Calmag? About to flower

SchweeDubz said:

In that case....does anyone have any good recommendation for a cal mag supplement that will go well with my Earth Juice line up, and FFOF?

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Dolomite Lime is a decent additive to most soil mix's. I use some in small quantities but still add bottled Cal/ Mag when needed. Cal/mag is like Silica and sea weed juice IMO, its just something to have on hand.
The trouble with asking people what to add is everyone has a different approach and a different soil build. And I know its not something you want to hear but its also strain/pheno dependent. I have 3 Northern Lights growing, same seed company. One loves cal/mag more than the others and is a heaver feeder (its also the best structure).

Id also throw this out there. last 1/2 of flower wouldnt you be better off using Magnesium Sulfate due to its ripening properties?

@tpc_mikey
@schwee

http://royalgoldcoco.com/

http://downtoearthfertilizer.com/products/soil-amendments/

@SchweeDubz

How much research have you actually put into this...

These are just few of the hundreds of premade soil mixing companies...

Some but probably not as much as you. Fox Farms is mentioned on just about every single 'best soil' thread so that's what I've gone with so far. But I've had nutrient problems for all 3 grows now (though I haven't been here myself to see one from start to finish yet). Same goes for my nutrient line up. I don't have the money or time to test all the brands out myself so I chose Earth Juice based on a thread I saw that compared a bunch and said EJ had best yields and taste. Of course now I am still lacking cal/mag but I really hope that is the last thing I need to have a solid grow.

@SchweeDubz

One thing that doesnt seem to get mentioned very much is that the feeding schedules are a guide only. (and at best)
For starters they are based on Max feed and with a 1000w light.

Not an easy watch but some solid info in it i think.

Lucky Luke said:

One thing that doesnt seem to get mentioned very much is that the feeding schedules are a guide only. (and at best)
For starters they are based on Max feed and with a 1000w light.

Not an easy watch but some solid info in it i think.

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Cool I'll take a watch tonight. I've mostly kept it light on the nutrients. The nutrient recipe I use is:

1 tbsp Grow
1 tbsp Bloom
1 tsp Catalyst

Twice throughout the grow they'll get:

1 tsp Meta K
1 tsp Microblast

So far they've only been fed twice, about 8 weeks into veg now. They got repotted a week ago meaning fresh FFOF nutes to grab, so they'll get a final veg feeding in a few days here. I need to pick up the cal mag supplement for that first though.

Any pictures.

Of the nutrients? Or my grow in general? There's a few of the plants on the first post here and if you see the link, I have more in my other post from about 2 weeks ago.

or, open a bale of pro mix and add Organicare ferts, available online everywhere. oh yeah, gonna need water occasionally.
no fuss, best weed in the forum

SchweeDubz said:

Those look nice but I'm nto sure if I'd be able to find all of those ingredients for soil locally, and I'd definitely prefer to find a soil that offers that quality but premade if possible.

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I am a beginner at making amended soil. In the past I used ffof from the bag with no adjustments. At the time I was good at watering but knew little about nutrients and their proper use.
There are better choices but these buds and unique leaves were grown in ffof with no amendments.
I'm gonna pull up picks from previous posts cause they are my favorites, I have thousands of pics from all stages of growth.
I have a real time grow going with it and my soil recipe here,.
https://www.rollitup.org/t/plants-in-my-1st-soil-recipe-are-still-alive-after-5-days.945380/

Want you to see that it can deliver good results, but I agree with others that it can be way better when amended.
Haven't figured out how to move pics so they can be thumbnails so I'll cut and paste from previous threads.
If you look closely you can see the necrotic spots from likely calcium deficiency on the second bud pic.

SchweeDubz said:

So, FFOF is low on cal/mag? Why am I paying 20 for the "top" soil if it doesn't even come with the full range of nutrients?

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No it's actually average on calcium. They put enough in to get it in the low to mid 6 range for ph like any potting soil for slightly acidic preferring plants like tomatoes. And they use oyster shell which is a higher quality buffer than lime. And it has plenty of mag too. But it is formulated to be used with tap water and that is a variable. Yours may or may not offer enough to the plant.

I use water only from sprout to week 6 veg transplanting up every 2-3 weeks. No ph adjustments. No nutes. They show deficiencies I. Little pots by week 3-4 after transplant in my garden. A few strains 2.5 weeks.

