Composting - 1 of 3 - Composting and Benefits

I'm really into composting. I put as much time, love, and energy into composting as i put into my plants. there are so many benefits of including Leaf Composting (LC) into your growing regime and into your soil, both outdoor and indoor (unless, that is, you're using a hydroponic system, then, no so good. lololol).

I've been gardening for 40+ years and cannot proclaim enough the virtues of adding leaf compost to your soil. It has so many incredible benefits that i thought i'd share this information with this awesome and helpful community, where it will provide incredible benefits in growing strong, healthy, and vibrant (read potent) plants.

Due to the amount of information, I have broken this out into three separate posts: Compositing and Benefits; Bins and Composting Tips, and Green Manure Tea.

Here is the first post: Composting - 1 of 3 - Compositing Benefits:

The following is just a partial list that I've put together of all the great benefits of using compost, and to which i can personally attest to in my years of general gardening. there is absolutely no reason why these benefits would not apply equally well, if not significantly better, on cannabis. Cannabis is a F'n remarkable plant, with unsurpassed Adaptive Abilities And Attributes (Always Avoid Alliteration ). it can be pushed and manipulated in so many ways, with additives, chemicals, different growing methods, etc. all of which produce incredible results and variations. the more we put into this plant in terms of perfecting the growing conditions, the soil systems, our understanding of the growing phases, cross-breeding techniques (to product ever more perfect and potent or therapeutic strains), the more this plant continues to perform and amaze us. It seems like there's no limit to its potential and adaptability.
I read a post recently from someone (sorry, man. i couldn't find where i just read this, and i didn't post or bookmark. if you read this, contact me i'll give you a shout-out, here) where the dude is growing this shit up North at -25C. F'n awesome, man! Kudos to you.

As for Compost, it's truly a remarkable and overlooked soil additive, that should be included into our regime when striving for that perfect, potent, gorgeous, sugar coated, trichome covered, and terpene-laden plant, that we all love and invest so much of our time on. So why not take growing to yet another level of perfection. It also 100% natural, AND IT'S FREE!

So here are some of the major benefits:

• Leaf composting makes a dark, rich, earthy organic matter that can be used like soil. It doesn't get much better than that, folks.
• the larger organic particle sizes and fibrous materials improves and enhances the tilth and loosens hard and compacted soil, thereby making it easier for the root system to grow and expand.

• a big issue that i read on this forum (on any gardening forum, for that matter) is with PH balance. Therefore, a biggie is that Leaf compost both stabilizes and balances PH levels, below 7, which is ideal, so you don't have to worry or F#$%^ with your PH levels for the life of the plant - unless you're over fertilizing the F out of your plants, and if so, you have OFOCD: Over Fertilization Obsessive Compulsion Disorder lolol. Seek help! : P
• another biggie is that aside from all the many micro nutrients that it contains, compost retains and maintains excellent moisture levels, without becoming water logged, which is an exceptional benefit if you're growing outdoor pots, which just about always need watering.

• Leaf compost also provides good and steady levels of bio-available nitrogen for your plant, so you don't have to freak out on a feeding regime throughout the vegetative phase. (I must, i must feed every 2 days).

• a huge benefit is that Leaf Compost has super beneficial fungus's/mycorrhizal, which protect your roots system and helps feed your plant (it's a symbiotic relationship - the fungus breaks down all the organic and inorganic nutrients in the soil and then feeds it to the roots, the roots return the favour and feed the fungus glucose so that they too can thrive - a little bit oversimplified, but you get the picture), so you don't need to waste your money on expensive soil enhancers (Voodoo Juice, et al). However, if you are growing indoors and don't have a place to compost, then i do recommend judicious use of these type of products. you don't need a lot of this stuff -- certainly not as much as the companies want you to believe, just so that you keep buying more -- for if you have good, organic soil, then a single dose of bacteria and fungus's will multiply on their own, naturally.

• One of my all-time favorites and favorite activities is that you can make compost Tea (aka Green Manure Tea. I have a separate post coming up on this), which is a Superfood for your plants, as all the nutrients have already been broken down by the bacterial process, plus the beneficial bacteria levels in the tea are off the charts, so again, you don't need to purchase expensive soil enhancers.
• Leaf Compost is an amazing mulch, and it can be put simply on top of the soil. Leaf mulch provides really good weed control, it slowly and steadily feeds the plants with nitrogen and other essential nutrients, tops up the beneficial bacteria and fungus's, decrease water evaporation losses from the soil, but most importantly, it will keep your root system cool, especially if you're growing in Pots. Roots do not like warm temperatures or temperature fluctuations - think roots underground, where the temperature is considerably cooler and always at a constant temperature.

• and lastly, the fungus's in Leaf compost works with both protecting the plant, as well as boosting the plant's own immunity system, making the plant much stronger and more desiese restant than if no compost was used at all. research in this area is just starting to see the full potential that beneficial funguses/mycorrhiza brings to the table.

I hope that's enough to get you into considering and incorporating compost into your next growth cycle. But! Where does one get das kompost? Fortunately, you can create as much of this stuff that you want, right in your own backyard, and very cheaply. And once your composting system is setup and running, all the compost thereafter is FREE.

Coming Up Next: Composting - 2 of 3 - Composting Bins and Tips

Happy Composting, Happy Harvesting, and Happy dreaming of next year's strains and growing season.

My outside plants use a good amount of compost. I saw your other post with the pics of the garbage bags of leaves you collected, so you’re definitely into it. I read in a composting book that you should “harvest“ leaves in the fall as trees have deep roots and can pull elements and minerals out from underground and deposit them in the leaves.
Most of my carbon comes from leaves. I always have lots of green nitrogen stuff, but it’s the carbon I’m usually after. Other than adding some peat moss, and you’re not supposed to do that…
I run my leaves over with the lawn mower until they’re pretty small so they break down faster.
Another thing I read about is not getting your piles too hot as that will cook more of the N out of it and into the atmosphere, so I try to keep the pile from getting too hot, but I’m in Canada and it’s cold for 6 months, so that helps.

MustGro said:

I read in a composting book that you should “harvest“ leaves in the fall as trees have deep roots and can pull elements and minerals out from underground and deposit them in the leaves.

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No, this is INCORRECT! you must harvest the leaves in the early spring when they're still up in the trees.

MustGro said:

Most of my carbon comes from leaves. I always have lots of green nitrogen stuff, but it’s the carbon I’m usually after. Other than adding some peat moss, and you’re not supposed to do that…

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i like using peat moss. don't tell anyone, but i use miracle grow (you know, the one that everyone hates on this forum) instead of peat moss.

I run my leaves over with the lawn mower until they’re pretty small so they break down faster.

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yeah, that's awesome if you have a rear-bagger. <tumbs up> i use a leaf blower, which both sucks up those gold and yellow leaves, and then pulverizes them, all in a nice bag i can then dump into my bins.

Another thing I read about is not getting your piles too hot as that will cook more of the N out of it and into the atmosphere, so I try to keep the pile from getting too hot, but I’m in Canada and it’s cold for 6 months, so that helps.

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I've never gotten my pile above 160C (which below is considered optimal), no matter how much i've tried. Grass clipping would probably do it, but GC's are such a pain to work with, as you have to apply it between layers, and spread out thinly, or you get clump-city.