Well, time for a little update around here. Spent the week reading and pondering my cation excesses. I completed the worksheet in “the intelligent gardener” book, which can also be found and printed online:
I decided to try flushing the low-hanging fruits (Na, K) with a dash of S to encourage it. I applied about 15g to my tarped bed the other night (20ppm IF it all dissolved, unlikely). I saturated and drained what I could, spread it all out to dry so it didn’t stay anerobic for long. Basically a good water to runoff. That’ll have to do, and we’ll see if there are lingering issues. The literature warns against doing this excessively until I have more tests under my belt, so I’ll conservatively try what I feel is the right move without totally turning my yard into a swamp.
Drain corner was the bottom left. I repeated the process to a lesser extent with my beds, which will just leach down into the sandy soil.
I did this one yesterday night and raked it to aerate as it dried, turning in the weeds that had grown under the clear plastic I had it covered with to “cook.”
Throuroughly watered the other bed tonight, and will repeat the mixing/turning over the vegetation tomorrow.
In case it wasn’t made clear earlier, I strongly suspect my salt/pH issues are the same among all the plots because the soils are mostly the same between the tarp soil and the two beds - they’re all the new compost/pumice and last years potting soil/native soil. pH testing indicates similar results as well. I think my particularly salty element was either the sand I brought from the river or the compost I bought locally.
Here’s an interesting case study, one of my blueberries in the new soil:
Looks like a P deficiency to me, likely caused by the high pH. Shocker, I know. I LOL’d when I was reading about P deficiency in blueberries being “rare,” because it sure ain’t rare in my garden this year 
This one looks OK though:
Sprinkled a dose of S and Terp Tea Bloom that I had leftover from last year. Hopefully that can give it a little motivation to keep going while the pH comes down over the season. I’m not going to let them fruit until next year, so they can take it easy this season. Cover crop blend is starting to pop up now 
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So what’s the next move?
I’ve internally debated quite a bit here. I considered:
- Flush the ABSOLUTE SHIT out of all the dirt and start from scratch with mineralization and nutrition
- Try to ammend the dirt I have but grow my weed in bagsoil this season so I don’t ruin it
- Switch to coco and hydro where my mistakes would be short-lived, maybe I wasn’t meant for this organic thing afterall
- Make minimal alterations and see what happens
- Do exactly what the book says to do
- Follow various pieces of advice given here, probably boiling down to adding castings/clay and hoping microbes do all my dirty work
- A combination of 1+5+6
I think I’ve decided on 7. Lightly flush the soil. Ammend to the target levels and using the target increments given in the book, down to micronutrients, erring slightly on the low side. Incorporate all the advice I’ve been given here.
The gypsum advice was the most unexpectedly accurate info I’ve seen. It mentally didn’t compute initially, but because of the sulfur in it it basically replaces Na/K with Ca. I’ve been struggling with deciding whether to balance Ca:Mg ratios or let that vary, as many sources suggest. I know my K is going to come down as the compost turns into beatiful soil over time, so I’m inclined to “let it ride” on that variable rather than jacking my Ca:Mg too crazy. I haven’t done anything other than overwater with minute S concentration yet, so please let me know if this is the wrong approach.
Here’s where I’m landing with ammendments:
Mono Ammonium Phosphate (MAP) has great appeal here despite not being “organic.” It has no calcium, so I can use gypsum to raise my Ca level exactly where I want it. I’ve calculated my CEC raising to about 4.9-5.1 after adding the castings and clay so I’ve got more room for stuff to get ratios correct and drop my pH. I also picked up a bag of Happy Frog Cavern Culture which is the lowest Ca high P fertilizer I could find locally to get my P up to target levels given by the worksheet. Bone meal is another option I guess. I can do either method. I have no problem with using an “inorganic” fertilizer to build a soil that will no longer require as much care. It seems like a one-time deal in this application, and does exactly what I seem to need.
You may note I’m using micronutrient sulfates to get my micros up to suggestions given in the book and by my soil worksheet. The rest of the book sold me on this. I like his approach and his justifications for having the healthiest possible plants. I’ve obtained all of these items despite the tiny quantities I require and if anyone wants any, I can send small bags. It’s ridiculous I had to get about 15 pounds of this shit, but hey, I’m a ridiculous man that does ridiculous things. Free micro nutrient minerals for everyone!
Any thoughts on that approach? Should I do MAP and gypsum? Or Cavern Culture? Or bone meal?
My seedlings are still alive but it’s nighttime for them so I’ll post some pics of those in the morning. I’ve got 5 viable candidates for 907 and IBG I’ll send out for sex testing. I’ve got a mutant 907 too, it’s definately a weird bird. The two fem Panalawi’s are doing well.
@Dendro This post is about all you need to read to be fully caught-up. My brain has been getting scrambled trying to learn this stuff - it’s all foreign to me, getting more comfortable with it as I go. Most of the thread is me rambling about my thoughts, at several points incorrectly. I’m learning in public, which is fun and rapidly humbling. Hopefully I’m not annoying anyone too bad. Glad to hear your garden is kicking off! I’ll drop my autos as soon as I get this soil ready to rock-n-roll, probably mid-May. I’ll run those Mephisto’s Wedding x 4 Assed Monkey you sent. At this point, I may not attempt my breeding project with the Auto Bubblegums this season. If that learning curve is ANYTHING like the soil one, I’ll probably lose my mind before I make the first seed. Getting some Shiskaberry pollen though, so definately gonna try some regular photo seeds, should be a 
cross to the 907 and IBG both.
If it wasn’t for curve balls I would never learn anything. 
