Soil, growing tomatoes v marijuana

Beard-o

Beard-o

Well-Known Member
While I take my marijuana growing seriously, I'm super serious about my tomatoes.
Each year I grow 50 tomato plants, outdoors, in 10 gallon soft pots. Each spring I amend the soil in each pot. Dump it out, pull out old roots, add myco, worm castings, lime, bone meal, and a really healthy dose of composted bagged cow manure. A lot of manure.

I "think" all the other stuff helps. But I know it's the cow manure that gives tomatoes a boost. I grow beautiful tomatoes.
So, wouldn't the same work for marijuana? Clean up your old used soil, and refill half the bag with cow manure, some myco and call it a day.

Marijuana is a weed. Everything commercial farmers grow is fertilized with cow manure, and thrives. Why not marijuana?
 
Beard-o said:
While I take my marijuana growing seriously, I'm super serious about my tomatoes.
Each year I grow 50 tomato plants, outdoors, in 10 gallon soft pots. Each spring I amend the soil in each pot. Dump it out, pull out old roots, add myco, worm castings, lime, bone meal, and a really healthy dose of composted bagged cow manure. A lot of manure.

I "think" all the other stuff helps. But I know it's the cow manure that gives tomatoes a boost. I grow beautiful tomatoes.
So, wouldn't the same work for marijuana? Clean up your old used soil, and refill half the bag with cow manure, some myco and call it a day.

Marijuana is a weed. Everything commercial farmers grow is fertilized with cow manure, and thrives. Why not marijuana?
Click to expand...
I don't see or know of any reason why cow manure wouldn't work great for cannabis. Most manure tends to have good levels of phos and nitrogen, some can be used without composting and others need it. Bovine manure has a very high organic matter content and will burn plants if not composted first. Also known for higher potential to contain pathogens.

I prefer to use alpaca, fish manure and insect frass in my compost pile, also used as an ammendment I can incorporate into a soil mix or use as a top dressing. But the most important thing to consider when choosing a manure is the initial quality, meaning... what it's food source was.
 
Grow my out outdoor organically, like someone would their veggie garden. I use blood and bone meal, cow manure, gypsum, dolomite lime and mulch, that's it. Plus, I also like using composted chicken manure just before stretch starts, but that's just me.

I usually top dress with manure a couple times through the grow. Plants have always liked it a lot and it's easy to tell.

The worms like it a lot too.
 
Beard-o said:
While I take my marijuana growing seriously, I'm super serious about my tomatoes.
Each year I grow 50 tomato plants, outdoors, in 10 gallon soft pots. Each spring I amend the soil in each pot. Dump it out, pull out old roots, add myco, worm castings, lime, bone meal, and a really healthy dose of composted bagged cow manure. A lot of manure.

I "think" all the other stuff helps. But I know it's the cow manure that gives tomatoes a boost. I grow beautiful tomatoes.
So, wouldn't the same work for marijuana? Clean up your old used soil, and refill half the bag with cow manure, some myco and call it a day.

Marijuana is a weed. Everything commercial farmers grow is fertilized with cow manure, and thrives. Why not marijuana?
Click to expand...
Cannabis and tomatoes are well known to enjoy similar soils and high rates of fertilization. I bet it would make for vigorously healthy cannabis plants.
 
I grow in outdoor planters filled with manure, leaf compost and recycled potting soil.
Usually buy the manure in the summer, let age in the bag till spring.

Biochar and wood ash from the fire pit is good too, ash is mostly calcium carbonate.
Manure and compost has plenty of natural mycos, never needed any extra.
 
DCcan said:
Adding Gypsum will mitigate most of that, with a bit of sulfur.
Click to expand...
Just remembered..
Most horticultural gypsum is already high in sufur, which is why it's not turned into drywall board instead.
Probably skip that, it just makes the gypsum more soluble.
 
