Opinion on this calcium during flowering research...

[Tomatoesonly]

This is just an article, no lab work to back up anything. Anyone got any thoughts on this? It's not easy to keep calcium as low as this lady likes it.

LINK TO ARTICLE

Most relevant part : "As for ideal Ca levels, in water culture settings, assuming the use of distilled or RO water, I recommend about 40ppm of Ca after Day 30 of the flowering cycle. For any soil-like media that is calcium buffered, I recommend 0ppm of additional Ca after Day 30 of flower. As for leaf tissue quantities, the goal is to end up with 4-5 percent Ca in the leaf tissue during the last few weeks of harvest. If you have more than that, you’ve likely dented your yields and smoke quality in most cultivars."

 

[bsgospel]

I think this has merit but there are some ideas to bat around.

Soil vs. Soil Solution vs. Nutritional input
For starters: Is the soil being reused? Slownickel has taught us that once Calcium has been displaced in the soil, it's difficult to put it back in. So- if the soil is being re-used, you would not want to ignore Ca in your feeds for too long. If Mg moves in and takes over those sites, you don't really have a lot of control for the Next time you want to use that soil.

I subscribe to the Jidoka idea (that is sort of echoed in this article) that Calcium should begin high in Veg (while K is low) and then they switch before flowering. Then, Calcium is ridden high again early in flower before switching places once more with K when full flowering. You want all this Calcium early on because it is slow to fractionate in the tissue of the plant but at a certain point you will want it out of the way in the soil to allow the K to do its thing.

I also agree that the amount of Mg in the final tissue seems irrelevant to the health of the plant overall. Whatever you are supplying, it's enough. But having it available (along with Sulfur) in balanced amounts can only help your cannabinoid and terpene production. That is to say, you want this perfectly available but in the long run, it can't offset your K or Ca.

Does an excessive amount of Ca in your final product affect it's smoke? Maybe. I could buy that. Does it affect yield? Sure, if your K and P were really fucked up. I'm not sure how you would get there if you already understand certain basic conventions of weed growing but anything is possible.

 

[Treetroit City]

While I have nothing to offer in this discussion I would love to hear what our resident Ca spokesman slownickel would have to say about this.

 

[Cerathule]

What exactly should be the reason Ca not taking sorption to the CEC again? It has a higher power to do so than both K & Mg.

 

[Ca++]

Half way through flower, it's not taken very well. Coupled to the idea wouldn't have time to do much anyway, it seems of little use later on. However I won't buy into the idea that lower Ca helps K. Whatever the Ca, the K doesn't really matter anyway.
Ca issues late in flower, can't be fixed. You might try with foliar application, but that's not how to set about doing a crop from scratch. Ca needs loading in early. Throughout veg makes sense. Then backing off through transition.

 

[bsgospel]

What exactly should be the reason Ca not taking sorption to the CEC again? It has a higher power to do so than both K & Mg.

I think I understand your question. I'll try to parse this as I see it:

Calcium has a larger ionic radius than Mg. However, the Mg has a larger hydrated ionic radius, thus making it more attractive to water (H2O) dipoles. In the soil solution, if Mg is in abundance, it has an easier time moving from the solution to the site- blocking other cations. Now that's just an example for soil purposes. What it means for final tissue accumulation, I'm not sure I have an answer; I'm extrapolating a bit but taken in the context of "dropping calcium to achieve better yields/smokeability" raises other questions. Does the reduced calcium feed actually seek to replace calcium from the sites it occupies? And with what? Is the soil going to be reused? Could you use this person's research to inform both organic and hydroponic nutritional ideas? I think they've demonstrated something tangible/concrete here but it only addresses one set of systematic problems.

(Unrelated)
Personally, I'd be afraid that in a month, everyone on Instagram will repeat this conclusion and start bitching about calcium and it will steer growers the wrong way for the wrong reason and probably with weird methods. I work with exactly the kind of people who will skip to the end of an article and start piping in bird noises to their grows because some creationist made a crummy mpeg about tomatoes in a folksy timbre 15 years ago to demonstrate dinosaurs and man walked together. Maximum Yield has actually put out an okay article or two over the years (and this article is fine in a really specific way) but it has all the makings of populist woo run amok just waiting to take people for a ride without having done anything particularly wrong. I blame the parents and TV. Anyway, rant over.

