100% cannabis compost

[Crazy Composer]

Just a picture of what compost made from organically grown cannabis plants looks like. The leaves and stems are all hand cut into smaller pieces, most are dried for a few days, then crumbled and stirred into the compost bucket.

The hunks of compost you're seeing in the image are all very sticky balls of humus and minerals. LOADED with the nutrients my future plants will be eating. You can see the cannabis stems in the mix, they break down more slowly than the leaves, obviously, but they eventually break down into simple hemp fibers.

There's something so "right" feeling when you're feeding you're old plants to your new plants. It's a special feeling, a feeling humans should feel more often. A feeling of balance with the natural system, or at least balance to a much higher degree than usual.

I'm looking forward to feeding 50% or more of my crops WITH previously composted crops. Ideally, I will be able to keep my plants fed with a combination of composted cannabis plants and other plants, as well as organic manure compost from my ducks, chickens and goats (we're getting some milk goats soon). It would be nice to get everything I need to grow from my own property.

In the future, my compost will be amended with a wide variety of organic plant material as well as composted manures from my own organically-fed animals. Gonna be as close to 100% organic as indoor growing allows. Tending the circle of life.

cc

Beautiful, rich cannabis compost:

 

[bombadil.360]

you could burn the stems and add the ash to the compost pile as well.

 

[Crazy Composer]

Yessir, that'd work, I s'pose. I'd imagine there's some sort of physical limit to the amount of ash you'd want to use for that, though?

 

[mojave green]

you could burn the stems and add the ash to the compost pile as well.

compost don't like ash

 

[Crazy Composer]

I usually just dry the stems, then chop them up into tiny pieces to use the same way dry wood chips are used in compost.

 

[bombadil.360]

compost don't like ash

are you sure about that?

ash into compost and as soil amendment has been used for a very long time now for all sort of crops...

 

[bombadil.360]

Yessir, that'd work, I s'pose. I'd imagine there's some sort of physical limit to the amount of ash you'd want to use for that, though?

yes, indeed, there's a limit for sure. too much will make the compost too alkaline.

also, gotta compost for long enough so that the microbial life breaks it down properly.

the ash is rich in phosphorus, potassium and other micro nutrients.

pretty sure the ashes from the cannabis stems will be a lot gentler than ashes from tree's wood like oaks or pines for example.

there's a lot of info on the net about it.

some folks, after harvesting many crops, like corn, will do a controlled burning of the field, and let the ashes sit on the soil for a bit, and then mix it into the ground when it is plowing time. used a lot in South and Central America to enrich the soil.

 

[VonBudí]

how long from shredding and drying to composted and reuse? also what was the smell like ?

if you have enough material could you grow a plant in straight canna compost (no duck,goat manure etc)?

ash into compost and as soil amendment has been used for a very long time now for all sort of crops...

indeed, most glorious north Korea in todays capitalist pig news about most excellent use of ash

http://earthobservatory.nasa.gov/IOTD/view.php?id=83593

They use fire to clear debris from last year’s crop and to help fertilize the soil for the coming season.

There's something so "right" feeling when you're feeding you're old plants to your new plants. It's a special feeling, a feeling humans should feel more often.

 

[HidingInTheHaze]

Looks a little muddy, how does it smell?

 

[tokersmoke]

Very good information and creativity!!

 

[beakermuppet]

Hey Crazy Composer, it's really cool to see ya posting again.

Hope I don't come off as prying, but have you given anymore thought about writing a book about the boards and how they relate to today's cannabis culture? (think that was the general topic of the book?). I think someone needs to do this, because it really is an interesting subject IMHO.

anyway, good to see around again mang!

B

 

[Highlighter]

Yes, wonderful to see you posting, CC!

Most of my canna-waste goes into my vermicomposter, and eventually used as a soil amendment and "tea".

 

[Crazy Composer]

how long from shredding and drying to composted and reuse? also what was the smell like ?

if you have enough material could you grow a plant in straight canna compost (no duck,goat manure etc)?

This bucket of compost is about a month old from start. It's pretty close to ready to go, IMO. Smell? Well, in it's current state the smell is just very humic, like forest floor smell. No ammonia smell, if that's what you're wondering.

I did this batch just to say I've made 100% cannabis compost. Most times it's banana peels, lettuce, coffee grounds, baked eggshells, etc. I'm starting my worm farm soon. Can't wait to get the verm cycle cookin'.

