Synthetics may not kill off all microbes, but they're mostly rendered useless. If the plants nutritional needs are being met via synthetic nutrients, the plant will stop secreting exudes, and the soil food web will be broken. Not to mention the high levels of P in most synthetics *will* kill off fungi.
True enough!
Are you honestly basing your opinion on what nutrient companies recommend ("zymes")??
No,,,,,In hydro the most used "zyme" brakes down cellulose. So it helps breakdown dead root material as the plant sheds it....
And no, kelp meal and alfalfa meal are not intended to inoculate your medium. Those are meals, which are to be broken down and mineralized by microbes... which are either dormant or killed off by the heavy feeding schedules of synthetics that most companies recommend of their products.
Misspoke on kelp meal.....The Alfalfa meal I like most has bio's available to add to the soil. Not a large variety, but some are there (Dr. Earth's). The maker of the Vortex brewer like it to, for the same reason.
The main benefits to EWC are the microbes they bring, the high CEC, and the buffering ability which will regulate ph. The microbes *may* add some value to a synthetic grow, but only for a short duration during veg where feeding schedules are lighter and mostly N based. They are very expensive to buy, so I'd say the juice ain't worth the squeeze.
