Why is Organic Cannabis better?

[slowhand15]

I don't use chemical ferts because they are not needed.

I like and grow organic. And I grow really good old-school Northern Lights.

Synthetic chemicals- what plant needs them.

In the late 1960's and 70's, all most people could get was Mexican, Columbian, and Jamaican along with tai stick etc.

These were all from different land races and all fertilized with manure of some kind, what ever was local to the area.

It was good dope too!

 

[slowhand15]

I wanted to add, I used to be a golf course superintendent and it's the
same.

The only reason we gave the grasses and trees chemical ferts it they need a boost because they had nutrient deficiencies.

Organic ferts that contain manure, cow, chicken, buffalo, etc.,
hold all the building blocks to grow any plant on this planet.

 

[tokinblackguy]

This thread has some irony packed in doesn't it...LOL anyways, my $.02, organics all the way for quality of the finished product. Mankind has come a long way as far as technology and basic understanding of all things living. But let's face facts here, mankind is still light-years behind mother nature. We're a smart people no doubt, sometimes to our own detriment, but believing that we can somehow mimic mother nature without a loss of anything is just plain arrogant. If we all believed that there is absolutely no difference between chemically fed and organically fed pot, hell...why grow at all, sativex is just as good right??? isn't it. Hey, don't breast feed your child, we have scientists that have breast milk formula all figured out.... don't we?

The question to me is not rather organics are better, it's rather or not one can discern it. I'm not a chemical hater, had my run with GH and AN and a few others, have even used a combination of chems and organics, the difference isn't really that great, honestly when both are done properly. My experience is like that of THC123's and others, little better yield, something however small, missing from the taste or at least expressed differently in the inhale and exhale and on the palette.

And a note to those saying all organic nutes have to be broken down first....Remember a little term called "water soluble", meaning hey, some of this N is available now. The plant can use what it needs while the remainder is being broken down. By the time the plants needs a little more of that N, BOOM, ready and available via a symbiotic centuries old process, just like MOTHER NATURE intended.

To me and this is just my opinion guys, while we have come close, we still can't hold a candle to nature. Does your chem-fed corn still taste as sweet as it did back when your grandparents gardened?

 

[Microbeman]

Agree with a lot of what has been said. Some points; There is a very minimal amount of soluble (ionic) nutrient in most organic compounds. The organic nutrients which roots uptake outside of microbial interaction is brought about through mineralizing excretions (as DS pointed out DON, etc) and organic molecules are not (AFAIK) uptaken directly.

You all may be surprised how rapidly sequestered organic nutrients are made available through microbial processing. Bacterial/archaeal division can occur in under 20 minutes and flagellates can multiply every 2 hours. Exponentially applied this provides billions of bacteria/archaea at an approximate ratio of 10,000:1 to flagellates in a 24 to 36 hour period. I know this from observation with a microscope. There are miniature pockets of this process turning on and shutting off continuously. It is through the consumption of the bacteria/archaea by flagellates that a large majority of nutrients are provided in the rhyzosphere. On the flip side, the plant can shut this process down rapidly when she wishes to switch gears. The only problem with using chemical fertilizers, besides leaching, is that this whole system is bypassed and as a result the soil microbial population is altered. In my experience this opens up the doors to pathogens which subsequently require more chemicals.

Besides all of this, in fear of being a little voodoo here, is there a conciousness in nature?

 

[gloryoskie]

Reminds me of a discussion in high school, where the opposing sides argued the merits of two different rock concerts. One side posed that Kiss was the best, the other said Led Zep was the best. After much debate it was finally agreed that Kiss had the best stage show, and Led Zep had the best music.

I guess you can say some grow for the music, some grow for the show.

 

[pray4pistils]

Organic is clearly superior because it's powered by Led Zeppelin.

