Fertilizing is an essential part of the growth and development of cannabis plants, so that they can get the necessary nutrients needed for each stage of their lives, helping them to produce abundant, high quality yields.
Choosing the best fertilizers for your cannabis plants can make a massive difference when it comes to final results. Keep reading, we’re going to go into the characteristics of each type of fertilizer.
Where do Different Fertilizers Come From?
Organic fertilizers are organic in origin, which means they’re produced or obtained from elements present in nature. Worm hummus, for example, is obtained from worm excrement from a specific type of red Californian worm. This fertilizer, as well as being a super complete fertilizer, is highly useful when it comes to growing cannabis as there’s no risk of over-fertilizing plants or burning their roots. This is why it’s ideal for beginners, especially for outdoor grows.
Other examples of organic fertilizers are guano, partially decomposed bat droppings; fish meal, which is obtained from dry, mulched fish, or bone meal, which is obtained from dry and ground-up animal bones.
There are also many different brands on the market that offer 100% bio, organic products for fertilizing cannabis plants. These products are all of natural origins, such as BioBizz Bio Grow, a complete bio fertilizer that’s designed to give plants the nutrients they need during their growth stage. However, keep in mind that this particular fertilizer is designed for those that grow in soil, specifically.
There’s also additives designed for the plants’ entire life cycle, designed to give base fertilizers a little boost. This includes BioBizz Bio Heaven, an energetic strengthener that can be used in all types of substrates, giving cannabis plants strength and energy.
However, non-organic fertilizers, also known as mineral fertilizers, are obtained via different industrial processes. This doesn’t make them any worse or better, and many growers might even prefer these depending on their needs. Let’s have a look at their advantages and disadvantages, so you can pick the ones that are best for your garden.
Pros and Cons of Eco and Mineral Fertilizers
As we were saying, there are different parameters that can cause cannabis growers lean more towards one type of fertilizer over another. It’s always important to know what you want to achieve, if you’re growing indoors or outdoors, and then what growing method you’re going to use.
Nutrient Absorption Speed
When it comes to nutrients becoming available for plants to absorb, in the case of organic fertilizers, it can be slower.
- Pros: bio fertilizers give plants a more consistent nutrition in the long run, which guarantees a better and more consistently healthy plant. The nutrients needed will be absorbed slowly and over time; when applied correctly, it’s a good way to ensure no deficiencies or sudden extreme issues,
- Cons: it can be much harder to quickly fix deficiencies when using these types of fertilizers, which can negatively affect the development of your plants, especially if we’re talking about autoflowering strains, where every day matters, or the final flowering stages or feminized or regular seeds, where room for error drastically reduces.
When it comes to mineral fertilizers, nutrients are available much quicker.
- Pros: this type of fertilizer is useful when it comes to “rescuing” your plants quickly and fixing any nutritional issues.
- Cons: the effects products by fertilizers are much more immediate, but they’re efficient for less time, so you’ll need to keep a close eye on them so that they don’t suddenly have any issues. It’s much easier to make a mistake and over-fertilize using this type of product, which is why you’ll need to pay close attention to your plants, especially the state of their leaves.
The Effects of Organic and Mineral Fertilizers on Soil
Let’s have a look at how organic fertilizers interact with the substrate they’re used in:
- Pros: they increase soil quality, promoting microorganic life that’s beneficial for plants, increasing their resistance against many environmental issues. These types of fertilizers usually increase water retention and prevent erosion. There are products such as mycorrhizae, which might not be fertilizers per se, but they do act symbiotically with cannabis plants, improving their nutrient absorption and immune system.
- Cons: depending on the type of grow and substrate, these fertilizers might not be the most adequate; for example, when it comes to indoor hydroponics or coco grows. This type of grow needs specific fertilizers, as all nutrients are obtained via water & plants are grown in inert substrates (they don’t contain nutrients). This is why organic fertilizers are more suited to plants grown in soil. Additionally, many hydroponic grows are done using automatic watering, and organic fertilizers can begin to rot when left in a tank for 24-48 hours, unlike mineral fertilizers.
Mineral fertilizers also have pros and cons when grown in soil:
- Pros: non-organic fertilizers are more affordable and tend to be more concentrated, which means less product can be used to cover plants that, as we just mentioned, provide better results with this type of nutrient. Some growers, due to budgeting reasons, look for better performance with the least initial investment possible. It can be hard to calculate which is better, as hydroponic grows usually require a larger initial investment compared to soil, and in the long run you mind end up spending less money and getting larger yields. Keep in mind that this type of grow requires a lot of attention and control, moreso than soil, so it’s not the safest option for new growers.
- Cons: due to this type of fertilizer not being organic, they are not the best for the environment. They erode soil and can contaminate soil and water. If growing outdoors using mineral fertilizers, this needs to be kept in mind in order to have the smallest impact on the environment possible. This is why the use of organic fertilizers is always best if cannabis is being grown in nature.
Cannabis Flavors and Aromas and their Relationship with Fertilizers
Lastly, there are two parameters to keep in mind when choosing the type of fertilizer to feed cannabis plants.
On one hand, the aroma and flavor of cannabis plants can be affected by nutrients used, which should be kept in mind. Organic fertilizers increase terpene yield, the aromatic fertilizers that give cannabis its flavour and aroma. However, mineral fertilizers don’t respect terpenes as much, and can reduce flavour and aroma in cannabis flowers when grown using this type of nutrient.
If cannabis plants are grown using mineral fertilizers, their roots must be flushed before harvesting in order to get rid of any fertilizers left in the plants’ system, achieving the cleanest flavour possible.
Overfertilizing with mineral fertilizers, or even not flushing the plants’ roots, can cause cannabis to scratch and hurt the throat when consumed.
Another factor to keep in mind when using organic fertilizers is the health benefits. Keep in mind that all of the products used in cannabis fertilizing end up in your body when the buds are consumed. The more natural and organic the products used are, the safer the flowers are to consume.
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