Marijuana Business Magazine - February 2018

professors from the University of Maine at Farmington. Among other things, the projects explore best agricultural practices in hemp farming, economic feasibility, plant health, yields and how all of these relate to soil quality. So it’s her job to try differ- ent organic soils, fertilizers and nutrients. “Growing organic cannabis produces a more potent and flavorful product,” said Haywood, who is also a licensed medical marijuana caregiver in Maine and worked as a high school biology and chemistry teacher before going into legal MMJ. While Haywood believes in a variety of organic soil and nutrient products, she advocates the use of “super soils” – soils augmented with nutrients, microbes and other materials that are beneficial to both marijuana and hemp plants. She said super soil is better for plants than adding nutrients directly to them. “It’s creating a superlative micro- biome at the root level versus ‘force-feeding’ nutrients to a plant,” Haywood said. That method also is superior to “bottle-feeding” synthetic nutrients to plants, Haywood said, because the plant and the bacterial and fungal environ- ment around the root of the plant dic- tates what the plant takes up and uses EXECUTIVE SUMMARY A number of cannabis farmers shun synthetic nutrients in favor of organic nutrients and soils, arguing their approach produces better cannabis. Here’s what you need to know: • These cultivators make their own organic nutrient and soil mixes, although they also can be purchased. • There are many different sources for organic nutrients and soils. The more popular ones include lobster and crab shells, alpaca, bat, fish, and worm excrement, alfalfa and seaweed, and common plants like comfrey and dandelions. • Some nutrients are most effective during the vegetative phase of the plant cycle, while others work best in the flowering phase. • Organic enthusiasts say their nutrients may cost more upfront, but the resulting product is far superior and saves money in the long term. PLANT FERMENTS VERSUS COMPOST TEAS M ark Simkins, CEO and chief grower at Sacred Flower Farms in Oregon, primarily uses plant ferments to boost his plants. But he also uses compost. What’s the difference? For starters, compost teas and ferments activate different types of bacteria. Compost teas activate and multiply aerobic-beneficial bacteria that work to enrich the soil and benefit the plant. With fermentations, you’re using anaerobic beneficial bacteria. They have a larger presence of fungi and probiotics and go more directly from the soil to the plant than their aerobic counterparts. Another difference: Ferments can be stored at room temperature. Compost teas, which Simkins likes to bubble in a water tank outfitted with an aerator for 18-36 hours, must be used immediately after the bubbling process is complete. “You want to get it right out there,” Simpkins said of compost tea. “But with ferments, we would make them and hold them. We would make quite a bit just to have on the shelf, and then we could grab some and make a little cocktail (of different ferments) to feed out into the field.” – Omar Sacirbey for its growth and flowering phases. “There’s no kind of bacteria or fungus making those (synthetic) nutrients avail- able. You’re force-feeding the plant a salt solution instead,” said Haywood, who makes her own soils and organic additives. While yields are sometimes increased by force-feeding plants with the salty liquid synthetic nutrients, Haywood said, the flavor, taste and potency per unit weight is increased “when you allow the plants to make the decisions using organic soil at the root level.” Fish Excrement Grillo agreed that bacteria are criti- cal to healthy plant growth and uses a product called Fish Sh!t from Fish Head Farms in Massachusetts.The aptly named product is created by feeding tilapia a proprietary feed that when digested results in a wide variety of microorganisms that help the rhizos- phere, the layer of soil where microor- ganisms are most active. Erica Haywood, president of LoveGrown Agricultural Research Mark Simpkins, CEO of Sacred Flower Farms 42 • Marijuana Business Magazine • February 2018