SOIL When to and how to, and for how long should I add CalMag to my feeding water?

[Cocho]

Hey all!

Been experiencing some difficulty with my little lady. Some deficiencies etc. so I ordered a bottle of CalMag.

The soil I'm using is; Plagron Growmix (pH 6,5 - 7,0) (EC 1,0 - 1,5).

And since I'm growing in soil I'm not sure how to do this. Never used CalMag before.
The soil is pre fertilised and should keep the plant for at least 3 weeks, so I'm not adding anything to the feeding water besides Bioworm (worm castings) after I've pHed the water to 6,5.

So my question is; can I do the CalMag to the water even though I'm not feeding her anything else?

I've got a bottle of grow and bloom nutrients for later, but I wanted to figure out these issues right away, and CalMag might do the trick.

Thanks for being such an awesome community!l

Peace.

- C

[gold01ca]

run cal/mag through the entire grow, add to feed or just plain water.

[Potted]

If we’re talking autos cal mag with each watering or every outer for photos, even seedlings get it every outher watering. Lol

[Cocho]

Thanks guys!

I'll be adding a little CalMag to every other feeding from now on.
The type of strain I'm growing is a Aurora Indica (fem) and hopefully she'll be happy with the extra goodies in her next feeding.

Peace!

[Toker1]

How long have the plants been in soil for?
are you adding any liquid fertilizers?
you typically don’t need cal-mag unless you are using RO water or are seeing a deficiency after regular feed isn’t working.

[Toker1]

I think that’s a good idea. Let her use up what is in the soil first. Then see how she reacts. Usually they start to get a little pale color when they get hungry.

[Ell]

thanks for answer toker1 cuzz ive never used cal-mag and was getting unsure reading

[Toker1]

Typically there is enough calcium in tap water and magnesium in the liquid plant food (if we are feeding it a balanced diet). If you see a deficiency, cal-mag can correct it. But on the flip side if that, you can lock out nutrients by providing too much and accumulating it.

[kingfish]

Never used it. I use Roots organics soil and Fox Farm Trio and never felt the need.

[Redwasp]

I have been working on myself very hard. I've come to find that I really do like most everybody. In the past I didnt think I liked 1 out of a 1000. Well I started listening to what they are saying and asking questions. Not only did I find that I learn more that way but I found out that there are some really cool people in this workd.

[Cocho]

Hey guys! Thanks for the good advices. Really appreciate it, I really do.
I poked my finger into the soil yesterday, checking how it felt and decided to feed her.
Gave her 0,5l water (pHed to ~7.0) and added 17ml Bioworm and 0,5ml CalMag.
She got really perky after a few hours. Her color was better when I woke up today.
Still some discolouration on 2 of the newer leaves. A little lighter color between the veins on the edge of 2 of the leaves.
Hopefully this will get better eventually.

I'm still not sure how this came to be. Maybe the soil was a little hot in the beginning?

Peace!

- C

[D.A.A.S.69]

Cocho, if your soil was to hot, you would have seen problems as soon as they came up, or within a day or two.
HappyGrowing.

[Redwasp]

Cocho please post s whole picture of the plants. We also need to know the pot size. How often you fertilize them etc etc. I saw you were only feeding 350ppm. For many (auto)" many plants that may be morr than enough. But I have one white widow that was wanting 1100pm every 3 days. And my Carmelicious like 2300ppm every 2 days with s light flush just once a week.

what I'm saying is that every plant is different. And the one with the browns spots and is yellowing could very easily have a deficiency. Especially if his local water supply is already in the 200 range.

[Redwasp]

I an not saying that is what it is either as nutrient lockout can cause a nutrient deficiency. Bad ph can cause it. Being to hot or to cold. To humid or not humid enough. Lights to close, lights ti far away. Anyways I think I have covered every possibility except for failure to thrive.

[Cocho]

Thanks for the feedback!

Well.. I'll write down some information on this grow then.