Last edited:
DCcan said:
That makes sense, they give them supplemental salts in their diet.
Adding Gypsum will mitigate most of that, with a bit of sulfur.
In containers, I don't think you have to worry.
Click to expand...
Yeah you get away with it half the stuff in India Pakistan etc only gets a bit of cow or buffalo dung added in anyway mind you landraces want alot less nutes Vs modern hybrids of course
 
DCcan said:
they give them supplemental salts in their diet.
Click to expand...
It's required for the animals overall health and ability to absorb magnesium. Regardless of being grass fed or corn fed, their diet is high in protein.
Which is why I mentioned the initial quality being the most important factor when choosing a manure. That's one of the reasons I prefer alpaca over bovine. I have several alpaca farms in the neighboring county and I can go with 5gal buckets and fill myself. The farmer actually sets up a poled canopy over the piles he sells. It prevents the rains from washing away nutrients. Alpacas actually share a "community pile" and they'll all shit in the same spot.
 
I threw way to much fish poo ( pond dredge ) onto a tomato patch. Huge plants very strong and not one flower.
Way to much nitrogen and from the wrong source, agricultural runoff.

Very similar needs and very similar limits high and low.

Now let's try a tomato at 100000 lux.....
 
Jimski said:
I threw way to much fish poo ( pond dredge ) onto a tomato patch. Huge plants very strong and not one flower.
Way to much nitrogen and from the wrong source, agricultural runoff.

Very similar needs and very similar limits high and low.

Now let's try a tomato at 100000 lux.....
Click to expand...
I grow tomato plants every year outside and a few times in the past I've given them too much Nitrogen, and same thing happened. Huge plants with tons of sucker's and massive branching. It looks nice and robust, but it is very deceiving. Calcium is probably the most important element when it comes to tomatoes, not just to prevent blossom drop or end rot, but strengthening the tissues. Aphids have always attacked my high N tomatoes, but don't go after any that have moderate N and high Calcium. High Brix is always a top priority with any plant, but outdoor tomatoes, it's my first priority. Plants with high brix aren't recognized by sucking insects as food. Calcium plays a large role in that as well.
 
Woedae said:
I grow tomato plants every year outside and a few times in the past I've given them too much Nitrogen, and same thing happened. Huge plants with tons of sucker's and massive branching. It looks nice and robust, but it is very deceiving. Calcium is probably the most important element when it comes to tomatoes, not just to prevent blossom drop or end rot, but strengthening the tissues. Aphids have always attacked my high N tomatoes, but don't go after any that have moderate N and high Calcium. High Brix is always a top priority with any plant, but outdoor tomatoes, it's my first priority. Plants with high brix aren't recognized by sucking insects as food. Calcium plays a large role in that as well.
Click to expand...
Eggshells in the pile for 20 years now....
 
DCcan said:
Just remembered..
Most horticultural gypsum is already high in sufur, which is why it's not turned into drywall board instead.
Probably skip that, it just makes the gypsum more soluble.
Click to expand...
Gypsum by definition is calcium sulfate. It's the bane of hydroponic growers because it comes about when nutrients like calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate - aka epsom salt - are improperly mixed. The calcium and sulfur undergo a flocculation reaction, form gypsum and because gypsum is 97% water insoluble, it falls to the bottom of the container where it is no longer available to the plants.

Organic gardening encourages soil bacteria and fungi to metabolize these materials and break them up into water soluble forms the plants can take up through their roots.
 
Indoors, I use Jack's 321 system and I use Calcium Sulfate to replace the Calcium Nitrate (Jack's Part B) -starting about week #5 of flower. I get the gypsum that is super-fine and is somewhat water-soluble. It's like a super-fine suspension, actually. But, I'm told that the plants can get the needed Calcium from it. The only caveat is that, the extra Sulfur tends to acidify the mix after a few weeks so I have to adjust the pH with some pH-UP. Fortunately, by that time, the plants slow down and I think they stop processing nutrients through the roots, anyway. That's when I switch to regular water until harvest -somewhere around week #8 to week #10, typically.

I've been wanting to try Calcium Acetate instead of the Gypsum when replacing the Jack's Part B during flower. It's more water-soluble.

As far as outdoor tomato gardening....composted manure is what we use....add a new layer every season and till it in.
 
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