Regenerative Cannabis Cultivation

[Dank]

Whats good 420SA fam! 

I am always trying to learn more about sustainable practices, whether its for growing my own veggies or Cannabis outdoors.

After lurking around on the organic vs synthetic thread, I believe the only sustainable way forward is regenerative farming practices.

I am guilty of buying a bottle of nutrients now and then, but the truth is, these products have a huge carbon footprint, even the "organic" ranges.

Please share your thoughts and ideas about regenerative farming practices, if you are already busy with it, share some tips and tricks with us.

 

[PsyCLown]

Woah, that is a long video. Will have to watch it when I have some time.

 

I am not sure what Regenerative Farming Practices are exactly... Although I a going to guess it is a more natural way of doing things?

Letting the microbes and soil and plants live in harmony together and provide for one another?

[Ill_Evan]

@PsyCLown what have you started 

[Dank]

Building soil from scratch for a personal grow is not too difficult, it requires time and patience. Been taking so pics of a soilbin I started from scratch a while ago.

The basics for my method is very similiar to a worm bin, except i dont add much fruit and foodscraps, mostly weed stalks and leaves with cardboard, with the odd worm finding its way in. Throwing some leftover smoothies in once in a while seems to supercharge things.

 

 

Edited October 29, 2019 by Dank

[PsyCLown]

Hmm, some hectic mold there. I guess it breaks it all down?

Would not have thought of using cardboard...

 

How long does the whole process take?

[Bos]

Been keeping an eye this thread

It's nice to see other people have the same ideas. Cardboard is only processed wood fibre or lignin/cellulose and can be composted or recycled easily. (Just keep the cellulose fibres away from ethylene glycol and brake fluid you may end up with nitro cellulose and glisyrine which is the unstable compound in dynamite)

All our kitchen scraps/trimmings and garden refuse go to the compost pile and our garden produce attests to the benefits.
We recycle/repurpose as much as possible, but peoples mindset is way behind unfortunately and it needs to change.
So much more is possible, I believe we can achieve almost zero waste with a bit of effort.

Was involved in a local recycling project focused on domestic municipal waste streams, had a 95% recycling rate(the numbers would shock you)
It can be done and we did it.

The more you take out of your personal waste stream the less ends up in landfill.
That is the long and short of it.... they bury the shit like a time bomb, in a hole in the ground, then cap it with clay and rezone it for residential development on ''reclaimed land''.

We need more creative ideas in these lines to reduce our ''footprint''.
I'm on board with@Dank, if you can compost it and make awesome food for your plants- why not.
We should all try and do it.

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[Dank]

@PsyCLown it depends on quite a few variables I would say, but staring from scratch, perhaps 6 - 8 months (not adding new biomass) in a temperate zone, could take up too a year. I have never recorded the time it takes so will record the dates etc when i started, and when i stop adding biomass.

There is a way to fast forward this, you can fill up the remaining half of the bin with soil from your veg garden, after some good ol moldy mycellium networks are going. This speeds up the process considerrabily, but a lot less new soil is created. 

@Bospatrollie2 thanks a lot for the input bro, and I take my hat off to you and your community for doing some real recycling, and putting in the effort needed to protect ecosystems. Nice to hear this! 

Urban farmers need to be mindfull about where they source their biomass and such, i make sure I remove plastic tapes and discard sections that have glue on them. 

Dudes on farms and urban farmers could also collaborate locally, building soils from cowdung, or old lucern bales that wont get used. Cattle farming has a high carbon footprint, weed plants consume CO2.

Edited October 30, 2019 by Dank

[Dank]

Going to try out using some Bokashi this season (diy growkashi), does anybody have experience with a setup like this Gro-Kashi?

 

Edited November 11, 2019 by Dank

[Dank]

Whats good 420SA fam!? 

Wanted to post a update on this thread about regenerative practices outdoors. This year I am trying to help ladybirds/ladybugs multiply in the garden.

Even natural pest control methods as harmless as a neem mix is enough to kill ladybug larvae, so this spring I decided to leave a few rose bushes infested with aphids to see what happens. To the complete shock and horror of my better half, the rose bushes were covered in aphids about a month ago, but the first ladybirds arrived then and there was some ladybug breeding going on. 

A month later, the bushes probably have about 20 - 30 ladybird larvae on them, aphids have been destroyed and the little guys are chasing around looking for the last to feast on.

