reults of my college of agriculture test

[fredcdobbs]

first off this is used lc's mix with recipe #1......i have limited knowledege of this so maybe you fellers can help me out.....phosphorous = 140...potassium = 173...soil ph = 7.1...buffer ph =7.2...calcium = 4667...magnesium =1163...zinc = 7.0.........theres a graph that says phosphorous very high...potassium low...magnesium high.......recmmendations:nitrogen 2 to 3 lb/1000 sq feet..phosphate none...potash 3 to 5 lb/1000 sq feet...lime none...................i'm thinkin this mix was very low in nitrogen before it was ever used....had some compost and manure that didnt work or i didnt put enough in the mix..i've since started usin ewc,the 4 sunleaves guanos,humic acid, neptunes harvest fish/seaweed.....i've got a 50 gallon container of this and heres what i put in it since i took out the samples..neptunes harvest fish/seaweed,humic acid and molasses....i appreciate any suggestions..

 

[smoketrichs]

drop that ph, 5.5-6 is the sweet spot.

 

[MrFista]

Phosphorus = 140. 140 what? ppm. If so way too high. The soil needs acidification and if it's loaded with lime you aint gonna shift it easy. You need fungi and with all that P I don't fancy the chances of it doing well.

Peat, wood based compost, mulch. What's your N level?

 

[fredcdobbs]

i listed everything they had under nutrients....guess there wasnt enough nitrogen to measure...i'm gonna have to learn how to work with this shit cause i go through 40 gallons of lc's mix every 2 months.....how would it work if i just add humic acid,ewc,neptunes harvest fish/seaweed,molasses to all this and let it set for a while?.........also they recommend to add 2 to 3 lbs of nitrogen and 3 to 5 lbs of potash per/1000 square feet.......i need to find out how to convert that 1000 square feet to gallons..

 

[pray4pistils]

MrFista, I inadvertantly hit the "No" button! In no way and for no reason did I intend to give your post a negative rating. Sorry about that!!!! Perhaps a moderator can fix this? (I hope so.)

 

[MrFista]

YAY - I don't care about my rating - thanks for the laugh, and the apology is definately accepted.

I'm not very good with 'nutes'. I always use less than recommended to get good results. LC's dosage only works one run you recycle that adding the same nutes back you got issues, as, as you've seen, there are a few problems with balance in the mix after a run. Lime high, P high, K low, N gone as we are seeing in your test results. Add the same nute recipe back and you double most the problems up.

Take this advice as rough around the edges.

Convert 1000 sq ft to the surface area of your pots (if they are 12 inches deep) then remove 1/2 of the recommended application for the area, then apply your N. This is very rough but it worked for me in the past. I'd recommend a plant based meal to help encourage fungal players in the mix.

I'd also be inclined to be feeding bananas and skins to my worm bin to get K in the mix, earth Juice meta-K is a fantastic product to use sparingly in your water while waiting for your K-castings. an OFC member might be able to chime in with a free faster acting alternative than feeding the worms and waiting for castings (takes about one run for good castings at reasonable (comfy for humans) temperatures).

Hope that helped, I get a bit stuck trying to help folks stuck in the NPK paradigm and I need to get used to it in order to help others convert to a more sustainable practise.

A lot of people will advise pH is a waste of time in organics and, to an extent, that is correct. It can also be plain wrong. With your P levels, and your pH levels, you got a problem.

"Most studies on the pH dependence of P uptake in higher plants have found that uptake rates are highest between pH 5.0 and 6.0, where H2PO4- dominates (Ullrich-Eberius et al., 1984: Furihataet al., 1992).

Again, practises to bring the pH down. Woody compost, peat, brown mulch. You don't really want to be under 6 pH as other nutrients solubility go down under 6. But with all that lime you won't get sudden changes anyway.

Take a look at the first page of the citric acid thread, might give you some idea how to go about altering your top up water to encourage P solubility that way.

Worms, compost, maybe some citric acid, good supplements if needed but try to wean yourself off the bottles. Good luck.