Companion planting is basically the essentials of permaculture, and you can bring it right into your cannabis garden. You can use companion plants for warding off pests, for providing nutrients and even for keeping your garden camouflaged. Want to learn how to succeed with companion planting? This article is for you!
Companion planting is an organic way to maintain the health of your cannabis garden and get the best out of it. It draws from the fundamental principles of permaculture. You can both protect your plants from pests and attract insects that are optimal for growth using companion plants.
The surrounding nature is actually the best way to feed your cannabis garden and help you to grow amazing plants. This article is for growers considering companion planting as a method for their next growing cycle!
Reasons to choose companion planting
If you’re looking for reasons to add companion plants to your garden, we can give you many. We will go over the 4 reasons why you should choose specific plants below, but let’s not forget about Bob Ross, who had it right all along: “Even trees need friends”!
Companion planting is an inexpensive and relatively easy addition to your garden. While they act as a natural pesticide, they can also add vital nutrients to the soil to increase the health of your plants.
Some believe companion planting is just for outdoor growth setups, but that isn’t true. Although it is easier to sterilize an indoor environment for optimum cannabis growth, indoor growers can still reap the benefits of companion planting. Having a living mulch inside a pot is one example of companion planting with indoor cannabis setups.
But the best reason to use companion plants is that they are completely natural! No need for chemicals or expensive products that could potentially harm your health.
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Companion planting for indoor vs outdoor plants
If you’re going to be companion planting outdoors, you can plant one or many different companions near your cannabis plant. The distance between the companion plants and your cannabis plants will depend on the reason you’re using that particular plant.
For example, if you are trying to hide your garden, you might want to grow it around the perimeter of your garden rather than next to your plants. On the other hand, if you’re going to be using companions to help provide nutrients, then it’s fine to grow them right next to the cannabis plant.
When it comes to growing indoors, you can grow some companions in the same pot. Alfalfa is a perfect example of this. It doesn’t need a whole other pot. However, if you want to ward off pests by growing basil, it might be good to have a few scattered around the grow room.
It is not really useful to use companions for attracting insects for an indoor garden. In general, the indoor garden is quite controlled – unless you have a huge greenhouse. The plants might not have the ability to bring in the beneficial insects, and they might serve no purpose at all in your companion planting endeavour.
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1. Companion plants for warding off pests
These plants are recommended for keeping pests away from your garden. Plant one, or as many as you like near your cannabis plants, and they will act as a natural pesticide.
Marigold
This flower is the most famous natural pesticide for weed. White flies, as well as many other insects, hate the pungent smell and taste of marigolds. For this reason, they will stay clear of your cannabis plants.
Garlic
This plant is another pungent pesticide for your cannabis garden. It isn’t just the smelliness of this plant that keeps insects away, but its ability to build sulfur in the soil keeps away fungi, maggots and snails, too.
Citronella
We recommend citronella for the benefit it gives to the grower rather than to the plants. Mosquitos hate citronella, and it can make gardening a more pleasant experience all round.
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Basil
This is another favourite among the aromatic herbs that will be useful to your kitchen as well as your cannabis garden. Insects such as aphids, beetles and flies hate the smell and taste of basil, and are sure to stay away from your cannabis plants.
Foxglove
Foxglove is one of the plants that attracts the kinds of insects you want in your garden. This plant will bring in the dicyphus, which will eat all the white flies, aphids and spider mites that are hovering around your garden.
Mint
Whatever is said for mint also goes for any other plants containing menthol. These plants are a wonderful addition to your garden, because they send away harmful insects and welcome the beneficial ones.
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2. Companion plants for providing nutrients
Companion planting is also a great way to keep your soil healthy by keeping the nutrients in check. Here is a list of plants you can use that will increase the nutrient content in the soil.
They work great as living mulches, too! Regular mulches are a layer of material applied to the top of the soil, and are usually made out of woodchips or other organic, but not living, material. Living mulches are plants that you can use as mulch instead of the kind you buy from the garden store.
Alfalfa
This plant helps in securing nitrogen into the soil, and can be grown all around your cannabis plant. When it gets too tall, just chop it down and let the clippings add more nitrogen to your soil.
Clovers
Clovers don’t grow to be very tall, and are very good at drawing nutrients from deep in the ground where the roots of your cannabis plant don’t grow. They, much like the alfalfa, form a living mulch and can be grown all around the garden.
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3. Companion plants for increasing the harvest
Did you know there are also companion plants that will aid in giving you a bigger harvest? They can even make your harvest stronger! Use these plants for a better all-round final product.
Oregano and Marjoram
These two, very small bushy plants are a non-invasive addition to your garden. Neither takes up much space in soil, and so you can use them pretty much freely.
They have been used in home gardens to increase the yields of beans and chives, as well as other plants. Use oregano and marjoram in your cannabis garden to increase your yield of buds, too!
Stinging Nettle and Chamomile
These two plants are great ones to grow around your weed. They don’t just potentially add a nice aroma to your final product, but these plants encourage oil production in your garden. That means a more resinous plant in the end, and even stems that contain a higher THC content.
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4. Companion plants to hide your cannabis plants
Finally, you can use companion plants as a great way to camouflage your cannabis plants and keep nosey neighbours away. We recommend these companion plants for growers who want to keep their cannabis garden a little bit more discrete.
Stinging Nettle
This plant isn’t just a great one for giving a better harvest, but it is also a good one for keeping people out of your garden. People don’t generally have a habit of getting close to nettles (because of their inclination towards stinging people of course), and so having them around your garden can keep other people out.
Lovage
This plant is a herb that grows to be quite tall and bushy, a great one to use as a perimeter around your garden. It is better used for a garden of smaller plants, and has a great flavour for your cannabis plants to pick up.
Southernwood
This is a great herb to grow in your garden to hide taller plants! The southernwood is a kind of wormwood that grows to be around five feet tall. It also gives off a citrus scent, which means that it can help to hide the smell of your cannabis plants, too!
You can plant one or all of these companion plants in your garden to assist with growing your plants! As you can see, there is an organic solution to all of your gardening problems!