 

[bsgospel]

Half way through flower, it's not taken very well. Coupled to the idea wouldn't have time to do much anyway, it seems of little use later on. However I won't buy into the idea that lower Ca helps K. Whatever the Ca, the K doesn't really matter anyway.
Ca issues late in flower, can't be fixed. You might try with foliar application, but that's not how to set about doing a crop from scratch. Ca needs loading in early. Throughout veg makes sense. Then backing off through transition.

I agree and I just want to clarify so there's no misunderstanding. I do not think lower Ca helps K. There's some syntax in the way. I only wish to say that K in late flowering has to be available in feeds. And what I really mean is that it has to be more available than Ca at that specific time. Hope that helps.

 

[WingzHauser]

However I won't buy into the idea that lower Ca helps K. Whatever the Ca, the K doesn't really matter anyway.
Ca issues late in flower, can't be fixed.

You seem to be traumatized by "the quality molecule". What did your step-dad do to you with a banana?

CA toxicity sure resembles K deficiency..

And just about every other mid/late flowering deficiency..

Ca isn't off the hook in Veg either.

Even germinated seedling symptoms seem to all be deficiencies of nutrients that are antagonized by calcium. Purple stalk (Ca>P), "mutated" leaves (Ca>B), Necrotic tips (Ca>FE). Cotyledon/leaf death (Ca>K)

I would love to hear what our resident Ca spokesman slownickel would have to say about this.

Slownickel is not a Cannabis grower. Ask Bruce Bugbee what's different between Cannabis and the crops Slownickel grows:

Personally, I'd be afraid that in a month, everyone on Instagram will repeat this conclusion and start bitching about calcium and it will steer growers the wrong way for the wrong reason and probably with weird methods. I work with exactly the kind of people who will skip to the end of an article and start piping in bird noises to their grows because some creationist made a crummy mpeg about tomatoes in a folksy timbre 15 years ago to demonstrate dinosaurs and man walked together. Maximum Yield has actually put out an okay article or two over the years (and this article is fine in a really specific way) but it has all the makings of populist woo run amok just waiting to take people for a ride without having done anything particularly wrong.

Head over to reddit today and post any of these images. You'll be told nute burn, needs Calcium. This marry-go-round has been running at full capacity a while brother.

Do you know how many Cannabis consultants have told me this is Calcium deficiency?

This is not Calcium deficiency..


Is this going to turn into a flushing debate? It should. And let it be known I'll donate $1000 to Gypsy to have the first person who says "flush with bone meal for better flavor" permanently Device/MAC/IP/ISP banned. Every legitimate flush formula is composed of Ca antagonists.. The flavor of Calcium heavy weed and the effect that goes with it probably defines what's wrong with Cannabis today. It has steered breeders away from plants who hate strong calcium feeds and demand more boron. Grow landrace sativa. After the normal 2 week indica stretch period landrace soaks up so much Calcium your internode will go from 12" to 1/4" in the latter half of stretch. And look at any grow journal of sativas genetics. Curled dying leaves, delayed harvest, poor bud development. Tums/rolade/vanilla stem tubs. That's not genetic, folks.

 

[Cerathule]

I doubt "preloading of Ca" is a good horticultural practice because of the phloem-immobility of Ca. Up-down-up-down, sounds like a recipe for desaster or if you want to stunt a plant or cause nutrient deficiencies by lockouts. If anything, increase Ca in the stages of biggest growth or if the plants evapotranspiration is low to compensate. Depending on the mediums CEC you may not even need a high supply in the irrigation solution.

Furthermore, ofc Ca-K-Mg do stand in a relationship to one another, mostly by ion rivalry, but it depends largely on the medium used if, and how, the sorptive complexes are build or favour one over the other. If enough is present, the ratios may not be the dominant factor to decide the uptake (as well as pH) because independant transporter mechanisms are at large to assimilate these ions.

