I realized that I haven't been using enough water. The plants are in 7 gallon pots and I've been giving them 1 gallon every couple of days. This started to cause some problems a few weeks ago when I noticed Mg deficiency. I'm not noticing phosphorous deficiency now and I think there may be a nute lockout problem from the watering schedule. Good news is that I realized my mistake and I'm giving them 2 gallons every few days now. Other good news is that I'm not using chemical fertilizers, I composted the soil myself for 1-2 months before planting. I'm concerned about the salt buildup, which I think is causing the nute lockout. I don't want to flush my soil because I will lose all of the beneficial microbes that are in there. Whats the best thing I can do at this point? Thanks
here they are. you can also see more pictures in the journal im a little worried about the discoloration in the leaves on this top. its a pretty simple question though i think. i havent been using enough water to flush out accumulated salts during regular waterings (only 1 gallon for a 7 gallon pot). i understand that flushing the soil and then adding a mixture of medium strength nutes is what a grower that uses chemicals should do. however i have organic soil and dont want to flush the essential microbes out of the soil. so my question, is there anything i can do?
You're not going to "flush" microbes from your soil. Microbes generally adhere to the solid particulate matter in your soil. Whatever 'crobes that might get washed away will quickly regenerate themselves. Are you using municipal water, or well?
thanks for the help. its well water filtered through an RODI unit so its pretty much pure h2o. in that case i think im going to run 7 gallons through just to be safe. do i need to worry about replacing nutrients though?
Microbes will be dead i think? from the salt. I would flush and 3:1 and put new soil on top. Mix new soil in and add some fungi to your soil. Even organic has some salt build up.