 

[Montana]

http://www.soilandhealth.org/01aglibrary/010178.better.than.organic.pdf

 

[Montana]

I guess you could say, that taking pill supplements instead of eating, will give you all the nutrients you need to stay alive and function, but skips the processes of chewing, swallowing, etc.......alot of chemical responses are at work making the nutrients available to our bodies when we eat, same goes for plants.......IMO if the plants are put to work with all systems functioning, the end result is of superior quality, healthy, strong, taken to it's full potential, as opposed to functioning just enough to get the job done........pretty much the same as steroids, huge and strong in a very short amount of time, with inferior brain function and chemical imbalances in the body, bad overall health, and shrunken testicles

 

[Jacky_Brown]

Flush last week and you good!

 

[heady blunts]

i came to organic ganja through organic veggies.

after switching to organic veggies, i noticed they were more delicious and more nutritious than their conventional counterparts. i stopped getting sick. they improved my mood. i could eat less and feel more satisfied.

i smoke all day every day because it makes me feel much better (depression/anxiety/chronic pain).

it was a short logical step for me to make when i realized in cannabis the "nutritional profile" would manifest as potency and complexity, and better taste is gonna be better mf'n taste!

plus the improved disease resistance and no measuring or pHing made it an easy choice for my first cannabis grows.

 

[supermanlives]

organic is best as its powered by KISS

 

[Green Supreme]

Depends on the grower. I have puffed many organics that didn't burn or have taste. Same could be said about chemies. Peace GS

 

[cannabinonymous]

fact of the matter is, all of the debates and comments here are pure conjecture. Find me a pure scientific study that grows the same genetics with a water only control and organic/chem setup using IDENTICAL n/p/k/other ratios, water schedule, light schedule, temperature, humidity etc... then once harvested and cured with identical processes, perform a triple blind test and complete molecular analysis with a broad enough sample base to rule out abnormalities. Until one can show me this study, your opinion is completely worthless to me or anyone else. Grow with whatever gives YOU the best "perceived" results and stop spitting out opinion as gospel.

 

[guest2012y]

I can't believe this is still a debate........really?

 

[love2gro]

least it made me lol

 

[Bongstar420]

umm

umm

no doubt. no point arguing any further.

also, before any ignoramus comes to state that "N is N is N no matter the source", this is not so, not true, stop being ignorant please.

take synthetic urea as an example, the most widely used synthetic source of the highest N concentration used for farming; the N in this synthetic urea contains impurities that actually stunt plant-growth, such as biuret; therefore, using synthetic urea as a nitrogen source is in no way, shape or form better than, lets say, worm humus.

most synthetic ferts are a by-product of petroleum , and they can be useful, there is no question you can grow nice crops with them if used properly, but they do not compare in terms of quality to proper organic fertilizing methods.

this is only a debate because some people that use synthetic nutrients need to think they are using the best possible method, but they are not; they are only using a method that produces good results, but not the best results.

over and out

Yes, cheap Urea comes with the impurity Biuret which is the result of two Urea's condensating which happens when you hear Urea. It does have a stunting effect at some level usually beyond the tolerance limits set by the fertilizer regulatory officials. If you purchase technical grade Urea, Biuret will be well below a level where it can effect plant growth. Biuret and Urea are both organic molecules which bacteria will consume. Any agricultural grade Urea would be a cleaner N source than Human urine which contains lots of undesirable things, most notably Sodium choloride (unless you eat a very low salt diet). Most of the benefits that come from organic agriculture are due to the addition of Carbon, the hormones from the fertilizers and bacterial decomposition that produces hormones. N is N, but that is where it ends. All forms and combinations have to be considered whether it is sourced organic or synthetic. Anyways, quality is about balance and intensity more than it is about source (assuming you select for pure sources regardless of them being syn or org).

The thing that don't like about organic is that they are very poorly labeled (I mean very). Synthetic fertilizers have only slightly better labels. Everything that is in it should be available and everything should be batch certified.

My opinion is that many people think organic means automatically healthy. I've seen bat shit with 100 times more heavy metals per dose than Miracle grow (I read the state mandated heavy metal analysis reports) though the Miracle grow is more radioactive due to mined Phosphate. Your organic ferts can also be radioactive depending on where they were sourced from, but this stuff is produced in areas that I would not live in even though they still have plenty of people.