In the case of many indoor mixes composed of organic compost/humus, the CEC binding sites prefer Ca++ over Mg++. Which is the reason why Mg, and especially K, is leeched more than Ca when flushing or irrigating drain-to-waste.

See for example:
"Overall, Mg was more rapidly leached through the soil profile than Ca because the soil CEC was mainly composed of organic charges which affinity for Ca is much higher than for Mg"

The dynamics of calcium and magnesium inputs by throughfall in a forest ecosystem on base poor soil are very slow and conservative: Evidence from an isotopic tracing experiment (26Mg and 44Ca)​

Because Ca++ (including its hydrate hull) is a bit smaller than hydrate Mg++ its charge-density is greater, and you normally have a higher ppm of Ca than Mg which exacerbates this tendency. But also the size of the ion in response to the CEC binding sites do affect this.


Excerpts from BENTON-JONES' "Plant Nutrition and Soil Fertility Manual":

"11.5.3 Potassium (K)
Functions in plants:
• Involved in maintaining the water status of the plant, the turgor pressure of its cells, and the opening and closing of its stomata.
• Required for the accumulation and translocation of newly formed carbohydrates.
Content and distribution in plants:
• Consists of 1.00% to 5.00% of the dry weight of leaf tissue with sufficiency values from 1.50% to 3.00% in recently mature leaf tissue for many crop plants.
• Considered deficient or in excess when K critical values are less than 1.50% or greater than 5.00%, respectively.
• See pages 136–137 for a listing of critical values and sufficiency ranges for a number of crop plants.
• When in excess, K levels may exceed the sufficiency level by two- to three-fold.
• Sufficient K can be as high as 6.00% to 8.00% in the stem tissue of some vegetable crops.
• Highest concentrations are found in new leaves, their petioles, and plant stems, content in leaves decreasing with age.
• High-yielding crops contain from 50 to 500 lbs K/A (56 to 560 kg/ha), with crops, such as banana containing 1,500 lbs/A (1,680 kg/ha).
• Most plants will absorb more K than they need; this excess is frequently referred to as luxury consumption.
• Harvest of most fruits removes sizable quantities of K from the soil.
• Because K does not exist in combined form in the plant, it can be extracted easily from fresh or dried tissue, the extracted concentration essentially equals that of the total, with some vegetable crops considered K deficient when extracted sap from fresh stems and petioles contain less than 2,000 ppm K, and adequate when the K content is greater than 3,000 ppm.

Interaction with other elements:
• Relationship between K and Mg is well known, as is the relationship between K and Ca; high K plant contents first result in a Mg deficiency, and when K is in greater imbalance, will cause a Ca deficiency.
• The K-to-Mg and K-to-Ca ratios are used as DRIS norms for interpreting a plant analysis result (see Beverly, 1998).
• The ammonium (NH 4 + ) cation plays a role in the balance that exists among the three cations, K + , Ca 2+ , and Mg 2+ .

Available forms for root absorption:
• As the K + cation in the soil solution.
• As exchangeable K + adsorbed to soil colloids.
• As fixed K in the lattice of 2:1 clays.
• As a component in K-bearing minerals.
• An equilibrium exists between K in the soil solution, exchangeable K, and fixed K.
• When K fertilizer is applied to the soil, the equilibrium shifts toward exchangeable and fixed K, a shift that is reversed as K is removed from the soil solution by root absorption.
• Plant availability is influenced by soil water pH (see Figures 9.2 and 9.3).

Movement in soil and root absorption:
• Moves to the root-absorbing surface by diffusion in the soil solution, the rate of diffusion highly temperature dependent.
• The extent of root contact (root density) with the soil also has a significant effect on uptake.
• Soil oxygen (O 2 ) has a greater effect on K uptake than for most of the other ions in the soil solution.

