Soil, water, and tea questions

I haven't called the Cooperative Extension Service with any of this, and figure (based on recent reading here) that there's some folks about who can answer all or most of these.

About 17 years ago, I had been using mostly organic processes, and feeding with a bat guano tea (High N for veg, and high P for bloom), using 2 cups of either guano to ~4-1/2 gallons of water, and using Down to Earth's guanos back then.

At transplant time, I'd give a moderate dose of Dyna-Grow Bloom or Grow (depending on what phase was happening; clones in cubes to 3"x3" veg early pots, or from 5" sq. pots into classic 1200 or classic 2000 pots), simply due to the array of micro-nutes they offered.

Suitable amounts of dolomite was used, and still is.

Other than that, I'd brew the teas for a couple days using the nylon stocking method, stirring with a wooden spoon, then use 2-4 cups of tea to a gallon of water, mixing my own Maxi-Crop from powder, and adding about a TBSP of mixed liquid Maxi-Crop to each gallon of finished fertilizer in milk jugs.

Originally D to E's High N would, with no molasses, EWCs, etc, for the tea, bubble up into a frothing, stinky mess that spoke to nice levels of microbes doing their deal.

The high P bat shit back then, from the same folks, resembled the typical golden-hued crumbled sand-stone and would not grow a froth, and, due to the weight of the particulates, routinely needed more stirring than the High N tea did.

I noted at some point that Down to Earth's High N -and- High P guanos changed their performance in the tea buckets. No more visible frothing for the High N and the consistency and such of the High P changed as well.

On top of that, we -had- been getting water delivered from a spring on the other side of the Borough, but instead put in a well, and obviously changed the water source and chemistry by doing so.

The good news is the new well (~17 years ago) had nice, clean, clear water, with no real smell or taste (somewhat unusual for many folks in this area), or noteworthy amounts of arsenic (a problem all over the Interior of Alaska and near me), and had awesome flow. The well water DID, however, have 95 ppm of calcium carbonate; a not-useful-for-plants calcium (basically a naturally-occurring unwanted ph-up), (*and the crux of why, counter to what was posted recently in a discussion of a fellow's ph issues, I posted that I still use dolomite; the calcium levels I have are largely not useful to plants).

I noted the changes in plant health, and to the best of my ability, took somewhat educated 'pot shots' to correct things. Some efforts were way more effective than others, but changing recipes in the pursuit of 'bigger and better' led to some wins and some losses. (*Being satisfied with 'good enough' has its place).

Lastly, over the years, our well attracted iron bacteria (things I'd never known existed before learning about why my in-line whole-house 5 & 10 micron filters were developing a brown-red sludge over 2 months time, or so).

So, with the 95 ppm in calcium carbonate, every 3-4 years I 'shock the raised beds in the main vegetable garden and the separate potato garden with agricultural sulfur granules, and while there've been times I've over-done it (though tings like broccoli didn't apparently mind it), and it's slower to act than aluminum sulfate or iron sulfate, it has mostly worked out quite well.

With indoor plants such as cannabis, that only live for maybe 4 months or so, I haven't been that concerned with the ph shifting due to the 95 ppm calcium carbonate.

As far as the iron bacteria go, as I understand it, they are drawn by the well casing, and by the iron ore in the quartz bed-rock I have at about 150' depth and below, down through where my well pump hangs at ~165 ft. in a 225-ft. deep well. Are the iron bacteria capable of consuming enough iron in the water and well casing to negatively impact the iron levels in the water, and, can they travel thorough my 5 micron filter, in living form, and consume iron in the pots, arriving there with the untreated tap water, to the point of affecting indoor plant health over the time period referenced?

Any thoughts or solid proven answers re. these issues?

And yes, over 10years ago, I tried using a combination of RO water with untreated well water, about 50:50, to less than satisfactory results at times... some of which had to do with not having a float on the trash cans I used as reservoirs, and falling asleep while things were 'in process'. Don't ask....

Thanks in advance..

Hydrogen peroxide injector and a whole house filter.
Drastic would be to chlorinate your well and then use an activated charcoal filter to get rid of the chlorine.

Thanks.

We 'shocked' the well this spring with chlorine, using about 1-1/2+ (maybe 2) gallons of bulk liquid bleach concentrate, using ball valves to by-pass the water-flow-driven softener and kitchen RO systems, then ran it down to just over 1ppm chlorine presence, so as not to fuck up the softener or RO membranes, opened them back up to do the controlled less radical cleaning of them, as well.


