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«Flushing» with legumes

Superauto

Member
Got an idea, what about sowing Alfalfa or some other nitrogen fixing legume some weeks before harvest? Yes we don’t want more Nitrogen right before harvest but legumes need some weeks development before they are ready for Nitrogen fixation.

Done at the right time the seedling legumes will suck up the leftover nutrients, and then after the cannabis is harvested the legumes will start the fixation of Nitrogen from the air giving the next grow a boost when planted in the same spot.

Any thoughts?
 
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Lester Beans

Frequent Flyer
Veteran
Legumes need nitrogen to get going. Once they are established they will begin to fix N. Interesting idea. Have to get the timing right. Give it a try and let us know!
 

troutman

Seed Whore
Legumes can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere so they are not the best plants to use.

Plants like wheat or rye would be better.

Wheat grows very fast and I've planted some in my worm bin before for them.
 

Superauto

Member
I think that's his point. Fix N for the next round.
Exactly, you got it Lester Beans.
Still I need to figure out how many weeks it takes for a legume to fix more N than they use for growing(I think I read somewhere it takes about a month).
Also I need to figure out how many legume seeds should be sowed per square feet for this method to be effective both for sucking up excess nutrients, and many enough to fix N for the next grow.
Cannabis, the N loving plant :)
 
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troutman

Seed Whore
Do get legume seeds that are inoculated or buy the inoculant and add it yourself to the seeds for best results.
 

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
If you want to go this route then alsikes clover is your best bet (IMO). You can just leave it growing all the time. It does not normally grow too tall and cannabis and other plants will not take up this form of N if not required at that phase of growth.

Red clover is superior but grows too tall for a companion plant to cannabis. (indoors)

The more important thing noted by Troutman is to inoculate the seed with endomycorrhizal fungi.
 

St. Phatty

Active member
Do potatoes add nitrogen to the soil too ?

Seems like they have all those leaves above ground, possibly taking in nitrogen. Potatoes are below ground, maybe storing nitrogen ?
 

BerrySeal

Member
Legumes fix atmospheric nitrogen. Well their bacteria does in exchange for carbs.

Here's a secret: Cannabis sweats protease. Feed nitrogen in the form of a protein and it can only take what it's sweaty ass wants.

No protein no sticky btw.
 

Betterhaff

Active member
Veteran
Nitrogen fixed by legumes only becomes available in soil when the legume dies and the root nodules decompose. In fact, most of the nitrogen fixed during legume growth is used by the legume itself.

That’s why farmers plant cover crops and plow under, to get the benies of all stored nutrients. Kind of part of what the op is talking about with nitrogen available for the next grow.
 

troutman

Seed Whore
Nitrogen fixed by legumes only becomes available in soil when the legume dies and the root nodules decompose. In fact, most of the nitrogen fixed during legume growth is used by the legume itself.

That’s why farmers plant cover crops and plow under, to get the benies of all stored nutrients. Kind of part of what the op is talking about with nitrogen available for the next grow.

One big reason farmer plant cover crops after a harvest is to tie all the nutrients up before the rain
or snow washes them away. Nutrients like nitrogen especially gets washed away on bare soils and a
good farmer will never leave their soil bare for long. Just before the next crop the cover crops get
tilled under or knocked down in a no-till situation. If guerilla growers planted cover crops after their
harvest they would also reap the same type of benefits.
 

LadyGuru

Member
Nitrogen applications are much better in the spring. When applying N in the fall, you lose 40-60% of that N before spring.

Molasses or a good calcium flush works better IMO.
 

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Nitrogen fixed by legumes only becomes available in soil when the legume dies and the root nodules decompose. In fact, most of the nitrogen fixed during legume growth is used by the legume itself.

That’s why farmers plant cover crops and plow under, to get the benies of all stored nutrients. Kind of part of what the op is talking about with nitrogen available for the next grow.

This is an error. Legumes do transfer nitrogen to surrounding non-legume plants while living. We saw great increases in our hay (grass) health as we increased red clover seeding over many years. Likewise with our cannabis plots.

http://www.nrcresearchpress.com/doi/full/10.4141/cjps2012-036#.W7Nn7WfQbVI

Also many legumes are perennials so there is no 'death' of the roots.

When farmers till in cover crops they are utilizing the stored nutrients in the foliage and bulking organic matter.
 

Betterhaff

Active member
Veteran
It’s hard to put all details in a brief 2 line post, not sure it’s totally in error though.

There’s a good paper from New Mexico State University about the subject, I tried to load the link but it didn’t work, you’ll have to search it. “Nitrogen Fixation by Legumes”, revised by Robert Flynn and John Idowu.
 

Microbeman

The Logical Gardener
ICMag Donor
Veteran
The error part is just that legumes do not need to die to provide N to adjacent non-legume plants.
 

Veggia farmer

Well-known member
Legumes do not need to die for them to "share" the N. And if they had to do it, well the truth is that roots die all the time and New roots develop… So, you will get N anyway you look at it.

Veggie farmer
 
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