Looking for advice on amendments from my soil test.

This is a soil test from a finishing up run. I wanted to get a base line of what was used up and what was left to adjust ratios.
I’m using EWC Gaia green 444 and 284 and craft blend, watering with molasses couple times a week. I am going to start using liquid kelp for micros. Any suggestions?

Looks like you need Nitrogen, Potassium and Micros.

For N you could try. bat guano, neem seed meal, soy bean meal, or anything else you could think of that has Low Phosphorus. So no fish meal or crustacean stuff.

For K you could try A Little Potassium Sulfate. It's pretty concentrated, so be careful.

For micros you could use Rock Dust or Azomite.

There are also so neat extras like Alfalfa Meal or Insect Frass that have some N, some K and some micros.

youraveragehorticulturist said:

Looks like you need Nitrogen, Potassium and Micros.

For N you could try. bat guano, neem seed meal, soy bean meal, or anything else you could think of that has Low Phosphorus. So no fish meal or crustacean stuff.

For K you could try A Little Potassium Sulfate. It's pretty concentrated, so be careful.

For micros you could use Rock Dust or Azomite.

There are also so neat extras like Alfalfa Meal or Insect Frass that have some N, some K and some micros.

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I appreciate your response. I was thinking insect frass and tm-7 for micros. Was also thinking maybe Liquid kelp but I have heard it’s very high in sodium and can cause issues.

Frass, kelp extract and TM-7 are all cool. Especially as a liquid feeding, or "nutrient tea" to keep a steady supply of the hard to get micro nutrients. Here's a recipe I copied from some dudes on the Internet.

I would still think about mixing something into your soil. It's cool to top things off with teas and top dresses, but you don't want to be battling N and K deficienciesfrom the very beginning of your grow.

Workhorse Tea” Formula (per 5 gallons of full-strength brew):
A) 1 cup Caliuana worm castings
B) 1 cup of wood-chip rich compost (For pure vermi-tea, substitute above with 2 cups of castings only).
C) 1/4 cup Sucanat or molasses or 2 Tbsp Boogie Brix
D) Optional additives: 2 Tbsp Kelp Extract or 1/4 cup kelp meal and 2 Tbsp of any rock dusts (Azonite, Cascade etc).
E) Black Soldier Fly Larvae Frass /Insect Frass: 1 cup Boogie Black (added at hour 18+).

youraveragehorticulturist said:

Frass, kelp extract and TM-7 are all cool. Especially as a liquid feeding, or "nutrient tea" to keep a steady supply of the hard to get micro nutrients. Here's a recipe I copied from some dudes on the Internet.

I would still think about mixing something into your soil. It's cool to top things off with teas and top dresses, but you don't want to be battling N and K deficienciesfrom the very beginning of your grow.

Workhorse Tea” Formula (per 5 gallons of full-strength brew):
A) 1 cup Caliuana worm castings
B) 1 cup of wood-chip rich compost (For pure vermi-tea, substitute above with 2 cups of castings only).
C) 1/4 cup Sucanat or molasses or 2 Tbsp Boogie Brix
D) Optional additives: 2 Tbsp Kelp Extract or 1/4 cup kelp meal and 2 Tbsp of any rock dusts (Azonite, Cascade etc).
E) Black Soldier Fly Larvae Frass /Insect Frass: 1 cup Boogie Black (added at hour 18+).

Click to expand...

Thank you for that! Very informative. Yes I re amend the soil by mixing it in and letting it breakdown in a bin while the last run is finishing up. I’m going to send out another sample to see what it looks like before the run. That way I have two data points and see what can be fine tuned.

Honestly I’m not a big fan of that lab at all.

this one is highly rated for lawn snobs. https://www.waypointanalytical.com/homeowners

Here’s a very good read if you’d like to dive down a rabbit hole.

How did the plants do? That's a pretty good test of the soil too.

Joe.Grow said:

Here’s a very good read if you’d like to dive down a rabbit hole.

Popular Soil Fertility and Soil Testing Threads

www.thelawnforum.com

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I appreciate that

A soil test with a fully charged soil before use would tell you everything else...where it started and what was used up. That plus the plants themselves is all the data.

Rock dust/Azomite is the natural long term micros, reducing P input (likely just less flower nutes in flower and more 4 4 4) is key. P is well known to collect and stay in soil for a long time. Excess P can cause issues.