THE REV - The Art of Composting for Cannabis Growing

Featuring Red Sky from Kingdom Organic Seeds

https://www.seedcellar.com/copy-of-kingdom-organic-seeds-red-sky-reg-5-pk.html

The Art of Composting for Cannabis Growing

November 16, 2021

Brought to you by SkunkMagazine.com, The Rev!

oday’s article regarding composting for cannabis growing is going to be just a bit different, as far as angles go. Here’s the thing, if you are an excellent composter, that’s pretty much all you need to grow killer cannabis plants. I’m going to show you all a little soil recycling x composting methodology today that rocks socks.

I highly suggest, as I normally do, that you get a killer compost tumbler. Here’s a link to the kind I use and love big: Compost Tumbler on Amazon. But you don’t have to have one to do this, all you will need is a garage, shed, or extra room, and a tarp of appropriate size (lifting alternating corners of the tarp mixes it well). I liked an 8’ x 8’ sized tarp for doing this long ago myself; in my pre-tumbler days. We are going to also compost your leftover cannabis matter, roots, stems, and leaves, and it’s all a beautiful procedure.

Composting for Cannabis Growing with a Tumbler is a Breeze Compared to Using Tarps

You’ll want to eat healthier for this—sorry about that—but it’s true. Having a lot of coffee grounds or tea grounds is really excellent as well, so if you aren’t a coffee/tea drinker maybe get a friend’s used grounds. No matter what you are doing at whatever stage of this, remember always that exposure to air is needed at the end of this process but not so critical when just piling up stuff to compost.

Composting for Cannabis Growing and Supplies

Here’s a list of not only great real food to include in your diet, but to add to your composting x recycling mission.

• Bananas, good or bad, totally rotten is all good too. Any parts work well. Sulfur, potassium, and calcium are a few of the highlights here. Big believer in using these peels especially in my composting for cannabis growing. Cannabis LOVES composted bananas and peels in her soil, and I have seen that special kind of happiness more than a few of times in my life.

• Melons and Gourds, pumpkin and especially pumpkin seeds, cantaloupe especially the rinds. Basically, the rinds of any melon, squash, or gourd; including the seeds of all these.

• Veggies and Fruit, all are good with the exception of onions, peppers, lemons/limes/oranges, and berries. All those previously can be included in very small ratios. These, like asparagus, potatoes, broccoli, spinach, and cucumber are all primo in any condition. This of course includes all leftover cannabis plant parts we don’t use; everything but the resin.

• Pasta and Rice, all good, just make sure they are free of things like grease, butter, cheese, salt and spices. Big iron and calcium booster shot here from these things. Make sure you don’t include leftover tortillas that are full of synthetic crap, these are bad and so is anything that includes those synthetic “preservatives” and crap like that.

Composting for Cannabis Growing; the Methodology

I would normally, for a home-grow, where I am never flowering more than 8 plants at one time, have 2 compost collection points. One of them is a bowl indoors for fast kitchen scraps type stuff. The other point of collection is outside in a shed. Basically, it’s where I dump the bowl into every week or so. It is just a smaller sized tote. Both collection points are open to the air, though I do not mix/blend them up.

Composting for Cannabis Growing is Rarely Stinky When Done Right

An interesting thing happens with these piles. The lower part of these piles starts to basically ferment/decompose anaerobically, but that part seals itself off from the “shell” of compost additions around the top. If you are composting broccoli, or asparagus, to name two of several things, it can get really stinky. But everything else is all good basically and not smelly at all in the bowl (don’t mix these additions just let them pile up). Pretty smelly when you dump the bowl each time, LoL. Anaerobes stink bigtime like raw sewage. Just rinse it and it’s ready to rock again.

If you have a compost tumbler it makes all this super easy. You just keep adding compostable stuff to it, along with root-balls/used soil. When it gets full you may have some larger pieces of compostable matter. Simply chuck them back into the compost tumbler for the next go-around. Easy peasy.

THE LIST

These are additions to (3 cubic feet) 18 gallons (give or take 3 gallons); basically, what you are looking for here is about 2 cubic feet of recycling soil and about 1 cubic foot of compost material. When composting for cannabis growing these amendments below will really add a big bang to your soil’s potency and overall health, building a supernaturally living soil.

