Any benefit to making fertilizer from composted fan leaves?

bongoid

Active Member
I thought it best to ask this in the 'Advanced' section of the forum, since the n00bs would probably not have any idea and I'd hate to be responsible for creating yet another argument.

Can anyone see any potential advantages to the making of a fertilizer from bulk shade leaf left over from last year's crop? I'm imagining that there would be everything needed in it nutrient wise to sufficiently aid the plants growth during their vegetative and/or budding cycles?

Has anyone ever tried this idea before, (and if they have, or have heard of it being done), did it successfully aid plants in any way which they could be gauged as having some type of improvement to them as opposed to it not having been used on them previously?

Can anyone see any reason why doing this would not be a good idea or whether they think it would be good idea please?
 

xtsho

Well-Known Member
Why wouldn't you compost and use the leftovers? I do. In the garden but heck yeah I compost almost everything. My garden soil just keeps getting better. Egg shells, vegetables scraps, cannabis trimmings. It all gets composted and incorporated into the soil. Why waste it? You should see the tomato's I grow.

 

bongoid

Active Member
To answer your question: yes. It's called 'composting' and had been done by gardeners for thousands of years.
Thanks for your response. To clarify: I was specifically referring to whether the cannabis plant's leaves would be perfectly suited to creating a fertilizer for feeding the plant, one which might be superior to any other, given the leaves of the cannabis plant would have within them the exact proportions of the specific nutrients that the plant might need throughout its growth cycle?
 

bongoid

Active Member
Free compost is a good thing , in respect to weed it is the same with any green plant
Thanks for replying. Specifically, I was wondering if a cannabis plant fertilized with composted shade leaves (alone) might gain a greater benefit than might be expected from other compost recipes, given the content of the nutrients within the leaves of another cannabis plant would already contain those specific nutrients tailored through previous metabolism in order to potentially
maximize the benefit of them to another cannabis plant's growth?
 

bongoid

Active Member
Why wouldn't you compost and use the leftovers? I do. In the garden but heck yeah I compost almost everything. My garden soil just keeps getting better. Egg shells, vegetables scraps, cannabis trimmings. It all gets composted and incorporated into the soil. Why waste it? You should see the tomato's I grow.

My mouth's watering looking at that beauty!
 

Booyah!

Well-Known Member
Put the l leaves in a bucket and let it ferment in water for a few days to a week. Stir them up with a stick once in a while then pour the juice through a hash bag or filter. Put the juice in with the compost tea and brew it for a day and a half. At least this is what I tried last year during the veg stage. The plants loved it. They also liked the fermented tea from other weeds like stinging nettles and leaves from the Willow tree and chewed up garlic. I don't know if there is any special nutrients or hormones that is in one and not the other though. They all seemed to work great. During flowering I did the same but with the fruit of a Cantaloupe minus the seeds and rind for a natural bloom booster
 

Booyah!

Well-Known Member
I always bury any extra lumber and leaves from the season directly in the ground I grow in. Dig a huge pit and fill it up then cap it over with dirt and move the pit. I gotta admit most pits have all sorts of compostables thrown in while they are filling up as well. But, those areas come to life.
 

bongoid

Active Member
Thanks boo, i appreciate the repsonse.
Put the l leaves in a bucket and let it ferment in water for a few days to a week. Stir them up with a stick once in a while then pour the juice through a hash bag or filter. Put the juice in with the compost tea and brew it for a day and a half. At least this is what I tried last year during the veg stage. The plants loved it. They also liked the fermented tea from other weeds like stinging nettles and leaves from the Willow tree and chewed up garlic. I don't know if there is any special nutrients or hormones that is in one and not the other though. They all seemed to work great. During flowering I did the same but with the fruit of a Cantaloupe minus the seeds and rind for a natural bloom booster
At last, someone who gets it! Thanks for that. I suspected they might like it better than other types of fertiliser. I recently discovered a little hack that I'll share with you as a thank you. If you companion plant with yarrow it will increase essential oil production.
 

DCcan

Well-Known Member
If you companion plant with yarrow it will increase essential oil production.
Thanks for the tip! I'll have to get some Yarrow
You can try chamomile also. My recollection is they both release a compound that causes other plants to increase terpene production. Often planted with lavender for that reason. Both very similar to Comfrey for available nutrients
I made tons of yarrow/chamomile tea this past year, the plants just love that stuff. Just ran it thru the smoothie machine , added EWC and bubbled for 24hrs. I have a hedge started around the garden now with Chamomile, Mint, Yarrow, Comfrey, Bee Balm and Chrysanthemums.
The Chrysanthemum juice has to be foiliar only for pests,I think it has root inhibitor compounds. As does geraniums, as I found out. You want to put a mother plant into hibernation, that will do it. You won't get any growth for weeks.
 
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