Built the spreadsheet today. An interesting exercise it was. Thanks for the suggestion.
The overview is that while I am currently light on NPK, I am a bit over in Ca but arguably the wrong mix. But by simply adding some of my crumbles to my mix it looks like it would be quite easy to get in the ball park with The Rev's numbers.
I had to make some assumptions as I couldn't find values for some things like my flower crumble and I've seen various figures for comfrey and nettle so I tried to use representative values.
N
I'm at about 1/4 of The Rev. I'm not all that animated about this one since I don't typically have issues with it so maybe the microbes are mining enough from the air, but I can easily make some steps in that direction. I'll grow some beans in a pot of my old soil and then mix that soil with its now nitrogen fixing nodules in with a future round, and I'll harvest the beans for bean meal which is said to be high in N. I'll plan on adding it three ways; through the worm bin, cooked into the soil, and as a top dressing. 4 Tablespoons total would closed the gap by 2/3rds. I could even add some bean plants as a cover crop in veg and then chop and drop right in the pot.
You do need enough in the mix to fully compost enough carbon, so don't cheap out on it in the soil mix. If you need to add a bunch extra alfalfa, for example, or comfrey, or whatever, and that gives you enough greens but it makes things out of balance, you can plug holes during the grow with potions and topdressings, but you must have enough in the mix to bring the heat to cook it.
P
This one is a bit more challenging with SRP being the main go-to. On the one hand not much is needed relative to the others but on the other hand it's apparently not very mobile and therefore should be spread throughout the mix. Although I don't have figures for the npk of dried flowers I would guess it's mostly P with some K so adding this to my mix before cooking could help address the global requirement.
But this might be where my Fruit & Flower JLF could play a role. In The Rev's new book he offers a liquid growers' cheat for his method which is a 5:1 mix of Fox Farm's Big Bloom and Alaska Brand Fish Fertilzer, veg thru harvest.
Big bloom is my goto orchid food. It's good stuff. Really good actually. I think if you added a bit of molasses to it it would be even better, so if you use sugars to brew yout potions, try brewing your P potions with molasses instead of sugars, see what happens. I bet its a helluva bud hardener.
Maybe I'm over thinking this and could just run my whole grow on a similar mix of my FAA and Fruit & Flower JLF. I looked up the Big Bloom and it's essentially just worm castings and bat Guano from presumably nectar sucking bats. Since my F&F JLF is more diverse it might be even better as I add stuff like whole flowers as well as apples and blueberries which are high in calcium and silica, etc.
You easily could, especially in a wetter sip, but it won't be a good LOS grow, it will be an organic hydroponic grow.
Microbes would still be involved but myco wouldn't, so you need to give the plant what it needs when it needs it, myco is what allows plants to eat what they require when they require it.
They tell myco what they need when they need it and myco delivers. Are you ready for that responsibility? Test it on one plant for sure
Don't miss a feeding.
I think I'll try two things. One, I'll start adding some F&F to my weekly watering schedule which should get the P down uniformly into the mix immediately, and Two, I'll add some flower crumble to the soil I have cooking to get that process started for the next pot.
Excellent and excellent, be generous to the soil with it. If it's also a nitrogen source then win/win.
K
I'm already about two thirds of The Rev's mix with my crustacean meal and Alfalfa and frankly it'll be more of an issue keeping the levels down, but both comfrey and nettle are high in K (both are higher than greensand or kelp or Alfalfa). So adding some of those to my worm bins, cooking mix, and top dressing should handle that need.
Hehe thats why you never hear me talk about K, it's everywhere. Bananas and their peels are high in P and K and carbs in a starchy form.
Ca
On this one I'm actually over The Rev's levels but could use a better mix of the 4 I use. The nettle is quite high in ca so I may have to reduce the others or perhaps eliminate one if I want to add this to the three ways I'll use it.
Get your calcium correct in the cooking mix, don't screw with that part. It needs to be in balance, so dolomite, and if you want good terpenes you need sulfur.
You need good tilth and the CEC is mostly Ca and Mg, don't screw this part up, it controls brix, thus photosynthesis. P is useless without adequate Ca, in balance with Mg, and adequate O2.
Or use a homemade CalMag every watering. That works too but brix won't climb if it see-saws so if you use ValMag don't miss a dose, you need to stay ahead but not too strong or you start frying things, like leaves. But the refractometer will guide you and if you are OK with the odd sacrifice to learn how a plant and the soil use calcium throughout it's life it's a wicked good way to learn. It will teach you that dolomite in the soil with gypsum and oyster shell flower is the way to go
I don't have any comfrey or nettle in my mix but I have been top dressing with them for about 4 weeks so hopefully the K issue that pops up about now will be held at bay for another few weeks.
It may fix it, but if the soil is low in it then it will likely only lessen the problem.
But altogether it seems like it should all come together fairly quickly with some thoughtful adjustments.
I totally agree, and be honest with yourself.
If something is just too hard to manage in the soil until you figure it out down the road, then live without it but have a potion ready to plug the hole, assume you will need it, and use it preventatively to plug the hole before the deficit shows up.
Just make sure browns and greens are balanced in the soil cook.
If you are honest with yourself you will see where the deficiencies will likely arise.
Prepare for them and assume they are coming. Get ahead on them.
Any liquid that isn't pure water is best top watered.
Math doesn't lie so using the spread sheet to fill in Rev's values between cooking and potions and topdressings will work well.
Top dressing plant matter is slow release, so think of that like feather meal.
Top dressing minerals is fast acting.
If you powder your top dressing meals they will work faster. A blender works good. It won't make them fast release, but mid speed for sure. About 7-10 days instead of 3-4 weeks.
