Paleo-Cannabis Cultivation; Use What You Have to Produce High Quality Organic Marijuana

This method of growing concentrates on creating a living community of diverse micro-organisms and insects (including worms) within a grow media that provides a naturally beneficial environment to the roots of marijuana plants, thus providing everything and possibly more than the plants will need throughout their growth period. The growing technique can be utilized in a "just add water" grow medium by providing diverse nutrient rich organic material ("amendments") that will be consumed and processed into plant available fertilizers by that diverse living community of beneficial bacteria, fungi, insects and earthworms. On the other hand the organic technique can be employed with an only lightly amended soil with low fertilizer content, in this case the gardener must dose out specific nutrient mixes (liquid and granular) at different times during the plant growth cycle. These nutrient mixes are simple to make from household and waste stream items, procedures for making nutrient preparations will be covered later.

Part One: Base Mix

Primarily important is the structure of soil (heavy vs sandy, light vs and variety of minerals (provided by rock dusts or specific sands) and nutrients provided by amendment ingredients which can supply one or many specific micro and macro nutrients necessary for successful marijuana growth (such as alfalfa for nitrogen, or eggshells for calcium).
The structure of the soil you grow in is of the utmost importance; many commercial greenhouse mixes consist of a base mix that provides ideal soil structure balancing 3 major purposes of soil. First; water retention provided by materials that absorb and hold water well, like peat or coco or ground soil that is not sandy. These moisture retaining substances tend to be heavy and dense when wet and must be balanced with material that is provides drainage and aeration to the soil.
Second, a soil component is needed to help maintain small pores of air within the soil structure, to prevent compaction and encourage water drainage. Sandy soil drains well, so adding sand to dense clay like soil or pure peat moss will add drainage; however, sand particles are small and do not provide much soil structure for air pores to form. Therefore commercial grow media usually employs substances like perlite, pumice, rice hulls, lava rock or perhaps even some sand to provide aeration and drainage.
Finally a good soil for organic growing needs a final touch of life; the compost material. Commercial compost is readily available and made from a variety of waste stream materials such as byproduct from landscaping, lumber, livestock, fishing and other industries that provide massive forms of organic material as waste. However, the magical touch of life in the form of microscopic soil-borne organisms can be achieved simply by collecting soil from rich living soil in nature or making your own compost (or both). Decayed leaves or "leaf mold" is a only one of many examples of "natural compost". Leaf mold can be found beneath any tree in nature that creates leaves or needles, an area of partially and completely decomposed tree parts can be found - this is an example of natural compost / mulch. Making your own compost is easy and can be done indoors, in your backyard, in the wild, and perhaps even guerrilla style (hidden) in urban and suburban areas if needed. Homemade composts can use kitchen scraps and utilize a plethora of waste-stream possibilities - whatever happens to be available to you in your circumstances. Composting techniques will be covered in the future posts. The combination of moisture retaining material, aeration / drainage material, and living structural compost weather wild (from nature) or domestic (man made) creates what growers call a "base mix" - soil containing the proper structure for growth, one that will not be prone to over or under watering and will retain the living micro-organism community, or microbiota, necessary for growing anything organically, including marijuana!

Generally the 3 components of soil are mixed in nearly identical ratios; one part moisture retaining material, one part aeration material and one part compost. This base mix can be slightly manipulated to accommodate your specific growing environment. For example; if you live in a very hot dry arid place (like a desert) you may want to use more moisture retaining material and slightly less aeration material (which you should have plenty of in the form of sand) - of if your indoor grow space is likely to have high temps and arid dry air. If you are growing in dense, heavy muddy soil in a very wet environment consider providing your base soil mix with extra aeration material that will provide tiny areas within the soil that will resist becoming waterlogged and drowing your plants roots. Sand, porous rock (like basalt aka lava rock or pumice), perlite, and rice hulls are all examples of aeration and drainage components, but any material lots of small pores- not smooth river rocks - can help with areation. Even a compost material that has large chunks of partially decomposed organic material can help provide soil structure that compliments drainage. Often composted wood chips are "chunky" enough to help provide drainage and aeration when mixed into soil base mixes.
A good way to test your soil base is to fully incorporate all the parts into a well mixed finished product and fill a small container that will drain easily from the bottom like a planting pot, bucket with holes in it, or a pillow case or burlap sack or fabric grow container. Next overwater the soil until there is obvious amounts of water draining from the bottom of the container, over saturate the soil. Let the soil drain completely and get your hands dirty by FEELING your grow media base, pick up a hand full of soil and squeeze it hard and release it. If your soil is soggy, saturated and lots of water drains out of the soil when you squeeze it - you probably have too much moisture retaining material in your soil and need to add a drainage component. If your soil clumps up and stays clustered together and doesn't break back apart when you release your grip - the soil has too much clay material which also retains lots of water which reduces porosity (drainage/aeration) and can lead to drenched, suffocated roots and unhealthy symptoms of overwatering in your plants (anaerobic conditions). If your soil crumbles apart entirely and falls all out of your hand with NO clumping at all you soil may have drained too much and in turn need more moisture retaining material and perhaps more compost as well or a compost material with different structure.
The nature of your compost material can influence soil structure, so a diverse mix of compost materials is recommended. This diversity can be achieved by purchasing different types of compost or simply by collecting rich soils and leaf molds from different locations. Also creating your own compost from diverse and specific raw materials can provide a well rounded base mix component.

(http://imgur.com/a/NBYNk)

Base soil mix building is important because it decides the weight, structure, density, drainage, and general soil structure for your entire grow cycle. Truly, organic growing is mostly concerned with these basic soil structure components and the manipulation of them by adding complimenting ingredients to create ideal growing conditions for the roots of plants, which in turn decides the growth of the entire plant.
Soil building material is available all around us at all times, despite where we live or who we are. Nature provides many components in areas that are possible to "glean" or collect for free. Topsoil and subsoil are everywhere on earth and can be utilized in soil mixes. Forests and prairie soil is usually healthy and worth collecting and mixing as needed with other soil components. Swamps/bogs, drained lakes and low lying areas can provide dense soil perfect for retaining moisture and also add that magical spark of living micro-organisms that compost generally provides. Mud and clay are simple forms of moisture retaining material but should not be used alone primarily as the moisture holding component of a soil base mix. If locally available top and subsoil are well draining and retain moisture well (test it by getting your hands dirty), you may be able to use locally collected soil plus compost as your base mix! River beds, deserts and shorelines provide sand for drainage in soils that are too muddy or contain too much clay (although be sure to rinse sand from salt water shorelines because salt and plants do not mix) . In the United States, National Forests and BLM (Bureau of Land Management) offices provide public removal permits for various materials in their jurisdictions for very cheap for large amounts (several cubic feet or more) and often free for small amounts (20 gallons or less).

In the coming post I will continue to explain fertilizing your base soil mix to provide proper nutrition to plants for their entire grow cycle. Thank you for reading, please comment with suggestions, questions and any input.
Before fully converting to organic growing I had been growing cannabis for over ten years using chemical fertilizers, since making the switch quality is through the roof and only getting better, which is why I am posting and sharing these techniques. I’m including links to pictures of cannabis I have grown myself using these methods instead of pictures of sand, rocks, dirt and compost. Having some trouble getting the pictures to show up properly.
link to part 2: https://steemit.com/organic/@avinash.miles/intro-part-two-organic-cannabis-paleo-nomad-style-use-what-you-have-to-fertilize-the-soil-to-grow-high-quality-marijuana