Potassium ia primary nutrient. You can get it in many sources, including potash and wood ash. Though you might be careful with those if your soil is highly alkaline. Most soil analysis labs give mitigation instructions if they measure a deficiency. Did yours not give you recommended fertilizer? Peas are legumes, and they mostly fix their own nitrogen, assuming the right bacteria is in the soil, which there almost always is. Note that nitrogen is an assay number that needs to be regarded with a little skepticism. The reason is that plant-available nitrogen is HIGHLY leachable, so it comes and goes. That being said, 18ppm is OK for immediate crop needs, but may need to be amended later in the season.

I might add that soil is often low in potassium because the potassium ion leaches easily. So it's more likely to happen in sandy soils that drain quickly. While adding more potassium is a temporary fix, you really want your soil to RETAIN potassium. That is, any potassium you add is going to depart along with whatever original potassium your soil once had. This retention is best done with chealation by soil colloids. They grab onto cations and hold them in. A good way to do this is with compost. Lots of compost. That is, compost is less important as a nutrient (compost is a rather poor fertilizer) and more important as something that holds onto nutrients.

Low potassium will affect the growth of everything. It is a big deal. With a serious deficiency of it, plants simply won't thrive. That was smart to get a soil analysis done. Now you know exactly what needs fixing.

Hey ZM

not sure if you'll pick up this thread but if you do...2 things..

The Zinnia and vegies have greened up and the Physon 20 seems to be working

Thank you! (again)

?? the Zinnia definitely look better but they seem to be stunted as far as their growth go's. Now that they look better I've been fertilizing weekly but they're still way smaller than their nursery bought friends

Any thoughts?

Thanks

Dale

Hello again, Dale,

" My Zinnia stems are bending. Do you think that the Silicone could help them stay upright "

I was referring to the chemical element Silicon. Silicone is something entirely different. But the stronger cell wall strength that Silicon imparts to plants would have nothing to do with your bending zinnia stems. It would help more with their resistance to wind damage, or mechanical damage from pets like dogs. (It wouldn't help protect from dog urination.)

" Balancing the Miracle Grow with the Neptunes Harvest (my community garden is organic so I'm smuggling in the Miracle Grow "

" My little munchkins still refuse to grow. "

There may be something wrong with that Community Garden soil, because zinnias are quite capable of growing well, despite outmoded organic gardening methods.

ZM

I plan on sending soil in for testing.