Epsom salts vs Cal-mag vs Blackstrap Molasses in coco

[The King Adrock]

How bout a little shootout......I see threads and recipes containing some of these but not a comparison of the three, specific to get our plants nice n green in coco....

Whether you use Flora Micro/Bloom in 6/9 like me or not, I'm sure most of us use or have used one of these in coco.

Correct me if I leave out anything....

Epsom Salts-Magnesium and sulfur (and hydrogen)...thats it. Can buy at the dollar store, have to stir and wait(or shake in a jar full of hot water first) to get crystals to melt away into water. Just magnesium and sulfur..no nitrogen, iron, or other goodies...

Cal-mag-

Nitrogen, magnesium, calcium, and iron. Liquid so it mixes easily. Nitrogen can be helpful in veg and early flower, has pretty much everything I've ever needed to green up your plants if they're yellowing. I avoid in later flower when I'm trying to get rid of the nitrogen. Have to buy at hydro store.

Which leads me to

Blackstrap Molasses
Plantation Blackstrap label

Food source chart shows other goodies in there.

It has the sweet carbs to enhance flowering and flavor, calcium, iron, magnesium,and more. It is thick so you have to really stir it in well and it can clog drippers and fine water wand heads. It can smell up reservoir after a few days or cause nasty bubbles if you're aerating your reservoir. Many brands don't have labels so I'm not sure exactly what I'm putting in. You can buy at most food stores or farmers markets but it can get a little bit pricey if you use a lot.

Personally, with 6/9 flora micro/bloom I've been adding 2 ml/gal of cal-mag in veg, 4 ml/gal of cal mag in the first two weeks of flowering, back to 2 ml/gal for week 3, then switched to the Blackstrap as I start cutting out N. The pain in the butt is that from that point on I have to fill a 5 gallon bucket at a time from my main reservoir and add the blackstrap to it so I don't have a gunky reservoir. Also I have to clean the head of my watering wand weekly.

I wanted to see how others were using/combining these and what your preferences are.

 

[Harinama]

im using calmag and floralicious to good effect. With coco and bc nutes, calmag is REQUIRED. I did, however, have a bottle go bad, so keep it in low light and replace when/if it gets cloudy. It just became ineffective, and my plants were deficient.

 

[Rushoe]

I always thought a rule of growing was add 5milil calmag and take it from there if you see it needs more if u are using ro water....Is this right??????Useing the 6/9 I will never understand why ppl dont use calmag?????This does not make sense to me.I use ro water with a ppm of 7-14 is there something I am missing I have asked head so many times and he has not answered me yet.And I have been asking him for about a year now.Can someone clean this up?????Also I see ppl growing og's an chem's with the 6/9 in coco with out calmag how the fuck are u guys doing this????I did not work me.

 

[Madrus Rose]

Rare u should have a problem with Mg deficiency using cal/mag but epsom salts used moderately 1/4tsp/gal shouldn't hurt anything ...can see where ur going with this , trying not to introduce any N in the later stages by using this & very cheap fix. Backing off the Cal/mag 5mls/gal (with N) up to the wk 3-4 of flower & u seem to have the ticket here , as too much Cal does want to lock out Phos . Too much iron & zinc ( especially Fe) also hav a negative impact on Phos (& versa) as well as colder temps in the rootzone ...a factor now for some with winter onset. All coco's are not created equal with how high the Na concentrations are but the equalizing factor in most grows soil or Coco do involve a good flush here & there . Too much salt/Na negatively impacts K for the most part but overwatering can be a problem with all nute uptake .

Molassass has always caused a very raised PH in the rez for me , anyone else hav seen this happen ? So i only use it sparingly at 1tsp/gal hand watered in only a few times & not add to the rez where i was finding myself adding 3-4 x's the amount of PH down to adjust PH back down to right levels . But then finding PH just wanting to drift right back up again ..a bad thing to see happen . Towards the end of the cycle in "flush" not so worried bout this prob . One fellow explaining this as the sugar breaking down & interacting with H ions forming a weak acid=carbonic , which is then readily turned into cal carbonate & causing the PH to rise & fluctuate .

Lots of things can happen in a medium given so many salts being introduced in solution , working either with or against each other depending on other additives , temps , water quality...when in doubt though , just give a good flush .

 

[Madrus Rose]

PS : Always note with Nute companies they always say cheerfully to use with every watering , like on the CalMag label , which is a habit they'd love to see us all get into . See they have the "accelerated" doseage up at 10mils per/gal ....now those would tend to be some very green plants !

Especially if not on the 6-9 lucas ratios , but on some veg formula. Hav seen some ppls go that high & do well (given R/O water ) , but at some point there would be a chance conflicting issues with Phos (?) <g

 

[Harinama]

"chance conflicting issues with Phos (?)"

exactly what i was wondering. I seem to be having some phos lockout issues, and i'm wondering if the cal/mag is the cause. I am tapering back on it a bit to see if the lockout issues are resolved.

I think cal/mag in coco is mostly to get past the ionic binding(?), so maybe it is not necessary with every watering..hmm...