Deficiency symptoms:
• Plants will lodge easily.
• Are sensitive to disease infestation.
• Fruit yield and quality will be reduced.
• Older leaves will look as if they had been burned along the edges, a deficiency symptom known as scorch, as K is mobile in the plant.
• Deficiency symptoms first appear in older plant tissue, as K is mobile in the plant.
• K-deficient plants may also become sensitive to the presence of NH 4 , leading to a possible NH 4 toxicity syndrome.

Excess (toxicity) symptoms:
• Will become deficient in Mg and possibly Ca, due to the imbalance.
• Mg deficiency is most likely to occur first.


11.5.4 Calcium (Ca)
Functions in plants:
• Plays an important part in maintaining cell integrity and membrane perme-
ability; enhances pollen germination and growth.
• Activates a number of enzymes for cell mitosis, division, and elongation.
• May also be important for protein synthesis and carbohydrate transfer.
• Its presence may serve to detoxify the presence of heavy metals in the plant.

Content and distribution in plants:
• Content in plants ranges between 0.20 and 5.00% of the dry weight in leaf tissue, with sufficiency values from 0.30% to 3.00% in the leaf tissue of most crop plants.
• Critical values for Ca vary considerably among various crop species, lowest for the grain crops and highest for some vegetable and most fruit crops.
• See pages 136–137 for a listing of critical values and sufficiency ranges for a number of crop plants.
• Highest concentrations are found in older leaves as the Ca content of leaves tends to increase with age.
• High-yielding crops contain from 10 to 175 lbs Ca/A (11 to 196 kg Ca/ha).
• Ca removal will be considerably less for grain and most fruit crops when only the grain or fruit is removed, leaving behind the plant, which contains most of the Ca.
• It has been suggested that total Ca content does not relate to sufficiency, as Ca accumulates in some plants as crystals of calcium oxalate; therefore extractable Ca (in 2% acetic acid) may be a better indicator of sufficiency.
• The critical Ca concentration for soluble Ca is around 800 ppm, a concentration of Ca that has been suggested as the true critical value for most plants.

Interaction with other elements:
• Relationship between Ca and K is as well known as that between Ca and Mg; these ratios are used as DRIS norms for the interpretation of a plant analysis result (see Beverly, 1991).
• Ratio of Ca to N in fruit crops and a similar ratio between Ca and B may be related to quality.
• Ammonium nutrition can create a Ca deficiency by reducing Ca uptake.

Available forms for root absorption:
• Calcium exists as the Ca 2+ cation in the soil solution and as exchangeable Ca on soil colloids.
• Usually the cation of highest concentration in the soil in both soluble and exchangeable forms for soils high in pH (>8.0), soils that may contain sizable quantities of Ca as precipitates of calcium carbonate (CaCO3) and calcium sulfate (CaSO4).
• It is generally assumed that if the soil pH is within the acceptable range in the rooting media, Ca should be of sufficient concentration to ensure plant Ca sufficiency, assuming that other factors are also within their normal ranges.
• Soil pH seems to have little effect on Ca uptake (see Figures 9.2 and 9.3).

Movement in soil and root absorption:
• Moves in the soil by mass flow, the dominant supply factor, and also by diffusion.
• Availability can be significantly affected by soil moisture level.
• Reduced plant evapotranspiration will also reduce the uptake of Ca by the
plant.

Deficiency symptoms:
• Growing tips of roots and leaves of Ca-deficient plants turn brown and die, a symptom frequently referred to as tip burn.
• Leaves curl and their margins turn brown with newly emerging leaves sticking together at the margins, leaving the expanded leaves shredded on their edges.
• Fruit quality will be reduced with a high incidence of blossom-end rot and internal decay.
• Being relatively immobile in the plant, deficiencies occur at the growing terminals.
• Reproduction may be delayed or terminated altogether.
• Conductive tissue at the base of the plant will decay, resulting in a reduction of the uptake of water, wilting on high atmospheric demand days, and a reduction in essential element uptake.

Excess (toxicity) symptoms:
• Excessive Ca content will produce a deficiency of either Mg or K, depending on the concentration of these two elements in the plant.

