Super Soil Trace Elements

[sticky]

Ever since I switched over to the super soil recipe on the growweedeasy site I've been experiencing issues in flowering that manifest in a number of ways related to trace elements. When I had the soil tested I found that many trace elements were not preseent at detectable levels:

Boron (p.p.m.) 0.07
Iron (p.p.m.) 0.02
Manganese (p.p.m.) < 0.02
Copper (p.p.m.) < 0.02
Zinc (p.p.m.) < 0.02
Aluminum (p.p.m.) 0.32

Which explains a lot really. My plants were really sick sick sick. No wonder. And this was soil from the same batch that I was growing in.

So, my question is really about this specific recipe, and where are the trace elements supposed to come from? I woud've thought that blood meal would provide things like copper, zinc, and iron. And I followed the recipe faithfully. Any thoughts on what might have gone wrong?

 

[Canyon Grower]

Hi Sticky and welcome to the forum. While im not sure what went wrong with your soil I think the fix is pretty easy. Try a kelp "fertilizer". These arent fertilizers in the traditional sense but they add most if not all trace elements to your grow medium. I am an organic soil grower and use it as a standard supplement. Just be aware that in a container (inside grow) a little goes a LONG way. Plants actually need only trace amounts of these elements. Good luck! And dont give up on soil !!!!

 

[sticky]

Thanks - I'm committed to being as organic and low impact as possible. And I am going to be adding kelp among other things.

 

[Californiakid]

sticky, after you mixed up the super soil, how long did you let it "cook"? Once all of the ingredients are combined it sits and generates heat. A whole lot of biology goes on to make available all of the nutrients. If you didn't wait the 2-3 months (if I recall correctly) then the trace elements were present just unavailable.
Hope that helps. Cheers
Californiakid