We try to shock the well in that manner every 2-4 years, though the iron bacteria are only initially wiped out in immediate proximity to the casing and surrounding area and aquifer for a period of time (Key to maximum benefit is the duration of cycling the treated water back through the well with a food grade hose from the outdoor hose bib to the well-head, trying to cycle for at least 2-4 hours once you first smell bleach in the out-flowing water..). (Nothing to cause tightening of the sphincter like playing with 220 volt, spliced electrical lines, and steady flow of H2O).

Getting rid of higher levels of chlorine involves removing the hose from the well-head, and hanging another longer hose from the outside hose-bib over the trail down the hill, toward my least favorite aspen, and grinning as the water continues to run; sometimes most of a day to get it down to the levels where my test kits says I can open up the RO and softener systems.

I've had charcoal in-line canister filters following the 10 micron filter in sequence before, and can still obtain the charcoal filters with the desired 5 micron filtering size, having already taken care of the chlorine levels, but the iron bacteria will come back over time, as they're drawn to the casing and iron ore in the quartz bed rock, and only so much of the aquifer gets treated with the shocking each time.

I'd like to find out if the (sometimes noteworthy) presence of the iron bacteria can be sufficient to cause enough impact to the iron in the soil to make a difference for plants.

Likewise, I'd like to find out if the change in the frothing of the High N tea is a result of the changes in water quality (especially the 95 ppm calcium carbonate), the visible changes in guano, or both.

For a time, a half-dozen or more years ago, I'd drive across the Borough to a public artesian spring near where the aquifer our delivered water came from, and load up 50 gallons at a time in jugs, but no noteworthy/outstanding benefits, really, other than to make my back sore from the 7-gallon jugs, and give a bunch of money to the oil companies via their fuel.

Thanks again.

h.h. said:

Hydrogen peroxide injector and a whole house filter.
Drastic would be to chlorinate your well and then use an activated charcoal filter to get rid of the chlorine.

Click to expand...

Forgot to mention, I'm typically/frequently/intermittently using 1-cup+ of hydrogen peroxide from bottles to a gallon of H2O in the feeding/watering process.

Currently using the following bloom mix soil recipe.

(*The presence of 12 parts Ocean Forest and the 9 parts of the 39 parts of Pro-Mix to dilute the Ocean Forest, is to give the mix a bump, so it doesn't have to sit for the 2-week duration, and, in theory, the microbes in the other parts of the mix can get active during the time-frame the plants are rooting for the 2 week duration before they get flipped to 12/12. It's a time and space issue. Also '1 part' is the equivalent of about 5 cups or so):

12 parts Ocean Forest

13 parts 100% organic earthworm casting

14 parts medium to coarse perlite

39 parts basic BX Pro-Mix

15 level tablespoons steamed bone meal

17 level tablespoons High P bat guano/bird guano, (*made up of 1/3 cup plus one tbsp. .5-13..3 bat guano, 1/3 cup 3-10-1 Down to Earth high P bat guano, and 1/3 cup 0-11-0 seabird guano)

8 tbsp. blood meal

8 tbsp. high N bat guano

14 tbsp. kelp meal

6 tbsp. green sand

2 -teaspoons- langbeinite

2 tbsp. Alaska whitefish bone meal, 6-10-0 with 20% calcium

1/3 cup clean wood ash, mostly from spruce and aspen slash burns

1+ tbsp. micorhizae

1-7/8 cups dolomite lime

Please feel free to critique. I'd love to get back to the days of outrageously sticky 18" colas.. They've come and gone, but far less frequently than they once were.

If interested, I can go back through the original recipe from years many ago, and some of the modifications since then. The above is the current -test effort-.

Thanks.

Hydrating the above mix with 6 gallons untreated well water, with each gallon treated with:

1/4 tsp Actinovate

1 cup hydrogen peroxide

4 ml hygrozyme

4 ml liquid karma

4 ml humic acid (*from a stash of the now discontinued Aunt Engy's H2 from AN)

4 ml Goilden Goddess fulvic acid

3 ml cal-mag

(*at the time of initial hydration)

Type of effort is super-cropping.

Mix is tumbled both dry and wetted in a larger portable metal (275-lb. capacity) cement mixer for several minutes each time @ 23 rpm, or at least 70 revolutions per stage.

Wetted soil mix tests at a ph of about 6.7 to 6.8 regularly, with current components and sources.

The soil mix above has not been run before, but was an adaptation following the previous mix, which had issues.