Fertilizer sources:
• It is generally assumed that maintaining the pH of an acid soil within the optimum range (5.8 to 7.5) by frequent liming will provide sufficient Ca to meet crop requirements.
• Sources of Ca for soil application are given in Table 19.1.


11.5.5 Magnesium (Mg)
Functions in plants:
• A component of the chlorophyll molecule (see Figure 3.1, page 16).
• Serves as a cofactor in most enzymes that activate phosphorylation processes as a bridge between pyrophosphate structures of ATP or ADP and the enzyme molecule.
• Stabilizes the ribosome particles in the configuration for protein synthesis.

Content and distribution:
• Plant content ranges between 0.15 and 1.00% of the dry weight in leaf tissue, with the sufficiency value being 0.25% in the leaf tissue of most crop plants.
• Critical values will vary among various crop species, being lowest for the grain crops and highest for legumes and some vegetable and fruit crops.
• See pages 136–137 for a listing of critical values and sufficiency ranges for a number of crops.
• Content in leaves increases with age, the highest concentrations being found in older leaves.
• High-yielding crops will contain 10 to 175 lbs Mg/A (11 to 196 kg Mg/ha), with crop removal being considerably less for grain and some fruit crops when only the grain or fruit is removed, leaving behind most of the Mg that exists primarily in the plant itself.
• Some plant species or cultivars within species have a particular sensitivity to Mg, becoming Mg deficient under moisture and/or temperature stress even though Mg may be at sufficient availability levels in the rooting media.

Interaction with other elements:
• Relationship between Mg and K is well known, as is the relationship between Mg and Ca.
• Ratios are used as DRIS norms for the interpretation of a plant analysis result (see Beverly, 1991).
• Mg deficiency can be induced by high concentrations of either the NH4+, K+ , or Ca2+ cations in the rooting medium, as the Mg 2+ cation is the poorest competitor among these three cations.

Available forms for root absorption:
• Exists as the Mg 2+ cation in the soil solution.
• As exchangeable Mg on soil colloids, usually the cation being next to the highest in concentration in the soil in both soluble and exchangeable forms when the soil is slightly acid to neutral in pH.
• Availability declines significantly when the soil water pH is less than 5.4 (see Figures 9.2 and 9.3).

Movement in soil and root absorption:
• Supply to the roots depends on root interception, mass flow, and diffusion, with mass flow being the primary delivery mechanism.
• Deficiency can occur under soil moisture stress even when the soil is adequate in available Mg.

Deficiency symptoms:
• A yellowing of leaves or interveinal chlorosis, which begins on the older leaves because Mg is a mobile element in the plant.
• With increased deficiency, symptoms will also appear on the younger leaves with the development of necrosis symptoms when the deficiency is very severe.

Excess (toxicity) symptoms:
• No specific toxicity symptoms, as the Mg plant content can be quite high (~1.0%) in leaf tissue without inducing a deficiency of either Ca or K.
• An imbalance among Ca and K with Mg occurs when the Mg content in the plant is unusually high (>1.0%), which may reduce growth due to the imbalance.

Fertilizer sources:
• For acid soils, and as for Ca, it is generally assumed that maintaining the soil pH within the optimum range (5.8 to 7.5) by frequent liming using dolomitic (Mg-bearing) limestone or other high-content-Mg liming materials, will provide sufficient Mg to meet crop requirements.
• Sources of Mg for soil application are given in Table 19.1.

 

[Ca++]

You seem to be traumatized by "the quality molecule". What did your step-dad do to you with a banana?

CA toxicity sure resembles K deficiency..
View attachment 18849969
View attachment 18849970

And just about every other mid/late flowering deficiency..

View attachment 18849971


View attachment 18849975


Ca isn't off the hook in Veg either.

View attachment 18849978
View attachment 18849979
View attachment 18849980

View attachment 18849981
Even germinated seedling symptoms seem to all be deficiencies of nutrients that are antagonized by calcium. Purple stalk (Ca>P), "mutated" leaves (Ca>B), Necrotic tips (Ca>FE). Cotyledon/leaf death (Ca>K)




Slownickel is not a Cannabis grower. Ask Bruce Bugbee what's different between Cannabis and the crops Slownickel grows:








Head over to reddit today and post any of these images. You'll be told nute burn, needs Calcium. This marry-go-round has been running at full capacity a while brother.

