I did.
I didn't really see much of that in the article. Perhaps there is a second page that I did not see a link to? It mentioned that the level of K in soil is generally reasonably high, but that most of it is unavailable to the plants (which seemed to be specifically discussing soils outdoors in Minesota - but I suppose that one could draw generalities from the information). There was also this:
(article) said:
But "higher than normal" is not the same thing as toxicity, overdose, or even too much. Other articles that I have read (even one or two on websites that end in .edu
) mention things like depressed yield, interference with uptake of magnesium / manganese / zinc / iron, the availability of calcium, even poor health in ruminant animals that consume such plants (due to the general insufficiency of certain elements that is caused by way too much K in said plants). Lots of things could cause that. IIRC, certain algae could cause it (this would probably be more of an issue in a hydroponic setup than a soil one). I think I read something about a great excess of K causing pH fluctuations, now that I think about it, lol (although I probably read that in some cannabis FAQ or other instead of in an agriculture-related scientific study). Et cetera.
<SHRUGS> I have always gotten the impression that a lot of cannabis growers tend to run their nutrient profiles far in excess of what the average (non-cannabis) farmer does. I am not just referring to the fact that cannabis eats more than, say, lettuce... I have gone past a lot(!) of corn, bean, alfalfa, tomato, et cetera fields but have not seen much in the way of clear signs of over-fertilization. I would say that my experiences of being able to observe cannabis grows are much lower in number, lol, being limited to my own, some few friends'/relatives' over the years, and various journals here that I've read through - but, still, I have seen more nutrient-burned cannabis plants (and pictures of same) than I have of every other crop combined. Therefore, I wonder if we should be... Not taking "general food crop" articles with a grain of salt, per se - but at least keeping in mind the fact that, while the average fruit & vegetable gardener tries to get the highest yield out of the least amount of fertilizer... cannabis growers appear to "push the nutrients until they see burn, then back it off one notch." Now that might not describe you; I have no idea, but if you care enough to research deficiency symptoms for the various elements then (at a guess) you're probably not the type to keep hitting something until it falls down, then prop it back up and hit it ever so slightly less
. But, still, I think it is important to realize that there is at least the possibility that the authors of general-audience articles about plant nutrition which state that an overabundance of a certain element is no big deal... might just take a look at some of the feeding regimes that we run and say, "No, I meant an overabundance within reason," :rolleyes .Which is why I do not automatically discount 250 different threads and/or cannabis-specific articles which were not written by scientists when they disagree with an article or two that was written by scientists. Yes, some bad information can be picked up and spread like the clap at a hooker convention, lol. But cannabis has its share of professionals, too. They might not have PHDs (well... some do), but they have years of experience specific to the one type of plant and - for many of them - their livelihood has depended on learning through experimentation.
Maybe me if I would have started in soil rather than hydro.