Example: High P Bat Guano Typically has 10-20ppm Cd. A typical dose of guano is 3 Tbs/gal. A typical bloom booster such as Monopotassium Phosphate has 5ppm or less with many at less than 2ppm. A typical dose of MKP is .5 Tsp/gal which might be heavier than the 3Tbs of guano as far as PK goes.

Guano- 3Tbs*10ppm---> 9Tsp*10ppm
MKP- .5Tsp*5ppm---> .5Tsp*.5ppm

assume 5.5 g/tsp for both though gauano will be slightly lighter and MKP will be slightly heavier, but not by more than ~15% or so.

Guano- .165mg Cd
MKP- .01375mg Cd

For this example, syn wins. It would win in the vast majority of cases since most natural areas cannot benefit from the separation/purifying process in a manufacturing facility. Generally, plant sourced ferts will be much cleaner than animal sourced stuff but wont match technical grade synthetic/processed for purity.

Tell me, how much Strontium is in those egg shells or that bone meal?

How much Copper is in that bat guano?

Can you do the same thing over and over with almost no waste and little chemical pest control (oils and soaps count) and not have total devastation result? This means reusing everything. having almost no leaching (less than 15% runoff total cycle but more preferably less than 10%) without developing a severe disease, pest, or nutrient problem.

 

[Hammerhead]

where was that Guano collected from? I use Jamaican and Indonesian. I have tried to get it from the caribbean but cant find a source. Theres is Mexico as well but I dont use that. You have any data on these ??

 

[highonmt]

The Bongstar makes a very good point about contaminants.
If you are producing your own veggy based ferts through vermiculture or composting of organic veggies you are probably going to have minimal heavy metals and pop's. That is if you have confirmed the soil is low in these pollutants. If Instead you are using sea bird and bat guano's... which in my opinion should not be considered organic... you are using a potential source of bioconcentrated and/or biomagnified metals and persistent organic pollutants (pop's) such as pcb's, ddt, dioxins ets. Just think of how we have all heard about fish and shellfish mercury content. Now imagine all the fish those seabirds are eating. I wish our world was not so polluted but it is.
Another misconception I have seen in this thread is in regard to the manufacture of "chemical" fertilizers. Where are people getting the idea that NP and K salts are petroleum based. K or postassium salts are extracted from mined ancient lake bed sediment called potash. Phosphate mineral mining is the source of most phosphate salts. Most Nitrates are also mined from the huge deposits of salt peter found on our earth, Urea is produced indirectly from hydrocarbons via ammonia which is reacted with co2. N,N Dicarbamoyl hydrozine or diurea rapidly degrades to urea unless it is made to contain an organic molecule such as ethylene. Which is actually a good time release urea nitrogen.

So in reality most of the chem fertilizers imo are actually natural source minerals. I have grown organic and the plants grew well. I now grow with non organic nutes and the plants grow even better. I like to be able to look at the certified chemical analysis of my nutrients and know what I am consuming so that's how I grow.

I live in a fairly pristine part of the world but a guy only about 100 miles from my house was growing a strictly organic and vegatarian garden, composting and adding no chemicals doing it all right. He sent a squash to the state for metals testing it came back off the charts for lead, cadmium, mercury and arsenic. He had unwittingly placed his garden on the site of an 1860's ore roater. I know this is a one in a million example but it did and does happen,

HM

 

[canna woop!]

Does he test his soul? It helps to know the soil history, past, present, etc.

I am not sure if organic is "better" but its sure mysterious way of growing, if you are willing to sacrifice some yield for it (or pay higher for a baggie if the grower yields less)

That being said organic weed can also be messed up badly. A friend of mine added about 4-5 times the amount of lime people were suggesting. Lo and behold two months later, severely burnt leaves and the trimming machine did not even remove many of them giving the final product terrible bag appeal. The product smell was good though, it just yielded a lot less and looked fugly.

 

[clovethee]

for my outdoors vegetables and flowers I try mightily for a self-sustaining garden using composting, and green manures. indoor growing is harder to go full-on green, but I would like to get there one day.