CALMAG IS NOT A THING

Gregshed

Well-Known Member
Hydro you might need to play about more, soil holds excess of everything the plant takes what it needs so rarely deficient if it in your fertilizer.
 

speedwell68

Well-Known Member
In the human body calcium is properly uptaken when magnesium is present in proper levels. Supposed to be a 2/1 ratio of cal to mag.

I dont know if it is the same for plants. I just grow weed and then smoke it or turn it into hash.
I have a mate that is a Chemist. We have discussed at length the idea of making a cheap calmag type product for use at home. He agreed with the concept of a 2:1 cal to mag ratio. I have seen some light cal def in a couple of plants in my current run. Next time I am going to give 10ml of powdered Calcium Nitrate with 5ml of Epsom Salt, in 5L of water, along with my regular nutrient, once a week from week two of flower, just as a precautionary measure.

For the price of a bottle of prepared CalMag I should be able to make my own Calmag for years.
 

rkymtnman

Well-Known Member
I have a mate that is a Chemist. We have discussed at length the idea of making a cheap calmag type product for use at home. He agreed with the concept of a 2:1 cal to mag ratio. I have seen some light cal def in a couple of plants in my current run. Next time I am going to give 10ml of powdered Calcium Nitrate with 5ml of Epsom Salt, in 5L of water, along with my regular nutrient, once a week from week two of flower, just as a precautionary measure.

For the price of a bottle of prepared CalMag I should be able to make my own Calmag for years.
have him make some calcium chloride. cutting edge solutions makes a ca only and a ca/mg product. why add more n and mg if all you need is ca?
 

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
I have a mate that is a Chemist. We have discussed at length the idea of making a cheap calmag type product for use at home. He agreed with the concept of a 2:1 cal to mag ratio. I have seen some light cal def in a couple of plants in my current run. Next time I am going to give 10ml of powdered Calcium Nitrate with 5ml of Epsom Salt, in 5L of water, along with my regular nutrient, once a week from week two of flower, just as a precautionary measure.

For the price of a bottle of prepared CalMag I should be able to make my own Calmag for years.
Your current nutrient line doesn't contain Calcium or Magnesium? Your tap water doesn't either?
 

speedwell68

Well-Known Member
have him make some calcium chloride. cutting edge solutions makes a ca only and a ca/mg product. why add more n and mg if all you need is ca?
He did suggest using food grade Calcium Chloride it is readily available in a water soluble form on Amazon. I was worried about the extra N too. I might give Calcium Chloride a go instead. I might yet do nothing as I am not convinced that my very slight Ca def isn't being caused by another factor, i.e too much Potassium, I have been using organic PK48 as a booster. My mate took some for analysis and at the given concentration he reckons it is actually NPK 4-8-16, even though the label suggests it is NPK 0-4-8. So at 2ml per Litre, along with my base nutrient I have been giving them NPK 6-9.5-19. It is a miracle that they didn't burn TBH. I will never believe "cannabis feed charts ever again". I was stupid to use it TBH, I had all of this dialled in until I changed my lights.

I have dropped them back to NPK 2-1.5-3 for the last weeks of flowering, I am at the start of week 8 with at least 2 weeks to go, they have improved greatly.

I was being slightly selfish adding Mg. My water contains very little Mg or Ca, according to the report published by my local water supplier, using a cheap EC/PPM meter on my tap water confirms the published data.
 

speedwell68

Well-Known Member
Your current nutrient line doesn't contain Calcium or Magnesium? Your tap water doesn't either?
This is my problem, my nutrients should contain plenty of Ca, it is made from calcified seaweed. I always add a little Epsom Salt anyway, 1ml per litre, every other feed. Which is why I am convinced it is being locked out due to over feeding on my part.

My tap water is 18mg Ca per litre, or 45 ppm, which I am led to believe is fuck all.
 

PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
This is my problem, my nutrients should contain plenty of Ca, it is made from calcified seaweed. I always add a little Epsom Salt anyway, 1ml per litre, every other feed. Which is why I am convinced it is being locked out due to over feeding on my part.

My tap water is 18mg Ca per litre, or 45 ppm, which I am led to believe is fuck all.
Too much Mg locks out Ca. Cut back off the Epsom.
 
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PadawanWarrior

Well-Known Member
what is proper ca;mg ratio you reckon?
I'm not sure exactly. I've heard mixed stuff. But it looks like 3:1 is the average Ca:Mg ratio I see. My well water has Ca in it so I'm careful about adding certain dry amendments. No gypsum or OSF, except rarely when I add some Craft Blend that has that stuff in it. But I use Craft Blend rarely since it has so much Ca.
 

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
This is my problem, my nutrients should contain plenty of Ca, it is made from calcified seaweed. I always add a little Epsom Salt anyway, 1ml per litre, every other feed. Which is why I am convinced it is being locked out due to over feeding on my part.

My tap water is 18mg Ca per litre, or 45 ppm, which I am led to believe is fuck all.
You're convinced you already have more than enough Ca and Mg and yet you want to add more?

Next time I am going to give 10ml of powdered Calcium Nitrate with 5ml of Epsom Salt, in 5L of water, along with my regular nutrient, once a week from week two of flower, just as a precautionary measure.
 

TheChemist77

Well-Known Member
I've never once used calmag in decades of growing. That includes soil, hydro, coco, peat, etc... I don't get calcium or magnesium deficiencies because I feed the plants what they need. And not with a dozen bottles either. Just a simple inexpensive nutrient that contains what the plant needs. There are many of them out there.

I always get a chuckle when I see growers paying expensive prices for fancy nutrients that don't contain enough Ca or Mg and are using calmag. The marketing geniuses behind many of the overpriced nutrients could sell cat piss as lemonade and have people lined up around the block waiting to get a drink. And they'd come back for more.
What nutrients do u use in hydro?
 

twentyeight.threefive

Well-Known Member
TBH I don't know which way to go. I only had Ca def in 2 out of 9 plants.
Plants don't need massive amounts of Ca and Mg. If your nutrients already contain them then it's not an issue of insufficient amounts given. It's a lockout issue and adding more is only going to worsen the problem.

An excess of magnesium or potassium can cause lockout as well as pH issues.
 

speedwell68

Well-Known Member
Plants don't need massive amounts of Ca and Mg. If your nutrients already contain them then it's not an issue of insufficient amounts given. It's a lockout issue and adding more is only going to worsen the problem.

An excess of magnesium or potassium can cause lockout as well as pH issues.
I suspect K.
 
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