WOW. I am not going to take it personally, I know we are all under a lot of stress. Sorry that I mistakenly typed 'chemical' instead of 'salts'. The rest of my post stands. Hope we can have an intelligent conversation about this going forward.
Actually I have just recently (this past fall) become well aware of the ecological impact of bat guano, as well as seabird guano removals. I have friends in Jamaica who recently had a local cave completely stripped with heavy machinery, and now there is no guano for locals to use. Not to mention there is concern about guano in agriculture being a vector for Coronavirus. This study was from 2017! >
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6521082. I have also realized that peat is being removed at unsustainable rate, and we should look for alternatives. Manure based composts also support the animal agriculture industry, which like it or not is most likely the source of the reason the entire world is currently under lockdown. Many vegetarians and vegans would also be upset to know that their vegetables were grown in soil that used bloodmeal and bonemeal, most likely from pigs. All that said, I will still argue that true biodynamic organics that are sustainably harvested are better for the environment than traditional agro fertilizers and the ecological damage they are known to cause.
100% honesty I am still using products containing guanos, manure, and peat (FFOF soil / Bus Blend / Roots Organics liquid nutes) in my current grow but only because of the fact that I had purchased a bunch last year, and don't want to waste them. I have one or two more cycles left and then I intend to never buy them again, and have started recycling all of the old soil into flower beds out front.
I just spent $200 on a bunch of ingredients to build my own veganic supersoil, and trying to be as mindful of the all of the above as I can. Peat, Coco, DTE Vegan mix, BAS pinto bean compost, organic EWC, myco and Recharge. I am using some peat for now since i still have a whole bale, but plan to phase it out once it is finished. Having to ship the BAS from Colorado doesn't seem too environmentally friendly so I spent last weekend emailing a bunch of organic bean farms in Socal trying to find a source closer.
I have also tried to build the most efficient lights that I could, and use as little electricity as possible in my entire grow.
I have become very passionate about making sure that my grow is not causing ecological damage. That is one of the first negative things mentioned nowadays about cannabis farming now that they can't make up lies about it damaging health and making you crazy. I read that specifically was mentioned as a reason for keeping the personal grow plant limit to 6 plants in California (which is dumb imho since plant/canopy size is relative to veg time and I could do a 64 plant sog in same space someone else grows 4 monsters).
The bigger reason is that not only am I growing for my own personal needs, but I also have a 15 y/o son who suffer's from Crohn's Disease. Herb is the difference between him living in excruciating pain at times, or being able to cope and make it through a day. He has been in and out of the hospital for 6 years and has had major surgery. Unfortunately he also has to be on immunosuppressive drugs that leave him with a weakened immune system. Since I grow in our house, part of what set me down this current path is that I realized that guano, as well as blood meal and bonemeal are all pathogen vectors, and I want to be sure that I am not going to make him sick while trying to grow medicine to make him feel better. As well, I want to teach him basic growing principles that are sustainable and something that he can do on his own even if I am not around one day.
I hope that you can understand what is driving my decision making, and respect it for what it is. Blessings.