The only downside I see is there is a lot of larvae frass on the leaves from the feasting, left untreated will cause blackspot mold, etc. A fair price, i will remove leaves and prune soon as the larve are grown up amd leave their nursery.

So all these years I have been killing ladybird larvae, by treating aphids in a "natural" way. Here are some pictures of my new pets 

Edited December 16, 2019 by Dank

[CreX]

Nice going man!! 

You got some sweet pics of them feeding on aphids too! Very cool and well done for the perseverance and that it paid off haha!!! 

[Bos]

Sometimes when we think we're helping, we actually do more harm.
Nature had it covered long before we arrived.

Very cool to see the ladybird larvae in action, although I have personally never seen them before.

Our compost pile is crawling with fruit chafers and all kinds of anthropods.(thanks for the frass)
Also leaving some of the celery to flower out, hope to attract some ladybirds as well.


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[PsyCLown]

Woah, the larvae looks larger than the ladybug itself.

Never knew that is what they looked like, pretty cool. So they too eat pests, not just the ladybugs?

[Dank]

On 12/17/2019 at 11:56 AM, PsyCLown said:

Woah, the larvae looks larger than the ladybug itself.

Never knew that is what they looked like, pretty cool. So they too eat pests, not just the ladybugs?

Yeh its true, I think that big one was almost ready to become a ladybug. They love the aphids as well as spidermites (only pests i could observe them with) and the coolest thing about the larvae is that do not fly, so they just hang around the infested plant until the food source runs out.

On 12/16/2019 at 11:20 AM, CreX said:

Nice going man!! 

You got some sweet pics of them feeding on aphids too! Very cool and well done for the perseverance and that it paid off haha!!! 

Thanks a lot man, I really need a better camera, and skillset for those National Geographic shots!

On 12/16/2019 at 11:33 AM, Bospatrollie2 said:

Sometimes when we think we're helping, we actually do more harm.
Nature had it covered long before we arrived.

Very cool to see the ladybird larvae in action, although I have personally never seen them before.

Our compost pile is crawling with fruit chafers and all kinds of anthropods.(thanks for the frass)
Also leaving some of the celery to flower out, hope to attract some ladybirds as well.


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Well said man, sounds like your compost heap is pumping out the chitin and frass. 

Those fruitchafers can cause a bit of nag when they pull into the weedplants, but I rarely find them on weed, they always going after some fruit tree by the looks of it. A bigger issue i found is their grubs eat roots, devastating for a small plant in a pot. I dont bother them though, they are not like locusts.

Ladybird larvae will usually be around a aphid infestation, this year started off quite bad with aphids, so I have been lucky spotting and observing them. Try growing a rose bush in a pot if you still not having pests for the ladybirds, roses are pest magnets.

Ladybuggos prefer to breed and lay eggs nearby a source of water, they need nectar from smallish flowers (like yarrow,fennel,blackeyed-susans, etc) and then off course they need some pests to eat.

 

Sorry for the late reply guys, hope errybody having a lekker holiday season! 

 

PS - Did you know? Ladybugs live between 2 to 3 years on average (in nature).

Edited December 21, 2019 by Dank

[Dank]

On 10/29/2019 at 8:42 AM, Dank said:

Building soil from scratch for a personal grow is not too difficult, it requires time and patience. Been taking so pics of a soilbin I started from scratch a while ago.

The basics for my method is very similiar to a worm bin, except i dont add much fruit and foodscraps, mostly weed stalks and leaves with cardboard, with the odd worm finding its way in. Throwing some leftover smoothies in once in a while seems to supercharge things.

 

 

Quick update 

I took this picture the other day, it has been about 6 months since I started filling this particular bin.

Its quite full now, I'll cover it up with some old soil mix in a week or two, then wait for mother nature to do the rest. 

[Bos]

That's a cool idea@Dank

Sustainable and regenerative at the same time. If you've got the patience it saves you quite a few Ronts as well, by not having to buy other materials.

 

Neccesity is the mother of invention.....had to make a quick plan with our koi's during a move and decided the cheapest option was to sacrifice a 4500lt Jojo to accommodate them.(equivalent fibreglass koipond R20k)

Chopped the top 80cm off, bottom part countersunk became the new 3800lt koipond and top part was repurposed into a compost container, into which goes 90% of all our garden and kitchen waste.

