Biodynamic Cannabis Growers' Association

or, the BDCGA

look, here we are, associating!

high! i'm no expert, just a very interested gardener and farmer who wants to be part of the project, "part of the team" to explore and develop the relevance of biodynamic ideas and techniques to cannabis-growing.

from a biodynamic perspective, i would add here: also our team would be working on the question, "how can cannabis-growing best fit into the farm-organism?"

bd has been proven to be great for wine-grape-growing and winemaking. also vice-versa, the success of bd wines has been super for the biodynamic movement.

in terms of outcomes, biodynamics does very well at yielding a high, high quality product. we could conjecture that bd's produce excels qualitatively because of its particular concern with giving plants and animals access to subtle energies/foods/experiences

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the movement called biodynamics was initiated around 1924 when Rudolf Steiner, (a polymath and spiritual teacher formerly aligned with Mme Blavatsky; he was also the originator of waldorf childrens' education) gave a series of lectures in response to concerns raised by students of his who were involved in ag, about the bad effects they could already see from industrial chemical-based farming. steiner wasn't a farmer, he drew on his wide general knowledge, his memories of growing up in a world of preindustrial peasant agriculture , and his spiritual visioning, to present in these lectures the beginnings of a new/old way for man to serve and live on the earth. since then many others have researched and experimented to get bd to where it is today, still developing and also with a lot to offer anyone interested in natural farming or holistic living

you can see translations of Steiner's lectures online at the rudolf steiner archive- google "Steiner archive agriculture course"

bd, to me, is not *primarily* a bunch of techniques (though there are those), but a gestalt, a worldview.

if there's a biodynamic group in your area, attending one of their meetings or field-days would be a great way to get an "all-centers" experience of biodynamics

theres a very good film from n.z. profiling a biodynamic farmer working in india, called "how to save the world"

there's also info about bd at these sites
biodynamics, dot, com
biodynamic, dot, org, dot, uk

best wishes, all!

YesIah, I myself have been interested in BD growing. I found a great book that would be helpful to anyone that wants to know more about this fascinating method of growing. It's call Secrets of the Soil by peter tompkins and christopher bird. This book explains basically everything about bio dynamics and gives many real life examples of the amazing results people got. I haven't actually tried it myself yet but will be in the future. I still need to understand more about it.

-gratephul

that's a great one and it definitely inspired me too

i started a blogpage to support our efforts further
it's at bdcga, wordpress, com

anyone who's interested can (will be able to) post or contribute in any variety of ways

feel the flow!bdcga blogp.

The book "culture and horticulture" is a great start in biodynamic. It delves into the more practical apects of biodynamics with a strong intro to the philosophy. I will warn though, the deeper you go into BD/ anthroposohy the stranger (or more interesting) it gets! Not my cup of compost tea, but they back their practices with real data...

best of luck on your blog!

HS

thank you HS!

i will look for _culture and horticulture_!

Wolf-Dieter Storl
author of _Culture and Horticulture_
and an interesting list of other titles too
(storl.de)

Hey Biodynamic growers!

I work for several years with most of his 500er products with great results and I can definitly say it works for me. Sure it's lots of work, when you do about a hundred liter in a big pot of 501 by hand. An hour rotating, every minute change directions. My muscles really ached first time doing it.

I am a winemaker and I can see and feel what it has done!

I never used it with weed growing.

Tolpan

thank you tolpan!

so you are a wine-maker and a wine-grower also...
most of the wine we have tried from germany has been most enjoyable...

is there a word used by german winemakers approximating terroir? the idea of perceiving through the lens of an agricultural product the essential character or even spirit of the land where it was produced, seems especially relevant to what bd is "for"

what sorts of wines have you been making? it's not too dark there so deep in the black forest?

thanks for your contribution!

yes-I

great thread . ive been kickin these ideas around for awhile and am reallyy stoked about this approach to growin.Ive always looked at outdoor growin esp as a communing with the micro eco system of that area/Ive taken a somewhat mystical approach but still based on obsevation of natural cues.Lookin forward to learnin more .peace

I need to start reading sume of theese books.

I dont use chemicals when i grow, recently started brewing some good compost tea's- excellent growth and result

So what would an example of bio-dynamics be in regards to cannabis growing?

Rudolf Steiner sure was a strange guy. I have read a little about him here and there, but fail to see the contribution he could have made to farming. Farming is such a practical experience - and Mr Steiner was real good with philosophy.

Take organic farming in this country - the farmers fertilizing their fields, after soil analysis, with chemical fertilizers to correct the imbalances, they are not seen as 'organic' farmers - obviously.

