CA Deficiency with DynaGro

I am curious if anyone has had the same experience. I use and am overall extremely happy with my DynaGro. I use grow, bloom, protekt, and the Mag Plus. (will prob go Foliar Pro when I need them next). I have always noticed what appears like CA or MG deficiency toward the end of flower and never gave it much thought.

Current grow is a new strain for me (Barney's Blue Cheese) and it hit me right out into flower, big time on one plant. Even had some signs in veg. I had some Cal-Mag and have started using it in lieu of the Mag Plus and it seems to have taken care of it.

I use filtered tap water (filter does not get out Calcium or Mag) and PH religiously. Since the Mag Plus lacks much calcium, I am chalking it up to that.

Just curious if anyone has had the same experience.

What % of Ca is in the DYNA?

I've seen excessive amounts of Mg cause Ca deficiency symptoms.

No experience with DYNA but I use mono versions of Ca and Mg for this very reason.



J

Dyna Grow and Bloom: CA 2%, MG .5%.
Dyna Mag Plus: MG 2%, no CA
Cal-Mag: CA 3.2%, MG 2.2%

Could be excessive Mg.

You've got 3 products with Mg in them.

One with 0.5% another with 2% and another with 2.2%.

Then Ca is 2% and 3.2%.

Hydro 2% Ca and 1% Mg is enough until you reach flower then you can add a little extra of each in the Calmag once a week.

In coco I've found 5% Ca and 2% Mg works great up until flower.

Then during flower I use an 11% Ca nutrient and a 7% Mg nutrient once a week instead of a normal feeding.

I add equal amounts of each until I reach my normal feeding strength EC.

Then go back to feeding normally for another week.

Some people prefer a 5:1 ratio of Ca:Mg.

Then spot treat an Mg product here and there.



J

Well not three. I don't have an EC meter. But bloom and grow are not used in tandem, or if they are it is only half dose of each. Not using Cal-mag and mag-plus concurrently.

Switching from mag pllus to cal mag seems to have worked. Now the question is whether to stick with it or maybe do one nute feeding with one and then the next with the other. And of course plain water in between.

Thanks!

OP, what media are you growing in? That makes a huge difference.

DG has plenty of calcium and magnesium. I'd recommend an EC meter, a city water report, some pictures of your problematic plants and a rundown of your 'feeding schedule'.

I pretty closely follow the DG soil schedule with the four items (pro-tekt, grow, bloom, mag plus). I definitely ease into it and rarely use above 3 ml of grow or bloom per gallon. This grow, I have been trying to follow the UB credo and not get into the bloom nute. But... I am not strong enough so have been going 50-50 bloom and grow (so like 1.5 ml of each). I PH to 6.3-6.5 after adding everything (pro-tekt mixed in first of course). Normally when I am in full nute mode, it needs no adjustment. The only thing I do is use Drip Clean after that per the instructions.

Water is municipal (we rank in in top 10% for water wuality supposedly). I filter it through a Faucet Pur filter. It sits on average about 10 days before use (pain, not mixed with nutes obviously).

I use 3-5 gallon pots. Water every third day. Nutes every other watering. On non-nute, just PHd to 6.3-6.5 with Drip Clean.

Soil is a mix I make. I use cheap earth-gro potting soil (no nutes beyond some compost in it), peat moss, vermiculite and perlite all in roughly equal proportions. And then I add about 1.5-2T/gal of dolomite lime in. My THEORY is that the lime has been supplementing my CA, once it is gone I get these symptoms, and it is showing up earlier because this strain wants really strong bones.

I am hugely embarrassed by these pics. My camera always makes my plants look much worse than in person. The one right got what I was experiencing badly. Since moving to Cal-Mag it has ceased to continue as best I can tell. On the right (sorry it is hard to see where one starts and one ends), I switched earlier and it seems happier. And it is a new strain for me and first grow is always the toughest. Plus I seem better with clones than seed and first run is seed. (my clones off of these look great).

And two in the solo cups are just an experiment. I cut too many clones so I decided to see what would happen if I just threw a couple in the flower tent in their solo cups.

You've got some ugly leaves there but you also have some good looking leaves too. If those were my plants, I would guess that there is an imbalance in my medium, and possibly an environment that isn't perfect (is the canopy getting too warm or dried out or too much light?). I don't like grow and bloom combos when growing in dirt pots. Stick to only grow or only foliage pro or any other veg formula that has a low phosphorus content and a decent dose of N and K. I'd also be willing to bet that your tap water isn't doing you any favors.

