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Adding Cal/Mag to nutrients

R

recirculator

Member
Hi all
It seems to always be recommended to add Cal/Mag prior to other nutrients, but I have an almost full fresh 950l reservoir of nutrient solution and I've diagnosed a Mg deficiency.
I have Botanicare's Cal/Mag plus and want to add some in there.

My current EC is 1.8 using a local store's brand of nutrients (which I've done very well with for many years, just not at this place that seems to have softer water).

Do I need to dump my reservoir and start fresh or can I add the stuff into my current reservoir?

How much of an EC increase in Cal/Mg plus should I be shooting for in order to combat a Mg def? 0.2? 0.3? I'm at the end of the third week of flower on a recirculating rockwool F&D system if that helps.

Any advice much appreciated
 
Lester Beans

Lester Beans

Frequent Flyer
Veteran
Yes you can add cal/mag to the res. You may have to dilute it if you are already at your target EC.

Botanicare Cal/mag 5ml per gallon. Always.
 
MJPassion

MJPassion

Observer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
If you've diagnosed a Mg deficiency why do you want to add Ca?


You'd probably be better off giving your gals a foliar spray of epsom salts mixed at 1/4tsp/gal or roughly 1/4g/L. (my guestimation of ?/L may be off a hair)
 
R

recirculator

Member
MJPassion said:
If you've diagnosed a Mg deficiency why do you want to add Ca?
Click to expand...

I guess there's a few answers to that....

one is I happen to have a 20l jug of CalMag plus on hand so it's easy..

My water analysis shows that my water is quite soft so I figure it can't hurt.

Also I prefer to avoid spraying once my buds start taking shape as much as they have.

I suppose the foliar spray would help faster than going through the roots though so your suggestion is well taken and may be implemented tomorrow, but I still intend to continue with the Cal/Mag plus.

Thanks much for all replies your time and experience are always appreciated.
 

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Douglas.Curtis

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
So you have no idea if you need additional calcium or magnesium?
Do you also need additional nitrates? I know my nutrient profile doesn't.

MJPassion is correct, there's no reason to add something you don't need.


If you need calcium, add a quality calcium supplement. If you need magnesium, magnesium sulfate is amazing for this. Since cannabis is great at phytoremediation, and throwing your nutrient profile out of balance doesn't help things, it's best to supplement your nutrients with what you need. Using a mixed product is going to be a sub-par solution at best.
 
R

recirculator

Member
I suppose I planned to implement the Cal/Mag plus partly because it's often suggested to use with R/O or soft water and I presumed that my apparent Mg Def. is due to my NOT using it with the soft water that I have.

It is true however that Cal/Mag plus will add nitrates that I don't really want in my flowering room at this stage.

You're post makes a lot of sense Mr. Curtis. Thanks for the contribution I'll definitely look into the MgSO4 option.
 
M

madalasatori

Well-known member
Veteran
You will need to drain some of the res if you need to keep your ec as it is. Another option would be to leave the res and do a couple of foliar applications three days apart. Piece of piss and quite good fun, sprying the plants and getting amongst them
 
PurplePotion

PurplePotion

Member
Dr. Repair by Cyco has an NPK of 3-0-0, but has Ca and Mg both at 14%. Cal-Mag Plus by Botanicare is 2-0-0, Ca 3.2% and Mg 1.2%. This was brought to my attention by someone else and I’ve yet to use it but will be doing a side by side with Canna’s complete line soon.

It has a much lower Nitrogen ratio with equal Ca and Mg so it will be interesting to test. It’s not listed on the label (supposedly because of Australian labeling laws or some nonsense), but you can find that same information across the web and confirmed on Cyco’s forum by Cyco themselves.

At the least, it may something to use for times when Mg is more of a concern than Ca, while Botanicare’s Cal-Mag would be used when Ca is the main concern.
 
Douglas.Curtis

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
PurplePotion said:
Dr. Repair by Cyco has an NPK of 3-0-0, but has Ca and Mg both at 14%. Cal-Mag Plus by Botanicare is 2-0-0, Ca 3.2% and Mg 1.2%.
Click to expand...
They both use calcium nitrate, as far as I'm aware. I've read reports the original Cal-Mag has/had? sodium chloride in it as well.

Just more reasons to go with individual supplements when your initial nute mix is off balance.
 
R

recirculator

Member
Sometimes it's clear who knows what they're talking about

Sometimes it's clear who knows what they're talking about

Thanks for chiming in again Mr. Curtis.

Certainly adding individual elements to correct suspected deficiencies is the best approach by far. Not only for correcting the problem at hand but also for better understanding the entire process and nutritional processes in general.

Also the tendency we have of buying globally shipped liquid nutrients and additive products is really not the smartest strategy in general.

Almost all of what we feed our plants (and certainly all of what we NEED to feed our plants) is available in granular form and shipping water from say Australia to Canada is something I try to avoid paying for at today's fuel prices...

I'm sure the best approach to treating a Mg def is to add Mg and not a bunch of other stuff, so rather than line the pockets of another line of fancy nutrient marketers, I prefer to purchase plain packaged epsom salts (aka Mg Sulfate).

edit: Forgot to add that the only reason I opened the thread with Calmag Pus is because I have a bottle of it on hand....

Thanks again
 
Douglas.Curtis

Douglas.Curtis

Autistic Diplomat in Training
I'm only too familiar with looking for nails, when I find myself with a hammer in my hand. hehehe :) No worries. :)

I do -prefer- a high quality epsom salt, but most of the time I use whatever says '100% magnesium sulfate.' Rather inexpensive and found just about anywhere on the planet you can also find people. :)
 
MJPassion

MJPassion

Observer
ICMag Donor
Veteran
Put the hammer down.
LMAO!


When I was using bottles of water...
I dropped the Botanicare and picked up General Organics Ca/Mg because of the NaCl.
 
R

recirculator

Member
Picking up the hammer after all

Picking up the hammer after all

Laboratory analysis of water extracted from my cubes shows highly elevated sulphate levels.

So I'm stopping the MgSO4 and adding a small amount of the CalMag plus instead after all.

fun fun fun
 
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