I use deep well water with 100-150 ppm mostly calcium and soluble iron and have very few problems and use ocean forest with about 25% perlite mixed in. I find it needs the extra air space and drainage. But I don't add lime.

MichiganMedGrower said:

No it's actually average on calcium. They put enough in to get it in the low to mid 6 range for ph like any potting soil for slightly acidic preferring plants like tomatoes. And they use oyster shell which is a higher quality buffer than lime. And it has plenty of mag too. But it is formulated to be used with tap water and that is a variable. Yours may or may not offer enough to the plant.

I use water only from sprout to week 6 veg transplanting up every 2-3 weeks. No ph adjustments. No nutes. They show deficiencies I. Little pots by week 3-4 after transplant in my garden. A few strains 2.5 weeks.

I use deep well water with 100-150 ppm mostly calcium and soluble iron and have very few problems and use ocean forest with about 25% perlite mixed in. I find it needs the extra air space and drainage. But I don't add lime.

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I have wanted to ask this q for a while.
On page 245 of Ed's book. What is the calcium chart telling us about ffof? It shows calcium at the high range of 4000. Was wondering what it means?

Buba Blend said:

I have wanted to ask this q for a while.
On page 245 of Ed's book. What is the calcium chart telling us about ffof? It shows calcium at the high range of 4000. Was wondering what it means?
View attachment 3995747

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I forgot about that chart. It says it is 4000 parts per million. I guess that is total oyster shell not available calcium.

MichiganMedGrower said:

I forgot about that chart. It says it is 4000 parts per million. I guess that is total oyster shell not available calcium.

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Interesting. @im4satori Might find this interesting. I always wondered what it was about this chart and the calcium issues with ffof. So if I add lime to ffof or amend it and cook it like Mickey does would this # increase?
In the book it gives a guideline that maxes at 4000. Would amending it take the # higher?

SchweeDubz said:

Of the nutrients? Or my grow in general? There's a few of the plants on the first post here and if you see the link, I have more in my other post from about 2 weeks ago.

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Hey I saw your pics. Its fine... (plants)

Buba Blend said:

Interesting. @im4satori Might find this interesting. I always wondered what it was about this chart and the calcium issues with ffof. So if I add lime to ffof or amend it and cook it like Mickey does would this # increase?
In the book it gives a guideline that maxes at 4000. Would amending it take the # higher?

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I guess so. I had problems when I added lime to happy frog with my old well water. Micronutrient lockout. Leaf mottling. Too high alkalinity in the medium. Leaching and adding fertilizer fixed the problem. Lowered the runoff ph from 7's to 6's and the plants resumed uptake.

It seems to me that a soil at a certain ph buffer can't be "light" on calcium. It has to have the proper amount.

MichiganMedGrower said:

I guess so. I had problems when I added lime to happy frog with my old well water. Micronutrient lockout. Leaf mottling. Too high alkalinity in the medium. Leaching and adding fertilizer fixed the problem. Lowered the runoff ph from 7's to 6's and the plants resumed uptake.

It seems to me that a soil at a certain ph buffer can't be "light" on calcium. It has to have the proper amount.

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Funny you mentioned run off. My opinion on run off went from thinking it was useful 2 years ago, to useless in the past 6 months to possibly useful again when used right and you understand where the run off ph should be if you know your soil. Not sure yet if it is useful.

I had a theory before as to why so much fighting takes place on this site, wasn't a very good one.
Here is a new one.
I notice my opinion has changed on so many things. Flushing, fertilizing, watering, PH, run off, the cause of problems. All of these things, we are all going through our changing positions at different paces and times and then clash with other opinions.

MichiganMedGrower said:

I guess so. I had problems when I added lime to happy frog with my old well water. Micronutrient lockout. Leaf mottling. Too high alkalinity in the medium. Leaching and adding fertilizer fixed the problem. Lowered the runoff ph from 7's to 6's and the plants resumed uptake.

It seems to me that a soil at a certain ph buffer can't be "light" on calcium. It has to have the proper amount.

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Wrap your head around this. Stoner Talk LOL.
Me sitting at a computer last week when I had a bad attitude or whatever it was. ( It's over for now )
Another me sitting in front of another computer about a year or two ago when I had different growing views and in the same bad mood.
Both of me chatting together on riu.
I could have easily went to war with myself.