The little one grows in a 7,5 liter (~2 gallon) pot filled with a thin layer of LECA (expanded clay balls) and Plagron Growmix.
The conditions inside the tent as of now are; 28C/82F and 56% RH. The temp fluctuate between 20C/68F - 31C/87F from lights out, throughout the night and during the day.
I have a humidifier and a circulation fan in there, but they're both turned off at the moment.

Since she sprouted I've only been feeding her pHed water with worm castings (Bioworm) and for the last feeding CalMag, nothing else. I do have a bottle of Biothrive Grow and Bloom ready for when I need it.
The soil has a pH of 6.5 - 7.0 with a EC of 1.0 - 1.5. The water I'm using comes from the tap, and the quality of the water here is some of the best in the world. No impurities (small population, no big cities, almost no people), loads of forest/wildlife and huge amount of rain each year. So no chemicals or purified salt water, just natural mountain water. I don't know what the PPM are, since we don't really use those units here (more of a American thing I guess?), but it has some natural minerals in it and a pH of 8.0.

The producer of the soil I'm using clearly states that there should be no need for extra nutrients for the first 3 weeks, but I'll of course be taking that with a grain of salt and feed her more if need be.

Info here: https://www.plagron.com/en-GB/produc...ised-soil.html

The deficiencies started of as; yellowing of the lowest pair of leaves, starting from the core/base of the leaves, spreading outwards to the tip. And on the second pair of leaves the yellowing started from the tips, moving inwards. Both sets of leaves developed orange/brown spots (rust?) in the yellow areas.

You can see the development here;





Firs pair of leaves looked like this:




The second pair of leaves looked like this:






And now they looks like this;








As you can see here, the new pair of leaves have some lighter areas, but they haven't gotten worse, so hopefully things are getting better from here on out.





One of the things to keep in mind here is that she did not grow for several days, but after a dosage of higher pHed water and a round of CalMag she has developed some new growth, and looks better all in general. I'm still on the fence here, but things are looking better.


Hope this is sufficient information.

Have a good weekend folks, and thanks again!

Peace and love

- C

[D.A.A.S.69]

9fingerleafs, exactly, he says he is on top of the ph, that's why I didn't say anything earlier, he might need to calibrate his meter again, idk.But when they say they got their ph, right, I'm assuming it's right, an don't want to argue with them, all i can do is go by what they say. Idk.
I'm sure he might have good soil, but everytime I planted a seed in HOT soil, like KindSoil, they burnt up in 2-3days. Not even a week.
Great answer 9fingerleafs

[Cocho]

Thanks for paying my little issue here attention!

I agree. She is tiny and that is why I'm holding back on the nutrients for now.

I've been adding pH down since day one and made sure my pH were around 6.5 all the time before watering her. I know the pH of the soil because the manufacturer marked their product with the exact value, and as a serious company making their living on making quality agricultural product, I take their word for it.

I also measured the soil at the beginning. The soil came out of the bag kind of dry, so I watered it and a tiny bit of water ran out the bottom of the pot. I gathered it and measured it, and it came out at 6.5

So I have not been feeding her pH 8.0 water, but since I've fed her water at 6.5, maybe the soil has gotten a little acidic? And after I started to feed her water at ~7.0 she has started to look better. Maybe the slightly higher pH of the feeding water have regulated the flora and started to correct what went wrong?

And regarding the EC. I don't own a EC-meter. Those things are crazy expensive here and will set me back 130-150 dollars at least. And I've never used one before (never felt the need for it), and if I order it from another country the customs will add a 25% tax to it, plus it will take at least 3-6 weeks for it to get here.

Maybe one of those digital meters from AliExpress or Wish would do the trick? But I feel like those things are made to break down or maybe not even work correctly, so I haven't bothered ordering one from those places even tho they're 100% cheaper than the ones I get here at the store.

Anyways.. thanks for helping me out here. I'll keep updating this thread and inform you on her progress.

- C

[9fingerleafs]

ohhhh i see, either way if you keep watering at 6.5-7 eventually the plant will get better, also if the soil is too hot a flush could help but better to let the plant get used to it and use the nutrients instead of wasting them. here is the tds/EC meter i use, its 20 USD and its from a reputable brand https://www.amazon.com/Digital-TDS-E...s=ez+tds+meter