cannabis
When growing cannabis outside, you assume that Mother Earth provides your plants everything they need. With their roots in the soil, they absorb the nutrients they need, right? Well, while that’s essentially right, it’s also true that the earth and its soil aren’t inexhaustible sources of nutrition.
If you grow the same plants in your cannabis garden every year, those plants always absorb the same kind of nutrients from the soil. That means that over time the soil gets exhausted. Compost offers the possibility to replenish these nutrients every once in a while. This also improves the structure of the soil (which is great for the roots) and the air circulation of the soil.
Compost contains a variety of useful compounds that serve as nutrition for your plants. You can enrich the soil and eventually you will end up with bigger, healthier plants and a better harvest. You can start running to the garden centre right now, to buy a bag of ready-made compost. This is easy and quick, especially when you don’t have that much time. But if you want to think long term, you can start making your own compost. And don’t forget: this compost isn’t just for growing cannabis, you can also use it for potting soil.
Making your own compost has a lot of advantages. It’s not only cheaper than buying it in the garden centre. You also use your own organic waste, from the garden and the kitchen. This makes it eco-friendly as well: you don’t contribute to the growing waste mountain and you give the nutrients back to nature.
More Nutrition For Your Plants
What actually happens when you use compost? When putting your organic waste in a compost bin, microscopically small cleaners get to work. This includes insects, micro-organisms and worms. They degrade grass, apple peel and leftover bread to useful nutrients for your cannabis plants. It’s for a reason that compost is also called ‘The Black Gold’!
When you feed your plants this compost, it will slowly release the nutrients. The advantage of these natural fertilizers is that they never contain too much and they won’t burn your plants, which can happen with chemical fertilizers. Besides this, you also enrich the soil with many micro-organisms that live in the compost. They will keep on doing their work in the soil where your cannabis plants grow.
How To Make Your Own Compost For Cannabis?
You can make your own compost for cannabis by using a compost bin. If you are a handy guy or girl, you can fabricate one yourself, using some old pallets for example. If you don’t want to do this, you could buy one. Remember that bins with a lid can retain moisture more effectively. This has the advantage that the waste degrades quicker.
Place the compost bin in a shadowy spot and preferably directly on the soil. A compost bin has an open bottom, so this way the bin has the best drainage possibilities. At the same time the micro-organisms have easy access to the organic waste. Also make sure to put a small organic waste bin in the kitchen, so you can collect VGF waste at all times.
When you collect green waste to make compost, it’s important to ensure the right balance. This creates the right living environment for the bacteria and micro-organisms that will degrade the waste. There are two kinds of waste you can put in the compost bin.
Green waste:
- Vegetables and fruit
- Leaves and stalks from your harvested cannabis plants or other plants
- Cut grass
- Kitchen waste: potato skins, eggshells, tea bags
Brown waste:
- Hay or straw
- Sawdust and wood chips
- Dead leaves
- Egg cartons
- Branches and twigs
- Carton
The Right Balance Of Cannabis Compost
It’s important to ensure the right balance between these two kinds of waste. Green waste contains a lot of nitrogen and provides nutrition for the micro-organisms. Green waste also brings moisture to the compost. Brown waste on the other hand, absorbs a lot of moisture and makes sure the carbon level increases.
The ideal ratio of the compost is about 25 to 50% green waste and 50 to 75% brown waste. The micro-organisms will do their great work and convert the waste in powerful nutrients for your cannabis plants. This process doesn’t need much attention. If you stir once in a while, you add more oxygen which can speed up the process.
Healthy soil ensures healthy buds! Strain: Magic OG Kush
You do need some patience though. Generally it takes at least 6 months to get your compost ready. But making your own organic compost is really worth it. You can see the positive results reflected in your strong, healthy plants with dense buds.
Resolving Common Problems
When the compost is too wet, the content of your compost bin is moist, sometimes even slimy and the smell is horrific. The reason? Too little oxygen and too much wet material. Put your bin in a dry spot, so the rain can’t get in. Add more dry material and stir the whole thing frequently.
Another common issue is dry compost. In this case the micro-organisms can’t do their job properly and there won’t be any composting at all. Solution? Add more green waste to the compost.
How do you know when your compost is ready to use for a cannabis grow? You can see, feel and smell it. The colour of the content of the bin is dark brow or even black. The material feels soft and is light and fluffy and had a nice and earthy scent. Now you know how to make your own compost using cannabis. You can scatter the compost on top of the soil where your cannabis plants are growing and blooming. Or you mix it with some soil and sow your own cannabis seeds. The compost can be used during every stage of the cannabis grow. Give your lovely cannabis plants the best start in life with your own organic compost!
