TdotGonG
Member
I don't now much about chemistry...well I know jack shit let's be real lmao! But eh gave er the ol try EH!
tried my best to figure out a way to get calcium into a water soluble form, as one of my plants is getting some cal issues from the light being so close. she just cant uptake calcium fast enough to keep up with the light output. Did some googling and searching around. wondered if calcium acetate can be used as a amendment for high pH soils and is a source of calcium/Magnesium. I didn't have a bunch of egg shells for calcium carbonate, or tums to make it. Nor was I going to waste my time buying 3 dozen eggs and stinking up my house making a life time supply of pickled eggs, even though me and gran pops eat em like crazy haha.
Now I knew that dolomite lime is a good source of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Well I had no clue what the hell the saturation ratio's were cause Like I said I'm not a chemist, And I don't know the math associated to figuring out the saturation ratio. so I used 35g of dolomite lime to 100ml of 10% acetic acid(cleaning vinegar) and a ball 500ml mason jar.
I put 140g of dolomite lime in to 400ml of vinegar in the mason jar. I cut out about 15 coffee filters to make a breathable gasket for the c02 to escape but allows me to lid the container. And let it sit for 36 hours.
After 36 hours the solution looked clear and it looked like the larger particulate of the dolomite had broken down and that some calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate had turned into cal-mag acetate. I filtered with a 25u SS screen and coffee filters. I foliar fed at 1/16tsp> 1L ratio. It dropped the ph of the water down to 4 which should of been a instant "oh shit the solution isn't saturated enough, don't use it" the ph of calcium acetate is basic, not acidic like you would think.
WELL HERE IS THE EFF'IN FUN PART. I forgot that cal-mag acetate will dry into a white crystalline goddamn powder...now my plant is covered in a crystalline powder that I bloody cannot wash off lol! Bet ya no bugs or mold will get the damm thing though haha! And it sort of burnt the surface of the plant in a weird way. I'm going to wash the plant off with a slight acid wash(pH 6.0), then a heavy spray down with plain ol well water. hopefully the slightly acidic water will break down the acetate and help it wash off.
Now I aint giving up though. Made another solution with the same ratio's. Going to let this one sit for up to 2 weeks and monitor the pH as time goes to check the saturation point. As well using heat to further the process. C02 seems to be released faster when heat is applied so logic would say that heat speeds the process up. I'm not going to use it as a foliar, for apparent reasons... rather a portion of a feeding program to boost calcium. But I'm not sure if this source of calcium with clog up CeC in mediums/soil. I need to learn more about positive/negative charges and how they apply to CeC. As for hydro I have no clue. I'm assuming it would either lockout phosphorus and other macros or be absorbed to fast and not be locked out by the other salts, but that's a best case scenario.
I'll keep this thread updated with my testing. Yes I could of bought Cal-nitrate/Amino chelate/ EDTA but I wanted to make my own off shoot readily available nutrient, you know stroke the redneck ego a liddle lol!
tried my best to figure out a way to get calcium into a water soluble form, as one of my plants is getting some cal issues from the light being so close. she just cant uptake calcium fast enough to keep up with the light output. Did some googling and searching around. wondered if calcium acetate can be used as a amendment for high pH soils and is a source of calcium/Magnesium. I didn't have a bunch of egg shells for calcium carbonate, or tums to make it. Nor was I going to waste my time buying 3 dozen eggs and stinking up my house making a life time supply of pickled eggs, even though me and gran pops eat em like crazy haha.
Now I knew that dolomite lime is a good source of calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate. Well I had no clue what the hell the saturation ratio's were cause Like I said I'm not a chemist, And I don't know the math associated to figuring out the saturation ratio. so I used 35g of dolomite lime to 100ml of 10% acetic acid(cleaning vinegar) and a ball 500ml mason jar.
I put 140g of dolomite lime in to 400ml of vinegar in the mason jar. I cut out about 15 coffee filters to make a breathable gasket for the c02 to escape but allows me to lid the container. And let it sit for 36 hours.
After 36 hours the solution looked clear and it looked like the larger particulate of the dolomite had broken down and that some calcium carbonate and magnesium carbonate had turned into cal-mag acetate. I filtered with a 25u SS screen and coffee filters. I foliar fed at 1/16tsp> 1L ratio. It dropped the ph of the water down to 4 which should of been a instant "oh shit the solution isn't saturated enough, don't use it" the ph of calcium acetate is basic, not acidic like you would think.
WELL HERE IS THE EFF'IN FUN PART. I forgot that cal-mag acetate will dry into a white crystalline goddamn powder...now my plant is covered in a crystalline powder that I bloody cannot wash off lol! Bet ya no bugs or mold will get the damm thing though haha! And it sort of burnt the surface of the plant in a weird way. I'm going to wash the plant off with a slight acid wash(pH 6.0), then a heavy spray down with plain ol well water. hopefully the slightly acidic water will break down the acetate and help it wash off.
Now I aint giving up though. Made another solution with the same ratio's. Going to let this one sit for up to 2 weeks and monitor the pH as time goes to check the saturation point. As well using heat to further the process. C02 seems to be released faster when heat is applied so logic would say that heat speeds the process up. I'm not going to use it as a foliar, for apparent reasons... rather a portion of a feeding program to boost calcium. But I'm not sure if this source of calcium with clog up CeC in mediums/soil. I need to learn more about positive/negative charges and how they apply to CeC. As for hydro I have no clue. I'm assuming it would either lockout phosphorus and other macros or be absorbed to fast and not be locked out by the other salts, but that's a best case scenario.
I'll keep this thread updated with my testing. Yes I could of bought Cal-nitrate/Amino chelate/ EDTA but I wanted to make my own off shoot readily available nutrient, you know stroke the redneck ego a liddle lol!