It's too late to turn it around for these plants but in the future I'd suggest RO/distilled water, veg formula from start to finish, and maybe play with your feeding levels and frequency. I like to feed lower but more frequently and I water until runoff.

You're just a couple tweaks away from perfection, honestly.

Thanks. Like I said, this is a new problem. I wish I had pics of other grows, but ultimately I only would start to notice signs toward the end of flower. Some spots on leaves, etc, nothing like this.

Definitely no heat issues. Tent is never above 78 or so. I grow under a A51 LED and don't think this looks like any sort of bleaching. Light is a good 18" above the canopy. I have a tower fan in there so good airflow. If anything, sometimes I wonder if too much wind. Might that contribute (basic oscillating tower fan on low speed 24-7 in corner of tent, about 12" from the plant on the right)?

I need to just get some Foliage Pro. But I was so happy with the grow and bloom (vs the Fox Farms trio I had at first) that I got the big containers of both. And when you only grow about 6 plants at a time, they last a long time.

As a matter of fact, and the help is much appreciated... And I feel this may have been pure lazy stupidity on my part. My "old" bottle of grow was crystallizing. Bottle was probably about 2/3 used and there was a "fair" amount of crystals swishing around the bottom. I would shake the bottle a bit then pour some into a shotglass (so all liquid, no crystal, and it would be fizzy), pull what I need and add to the water. So what exactly is happening to the liquid when it starts to crystalize? Does it throw the balance of the formula off? I have subsequently tossed all the old stuff.

All in all I have been feeling very comfortable with my regiment and sticking to it. Every time I try a new strain I have some challenges the first grow, but these are the worst. And only being two years into the hobby, tending to do 5 or so grows per strain, normally one strain at a time, I am not hugely experienced in reading my plants beyond N. All of the charts and websites, well they led me to CA. BTW, soil PH and runoff seem to be fine and I did do one mini-flush (3 gallons into a 5 gal pot where one gal normally gets me a fair amount of runoff) on the really bad one.

Much gratitude homebrewer. And on homebrewing, I'm proud that I am making some good lower alcohol homebrews now. I have a great light ale with a Citra dry hop on tap at the moment. I don't measure the alcohol content but I know how it makes me feel and now I can drink more without being reminded that I am too old to get drunk often

I ran DG for over a year and had similar problems with deficiencies and crystallizing with multiple bottles of dyna gro. Ultimately it looked like N tox and cal deficiency, every time I switched to 12/12 the leaves would claw down and turn dark green. whatever it was I am certain it was caused by the nutes crystallizing. Most nutes are in 2 or 3 bottles because if they are all mixed together the elements tend to fall out of suspension. I think mixing all of those nutes in the same bottle is the problem with DG.

I now run botanicare kind in aero with no problems. I would suggest trying better nutes... I still run the protekt though.

GrowinDad said:

Thanks. Like I said, this is a new problem. I wish I had pics of other grows, but ultimately I only would start to notice signs toward the end of flower. Some spots on leaves, etc, nothing like this.

Definitely no heat issues. Tent is never above 78 or so. I grow under a A51 LED and don't think this looks like any sort of bleaching. Light is a good 18" above the canopy. I have a tower fan in there so good airflow. If anything, sometimes I wonder if too much wind. Might that contribute (basic oscillating tower fan on low speed 24-7 in corner of tent, about 12" from the plant on the right)?

I need to just get some Foliage Pro. But I was so happy with the grow and bloom (vs the Fox Farms trio I had at first) that I got the big containers of both. And when you only grow about 6 plants at a time, they last a long time.

As a matter of fact, and the help is much appreciated... And I feel this may have been pure lazy stupidity on my part. My "old" bottle of grow was crystallizing. Bottle was probably about 2/3 used and there was a "fair" amount of crystals swishing around the bottom. I would shake the bottle a bit then pour some into a shotglass (so all liquid, no crystal, and it would be fizzy), pull what I need and add to the water. So what exactly is happening to the liquid when it starts to crystalize? Does it throw the balance of the formula off? I have subsequently tossed all the old stuff.

All in all I have been feeling very comfortable with my regiment and sticking to it. Every time I try a new strain I have some challenges the first grow, but these are the worst. And only being two years into the hobby, tending to do 5 or so grows per strain, normally one strain at a time, I am not hugely experienced in reading my plants beyond N. All of the charts and websites, well they led me to CA. BTW, soil PH and runoff seem to be fine and I did do one mini-flush (3 gallons into a 5 gal pot where one gal normally gets me a fair amount of runoff) on the really bad one.