• ½ cup bone meal (fishbone meal is all good)

• ¼ cup blood meal, or bat/bird guano

• 4 cups plain rice, or any rice, the more all-natural the better

• ½ cup ground pumpkin seeds, or other ground up seeds like pine nuts, sunflower, or peanuts; no salt, raw or roasted is fine but raw is better

• 1 gallon of manure, like barnyard type; horse, cow, deer, steer, even bunny; composted is better

• 2 gallons of large nugget perlite, or pumice

• **Optional/If available add: ¼ cup greensand, and 1 cup crab/shellfish meal, and ½ cup alfalfa, or kelp meal

Make sure it stays moist and not wet. Mix/tumble it like a couple times per day for the first few days, then more like once every few days after that. Let it compost and process exposed to air for 30 days. Boom, you have yourself some supernatural-recycled soil baybee!

You can grow a crop, then start recycling that soil and use your normal bagged soil or whatever one more time/run, and by your next (3rd) run, you can use your own recycled soil. Like a fine wine, soil gets better and better with age baybee.

Composting for Cannabis Growing Summery

As you can imagine, composting for cannabis growing using a compost tumbler is super easy, much easier than the tarp method. You can have heavy or lighter ratios of compostable material relative to your used root-balls and soil. Up to (per my experience) 50% compostable materials is fine. If you go above 50% that is also fine, however, you will need to add some crushed oyster shells or dolomite lime at a ratio of about 1 cup, if mixing about 18 gallons; as per the list above. Dolomite lime would be my first choice here.

If your compost is light on potassium, in other words, bananas, gourds/squash/cantaloupe, pumpkin seeds (seeds; see above list), and/or greensand, you could add about 2 tablespoons (per 18 gallons as in list above) of Langbeinite; by Down to Earth brand. Do Not overdo this one, or it will get toxic fast. Mix in well.

If you are adding things like broccoli that has gone bad or leftover broccoli cuttings, directly go outside to that collection place, otherwise stink will happen. Whole bad bananas, or apples, etc. should also go straight outside. Here’s the thing about composting meat, cheese, or fat: these are the kinds of things that will indeed compost, but will attract a shitload of life, like flies, and it usually gets uber stinky. Fish too. Raw barnyard manure is all fine and excellent, but it can also attract some flies and stink. Composted manure works better for a smaller home garden, I think.

A Breeding Run Using Soil that is Over 50 Percent Compostable Matter with Dolomite Lime Added

L8r G8rs

Having the lower zones of your piles of compostable material get a bit anaerobic is a good thing. You don’t ever want anaerobic stuff happening in your container soil mix with living roots in it, but during composting it is all good. Wanna have a look at another article by yours truly? Here ya go: MILF Rev’s Rave: Moonshine Skunk – Skunk Magazine.

See ya all back here next Tuesday for another article. Looking for some damn decent exotic cannabis seeds? Buzz by Kingdom Organic Seeds to kickstart your all-natural growing. Pick up a copy of my book, Rev’s TLO Book 2nd Edition, for mucho more all-natural growing advice. I think it’s Hash-O’clock time here, yup. Wheeee…

• REv 😊

The Rev

I'm The Rev, and I have been with SKUNK for about a decade now. I hail from Southern California, spent mucho time in Northern California, and now reside in Southern Oregon; always coastal. I am an all natural style cannabis grower and I have written a couple books on the subject - check out True Living Organics 2nd Edition on Amazon - I have been growing for over 45 years, and I have been breeding cannabis for over 30 years. Check out kingdomorganicseeds.com to see some exotic selections. Growing connoisseur cannabis is what I teach mostly, growing it in living soil without using liquid organic nutrients to feed the plant. I am also a highly skilled synthetics grower, hydroponics, aeroponics, DWC/SWC/NFT, Ebb and Flow, and soilless, but I cringe when smoking synthetic grown herbs, so for the last 15 years or so I preach the artisan style of all natural growing, specializing in container growing. Cheers and welcome aboard.