Current regimen involves transplanting well rooted plants from 3"x3" cubes, to Classic 2000 (final bloom) pots, allowing 10-14 days to develop substantial rooting, and flipped to 12/12 from 22-1/2 hours.

All current varieties available for this mix are stout sativas or sativa hybrids; Super Lemon Haze, Widow Bomb, GTH#1, Goji OG, LSD, a stellar sample of Tijuana (though she is no more after this throw, due to weak stems making her a pain in the ass, despite other very desirable qualities), and the oldest woman in the harem, Sensi Seed's California Indica from 20+ years ago (possibly influenced way back when by a NL#5, but who knows).

Sodium Ascorbate (vit c) neutralizes chlorine/chloramine. In my garden, 1.25ml Sodium Ascorbate will neutralize 20 gallons of tap water.

More info here https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/html/05231301/05231301.html

Thanks.

When we shock the well, we get the chlorine levels down fairly quickly, just via purging, following sufficient circulation through the well and main line to the house. Typically back to less than 1 ppm after a day or two, between the outright purge, and general flow of household water (laundry, dishes, etc.).

We run drinking/dog/plant water in advance of the shocking of the well, so we have it on hand for the limited window it'll be less than completely desirable from the tap.

DocTim420 said:

Sodium Ascorbate (vit c) neutralizes chlorine/chloramine. In my garden, 1.25ml Sodium Ascorbate will neutralize 20 gallons of tap water.

More info here https://www.fs.fed.us/t-d/pubs/html/05231301/05231301.html

Click to expand...

Alright, in perpetuation of talking mostly to myself (it's OK, I'm more or less a hermit anymore, so it's not a new gig), I'll begin with my critique of the newer untested soil recipe;

It's 2+ times the presence of N that the original organic recipe had from ~22 years ago (written below), which was an interpretation/conversion of a recipe form a mid-90s High Times magazine re. some folks, allegedly in the Detroit area, and if I recall correctly, referenced as 'the Merry Danksters.' A take-off on/from Ken Kesey's Merry Pranksters.

The untested (newest) recipe is running a tempered amount of K in contrast to the more recent recipes, with the langbeinite drawn way back from recent time, due to concerns over mag and N lock-out, and hazards of increasing sulfur too greatly.

Linked to issues in the past were feeding regimen, impatience, personal energy level, etc. Potentially ugly factors that come and go.

P is on the stout side, though I don't think too far over the top, and calcium is more than adequate.

Ph is where I like it, though one day I'll train myself to try dialing it in more regularly to a 6.5, to view outcomes. The last problematic recipe's run had run-off of 6.4, and very happy, quickly developing roots, but ran into mag and N lock-out later on, in part due to feeding, I'm sure.

The basic, non-deluxe recipe from 22 years prior, is as follows (to be multiplied as needed for volume, and with 'One Part' equal to about 6 cups or so;

1.) 2 Parts Earth Worm Castings

2.) 7 Parts BX Pro-Mix, Sunshine Mix, etc.

3.) 1-1/2 Parts vermiculite

4. ) 1/2 Part + perlite

5.) 6 level TBSP High P (3-10-1) Bat guano

6.) 4 level TBSP Kelp Meal **which, if anyone else has noticed, has suffered decreased K and increased salinity over the last couple decades. :^(

7.) 1 TBSP Blood Meal

8.) 3-4 TBSP Steamed Bone Meal

9.) 1/4 cup clean wood ash (*Again, from the locally burned spruce and aspen slash burn pile) -OR- 1-1/2 teaspoons (1/2 TBSP) of Super Sweet (which lacks the K of the wood ash, but is more stable in terms of adjusting the ph; less mobile/water soluble than the wood ash is.

10.) 4 TBSP dolomite lime

Hydrated with H2O with (per gallon)

1 TBSP Maxi-Crop Liquid Extract

1-2 drops Super-Thrive Vitamin B.

----------------------------------------------

The above recipe has morphed numerous times over the years. Many (not all) notes of changes remain intact.

Chlorine will dissipate pretty easily anyway. Spraying your water, the addition of a little organic matter, lemon juice, molasses...

Sometimes talking to yourself is a good thing. Helps to write it all down. Carry on.

Well... Based on appearances, and without listing a smattering of the extensive steps in the evolution of soil recipes (and techniques) that lay between the first interpretation and the most recent effort, the most immediately available nutrients in the recent effort appear to be having a positive impact on what were upset, pent-up intermediate girls, trapped too long in 3"x3" cubes.