Every few months we dig out approx 200-300lt of black gold for our garden.

 

 

 

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[Dank]

That is epic bro! BOSBEF@K, that is such a good use for a old or new Jojo!!

I have some Ryukin (calico and normal colors) and Shibunken goldfish, but been thinking about getting them a Jojo, now i can justify getting one! 

Building a compost setup is a mission, I just have a plain heap right now.

Legendary setup @Bospatrollie2 

Edited May 19, 2020 by Dank

[Bos]

That is epic bro! BOSBEF@K, that is such a good use for a old or new Jojo!!
I have some Ryukin (calico and normal colors) and Shibunken goldfish, but been thinking about getting them a Jojo, now i can justify getting one! 
Building a compost setup is a mission, I just have a plain heap right now.
Legendary setup @Bospatrollie2 

Koi breeds are a science on its own. Bought them as a batch from an overstocked pond 8 yrs ago, paid peanuts. Have a few fish- Doitsu, Sanke, Goromo, Yamabuki Ogon and a Tancho- none are certified so basically not worth much.
I have lost a few big fish over the years sadly (jumping and fisheagles) so far they've spawned twice for me. Largest current lady is about 3kgs-Doitsu.
They were in a 7000lt pond before, but needed to be moved pronto after the divorce(ex wanted to fill the pond with sand) so made the Jojo plan.
They also provide nourishment to my plants when I clean the filters.

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[Dank]

On 5/19/2020 at 4:53 PM, Bospatrollie2 said:

Koi breeds are a science on its own. Bought them as a batch from an overstocked pond 8 yrs ago, paid peanuts. Have a few fish- Doitsu, Sanke, Goromo, Yamabuki Ogon and a Tancho- none are certified so basically not worth much.
I have lost a few big fish over the years sadly (jumping and fisheagles) so far they've spawned twice for me. Largest current lady is about 3kgs-Doitsu.
They were in a 7000lt pond before, but needed to be moved pronto after the divorce(ex wanted to fill the pond with sand) so made the Jojo plan.
They also provide nourishment to my plants when I clean the filters.

Sent from my SM-G900F using Tapatalk
 

Jis @Bospatrollie2 a 7500l sounds epic, sorry to hear its prob full of sand now..

It's a great addition to a regenerative setup, I only have a few hundred liters, but a good amount of biomass comes from the fish, and clearing aquatic plants npw and then adds to the compost diveristy.

Just love lighting up a phatty next to the pond and staring at the fishes a bit  

Hope I can get some koi one day, but wish they need a big setup.

[SmokeyZero]

Greetings @Dank , Have you watched the movie "Kiss the Ground"?

[Dank]

Yo @SmokeyZero , no i haven't seen it, will be sure to check it out. Cool title, is it on Youtube or a Netflix fliek?

Edited September 27, 2020 by Dank

[SmokeyZero]

@Dank on Netflix yeah, an awesome movie.

[Psylecta]

On 12/16/2019 at 9:18 AM, Dank said:

Whats good 420SA fam!? 

Wanted to post a update on this thread about regenerative practices outdoors. This year I am trying to help ladybirds/ladybugs multiply in the garden.

Even natural pest control methods as harmless as a neem mix is enough to kill ladybug larvae, so this spring I decided to leave a few rose bushes infested with aphids to see what happens. To the complete shock and horror of my better half, the rose bushes were covered in aphids about a month ago, but the first ladybirds arrived then and there was some ladybug breeding going on. 

A month later, the bushes probably have about 20 - 30 ladybird larvae on them, aphids have been destroyed and the little guys are chasing around looking for the last to feast on.

The only downside I see is there is a lot of larvae frass on the leaves from the feasting, left untreated will cause blackspot mold, etc. A fair price, i will remove leaves and prune soon as the larve are grown up amd leave their nursery.

So all these years I have been killing ladybird larvae, by treating aphids in a "natural" way. Here are some pictures of my new pets 

Ive spotted lots of aphids on some of my plants growing directly in backyard soil except mine are black, look like aphids though, teardrop shaped body 6 legs, they infested every garden weed with a yellow 'sunflower' when u squish them they brownish red - yanked a ton out last week, doesn't look like they munching the leaves but don't want them around