Straight canna compost? I'd have to lean toward saying that it is not likely going to provide everything the plants need. It's provide lots of whatever pot leaves decompose down to, like iron, calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus, silica, etc... the basic elemental building blocks. I'd need to see an analysis of 100% canna compost to really know what's available from it.

 

[Crazy Composer]

Looks a little muddy, how does it smell?

Smells right... I've noticed that the canna scraps do compost to a sticky consistency, clumps up tight, held together on the inside by a million tiny hemp fibers.

 

[bigshrimp]

I stay away from using cannabis too much for mulch, compost base, etc...

The line between decomposer and pathogen is sometimes quite thin.

 

[Crazy Composer]

Hey Crazy Composer, it's really cool to see ya posting again.

Hope I don't come off as prying, but have you given anymore thought about writing a book about the boards and how they relate to today's cannabis culture? (think that was the general topic of the book?). I think someone needs to do this, because it really is an interesting subject IMHO.

anyway, good to see around again mang!

B

I hear ya. It's been tough for me to write lately (several years running). Our current home is pretty quaint, which is a another way to say that it is pretty small. Now, with 3 home-schooled kids, all under the age of 12... you can imagine why I've not been able to get any creative writing done. But that's just an excuse, if I really wanted to get back to writing, I'm sure I'd be doing it. So, in due time I'll get back to being creative, I feel time's are changing within my family, and soon I will have more silence, less screaming, crying, bitching, fighting, cleaning spilled drinks, wiping baby butts, cooking breakfast, second breakfast, lunch, second lunch, as well as all three dinners! Parents... YOU KNOW what I'm talking about. Writing, while wondering if the 2 year old is about to do a nosedive off the deck = keep dreaming.

I should rent a small office downtown somewhere, where I'll write a little and drink way too many cappuccinos. Believe me, I know! I used to own a newspaper/magazine in CT. It was quite popular. Our office was in a nice downtown address, and there happened to be a very, very wonderful coffeehouse a couple of blocks away. The close proximity of the awesome coffee establishment eventually lead to me being there so often, they eventually named a drink after me.

I'd like to think I've evolved since then, and that I might now be able to trust myself to have an office close to a coffeehouse. It's either that or... Go berserk at home with the kids splitting my attention 7 different ways every minute. Maybe I can convince the wife that I need to go rent hotel rooms in the mountains all by myself for a few days to "write". hehehe But then there's the whole being up in the mountains trying to be a writer thing... The hard liquor I'd be obligated to bring up there might put me off my productivity a while, and I'll need to get a few more days leave from the old lady.

Rambling... I know, it's true. You'll have to forgive me, I'm feeling really nice. Made some High Chai. Took me a month of trying different decarb and extraction techniques and theories... Some didn't work, some were so strong that my entire field of vision was one big, pulsing astigmatism (wow, I can't believe it's not spelled "stigmatism"!).

I like the High Chai because it often tastes very little of cannabis, I can get a full on power high, WHILE ingesting all the miraculously healing cannabinoids, AND... this stuff takes just 40 minutes in the oven, then one hour simmering. So... in an hour and 40 minutes you can be consuming your powerful, but not too powerful (because I hate that!) chai. And guess what... I've done this with wet herb, right off the plant. Slightly different technique, but yes, wet herb, prepared correctly, can be drunk in just about two hours after picking the buds.

The technique I am currently using seems to be activating the cannabinoids pretty damned well. It's the whole feeling of smoking, just stronger. Some edible cannabis products were either over or under decarboxylated, resulting in feeling of an incomplete high. Sometimes too sedative and not enough head feeling. Another time, an improper decarb resulted in uncomfortable anxiety. I've been at it for a month, trying every damn recipe I could find. Some worked, many more didn't work well enough to keep my attention.

This chai gets me high like when I first started smoking weed. Drink 1/2 cup, wait an hour or so... zip, zang, doodle! "Let's go look at beautiful things and have amazing thoughts".

The craftier edible-eater may down another 1/2 cup an hour after the first. Humans are often interested in a second dose of chai-flavored altitude, I find.

What the hell, I've droned on this long, spent all this energy editing because I'm a bit anal about writing, so... I might as well include the recipe I'm currently using.

High Chai Version 27...

*There are plenty of places on the net to learn about the science of decarboxylation, or "decarb" for short. There's a video on YouTube by Dr Hornby... VERY informative. Google it.

It's important to decarb the buds before adding to chai because the temperature of the simmering chai won't be high enough to decarb.

