@Trala you know when a bone breaks the repair tends to pack on extra bone. It's like that. Maybe microtears in muscle would be a better example but they (hopefully) don't make a noise.
Unintentional stress is also happening in the form of hungry plants. I finally both the time and gumption (100% due to that Dream Queen I just harvested) to mix up some top-up soil. My recipe is as follows:
1 large bag alfalfa pellets
1 large bag compost
2 gallons sphagnum peat moss
6 cups earthworm poo
2 cups dolomitic lime
2 cups gypsum
2 cups of each bone and blood meal
willy nilly dusting of azos and mycos
I gotta say the Root Activator stuff we get in the contest prize bundle is pretty great. Within three days I can see fine white fluff in the soil.
Some cool info on alfalfa pellets:
Alfalfa meal or pellets are often used as animal feed. They are used primarily to increase organic matter in the soil but do offer nutrients and a high availability of trace minerals. They contain trianconatol, a natural fatty-acid growth stimulant.
Alfalfa Meal or Pellets
Typical NPK analysis 2-1-2 (about...the nitrogen and potassium seem pretty accurate across all the analysis I could find. Phosphorus varied from .25% to 1.5%)
Release time 1-4 months
Pros Available at feed stores
Cons May contain seeds
Application Till in 2-5 pounds per 100 square feet
1-Triacontanol (n-triacontanol) is a fatty alcohol of the general formula C30H62O, also known as melissyl alcohol or myricyl alcohol. It is found in plant cuticle waxes and in beeswax. Triacontanol is a growth stimulant for many plants, most notably roses, in which it rapidly increases the number of basal breaks. 1-Triacontanol is a natural plant growth regulator. It has been widely used to enhance the yield of various crops around the world, mainly in Asia.[2] Triacontanol has been reported to increase the growth of plants by enhancing the rates of photosynthesis, protein biosynthesis, the transport of nutrients in a plant and enzyme activity, reducing complex carbohydrates among many other purposes. The fatty alcohol appears to increase the physiological efficiency of plant cells and boost the potential of the cells responsible for the growth and maturity of a plant.
So yeah, they're cheap and easy to deal with. They appear to increase soil fluffiness: it seems they both help retain moisture while not letting the soil get super compacted. I'm not saying I would forego perlite and just use alfalfa, but I do consider it a positive in regards to soil texture.
Anyhoo Imma go smoke a joint and get to top-dressing and watering my ladies.
Edit: whoops...forgot the photos: