A lot of people say growing organically on a commercial scale indoors is impossible to do. I just wanted to start a thread talking about this topic and ways to make it work.
Feel free to link or post any content on this matter in this thread. The more participation the better. Things like teas and how to keep organic sludge from clogging lines and how to work away from bottles and chemical salts creating your own nutrients from organic ammendments yourself. I feel this is a very important topic not only for the cost savings but also for the quality of the end product.
Well being an organic guy myself when I brew a batch of compost/EWC tea usually 5 gallons at a time all the microbes are exponentially multiplied many times over this can further be diluted at a 1:5 dilution to get it spread over the intended area, from my understanding this should be enough to cover about an acre (4840 sq yds) (43560 sq ft) worth of material .CSU college in FORT COLLINS I believe , have been implementing Teas and such on all grounds in and around campus ( all lawns , flower beds and such for several years now ) so is it feasible I say “HELL YA” And better for the environment to boot!
Agreed. But I’m talking indoor. I used to brew tea and feed it throw the lines and always have problems with clogging so I eventually moved to Botanicare with supplemental handfed guano teas during peak times. Just was curious if anyone else had this problem and how they solved it. Top dressing is one way… obviously water soluble organic nutes with the particles filtered out is another way.
This has nothing to do with cannabis (although maybe someone could do something similar with a bit of supplemental nutrients for cannabis’ heavy feeding requirements and lighting), but I thought it was really cool. These guys in Houston farm lettuce in a greenhouse on a HUGE scale using fish in tanks as their nutrients: https://www.sustainableharvesters.com/
A video about it is here:
Sorry, if it’s off topic. Just thought it was pretty cool.
It’s all in the organic teas imo. . . You can use organic tea in any kind of “virgin” dirt and make it into organic soil​:wink: least that’s what I do, and composting too you can do that in a reasonably large size without too much hassle or have multiple smaller hand turning size piles. . .was i on topic with my reply lol? I think I was. . .
Wouldn’t you just run an enzyme through your lines to keep them clean?
My thought is dry amendments in soil and compost/beneficial tea every 2 or 3 waterings and an enzyme the others…
Not sure why people think it can’t be done large scale to me it’s much more simple not to mention your overhead cost decrease constantly because you can recycle the soil…maybe peopLe think it’s slower? It’s really not if everything is done properly.
For sure. Enzymes def helped, but I’m talking more about unfiltered particles from the teas that would build up. Maybe I just needed to upgrade my filtration before they hit the lines…
This industry tends to take things to extremes, and hype rules all. I’m a big believer in not overfeeding or over-saturating with photons. I don’t believe in the kitchen sink approach to soils or teas. To a point, less really is more. Sometimes you see these inky black teas that have 20 ingredients, many of them dubious, and it’s pretty gross. The resulting plants always look burnt and unhealthy. I see this all the time with new KNF grows.
I grew up on a farm where we used organic no-till and low-till methods for fields and garden alike. I’m not lazy, but I prefer to do as little plant management as possible. I don’t use no-till due to a lack of space, but I do use water only modified coots mix specifically tailored to the high tapwater pH here. Water-only methods really help minimize the amount of work I have to do, which leaves me more time to nurture the plants’ spirits, not just their physical vessels.
So, in answer to your question, no teas or FPJs or special watering mechanisms required. Just use no-till methods in beds or big pots, and straight water. If you know what you’re doing and educate yourself on the correct methods and procedures, and have good inputs, after the first round no-till gets easier and hopefully better every subsequent round.
A rec operation in NV has gotten a lot of local TV airtime by doing organic no-till. They seem to be doing fairly well. They recommend no-till as the cheapest method because it requires so much less effort AND money AND water. They also use a lot of LEDs.
Check out their other videos. Green Life Productions.
That’s what I’m talking about. Thanks for sharing. And I would have to say I agree with you and what was said in the video… there is a lot of over complicating things. When everything is already in the soil there really isn’t much that needs to be fed via irrigation. Love their clover cover crop. Last time my canopy was so thick that towards the end of flowering very few still had a bed clovers due to the lack of penetration through the canopy.
Turns out @Dumme built a cannabis aquaponic system similar to the one I showed with fish and everything (smaller obviously). So it definitely can be done.
Maybe you guys saw it already haha.
Although I myself follow the build the soil, let it do it’s thing, and topdress every once in a while philosophy, I find it pretty cool when people can meld organics and technology together. To each his/her own.
Thanks man. I basically ran something similar but with individual smart pots with cover crops etc. I ran beds a couple times but only certain strains worked or were worthwhile using that method. More than anything I created this thread for people to talk about ideas, studies, what they’ve tried, read about… anything about organic farming to help grow more biodynamic tasty efficient cannabis.
Adding some wisdom I gained concerning organic growing at scale.
I ran a commercial scale organic grow a few years ago and found that soil test amendment suggestions were about half of the nutrients we really should have applied as dry amendments.
Chicken poop is especially great but hot, as their piss and poop is all one. I recommend composting the bedding from the coop and their poop first before using. Even better, if you have your own worm bin you can skip the composting step and just feed it to the worms to help break down (this is the ideal way to do it).
least that’s what I do, and composting too you can do that in a reasonably large size without too much hassle or have multiple smaller hand turning size piles. . .was i on topic with my reply lol? I think I was. . .
