Calmag= how much is enough without burning plants?

[rshackleferd]

Always paranoid about using too much calmag but sometimes it's not enough and end up with the usual calcium and magnesium deficiencies, especially during the seedling stage.

Questions;

1. Do you measure the ppm before or after adding cal-mag?
2. Do you increase cal-mag during different stages of the plants life cycle?

5 ml cal-mag per gallon
Medium= Coco coir, sometimes i'll go with hydro.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

coco has a "defecit" that it has to fill, so it will eat tons of cal mag at first, then when the defecit is filled, all the sudden you've got plenty of cal mag....usually around the third week of flower or so, you can back off a lot on cal mag.

 

[xtsho]

Always paranoid about using too much calmag but sometimes it's not enough and end up with the usual calcium and magnesium deficiencies, especially during the seedling stage.

Questions;

1. Do you measure the ppm before or after adding cal-mag?
2. Do you increase cal-mag during different stages of the plants life cycle?

5 ml cal-mag per gallon
Medium= Coco coir, sometimes i'll go with hydro.

What do you mean the usual calcium and magnesium deficiencies? If your base nutes are any good they'll have all calcium and magnesium you need. If you use too much of any nutrient you can get nutrient deficiencies and adding more won't fix it. I grow in 100% coco, never use calmag and never have any of these deficiencies so many people seem to have. In fact I've never bought calmag or used in my life.

 

[rshackleferd]

What do you mean the usual calcium and magnesium deficiencies? If your base nutes are any good they'll have all calcium and magnesium you need. If you use too much of any nutrient you can get nutrient deficiencies and adding more won't fix it. I grow in 100% coco, never use calmag and never have any of these deficiencies so many people seem to have. In fact I've never bought calmag or used in my life.

The problems i was having disappeared when i started using cal-mag. Not sure if it was from the nutes, lights, strain, type of coir i was using, who knows but the problem goes aways when i boost calmag. What type of nutes do you use?


Added: I use coco coir mixed in with 20% perlite.

 

[xtsho]

The problems i was having disappeared when i started using cal-mag. Not sure if it was from the nutes, lights, strain, type of coir i was using, who knows but the problem goes aways when i boost calmag. What type of nutes do you use?


Added: I use coco coir mixed in with 20% perlite.

I use VitaGrow and the reason I don't need calmag is because calcium nitrate is the nitrogen source and it's used throughout the entire grow. Many nutrients use other sources for nitrogen and lack adequate amounts of calcium which is why so many people have to supplement their feeding with calmag. It just so happens that the nutrient companies also sell calmag to go along with their nutrient lines instead of including adequate amounts of calcium in their nutrients. That way they get to sell another bottle of stuff.

 

[Bakersfield]

I use VitaGrow and the reason I don't need calmag is because calcium nitrate is the nitrogen source and it's used throughout the entire grow. Many nutrients use other sources for nitrogen and lack adequate amounts of calcium which is why so many people have to supplement their feeding with calmag. It just so happens that the nutrient companies also sell calmag to go along with their nutrient lines instead of including adequate amounts of calcium in their nutrients. That way they get to sell another bottle of stuff.

I also grow in coco.
Do you supplement for Magnesium with Epsom salts for your Coco related Magnesium needs?

 

[Lucky Luke]

I use VitaGrow and the reason I don't need calmag is because calcium nitrate is the nitrogen source and it's used throughout the entire grow. Many nutrients use other sources for nitrogen and lack adequate amounts of calcium which is why so many people have to supplement their feeding with calmag. It just so happens that the nutrient companies also sell calmag to go along with their nutrient lines instead of including adequate amounts of calcium in their nutrients. That way they get to sell another bottle of stuff.

Shame vita grow isn't available here. I would of givin it a run if it was well priced.
I'm in a basic soil mix, rain water- concrete tank, canna nutrients and need to add cal/mag.

 

[Lucky Luke]

Always paranoid about using too much calmag but sometimes it's not enough and end up with the usual calcium and magnesium deficiencies, especially during the seedling stage.

Questions;

1. Do you measure the ppm before or after adding cal-mag?
2. Do you increase cal-mag during different stages of the plants life cycle?

5 ml cal-mag per gallon
Medium= Coco coir, sometimes i'll go with hydro.

I'm in soil.
I use 1/2 mil cal/mag per litre of nutes every second feeding, preety much all the way thru until late flower and then I use Epsom salt instead. Mag/sulphate helps the maturing as I understand it.

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

they don't really help with maturing, but they are both catalytic nutrients, that the plant needs to perform a lot of functions. sulfur is necessary to make a lot of amino acids and enzymes the plant has to have.

 

[Lucky Luke]

they don't really help with maturing, but they are both catalytic nutrients, that the plant needs to perform a lot of functions. sulfur is necessary to make a lot of amino acids and enzymes the plant has to have.

I thought it (mag/sulphate) must of helped with maturing due to its recommended use in flower over cal/mag.
AN use it as their finisher, I'm sure a few others would to. If not to help mature what does it do? Added terps??

 

[Roger A. Shrubber]

Sulfur is intimately linked to nitrogen in that both minerals are protein building blocks. Two of the essential amino acids, cysteine and methionine, are sulfur-dependent. These are important nutrients in both animal and human nutrition as they are critical for detoxification (boosting protection in an increasingly toxic world).

