Lovely buds, and really nice-looking VC! I envy your amounts too
haha
LOL not the original. spontaneous thought, but yes, by the time I posted it
Ah a bunch of interesting thoughts there, thank you!
Indeed, how much of topdress is equivalent to the nutrients being cycled into our plant (and out of our soil).. If we just added back the whole plant, containing everything she ever took out of the soil, we should be good, right? haha
I've currently got a similar question hanging around regarding K. I was looking for data to ascertain whether I could replace comfrey for the kelp, and while that didn't go well (incomplete datasets, different analysis methods/categories, and inconsistencies that don't hardly allow any conclusions at all - here's what I could find:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/brccq2tjzpexnhs/kelp-vs-comfrey.ods?dl=0 -- you'll see the dilemma) I did see high levels of K, even more in the comfrey than the kelp. Whereby I am less worried about single highly dosed amendments than the surreptitious addition of nutrient compositions over longer periods of time, perhaps accumulating excesses that at some point hit back boomerang style lol ( the lesson MustangStudfarm's experience taught us with his completely excessive mix hangs over me like the sword of Damocles haha)
As for plant cycle, I am currently operating from the assumption that plant infrastructure (i.e. root systems) are in their bulk established
before flower, i.e.that essential basis for the good yield is mainly built in veg. I extrapolate this from the fact that microbial populations in the soils have a distinct seasonal pattern, with very high bacterial action in spring for the nitrates which heats up to early summer, slumps, and then resumes action in the autumn again (but way less than in the springtime). I.e.,by the time plants go into flower/fruit/seed production, microbial activity (which we remember is being steered by the plant) actually declines. This is definitely true of the nitrogen cycle, where (as far as I have understood) ammonium is made available by microbes NOT transforming it into nitrate form later in the growth cycle.
Now, whether that can be extrapolated like that, I am not sure
Hence, my current plan is to monitor microbial development in my pots to see whether this holds true.
It's going to be a little while until I can do that though, as it turned out my microbial herds are a far throw from where I want them: highly bacterial, with incredible bacterial-feeding nematode populations grazing on those masses - but hardly any protozoa. Just for an idea: 3000 bacterial feeders and what I've been classifying as omnivores in my VC - with quite some diversity, there are 6-7 kinds I find regularly (desired for our level of succession are at 100-500/g MIXED bacterial fungal feeders AND predators!). My NLH got the brunt of my explorations and was showing discomfort and the propensity to start showing some sort of "deficiency" signs (nitrogen, iron, sulfur, two days of Calmag signs?!?) at any moment.... until I was able to culture a hay infusion with 300K/ml of diverse protozoa and watered that in. She's stabilized since and I'm about to reassess the soils to see whether it has indeed developed a more balanced microbial herd
Yeah and then there (probably) aren't any predatory nematodes to keep the bacterial feeders/omnivores in check, AND I'm missing the whole fungal section in my systems. Where there are no good amounts of fungi, there won't be any fungal feeders either, right!
So for now, I'm learning patience (or trying to haha) and looking to create contexts into which these missing partners will migrate and establish good population I can then inoculate: a little pine bark pile I threw in between the cherry tree and the raspberries in the garden, the "leaf mold" wormbin, and I found a chestnut three backyards away that is the only chestnut I've seen unaffected by the Pseudomonas, so that soil is an interesting possible inoculant too...
As for my no-tills, I've had to start over after leaving the old pot fallow for pretty much the whole year, so all my soils are recycled soils on their first run now. I'm pretty much following DonTesla's proportions with his organic and inorganic aeration with an eye for diversity of materials too, but sticking more to MountainOrganics' recipe in the no-till revisited thread over at GC, for its simplicity and concept of conditioning the soil for a few rounds of growing before it is fully established. It's just kelp, neem, malted barley/powder, coconut water (which I'm substituting with sprouts juice - last one, fed on the threshold of my plants going into flower, being of alfalfa seeds), aloe, silica (which I'm skipping, I've got DE running through my wormbin, in the soil mix, and being topdressed occasionally, so I'm thinking that's covered), and fulvics, being added in small portions on a regular schedule.
Sadly I don't have access to BIoAg for the fulvics on this side of the pond. So in its stead I've ordered humics (leonardite-extracted, just hoping they didn't fuck that up), which should arrive here in the next days and which I hope will also help build up the fungal side of my ecosystems.
And of course I'm also still blending up any plant parts I remove to feed directly back, have the occasional comfrey leaf mulched in here and there, and still topdress VC (which I'm adding aerating materials to during production now) whenever I have something that can improve the pot ecosystem. LOL another pun
I'm starting to get lost in my little world now so it's time to stop writing haha
Cheers!
I've had several plants reach 7oz. each in the 20 gal no tils, and i don't even have very good ceiling clearance! to date, my best is a full lb. off one 600 watt, and i know for sure that i could have done them better. I'm looking to get to 20 oz. off one 600 to know that i'm really pushing the limits.