Buba Blend said:

Funny you mentioned run off. My opinion on run off went from thinking it was useful 2 years ago, to useless in the past 6 months to possibly useful again when used right and you understand where the run off ph should be if you know your soil. Not sure yet if it is useful.

I had a theory before as to why so much fighting takes place on this site, wasn't a very good one.
Here is a new one.
I notice my opinion has changed on so many things. Flushing, fertilizing, watering, PH, run off, the cause of problems. All of these things, we are all going through our changing positions at different paces and times and then clash with other opinions.

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I learned to manage my garden from books. I had no experience even with house plants.

I have furthered this base grow book knowledge with tons of university ag and container gardening info and now light spectrum confirmation from the university of Utah and Michigan matches the old info in ed Rosenthals grow guide book and clarks marijuana Botany.

The best and easiest info to grasp for me was the education center on premier horticulture ( pro mix) website. Real crop production info and management guides and videos there. Just not for pot.

Anyway...

The point is the info is solid and doesn't really change like you would think from the forums. The reason to have runoff is to help wash away built up salts and the reason to measure it is to monitor trends in ec and ph so you know what your inputs do to the medium over time.

I think we often argue without realizing or communicating all the info about the methods.

It is important to know why. Blanket statements like "flushing is for toilets" are not helpful.

I have been having mag deficiencies for the first time in my system recently and the plants went calcium spotty too. Very frustrating. I check my ec every time but not my ph. I check that with new soil mix only usually and got comfortable.

I found that my well water has gone down from .3 to .2 ec this summer. I assumed I had a deficiency because of the less calcium and mag in the water.

Wrong! I checked runoff ph on a sick plant and it was over 7. Bright medium green with the gh drops. It is always army green or lime green with ocean forest and my nutes and water so....

Higher ph means I was feeding too little. The nutes balance out the water, buffer and plant uptake from raising the ph too much over time.

The plants in question are larger and vegged longer than I usually do. The were hungry and I let it progress. Paranoid I would over feed with such a high dose I don't usually give.

The lower water hardness had nothing to do with it. I leached the pots with fresh well water and raised the fertilizer strength and the plants started to heal the next watering.

They had stalled but will finish fine now.

I will monitor ph more often with the ec of my runoff. And I write it all down to review later.

And watch to see if I will have the .2 water and need more feed for other plants. By the runoff ph. And ppm.


Sorry for the super long post. I'm really high from waking and baking.

SchweeDubz said:

I made a post about 2 weeks ago seeing some nutrient problems and the main conclusion was it was a result of overwatering. The post is here: https://www.rollitup.org/t/possible-rootbound-what-do.946437/

Setup:
-40"x40" tent, humidity 50% and temps 70-75 degrees F.
-5x plants in 7g smart pots (transplanted from 3g buckets approx 2 weeks ago) in FFOF soil.
- 400w Vero29 cob @ 3000k (this is new as of a week ago, prior to that they were under a Mars II 900)
-EJ nutrient line up (Grow, Bloom, Catalyst, Microblast, and Meta-K) aerated for 24 hrs prior to feeding. Only been done twice. I see some forms of "magnes__" on the bottles in the microblast but nothing for calcium.
-Watering when the pots are light and dry. I recently found my tapwater ph is 7.8-8 so the last watering I ph'ed down to 6. Run off was 6.2-6.4.

Do I need to buy some calmag supplement? Should I wait to flower until I see these issues go away? Thanks!

Ps. I made a thread about things growers are tired of hearing and calmag was definitely on there so I apologize in advance hah.

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Over watering, not over watering, etc. These issues are easy to avoid. In general new growers need to leave their plants alone. Water when the pot is light, not before. I grow in 85-90 heat with direct sunlight and most times only water once a week. Marijuana is a plant that likes it on the dry side & usually thrives under dryer conditions.

The last thing those plants need is CalMag. If I had to guess, you've already given those sick looking plants too many nutrients.

I've grown plants with big buds some years with ZERO nutrients, beyond a hot soil to start with.

I honestly think at this point the best thing you could do for those plants is nothing. Leave them alone, stop watering multiple times a week & no more nutrients.