Everyone has thrown off their funk from that brief nightmare, and though some of the N was the first to be available, the darker green that came from that is changing to a more mid-green, still darker, but showing the signs that things are balancing out in the slower-releasing nutrients. All seems well in Oz.

In the first couple weeks of new soil, only water with 1.7 ml of Pro-tekt and 3 ml of Liquid Karma are used for now, intermittently , keeping the tops of the pots moist, and nothing more, other than for occasionally a cup of Hydrogen Peroxide for added oxygen. (centers and bottoms of the depth of the pots are mostly moist still, and I try to keep uniform moisture in them during the roots' initial efforts to find the reaches of the insides of the pots, before going toward a more standard drying and wetting cycle.

All stems have firmed and fattened, though Ghost Train Haze #1 (the only short, stocky, apparently genetically -stable- female from 14 seeds(!!!!!!) ) is clearly going to depend on a number of 'crutches' later in her life. We'll see if she warrants such special treatment.

Tijuana was a Queen that defied all write-ups about her. She possessed a glorious, old-time happy and balanced high, unique aroma, half-decent producer, tons of trichomes, etc., but her stem structure (for me and most others I know of who worked with her, with the ONE exception of one person who used a mix of 1/3 Fishy Pete's, 1/3 Ocean Forest, & 1/3 Perlite, with no dolomite, <as far as I know>, and fed sparingly with Grow Big, and a bit more frequently with Big Bloom as a stand-alone) otherwise lacked anything sufficient to support her without making her look like a training-wheel version of someone's high-wire act. So, to quote a family member's rendition of all things Star-Trek, "She's DEAD, Jim!"

I'll miss her, but not that badly. Time and better genetics heal all things.. Don't they?

Goji OG, on the other hand, is built like a brick shit-house, resembling a 3 dimensional version of Liberace's candelabra, as though structure of the plant actually figured into the planned genetics when breeding.. Fathom THAT!!

If tea or supporting nutrient additions are used at all, with the hefty N listed in the most recent effort, it'll be a moderate P source, and a mild K source, with little to no N, and flushed every 3-4 weeks with Sledgehammer/yucca extract, for naturally occurring or other salt build-up. Oh, and the occasional Hygrozyme and Fulvic/Humic acids.

Quite possible the impending/eventual tea regimen will be in the range of 1-1/2 or 1-1/3 cups of .5-13-.3 bat shit into a nylon stocking, along with a couple TBSP of clean wood ash, 1/2-cup or so of EWC, perhaps a 1/4-cup humus, 2 TBSP or so of organic molasses, and at the end of brewing the above mix in 4-1/2 gallons of H2O in a 5-gallon bucket with an air pump and air stone, mix <2-cups of the above mix's tea w/ 2 teaspoons of liquefied Maxi-Crop extract into each gallon of H2O. Annnnnd, we'll see what happens with that.

If I tweak the current soil recipe, it'll probably be to reduce the N by 25%-40%, and see what happens, but that would likely be met with greater use of Maxi-Crop in the watering.

Anyway, misleadingly or not, thus far, everybody looks happy. Even the wimpy-stemmed GTH#1

In a week or so, after letting the whole of the pots dry down to reasonable watering dryness, I'll sample a run-off for ph, just to see if it's more or less stable where I pinned it.

Don't all jump in at once with experiences and knowledge. Too many ideas at once becomes confusing. So for Christ's sake, take a number and write in turn... Maintain some order!!

If it's any help, I can switch my toothpaste... or something...

FREE BEER!!!!!

Free whiskey on the other thread.

I mix my soil like your grandma makes a cake. Like a Grateful Dead show, it's never the same twice. You want me to critique yours?
Like horse shoes and hand grenades, you only really need to get close. Top dress and side dress.

I prefer to skip the perlite. It tends to break down and really doesn't add anything in the process except for muck. A position I like to reserve for my vermacompost. Perhaps "muck" isn't the right word.
I use a lot of oil sweep(DE). I don't worry about the fines even though they add to the muck, I believe they add to my silica value.

Not sure what you mean by clean ash. I like to collect the white ashes, soak them, then I use the water and anything that floats for char. You know, muck.

Don't get me wrong. I love muck, but I'm only allowed so much.
If I improve aggregation, I'm allowed more. I've used oatmeal in this regard. Chia may be a better alternative, though it sprouts like crazy, which is another use for it. Incorporate the sprouts back in, but for aggregation, soak it a bit or grind it slightly.

