Soil amendments for microbiology

[CanadianCitrus]

Good evening all,

I am continuing with my jacks 25-5-15 but was wondering if anyone every experiments with other amendments with the intent of improving the microbiology of their potted citrus. As my plants are always indoors, they are not getting anything else from the outdoors that would help with the digestion of nutrients. Some things I have looked at include: molasses, worm castings, bat guano etc..

Does anyone have any experience with this?

Thanks again!

[Piss P]

Yuh on top of standard fertilization (I also use Jack's) I have been adding weekly fulvic & humic acid (https://chemboys.com/product/humic-liquid/) and mycorrhizae addition (https://plantrevolution.com/products/great-white). I have liked the results. That Great White mycorrhizae inoculant has been super impressive - have seen noticeable results after only using for about 1.5 months

[pagnr]

As you said in another post your pot mix is 5-1-1 reptibark - peat - perlite.
It possibly has low biological activity, except maybe some slight breaking down of the bark and peat.
I have used stimulant fertilisers, based on the type of things you mention, usually in conjunction with NPK plus trace, in soilless media.
Similar to what Piss P says.
You might consider worm liquid fertiliser, not worm castings as you don't need to intro worms to containers.
Zeolite, Humates and liquid kelp might be useful as well to stimulate and help with nutrient availability.
Molasses is used in fertiliser to stimulate soil biological activity. Not sure It's as useful in containers without an array of microbes to stimulate.
Overall if the pH of the pot mix is in the correct range, nutrients should be available.
Other forms of nutrients with different availability might overcome the pH problem, maybe not solve it.
Sometimes unless you re pot, mixes seem to get tired. I have found these type additions beneficial to boost plants without repotting.
I would also caution about trying too much at once, as containers are easy to add too, but difficult to remove from.

[Piss P]

I'll also tack on another question for soil amendments: do people have experience with adding silicon to their plants? Soil application or foliar spray? I found this very insightful for foliar application (https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6027496/) and am going to begin stabilized silicic acid (sSA) application at the beginning of next month - any thoughts or words from the wise?

[pagnr]

According to Handreck, Growing Media for Ornamental Plants and Turf.
"Silicon is present in leaves of most plants at levels similar to Calcium or Sulphur.
Grasses have levels of Silicon from 1% to 10%"

Kelp and rock mineral powders are sources of Silicon.
Some components of pot mixes are Silicate minerals.
It is regarded by some as an overlooked nutrient in some growing systems
i.e. Hydroponic lettuce, ( lettuce has high levels of dietary silicon, which may not be present in soil less systems ).
Cement powder has been used as a fertiliser for Rice in SE Asia and Sugar Cane in Queensland.