To decarb: Preheat oven to 270F.
Break up 6 grams of primo herb (or estimate equivalent of trimleaves, hash, etc, I'll leave that math to you). For the oven, I used to grind the herb first, then toast it. Now I just break the herb into small bowl pack-sized nugs and toast it like that. I don't crush it to a powder until after it's toasted and very easily crumbled and powdered.
Lay the herb on a flat surface to go into oven (I use a pizza stone, but a cookie sheet or something like that should be fine as well).
Place herb into your 270F pre-heated oven and toast the herb for 40 minutes.
Remove herb from oven and crush it up to a fine powder... which is easy now because the herb is completely bone dry (or at least it should be).

At this point, I've basically told you all you need to know about activating the potency of the cannabis with the oven for later extraction. The way you extract it is up to you. This recipe uses the fats in whole milk, as well as a little butter (to boost the fat content a smidgen).

I'll give the basic cannamilk recipe, you add chai spices to it if you want. I flavor it with traditional ginger, black pepper, cardamon, cinnamon, black tea, honey. But as long as you've simmered the decarbed herb for 45+ minutes in the milk/butter, you can make anything with the milk and get high WITHOUT having to ever cook that milk again. Just drink it.

I'm being long with this recipe. Remember... I am chai high as I type. And... I have spent the last month OBSESSING over how to get this right each and every time. It was very hit or miss, some recipes were potent, others complete duds. A shameful waste of cannabis flowers. Gorgeous flowers who's fates were stolen by me, in the name of my decarboxylation educationalization. I'd like to believe their sacrifice was justified.

Getting this right took time, patience, and a painful amount of wasted, primo LOG OG Kush, Skunk 47, Bloody Mary, Killer Queen (KQ has a spiritual high when drunk!). A moment of silence for these fallen heroes. All right, that's enough...

Add 6 grams (weight BEFORE the oven) crushed, decarbed cannabis to 2 Cups of Whole Milk in a double boiler (you can easily improvise a double boiler... Google it).

The herb and the milk should be on very low heat. Keep covered, but stir every 5 minutes or so during the simmer. DON'T BOIL because it may burn the milk. I use a whisk to stir. My thinking is that a good, brisk frisking with a kitchen whisking tool just may speed up the extraction of THC into the fat. The imaginary microscope in my head tells me whisking is a good thing for this particular extraction technique. No?


So, again... 6 grams @ 270F for 40 Minutes ------> FOR DECARBOXYLATION
Simmer in milk with just a little butter, only enough butter to slightly raise the fat content of the milk. Strain, get high. Simple.

If I HAD cancer, which I don't expect I did, it's sure on the run now!

I wrote this long explanation because 1.) when I was searching for specific info in my quest to find a very potent, consistently repeatable recipe, I would have loved to read something like this. 2.) I wrote this under the influence of said chai.

FYI... After the milk or chai, or hot cocoa or whatever you make has cooled, you'll want to reheat it before drinking more. At least until you notice the tiny, cold pieces of coagulated fat become liquid again and mix back into the milk. If you drank it without reheating and stirring/shaking, all the most potent fats will be at the top and be drunk by whoever drinks the unshaken/cold drink. This means the rest of the drink will be a lower potency. We don't want that.

If you know of a more effective decarb method to prepare the herb for making milk or some other unbaked edible, let me know! Right now my method takes about 1 gram of herb to get me "there". I'd like to be able to achieve the same elevation with just 1/2 gram. Always tweaking the technique until it's as perfect as I can get it! Let's hear your input on oven decarbing.

cc

 

[VerdantGreen]

nice to see you around CC, i can relate to what you say about finding time with kids to look after etc

compost looks nice but i would say it needs a bit longer before it's properly finished. usually when it's still sticky like that its best to turn it again and give it a bit more time.

VG

 

[ion]

wanted to ask a question of you compostineers....off-thread topic.....i had great compost from last summer take the winter under a tarp in new england, would the beneficials still be viable? if not, could i kickstart it back up?

 

[Microbeman]

nice to see you around CC, i can relate to what you say about finding time with kids to look after etc

compost looks nice but i would say it needs a bit longer before it's properly finished. usually when it's still sticky like that its best to turn it again and give it a bit more time.

VG

Composting correctly can be important.

http://www.klickitatcounty.org/solidwaste/fileshtml/organics/compostCalc.htm

http://rusk.uwex.edu/files/2013/01/ATTRA-Composting.pdf

 

[MrTea]

CC, does your compost bin have any aeration? Looks kind of sludgy and anaerobic...