Do you know how many Cannabis consultants have told me this is Calcium deficiency?
View attachment 18849985
This is not Calcium deficiency..


Is this going to turn into a flushing debate? It should. And let it be known I'll donate $1000 to Gypsy to have the first person who says "flush with bone meal for better flavor" permanently Device/MAC/IP/ISP banned. Every legitimate flush formula is composed of Ca antagonists.. The flavor of Calcium heavy weed and the effect that goes with it probably defines what's wrong with Cannabis today. It has steered breeders away from plants who hate strong calcium feeds and demand more boron. Grow landrace sativa. After the normal 2 week indica stretch period landrace soaks up so much Calcium your internode will go from 12" to 1/4" in the latter half of stretch. And look at any grow journal of sativas genetics. Curled dying leaves, delayed harvest, poor bud development. Tums/rolade/vanilla stem tubs. That's not genetic, folks.

Most of those pics have nothing to do with calcium.

Do you often put fathers touching children at the forefront of things? This is a cannabis community. A safe place for you. Put it out of your mind.

 

[Chunkypigs]

these pics have everything to do with Calcium and why you want an excess of it...

#ThanksSlow

upstate NY, outdoor, water only, it just smells like Humboldt...

92 OG Kush

Chem D

Headband

Forum GSC

OG Kush

Cake

Mac 1

Show me your fire grown with light Calcium, I'm waiting....

 

[Ca++]

these pics have everything to do with Calcium and why you want an excess of it...

I think you are missing the point. He is saying an excess is bad, because it blocks many things. He then offers a load of pics from a deficiency study. A study that used a full range feed, but pulled out one specific element. A study that was not about calcium in nearly every case, except the one where calcium was removed.
This study here: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/20/4432/htm

On the whole, he was using pics that had nothing to do with calcium, and has a viewpoint contrary to yours.

 

[Tomatoesonly]

Bruce Bugby in a very recent interview made a very small statement, but it was like the interviewer did NOT want to talk about it. Almost a secret. He mentioned they found higher levels of Ca, which they use in the Bugby formula I assume, helps prevent Botrytis.

 

[Broggemann]

When I found the article, I went to IG and had a look at Jennifer Martins plants.
I rarely saw as shitty plants as hers.
Case closed (for me).

 

[Tynehead Tom]

I think you are missing the point. He is saying an excess is bad, because it blocks many things. He then offers a load of pics from a deficiency study. A study that used a full range feed, but pulled out one specific element. A study that was not about calcium in nearly every case, except the one where calcium was removed.
This study here: https://www.mdpi.com/2076-3417/9/20/4432/htm

On the whole, he was using pics that had nothing to do with calcium, and has a viewpoint contrary to yours.

have you followed Chunkypigs outdoor runs?
The guy smashes it every season with big healthy plants that excell in whatever concoction he has added to those monster beds. Seeing is believing and I see other growers I know smashing out 600 plant rooms of primo cannabis grown in nutrient regimens that load the calcium.
So reality is contrary to the article and the gypsum applications are indeed working and working well.
A grower knows when an input is performing or detracting from the health of the plant.
I'm going to keep applying gypsum in my garden as I have seen the results first hand and I'm thinking that article is a bunch of nonsense.

 

[WingzHauser]

I'm going to keep applying gypsum in my garden as I have seen the results first hand and I'm thinking that article is a bunch of nonsense.

So you've never seen a Cannabis Calcium toxicity, AKA a deficiency of anything else?


Growing outdoors is where your pretend your inputs matter, while pressure fronts lightning microbes and rain are putting uncontrollable variables into your soil. Most outdoor cannabis grows involve roots growing right out of the cannabis muck, straight into the native soil, while the clown who sold you the calcium toxic soil claims Cannabis roots only go 6". And that clown got his info from an ag consultant who's never grown cannabis.