Sulfur is also required for the conversion of nitrate nitrogen into protein within the plant leaf. The plant requires sulfur and molybdenum to produce the nitrate reductase enzyme. In the absence of this enzyme, nitrates accumulate within the plant, calling in insects (to perform their garbage collecting role) and reducing the oxygen carrying capacity of the blood of those animals and humans unfortunate enough to consume this toxic food. Multiple studies have linked nitrates to cancer over the past two decades. Nobel prize winner, Dr Otto Warburg, identified anaerobism as the root cause of cancer, and nitrates are a key cause of anaerobism. A small investment in sulfur can reduce the need for chemical intervention because excess nitrates are the single most potent driver of pest pressure.

Sulfur also aids in the translocation of sugars and starches down to the roots. This is why it is considered such a critical nutrient in root crops. Gypsum is often side dressed in crops like peanuts and potatoes to stimulate this translocation. If brix levels do not rise during the day it can be due to a sulfur deficiency. Excess nitrates, with their inevitable nutrient dilution factor, may be accumulating in the leaf due to a lack of sulfur. The other likely cause of brix levels remaining static throughout the day is a boron deficiency, as this mineral opens the trapdoor, which allows the nightly movement of sugars from the chloroplasts in the leaf down to the roots. Sulfur is also required for the formation of chlorophyll itself.


in flower, it is essential for the production of oils, terpenes, and amino acids necessary for calyx growth

 

[Bakersfield]

I grow in coco with the Lucas formula and add about 1 teaspoon of Cal Magic per gallon. To say the plants love it is almost an understatement.

 

[smokebros]

Always paranoid about using too much calmag but sometimes it's not enough and end up with the usual calcium and magnesium deficiencies, especially during the seedling stage.

Questions;

1. Do you measure the ppm before or after adding cal-mag?
2. Do you increase cal-mag during different stages of the plants life cycle?

5 ml cal-mag per gallon
Medium= Coco coir, sometimes i'll go with hydro.

So this question/thread started up a month ago and I'm a bit late to the party... but just in case someone is reading this down the road, i'll throw my 2 cents into the bucket.

In my opinion Ca should be treated like a macro element, not micro. Harley Smith said it himself, calcium is king and used more than P. The problem often times is that Ca also gets locked up fairly easily in the medium, and even other variables such as high humidity can cause Ca deficiencies even with plenty of Ca available in the rootzone.

Do you measure PPM before or after adding cal-mag?
Before I got into using dry nutes I would measure the PPM after I added Cal-mag. For example, if I start with very clean RO water, such as 10 PPM, I'll dose that with cal-mag until I'm around the 150-200PPM range. I wouldn't pay attention to how many tsp/gal I was using and all that, I would just squirt a little at a time until i got the water charged up to where I wanted it. This was when I was running drain to waste in coco.

Do you increase cal-mag during different stages of the plants life cycle?
I've played around with reducing cal-mag usage as I progressed through flower, but what has worked best for me is to just keep it consistent. I really like that 150-200PPM range when doing a drain to waste system.

 

[rshackleferd]

So this question/thread started up a month ago and I'm a bit late to the party... but just in case someone is reading this down the road, i'll throw my 2 cents into the bucket.

In my opinion Ca should be treated like a macro element, not micro. Harley Smith said it himself, calcium is king and used more than P. The problem often times is that Ca also gets locked up fairly easily in the medium, and even other variables such as high humidity can cause Ca deficiencies even with plenty of Ca available in the rootzone.

Do you measure PPM before or after adding cal-mag?
Before I got into using dry nutes I would measure the PPM after I added Cal-mag. For example, if I start with very clean RO water, such as 10 PPM, I'll dose that with cal-mag until I'm around the 150-200PPM range. I wouldn't pay attention to how many tsp/gal I was using and all that, I would just squirt a little at a time until i got the water charged up to where I wanted it. This was when I was running drain to waste in coco.

Do you increase cal-mag during different stages of the plants life cycle?
I've played around with reducing cal-mag usage as I progressed through flower, but what has worked best for me is to just keep it consistent. I really like that 150-200PPM range when doing a drain to waste system.

I appreciate your response and imo it's never too late. I don't understand why some sites, admins, members whine and cry about responding to older post. More often than not the best answers are at a later date because its keeps on evolving with more input from a wide range of members.

 

[smokebros]

I appreciate your response and imo it's never too late. I don't understand why some sites, admins, members whine and cry about responding to older post. More often than not the best answers are at a later date because its keeps on evolving with more input from a wide range of members.

Unfortunately some people are just dicks, especially online in the forum world. Hopefully your questions got answered and you can circle back later on with some awesome updates on your plants. GL!

 

[Kent Sage]

they don't really help with maturing, but they are both catalytic nutrients, that the plant needs to perform a lot of functions. sulfur is necessary to make a lot of amino acids and enzymes the plant has to have.

Its all about the enzymes lol lets not forget about the one of the most important nutes Potassium (K)s role in these essential functions.
https://www.terpinator.com/product-information/k-and-terpinator

If K is always abundant than most nutrient problems will not occur.
But you may have to use more juice