Much gratitude homebrewer. And on homebrewing, I'm proud that I am making some good lower alcohol homebrews now. I have a great light ale with a Citra dry hop on tap at the moment. I don't measure the alcohol content but I know how it makes me feel and now I can drink more without being reminded that I am too old to get drunk often

Click to expand...

When things go a little south, 'calmag' and 'ph' and the two things that get the blame, mostly out of ignorance. I'm sure both are fine in your case.

In regards to your fan, you only need enough airflow to gently move the air around. Too much airflow will cause your leaves to transpire at a higher rate which eventually results in dried out leaves. Put your fan on low and jam it in the corner of your tent.

I usually see chunks in bottles of bloom, sometimes see them in Grow, and never see them in Foliage Pro. That being said, I have yet to see a deficiency.

Btw, I'm bottling a session ale this evening .

The combination of high calcium and phosphorous tends to cause precipitants regardless of how good the conditions are for keeping them in the solution.

The same goes for human blood and kidneys unfortunately. Calcium phosphate has a tendency to deposit itself in pretty inconvenient areas, like the walls of your arteries and your bladder.

Judging from the pictures posted, I'd say it looks like too much of both Mg and Ca, and not enough potassium. The potassium issue would likely go away just by lowering Mg and Ca, however.

Also, the buds look great! don't sweat it!

Hydroburn said:

I ran DG for over a year and had similar problems with deficiencies and crystallizing with multiple bottles of dyna gro. Ultimately it looked like N tox and cal deficiency, every time I switched to 12/12 the leaves would claw down and turn dark green. whatever it was I am certain it was caused by the nutes crystallizing. Most nutes are in 2 or 3 bottles because if they are all mixed together the elements tend to fall out of suspension. I think mixing all of those nutes in the same bottle is the problem with DG.

Click to expand...

Foliage Pro does not crystalize.. I've tried grow, bloom, mag pro, pro tekt and FP. Now I only use Foliage Pro and Pro Tekt . I'm no pro though.. that is just what has worked for me.

I stopped using Grow because of the crystalization. I stopped using Bloom because the NPK is off, imo..

That said, I continued to use my crystalized bottles and I never had any problems with deficiency or Toxicity.. just shake it up before each use. worked fine for me.
If you insist on using Grow, you just have to get fresh bottles and use them up in a timely manner and store in ideal conditions.... don't get a gallon if you have a small garden... you know..

I get gallons of Foliage Pro and they have never crystalized even a tiny bit.. so, I would think that would show that your theory on DG's complete factor being the cause of the crystals is off.. FP doesn't do it. It is also complete.. i think?

I've ran DG, H&G, Canna, Botaincaire, V&B, and some others... DG definitely out performed all as a stand alone. That said, they all did pretty well. I'll use anything I can get my hands on for free. MJ just ain't that picky. Shoot for a 3-1-2 and the plant takes care of itself.

I would rather just use different nutes than dick with all of that. Wierd how the problems went away when I stopped using crystallized bottles of DG.

Hydroburn said:

I would rather just use different nutes than dick with all of that. Wierd how the problems went away when I stopped using crystallized bottles of DG.

Click to expand...

Dick with all of what?
I dont know what happened with your own thing.. i just said that it didn't cause problems for me.
For some reason people feel feally strongly about their nutes. Their brand is the best, everyone elses has something wrong with it.
And oh yeah, if something went wrong in their garden.., it was those damn nutes.

op asked if others have had deficiencies with dg and I shared my experience with it. I suggested he try better nutes, but at the end of the day I dont give a shit and dont know why you are quoting me wanting to discuss. I had n tox in flower with dg. I switched to botanicare kind and it no longer happens. im glad you like foliage pro and hope you continue to use it. I dont give a fuck.

S.

Hydroburn said:

op asked if others have had deficiencies with dg and I shared my experience with it. I suggested he try better nutes, but at the end of the day I dont give a shit and dont know why you are quoting me wanting to discuss. I had n tox in flower with dg. I switched to botanicare kind and it no longer happens. im glad you like foliage pro and hope you continue to use it. I dont give a fuck.

Click to expand...

Why the hostility?

I'm not using DG inside much at all right now.. using mostly Safer Gro Orchid 30-10-10,,.
works fine..