I've used a lot of yucca, but never the extract. That makes it hard for me to comment on it's cost effectiveness or it's value in the soil.
I find yucca to be an excellent soil conditioner and I personally believe from anecdotal observations along with shaky Google research that it may also have a greater effect on the various microbial populations than it's reputation may suggest.
Again, don't know about the extract but I'll spout off anyway. It should last a long time in the soil and have many of the same properties. Cost over time, it may not really be that expensive. It should have a high steroidal saponin content. In fact I would want it to be rather soapy.
Now that beer. It's a bit early. Maybe after lunch. Nothing with a twist top and defiantly no pop tops.

Thanks.

By 'clean ash,' I mean ash from my on-going bon fire slash pit that receives the scrub and punky spruce, various aspen, willow, alder, etc.; woods from our property that's too deficient to be sold as firewood (delivered to us by the various wind storms, as I typically don't fell my spruce). The ash is gathered after the fire pit cools, preferably having not been rained or snowed on, (as I assume you're aware the K and micro-nutes in the ash are leeched away by water fairly easily), then processed through a 2"x4" frame with 1/4" hardware cloth fitted to the bottom of the frame, and laid atop a wheel-barrow for collecting the wood ash, then transferred to a Rubbermaid tote.

The sledgehammer (yucca extract) is purported to have a decent rep for neutralizing or washing salts that gather. Often applied in slightly greater diluted volume, than a routine watering, for purposes of the flushing +.

In all of my note-taking re. soils, I've tried to be fairly precise in repetition; some of that is whimsical, as when using mounded measurement devices there will always be some variance in volume, but the end product comes out surprisingly close when looking at where it ends up near the top of the cement mixer (*I take a piece of 6 mil visqueen and use a LONG bungee cord I'd typically not use for any other purpose due to its light-weight quality. I cover the mouth of the mixer with the 6 mil and bungee, and tumble for several minutes dry, then add the liquid, re-cover the mouth, and tumble again for several minutes).

Despite leaving behind a number of fairly functional recipes in search of the ever-increased quality and production, and to find a way to return to the oil/resin content that I had pre-well, etc., I've tried to be able to return to a given recipe if needed, though follow-up notes, post-harvest, are more lacking than contents..

The perlite I've always believed to be instrumental (in absence of coarse sand) for drainage and preventing the build-up of moisture to the point of causing rot or other issues. We've got tons of silt, & very little true sand. I use nearly zero vermiculite any more, other than for mixing up media for cuttings.

Not familiar with (DE)/'oil sweep'.

The only times I've top-dressed has either been with components to raise or lower ph, or diatomaceous earth/perlite in non-biological warfare with fungus gnats, etc.

On tap this morning, we have 'Chuli Stout' (named after the Chulitna River, and brewed by Denali Brewing in Talkeetna; a fine community that, numerous times over, (the Sunshine/Trapper creek area) voted at or in excess of 75% for all-out taxed and regulated sale of cannabis when we worked those gigs), and, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, a town near where I spent a number of years of pre-adult life, Founders Brewing Co.; both their 6.5% Porter, and their 8.5% "Dirty Bastard" Scottish Style Ale (they call it a scotch-style ale, but I think every self-respecting Scotsman knows 'scotch' is a beverage, not a place of origin).

We're not much on whiskey here, but lately I've been keeping a half-decent Canadian whiskey, Royal Crest, specifically for Irish coffee, or for our home-made maple liqueur. I'm more of a reposado tequila guy when it comes to liquor.

Give me some time to process what you wrote and to figure out the 'DE'.

Thanks again.

h.h. said:

Free whiskey on the other thread.

I mix my soil like your grandma makes a cake. Like a Grateful Dead show, it's never the same twice. You want me to critique yours?
Like horse shoes and hand grenades, you only really need to get close. Top dress and side dress.

I prefer to skip the perlite. It tends to break down and really doesn't add anything in the process except for muck. A position I like to reserve for my vermacompost. Perhaps "muck" isn't the right word.
I use a lot of oil sweep(DE). I don't worry about the fines even though they add to the muck, I believe they add to my silica value.

Not sure what you mean by clean ash. I like to collect the white ashes, soak them, then I use the water and anything that floats for char. You know, muck.

Don't get me wrong. I love muck, but I'm only allowed so much.
If I improve aggregation, I'm allowed more. I've used oatmeal in this regard. Chia may be a better alternative, though it sprouts like crazy, which is another use for it. Incorporate the sprouts back in, but for aggregation, soak it a bit or grind it slightly.

