E's book is old but it is the original bible. for a very long time that was all there was to read. Many new things have come out so some of it is dated but the way plants work has not changed. If you follow what he says you will have outstanding plants. It is the true foundation of everything. They even transcribed it onto this website I think but having a book to read is so much better and he deserves the cash.
Worm castings and Guano are great but in lower doses. Better to add them from a home brew tea than direct.
Now I don't think you have a catastrophee yet. I would just keep pHing down and get that darn thing under 7.
But if you want to this process can't really hurt if done right.
A proper flush is like 5 times the size of the pot in water. So if you have a 5 gallon pot you need 25 gallons of water. Preferably pHd or you can pH just the past 5 gallons. Put the pot in the bathtub on a pair of 2x4s or something to lift it up a bit so it all drains out easy. If you have a bad situation then I usually recommend that last 5 gallons have enzymes and a pile of microbes (beneficial bacteria). I make my own and it has saved many grows on here. I got people all over using it now. Then you wait a week to see it dry out and see where you are. Whatever you didn't get flushed the bacteria and enzymes will take care of. The bacteria will bring the soil back to life. A good tea will have all the nutes you need to. A good organic grow needs nothing added but water and a tea once in a while to keep things kicking. Many pros don't use bottled ferts at all.
So a flush with a good bacteria and enzymes gets everything back in order. Then you can play it by ear. You may have shocked the plants and they need to recover. So tread lightly until vigorus growth is seen and then start adding nutes slowly. again a good tea will have everything the plant needs.
You need 3 main components to a decent soil. (now I am not explaining a proper organic soil program that is more complicated). I might get to that later but I will start with a basic thing that will get the job done without much fuss.
You need a base soil mix that is good. I use Fox farm Froggy blend. you want something that says it has Mycos, oyster shells, Humic acid /Humis/ancient forest soil, bat guano, worm castings. Something like that with those ingredients will have everything else you need.
You need an aeration component and I prefer perlite for that.
You need an organic component...I prefer steer manure or a blend of steer manure and coco fibers.
I did lots of experiments back in the 90's on the 3 components using many different things for each and many different ratios. i prefer a 1/3 1/3 1/3 of each. But that runs Hot, especially for seed grows. Not that it is bad just newbs may freak when they see a little tip burn and deep green on the verge of too much nitrogen. So if you take the 1/3 steer manure and half that with the coco you should be able to not freak out.
A mix like that if using fresh manure and soil with fresh worm castings has all the microbes you need. You just add pH'd water. around the time you want to start bloom you can consider adding some bloom nutes to enhance that. I make a tea that has everything it needs.
Keep it basic and easy and you can spend your energy learning about all the other stuff.
This plant ran on that basic recipe and had almost no ferts added. Just some cal mag and silica and my tea. 36" x 28". Just add pH'd water and train and groom. I even did do a bunch of things wrong and it still is going to be awesome.
