Harry’s World: OG Tea & Veganic Growing

One of the most important aspects of growing is the root zone. Think of this as the foundation of your cannabis house; without a good root zone, your plant will not perform optimally. If you use an organic system for growing, then it’s important to maintain the proper environment in your soil. This means that not only do you want to have the helpful micro-organisms and beneficial fungi in your soil, but you want them all working synergistically with the root zone. And, more importantly, you do not want to add any supplements or nutrients that may disrupt or damage that symbiosis.

I’ve recently begun an exploration into the world of veganic nutrients, an area that has interested me since I heard about it. I am a vegetarian and often lean towards veganism. Therefore, I was happy to test out OG Tea’s Veganic Special Sauce in conjunction with the Vegamatrix line. The VSS works together with two other products developed by OG Tea: one called Root Webstar, and another called the Pure.

The concept is an interesting one as it stems from the idea that plants completely process and break down the nutrients, because they are simple vegetable proteins. Therefore there is no residue left behind. For growers and patients that means a cleaner, tastier fruit.

The VSS works as a tea that inoculates the root zone and beneficial fungi. It basically acts as a nutrient for both the plant and the fungi, while the Root Webstar contains added beneficial mycorrhiza which will repopulate your medium if the levels are low. The Pure increases the beneficial bacteria and assists in breaking down salts that can form in the medium. All of this benefits the plant because the mycelium or fungi increases the surface area of the root zone, allowing for greater mineral absorption, or better, chelation of your nutrients. The results are a healthier, more robust plant.

I’m always interested in how creators came to develop their unique products and I arranged to do an interview with Dustin, one of the founders of OG Tea. To start with, I wanted to know what led him to create this product. Dustin explained to me that several years ago, he and his partner Jeff (collectively known as “the Bohemian Brothers”) started to use compost teas. This let them really see the positive impact those teas had on production and on nutrient uptake.

Dustin explained: “somewhere around 2011, we were getting heavily into the use of compost teas and we valued its positive impact on the production of microbes and nutritional uptake. It wasn’t long before we had noticed the amount of work it took to create a compost tea that was of high and consistent quality. We also felt as if you never really knew what you were getting in your home brewed tea, such as which microbes, the concentration and the strength. So the thought came about: ‘What if we could just skip over the complexities of making and brewing a compost tea that has a short window for usage and go right to the source?’ Compost tea becomes septic after about 24 hours, right after you put all this heart into making this magical potion. So we recruited a PhD scientist to help us refine our design and concept.

At this time we had also been helping to pioneer the concept of veganic gardening. We had been working closely with developing a nutrient line with an industry insider and, with beta testing, all sorts of approaches to this fantastic methodology. Over the next few years, we took all the suggestion and criticisms of the product that the community offered and fine-tuned it into an easy-to-use, consistent, balanced microbial environment, and a cost-effective Veganic Special Sauce.” The VSS is completely water soluble and can be used easily in all systems. A recommendation would be to strain it before putting it through a drip system—but so far it hasn’t clogged any of my lines and works great in a hydroponic setup.

I was curious to know what other products they were working on, and Dustin gave up the dirt (pun intended). “The next one to hit the market will be our VEO—Veganic Essential Oils,” he said. “The VEO is an organic blend of special oils that kills mold and bacteria, along with disrupting the life cycles of any plant pest.” As most organic growers know, it’s not always easy finding non-harmful organic products to help with defeating mold or bug issues.

Currently, I’m running a side-by-side test with their products in one of my large flower rooms. Look forward to more articles examining the improvement in the root zone once the plants are harvested. When the plants are cured, I will also be able to see how the taste improves. Also: plans to research into the concept of veganics for plants and the process of feeding plants a strictly-vegan nutrient formulation. Truly fascinating, all of these new developments in our lovely world of cannabis growing!

Keep it green and keep on growing!