In another journal we started a small debate regarding organic growing verses non-organic growing so I started this thread so people could discuss and debate their opinions.

I believe that "mother nature" is often a limiting factor and we, as growers, often provide better conditions than would exist in nature. There's nothing wrong with using organic nutrients, it's a multi-billion dollar per year industry, but they do tend to be more expensive. Organically grown food often is smaller and looks less healthy compared to commercially grown products.

Some people claim they can taste the difference but I've never met anyone that actually could.


Discuss...

Hi SME, thanks for starting this discussion.

I noticed you brought up the idea of selective breeding as improving upon nature, and I agree with that. Obviously we are all benefitting from extensive cannabis breeding. You also brought up apples and strawberries, which as a rule seem to do poorly under chemical-free growing conditions. However, I believe there are plenty more examples of produce that does well grown organically and IMHO tastes better too. There's a toughness in the tissue present in the inorganic broccoli that organically grown does not have ( just one example of a recent comparison I made). This is of course subjective, but I'd invite people to compare.

All I am talking about when I use the term "organic" is simply the method of cultivating a living microbial population with in the soil which feeds on substances excreted by roots, and then in turn feeds the plant all the nutrients it needs. When functioning properly all you need is regular water, although occasional applications of compost tea can help reinvigorate the soil (see picture). Giving chemical nutrients will disrupt and eventually kill off the beneficial ecosystem in the soil, which means the plant will be dependent on a constant supply of these mixed nutes for the rest of its lifecycle.

I'm not sure that organic is the way to go for highest yield although I'm sure there are some who may argue that.
For me it's about the ease of continuing the system as once you mix good soul, you can re-use it over and over as long as you amend it after each grow ( with things like alfalfa meal, kelp and compost) in order to make up for the things the plant took out. . In fact, the soil gets better and more balanced with age because it will be benefitting from a greater variety of amendments.
As far as the taste question goes, In my experience organic product has a better flavor but this is subjective and I'd certainly like to hear others' experiences.

Thanks for joining in the discussion!

Yes, not only things like selective breeding but we also often improve on mother nature when we grow indoors and that's not new either. Farmers in certain areas often used green houses to get an early start on some crops or to grow crops inside when they couldn't outside due to weather. With cannabis crops we can get up to 6 harvests per year, indoors, which we could never do outside. Hydroponics is better than soil although it can be more expensive. The sun, however, is free and we may never be able to beat that as a cost factor until we see advances like fusion but that's another discussion.

There is a lot to be said for "organics" for growing, farmers have been relying on that for centuries whether or not they knew it. I practice vermiculture and I've also used mycorrhizae, neem oil and manure for growing various crops too, just to name a few. Of course farmers also use techniques like crop/livestock rotation to help the soil produce better and longer.

I disagree that microbial health replaces the need for amending nutrients, they are two different things. Water is not enough. I also disagree that chemical fertilizer (NPK plus other micro-nutrients) is different than organic nutrients as far as plant use goes, the problem occurs when farmers use too much because it's cheaper. Nitrogen is nitrogen and plants cannot tell the difference. If you look at a "periodic table" there is just one nitrogen and it's very simple.

Pesticides are another story, especially with cannabis, because of the way it's most often consumed and the inability to wash it post harvest like you can an apple for example.

My original response was in regard to taste, production and, specifically, harshness of cured cannabis. Some people claim they taste the difference in organic vs non-organic cannabis but none of the people that I've tested were able to. I've heard people claim that organic cannabis is smoother and I believe that's a myth. I think the key to harsh vs smooth is mainly in the cure but plants with nutrient burn in flower will also be harsher than those without. As far as taste goes, that's mostly genetics but it's enhanced by the factors that also determine harshness. As your rightfully mentioned, some crops do taste slightly different depending on the area they're produced, we used grapes in that example but those grapes can also taste different from year to year even off of the same vines so it's more than just the area and grapes are a different animal compared to cannabis. If you've never water cured cannabis, you should try it at least once.

I also look forward to other opinions and observations on this and other subjects...

I realized I didn't address your statement about bottled nutes. Here are my thoughts on those when using soil: ditch them.

I think nutes work great in hydroponic systems but when you try to use them in soil you're just asking for problems ( of which I've had my share ). Plus, many that call themselves organic aren't. The labeling for bottled nutes can be very misleading, and they aren't carefully regulated. There are a few good ones that are truly organic, and whenever i go hydro again I'd probably use those.

However I think If you're using soil you should strive to be independent of bottled fertilizer and instead use dry fertilizers ( added in the beginning) which break down slowly and whose nutrients become available to the plant as they are needed over time. I think this can help avoid nute burn issues. My journal is a case in point.., my leaves looked great until I started supplemental feeding with bottled nutes, and now I am dealing with nute burn. I'm planning on giving the plants compost tea tonight to help rejuvenate the microbial population which I am hoping will help improve the issue.

I really want to try water curing!... I saw your posts about it and will probably try it out for some of the plants and compare. Is it necessary to pre dry at all or can you just go to soak right away?

I also disagree regarding bottled nutrients. As you point out, there are some good ones. While the convenience of using bottle nutrients can cause problems if people are not careful you were not using a meter and you overfed. Over feeding in soil is particularly bad because it acts like a buffer. The problem wasn't the bottles nutrients, it's how you used them. There are many growers that use bottle nutrients without issue because they follow directions and don't over feed.

I know people that cut and soak right away but I prefer to pre-dry a little first. Try it different ways and see which works best for you.