I've used a lot of yucca, but never the extract. That makes it hard for me to comment on it's cost effectiveness or it's value in the soil.
I find yucca to be an excellent soil conditioner and I personally believe from anecdotal observations along with shaky Google research that it may also have a greater effect on the various microbial populations than it's reputation may suggest.
Again, don't know about the extract but I'll spout off anyway. It should last a long time in the soil and have many of the same properties. Cost over time, it may not really be that expensive. It should have a high steroidal saponin content. In fact I would want it to be rather soapy.
Now that beer. It's a bit early. Maybe after lunch. Nothing with a twist top and defiantly no pop tops.

Click to expand...

DE, d[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iatomaceous earth to replace some of the perlite.
There's other replacements as well. Longer lasting if you're recycling your soil.

I hate to interfere with what you got though. . I'm just here for the beer.

Spent a few months in Big Rapids, back in my cheap beer days.
Now it's good beer and far fewer of them. Whiskey is a distant memory.

https://www.maximumyield.com/yucca-extracts-a-gardening-secret-from-the-desert/2/1236





[/FONT]

Thanks for clarifying the DE. That was what I suspected after I had already posted. I've frequently used medium to coarse perlite to top-dress for gnats, etc., though not sure if the consistency is as rigid/sharp as the DE for what we were using it for. Mostly used Gnatrol (baccilus thuringensis <spelling?>) for them back then, and recently, Azamax. Don't like the consistency of the Azamax, or the frequency it needs to be applied to put a lasting hurt on the lil' buggers, let alone the price, but....

Don't worry about interfering. I take it in, think it through if I'm able to, ask questions if necessary, and move forward.

In many cases, I'll try most anything once, or so.

BTW, even the wimpier stems of the GTH#1 this morning look as though they decided to try (in their own way) to get with the program. She may have a future after all. ;^>)

h.h. said:

DE, d[FONT=Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif]iatomaceous earth to replace some of the perlite.
There's other replacements as well. Longer lasting if you're recycling your soil.

I hate to interfere with what you got though. . I'm just here for the beer.

Spent a few months in Big Rapids, back in my cheap beer days.
Now it's good beer and far fewer of them. Whiskey is a distant memory.

https://www.maximumyield.com/yucca-extracts-a-gardening-secret-from-the-desert/2/1236





[/FONT]

Click to expand...

Good. Now that I've disqualified myself from achieving guru status, I can speak freely. My lack of knowledge has never stopped me from giving expert advice.

Looks like you have a pretty diverse soil mix. Something you've tweaked over the years and are pretty content with. For me to actually critique it, I think that I'd have to break it down to your base, figure out your percentages in it, breaking each one down to percentages, release rates, longevity, and I leave it to the experts.

There's only a couple of folks really qualified to reply to your thread with accuracy.

I'm kind of lazy. I don't put that much thought into my soil. Kind of cheap as well.
I was using yucca schidigera trunks for part of my base material. It made good bedding for the worms and that was about the only way to compost it. A little horse manure, SPMoss, DE, a few other selected items, pea gravel, San Pedro cactus. Dirt for some mineralization and some clay. Stuff I was lucky to have at the time.It all went through the worm bin. I would harvest it early with a piece of carpenter cloth.

I'd mix in some finished vermacompost to my desired texture, a little gypsum to color, oatmeal or something for aggregation, cheat with a little Epsoma for redundancy. A slight bit of ground acacia seed for fertilizer. A few ashes along with the char.
I'd fix up my pots, leaving a hole where my transplants would go. Then I sprouted chia seeds in it to get what in my mind was a start to the nutrient flow. Priming the pump. I would then smother the sprouts for a day or two and plant shortly after with a little mycorrizae.

Top dress with something for nitrogen. Manure, ground seed, meals. Mulch in layers lasagna style. Through in a little blood meal if you want. A little ash water. Plant teas from dried leaves. Every time I watered, I fed the soil through filtration. That gave me the flexibility to be somewhat sloppy in my soil mix.

I'm starting over now. In a new area with somewhat different resources. One advantage, I have a fertilizer factory in the back. My yucca is a different varity. Not the same saponin content.

The best advice I think I could give you if you haven't already would be to look over Lowenfels trilogy and to check out Tim's (Microbeman) website. KIS posted some pretty good podcasts recently that are worth a listen as well.