Using Honey In Cannabis Cultivation

Have you ever wondered how you might make your cannabis crops a little sweeter? Consider adding some honey into the mix.

It turns out that honey can play a useful role in cannabis cultivation in several different ways: it can be used as a rooting stimulant for cuttings, and can act as a fertilizer. We’ll examine these applications one by one. Make sure that when you buy honey, you pick a variety that’s 100% pure, and doesn’t contain any corn syrup—your cannabis plants don’t need any of that.

USING HONEY AS A ROOTING STIMULANT

Cloning is when you take a plant you love and use its cuttings to produce a genetically identical copy. Cloning can be useful if you have a strain you really like, or an environment perfectly suited to a particular plant’s genetic profile.

For a cutting to become a new plant, it has to be activated by a rooting hormone. Plants produce their own rooting hormone, so if you take a cutting and place it in a glass of clear filtered water, it should start growing roots on its own. That being said, if you want to improve your odds and speed up the rooting process, you may want to consider an exogenous rooting hormone.

Auxins are the most common type of rooting hormone found in plants. Indole acetic acid (IAA) is the kind produced endogenously. Most commercial rooting products don’t use IAA but a synthetic rooting hormone, like indolebutyric acid (IBA) or naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA). These tend to work well, but can have a short shelf life and many growers don’t want to expose their crops to chemicals.

For those who would rather keep things organic, honey can act as a natural rooting stimulant. It can also be a useful addition to those who are using synthetic rooting hormones, and want to add an organic booster. Honey has powerful antifungal and antibacterial properties, so it’ll prevent your root from getting infected. Some growers believe that honey has special enzymes which encourage root growth. Honey has a long shelf life, so if you buy a special jar for gardening, you can use it for years.

To use honey as root stimulant, coat the “wound” of your cutting in a thick layer of honey and place it in a growth medium. Growers using honey as a rooting agent can expect the roots to begin forming after 7–14 days.

USING HONEY AS FERTILIZER

Once your plant is fully grown, you may expose it to honey again—this time in the soil!

Plants themselves have no need for glucose, as they produce their own glucose through photosynthesis. That being said, the microflora in the soil can be enriched by it. Soil is full of good bacteria and fungi, and a little bit of honey can help them prosper. Dissolve 5–15ml of honey in a gallon of water, and use this to water your plants. Be careful not to “overload” your soil with honey, as this can backfire and cause damage. Some growers brew their own fertilizer by combining honey, amino acids, milk, yucca extract, volcanic ash, and soap bark extract.

Cannabis can benefit from honey, and happily, honey can benefit from cannabis as well—farmers report that hemp pollen is a valuable resource for bees. Further, honey and weed can combine to form an excellent tincture. It seems these two substances get along on many levels, which works out well for the rest of us.