[Albertine]

I'm looking for an organic replacement for Botanicare cal mag. Just picked up some General Organics and it dropped my h20 ph from 6.5 to 5 before adding nutes. It's a fermented product - perhaps that's why?

I have tap h20 with 25ppm, am actually in Sunshine#4 amended with 2T/gal dolomite, so I'm more soil than hydro, trying to add most nutes through watering rather than amending, and have been having low ph issues. The Botanicare Cal mag seems to be seems to give some buffering capacity to the water, but there are too many other changing variables to know for sure - all is much better now. It gives me a reading of 6.5 before nutes.
I'm wondering if you can use some straight calcium carbonate plus K-mag and adjust potassium levels to compensate?

FYI - The Mega worm pure castings are really acidic as is Drammatic fish hydrosalate 2-5-1(the Drammatic is good for a ph down!. Just picked up some Yelm what they are calling castings, not compost, and it is only 50% castings with straw and humus added, but the ph is around 6.5 - 7.0.

[Mr.Blaze]

Quoted from the mag. "SKUNK" Volume 6 Issue 1.... Rev's Tip: "one of the most commonly used synthetic chelating salts, known as EDTA, is synthesized from formaldehyde and sodium cyanide." ....EDTA is a main ingredient in Cal-Mag plus. This info was in a great article "The Rev" had written about his "True Living Organic" method to growing. He also states that " all Botanicare liquid nutrients, except the "organicare" line, have some degree of synthetic chelating salts in them..." This was news to me since i was lead to believe that "Botanicare" products were all organic... I still like the product, and still use a mix of there product know as "POOP SOUP" but am just a little more informed i suppose*

[sinaloa]

ami I like the organic look for different issues



regards

[extreegrowerrr]

Cal mag plus is def. not organic! Haha use GH organics CAMG+ that's 0-0-0 too not 1-0-0. There calcium isn't derived from nitrogen. If using RO water 2ML per gallon on res change puts your water at 180-200ppm a must with RO water. Don't let anyone tell you different.

[the hollow]

Originally Posted by extreegrowerrr

Cal mag plus is def. not organic! Haha use GH organics CAMG+ that's 0-0-0 too not 1-0-0. There calcium isn't derived from nitrogen. If using RO water 2ML per gallon on res change puts your water at 180-200ppm a must with RO water. Don't let anyone tell you different.

I used Cal/Mag+ for 2 years with perfect results.

I switched to GH organic Cal/Mag and within 2 weeks I noticed problems and strange discoloration on the leaves like I had never seen before. This was the only change in my nutrient regiment, too.

Is Botincare Cal/Mag+ organic? No. I never thought that it was. Does it work better than the organic counterpart offered up from General Hydroponics? I'm convinced that it does.

Just my experience.

[paperchaser825]

Just bought a quart of this. I like the fact it adds no nitrogen for those of use who have plants with low nitrogen/high cal/mag needs.

[Granger2]

If you want organic, use the GO. What I found is that my opinion of the GO CalMag went way up when I started using 10 ml/gal instead of 5. Bot. CalMag+ has iron. You can get iron from something else. Good luck. -granger