I'm not knocking you for doing this! Anyways, I've tried all of the inputs for micronutrients and I found that they are all lacking in Manganese and sometimes zinc or boron. I kept using more and more kelp and I ran into sodium issues, so I started upping the rock dust and I could never fix Manganese issues. The problem with running high P inputs is iron lockout. Plus, excess P is supposed to hinder myco growth and that is whole purpose of Clackamas Coots's recipe, low phosphorus. Back in 2015, I started testing my compost and I found that it was always high in P, so I got very interested in what Clackamas was trying to tell us.
You seem cool, so I'm going to let you in on my latest findings. I'm always screwing up, but I find the answers to my problems usually and just keep trucking. I was looking for ways to raise my micronutrient levels and I saw that everyone kept saying "Chelate your micronutrients" but I kept running into problems after using it. I found this little article that blew my mind about using humic acid and fish amino acids(chelators)
The page wouldn't let me copy and paste, so I'll say the parts that sparked my interest the most. #1-Manganese(Mn not Mg) is always low on my soil tests and I read that high organic matter soil will always be deficient in Mn because it will react and form bonds making it unavailable to the plant. My impression that I get from this "High organic soil will always be low in Mn". BTW, potting soil is very high in organic matter! #2- Using chelated Mn will only make the Mn deficiency worse. Chelates make iron more available than manganese(antagonistic relationship). Iron and Manganese work against each other and making one more available will lower the other. For some reason, iron has a stronger affinity towards chelates. This was the mind blower that changed my gardening habits. I was using 2x products(BioMin Booster 153 and Big 6) that were focused on fixing micronutrient def but I had HORRIBLE luck using them in my soil. It turns out that they work MUCH better as a foliar spray and don't let it drip into the soil. I now use manganese sulfate with my water and chelated micronutrients in a foliar spray. That iron issue that I was telling you about earlier can be fixed with a micronutrient spray. Mn and iron is not mobile in plant tissue, so you have to use a foliar spray to fix the deficiency. This also falls into "High Brix" gardening, using micronutrient sprays. Sorry if this is too much, but I only spend this much time with people that I like.
www.kisorganics.com
