Our Farming Practices
Living Soil
The soil is alive! Healthy soil contains a diversity of life. There is a powerful symbiotic relationship between plants and the biology in the soil. If you preserve and nurture the soil biome, your plants can truly flourish! We use a combination of natural soil amendments that include compost, aged horse manure, wood chips, straw, and sand. This creates a friendly environment for microbes and a balanced soil profile.
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We add beneficial microbes to our soil to supplement and benefit the already existing soil biome. Microbes process and break down fertilizers to make them available to the plant. Bacteria and fungi are extremely important for soil and plant health!
Sustainable Farming
Island cannabis is grown outdoors in living soil with natural fertilizers. We use sustainable farming methods such as encouraging diverse native cover crops, no tillage, and integrated pest management. Sustainable and regenerative farming practices are important in maintaining the earth we love. All of our farming practices are rooted in keeping our environment happy.
Diverse native cover crops enhance the soil microbiome which results in healthier soil for our cannabis plants. Because we do not till our soil, we prevent soil erosion and maintain our soil’s biome. These practices require patience because they do not allow the control that mono-cropping and tilling provide. However, the difficulties are worth it! By allowing our soil to grow we have healthier plants, and a healthier ecosystem.
When growing cannabis, many people try to duplicate nature’s design indoors. However, it is nearly impossible and requires massive amounts of energy. Island cannabis is grown outdoors under the sun!
Integrated Pest Management
Growing all natural means we deal with pests differently than most growers!
We use predatory mites (like ladybugs) to eat plant pests, we use nematodes in the soil to eat larvae, and we spray our plants with all natural solutions to prevent and get rid of bugs.
Natural pest management practices typically take more time, money, and energy - but it is worth it for many reasons! Island Farms is our little oasis of nature - and it is important to us it stays that way. We treat the earth with respect resulting in healthy plants and happy people.
Natural vs Synthetic Fertilizers
NATURAL FERTILIZER
We supplement our soil with diverse array of natural fertilizers. Depending on the cannabis plant’s stage of growth and the soil we adjust our fertilizers accordingly. Every year our soil grows and gets better!
Some of the fertilizers we use include bat guano which provides nitrogen, bone meal that is high in phosphorus, and fish emulsion which provides nitrogen and food for microbes!
Naturally grown cannabis allows you to reap all the health benefits of the product, without having to worry about the nasty side effects of synthetic fertilizers.
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SYNTHETIC CHEMICAL FERTILIZER
The vast majority of cannabis in the United States is grown with synthetic chemicals which are usually manufactured from petroleum byproducts.
When synthetic fertilizers are used they are absorbed directly into the plant and the plant stops absorbing nutrients from the microbes. The plant-microbe symbiosis is broken and the existing microbes starve. Synthetically grown plants might look okay, but they may contain toxic chemicals.
Adverse health effects are associated with synthetic fertilizers including migraines and lung damage. They may contain heavy metals and other toxins that can be found in chemically grown cannabis.