But Mr Neighbour, using the cow droppings from the feedlot, HE can get certification, nevermind the fact that the cattle at the feedlot get more anti-biotics than an whole army. You see, they inject anti-biotics weather the animals are ill or not. Daily. Now, that poop just cant be good for anyone. Yet, the consumer will buy the 'organic' tomatoes, at inflated prices, thinking 'yummy yummy and good for me' not being aware of the whole picture.

Sometimes the philosophy just fails to meet with practice due to certain unconsidired factors. Like the poop thing. Because, otherwise cattle poop is great, especially if you go into the field where they roam and pick up the manure yourself. Field manure also has a kind of nice smell to it, musty grassy, while feed-lot manure just stinks. Terribly. Try driving behind a feedlot-poop lorry on a single lane road all the way to the next town. You will never fertilize ANYTHING with something that smells like that.

I am not saying this is the case with all 'organic' produce. But it happens, and I have seen it.

The only bio-dynamic action I can think of growing flowers in the city, is giving your fan leaves to your worms, and giving the compost to your little veggie patch - and having a lovely stir-fry using your own succulent vegetables. From there on the cycle gets broken as soon as you go to the loo.

High guys! great thread!

I study biodynamic growing at a school in europe founded by the antroposophic society. great to see other cannabis growers take intrest in bd growing!
It´s proven that biodynamic grown vetchtables contains more vitamins and more substance + better taste and smell.

I´ve never grown or smoked bd grown cannabis and and very curious to see how bdg can effect cannabis..not just by smell and taste but also i think that if you got the right genes cannabis could express itself more and give a uniqe high. i wonder if bd growing can make the plant to produce higher % in other cannabinols than thc while growing landraces for example.

Quote: from a biodynamic perspective, i would add here: also our team would be working on the question, "how can cannabis-growing best fit into the farm-organism?"

thats a very intresting question! i´m gonna think about that and discuss it with a classmate. Wish i could ask my teacher

According to steiner tomatoes likes to grow in their own compost. (you make a compost based on tomato plants).

i wonder how cannabis would like to grow in their own compost?

PEACE ALL!

hello friends!

i've been doing a bit of work on the bdcga website
bdcga.wordpress.com

Dee9 sorry for the long delay in response:
steiner doesn't strike me as particularly "strange" but he certainly was unusual, in his intellectual spiritual and artistic gifts and in his ability to work. he had a deep scientific background which included being as a young man the curator of Goethe's scientific writings. this had a great impact on what anthroposophy became
what you're saying about the difficulty of purchasing manure or composted manure is very true; if biodynamics has a single area of super-expertise i would say that it is just this, manure and compost, what they are and what they can be. bd farmers never use any of the toxic substances in question but treat their herds (and lands) homeopathically which is utterly non-toxic
bd is most developed for, most suited to, agriculture at the family-farm level. as a householder, one would wish to "orbit around" such a bd farm, ideally in one's own neighborhood. often this happens via a "csa" - community supported agriculture as a movement has been fostered to a great degree by the bd farmers and orgs
from a local bd farm one could access super compost /compost ingredients for one's home garden
as far as the "cycle being broken", hu-manure is considered in bd to contain N but to be devoid of more subtle forces and energies which make say cow manure desirable. but with a composting toilet you could certaily have something to keep the pansies flowering...

supahdupah- glad to know you!

how do masanobu fukuoka's ideas fit into this? he didn't like the commercial organic farmers either-very holistic approach and quite inspirational

they are very into grow after sun moon etc, there is good and bad days to plant diffrent kind of plants, same for harvests and pruning ect. the got a special calender they go after.
this week we are going deep into one biodynamic preparate to make an essay, i choosed Valeriana offecinalis.
i been thinking the last weeks i wonder how cannabis would work as a "preparate plant" all the other herbs that are used in the preparats are well knoe old medicinal herbs. so why aren´t cannabis in it.

i´´ve been thinking alot about fishanks and guppyphonics, i read long time ago that breder steve hade huge fish tanks with all kinds of life, snails crabs fishes..and he could throw the restes of his food in there and i turned to top nutes.that he used in soiless hydro systems.. thats a bit liike bioadynamic. i think it´s as close you can get if you live in a city far from a farm. im wanna try this out soon in a small scale, but i´m gonna grow in soil and use all the preparats.

Burt said:

how do masanobu fukuoka's ideas fit into this? he didn't like the commercial organic farmers either-very holistic approach and quite inspirational

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yes very! "natural farming" is a term used to describe what he was after. fukuoka-san is particularly considered as a god-father of permaculture along with some others. "one-straw revolution" is a must for the bookshelf

yo dude ya might find more folx into this sort of stuff over at the skunkmagazine forum.lots of crusty old organic nuts over there.lol

forehead said:

lol

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lol