Originally Posted by keeno
Totally forgot I did a Tabbatip on organics the other day. It won't convince most of the hydro heads here and it's not to settle any debate on which to use, but I thought you may find it useful to get a clear idea on what soil variations there are, and the difference between soil vs organically grown in soil:
Tabbatip #2 (what is organic soil growing and what it isn't.. in simplish terms):
There are endless different types of composts and ways to mix our own soil and the range we have to work within is very broad, so it's easy to make something suitable. There are also various soil nutrients available. But do they constitute growing organically because we use them?
This Tabbatip is about identifying a clear distinction between organic soil growing vs normal soil growing.
An oft made assumption is that cannabis grown in any soil is organically grown weed, and equates to the same quality as organic weed.
This soil weed is then compared to hydro weed and no noticeable difference is seen between hydro and organically grown weed. Then organically grown weed is slated before it's actually been tried because it was never really organically grown.
I think it's a bit unfair to blame organics if it wasn't an organic grow, so I'm going to try and make the distinction:
- We can have hydro grown.
- We can have soil grown.
- We can have organic hydro grown.
- We can have organic soil grown.
All are different from the other in their own right and all have pros and cons in their own right.
For example.. if a plant is grown in John Innes soil (a decreasingly popular choice here).. it isn't being grown organically because the soil itself isn't organic, doesn't contain organically certified nutrients and isn't designed primarily to support a microherd. It's designed more to feed the plants and anchor its roots.
This isn't the case with organic growing. Organic principals state that we feed the soil (the microherd) not the plant and only use nutrients, additives and soil that's organic and who's primary focus is to support the microlife and give them what they need to support the plant (in that order).
The basic explanation of the science behind why there's a huge difference in quality and flavour between organics and non-organics is because of the way in which the microherd work in sync with a plant to produce specific ratios of essential oils, hormones and enzymes within the plant. These biological responses to the micro-activity cannot be produced in the same way without the microherd being in good health and in abundance. Without those biological responses, the weed can never taste or smoke as well as weed grown without that focus. That's what it would get being grown in the wild.
We need to be very clear about what organic weed is because it gets a lot of bad press based largely on a misunderstanding about what constitutes organically grown weed and what doesn't.
If we grow two clones, one in JI soil and one in Biobizz soil.. both with mineral nutrients.. then the organic soil won't make much difference, if any, because the mineral nutrients act to feed a plant directly with a little focus on the microherd, and they're absorbed without biological processing.
However, if they were both fed organically using the microherd principal.. the biobizz grow will win because its designed to support the microlife first. JI or garden compost is not designed to do this and its primary goal is to feed the plant directly as well as support a basic microherd.
Another thing that can affect the organic flavour is chlorinated water. Why? Because that kills the microherd, not the plant. Yes plants WILL grow in non-organic soil, but they won't grow in the same way. I'm not saying they won't grow bigger or have bigger buds or be bad quality weed.... I'm saying that the quality won't be the same because the real component behind that quality (the microherd) won't be fully present in a non-organic grow.
Another way we render our grow non-organic is to use mineral nutrients. Another is to use acid ph adjusters or boosters. Or even sulfured molasses.
All these upset or kill the microherd in the soil. We can use them once in a while and then repopulate the microherd afterwards and not lose too much of the quality.. but it's really best to stay fully organic start > finish for the very best results in terms of quality.
For a proper organic grow, everything we do must be to support the little fellas and keep em topped-up so that they do what's best for the plant and give us that rich flavour we're after, so anything we do that harms them (including using non-organic soil) will affect the end quality.
To recap that includes:
- Using non-organic soil
- Using non-organic nutrients and/or additives of any kind
- Using acid ph adjusters
- Using chlorinated water
- Failing to maintain a soil populated with microherd (occasional compost tea is the best route)
I promise you that if grown properly start > finish, truly organic soil-grown weed is in another league in terms of flavour and quality, but it won't be fully realised unless the proper organic principals are applied and followed throughout.
Putting it simply.. if you grew a plant in JI#2 and compared it to a hydro grow.. there won't be much of a difference to notice because, believe it or not, the method of feeding the roots isn't that different between the two methods (direct).
But, truly organic weed is like the difference between a bottle of Moet (still really really nice bubbly) to a bottle of Bollinger 79. Or a BMW to a Rolls Royce.
Savvy?
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