Calcium is the new calmag. Weed quality is at an all time low. The majority of smoke-worthy crops are not tolerant of excessive calcium in mid late flower. High calcium phenotypes are low quality smoke. The those are the facts.

 

[Cerathule]

From a plant biophysiological standpoint high and excessive Ca can be tolerated, since Ca is so abundant in many soils plants learned to deal with it. But why would you want to have Calcium oxalate crystals in your product? Only on toxic soils (Na, some heavy metals) would an overapplication be actually helpful

 

[Tynehead Tom]

So you've never seen a Cannabis Calcium toxicity, AKA a deficiency of anything else?


Growing outdoors is where your pretend your inputs matter, while pressure fronts lightning microbes and rain are putting uncontrollable variables into your soil. Most outdoor cannabis grows involve roots growing right out of the cannabis muck, straight into the native soil, while the clown who sold you the calcium toxic soil claims Cannabis roots only go 6". And that clown got his info from an ag consultant who's never grown cannabis.

Calcium is the new calmag. Weed quality is at an all time low. The majority of smoke-worthy crops are not tolerant of excessive calcium in mid late flower. High calcium phenotypes are low quality smoke. The those are the facts.

dude..... I grow both indoors and "outdoors" but the outdoor is in a simple cold frame greenhouse..... very rudimentary. My plants are in pots indoors or out although I also use rubbermaid totes for bigger plants.
Let's just talk about my "outdoor" plants ......
I use a soil mix that was shared with the internet many years ago by Tom Hill. It was pulled from the archives of the old overgrow and has been shared within the community ever since. Does it grow the best cannabis out there? I dunno. Does it grow plants I am very happy with and produce potent flavorful product? It absolutely does.

I have not seen a plant go deficient , I just water em and keep them happy and the soil does the rest
a 110 gallon mix consists of
6bags of black gold soil
1 bag of promix hp or sunshine 4
1 & 1/3 bag of chicken manure .... * I use Sheep
1/3 of a large bag of perlite
16 1/2 Pounds of Steamed Bone Meal
5 12 Pounds of Agricultural Gypsum
1 1/2 pounds of Dolomite (I use dolopril)
(* I also add diatomaceous earth and sulphur powder as well as mycos, hygrozyme and black strap molasses)

the only issues my plants face in thier greenhouse season is bugs and potentially mold but I notice that ever since I started using this recipe I have not seen the Fusarium that plagues every grower I know up here where I am at.
Location is 52N @ 3000ft elevation. My season runs June10 to September 30th although I sometimes push a few plants into October with electric heaters in the greenhouse. My plants are flowered by manual light dep and I run everything from 8week to 12 week flowering strains.
I don't grow the best plants and I can't grow huge trees but everyone who has followed my misadventures can tell you , I don't grow plants that suffer unhealthy conditions or are plagued by deficiencies and lockouts.
Is there room for improvement in my gardens? absolutley but I don't think that my applications of Gypsum/Calcium are harming my plant's outcomes..... I will attest to the exact opposite.
Proof is in the plants and they are not showing any signs of Calcium toxicity.
I have pushed the limits of what Gypsum can do indoors and I have pushed them to the point of toxicity on purpose so I could learn from that.
I think Cal/Mag bottles are pushed hard and I don't use those products ever not outside or in.
But that tom hill mix is a godsend in my short season and it grows some killer cannabis and happens to be fairly loaded with Calcium

we can try and learn all we want from books, articles and professional studies/papers but at the end of the day the reality is in the garden. The reality is the plants themselves and how they behave in your environment/geo location. All these years with this plant and there is always more to learn but what I have learned is how to read my plants and I rely on that more than a study or paper by someone who has not grown or been involved in growing cannabis for 3 decades and counting.

 

[blondie]

@WingzHauser or anyone post #8 above. The last image ..”This is not calcium deficiency...” . What is the deficiency?

 

[Cerathule]

Proof is in the plants and they are not showing any signs of Calcium toxicity.

Because there is no such thing as Calcium toxicity. That's basic horticulture 101