Purple Stems Look Like I Need To Increase Cal-mag A Bit Perhaps?

[AnselAdams]

3 weeks of flower @ Week 9 and the purple leaf stems just started showing up. From what i can tell i need to up the cal-mag in my top -off which is up to 2.5 gallons of RO a day. Top-off currently contains 100ppm cal-mag. Does anyone out there have a different thought?

 

[MeanGreen420]

3 weeks of flower @ Week 9 and the purple leaf stems just started showing up. From what i can tell i need to up the cal-mag in my top -off which is up to 2.5 gallons of RO a day. Top-off currently contains 100ppm cal-mag. Does anyone out there have a different thought?

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Happened to a lot of people I only uped my cmag when I got rust spots on leaves though. Maybe someone else will have a better answer

 

[Nugg]

Phosphorus issue?

 

[AnselAdams]

Happened to a lot of people I only uped my cmag when I got rust spots on leaves though. Maybe someone else will have a better answer

Thanks MeanGreen420;
I will turn out the lights and look. I suspect that there are some spotted leaves in the "jungle" that i have not seen.

 

[madgrower]

Happened to a lot of people I only uped my cmag when I got rust spots on leaves though. Maybe someone else will have a better answer

I was mistaking ph issues for cal mag problems

 

[Homesteader]

What strain is this? Purple stems are not always an issue. What type of lights are you using? Many strains produce a pigment called anthocyanins and often they hold up in the stems until later in flower. Heavy blue or red light will make the anthocyanins appear more than just white does but only if the plant has the pigment in its genes.

 

[Homesteader]

I would actually be a little more worried about the leaves and the vascular network in them. It may be the picture you provided but they seem off. The veins of your leaves seem very pale almost greyish.

 

[JWM2]

I’ve actially been discussing this on IG with a small craft commercial grower and we’ve come to the conclusion that Calmag sometimes does more harm than good. And is vastly overused as a crutch.

The extra calcium and nitrogen in Calmag actually exacerbate the problem. Most fertilizers have plenty of calcium, iron, sulphur, etc and the extra nitrogen is not needed.

The added nitrogen makes the plant more hungry so it wants more magnesium and phosphorus. It’s sort of like drinking salt water from the ocean. You want more and more until you die.

Magnesium is usually the culprit and the addition of Epsom salts to your water instead of Calmag might be better option. At a rate of 1.5 grams per gallon for RO water and 1 gram per gallon for higher ppm tap water.

I’m no expert by any means but since I’ve cut out the Calmag ritual I’ve seen better results. Epsom salt is practically free. Hell my morning coffee costs more than a years supply of it.

 

[AnselAdams]

I would actually be a little more worried about the leaves and the vascular network in them. It may be the picture you provided but they seem off. The veins of your leaves seem very pale almost greyish.

That is just a bad lighting angle. Using off camera lighting and flash at the same time. Bad photograph. Will be posting more. I did find some spotted leaves. Don't have time for pic right now. Have to get to the J-O-B.

 

[Homesteader]

I agree about calmag exasperating the issues but I only speak of and know of soil so disregard if you are using some type of hydro because that's a different game. Most plants use a lot of calcium though. Soil has a lot of calcium and magnesium in most cases but because they are bound up is the issue.

Calcium is one of the most important nutrients the plant gets beside Carbon but a better option (if in soil) is gypsum IMO. It is quicker to be taken up by the plant than lime which the carbonates can cause issues with mag mostly. I think people would be surprised at how little of certain nutrients like Mag and phos are really needed tho, and you wont hear that from most nutrient companies.

I think a lot of the mag problems are due to water being high in carbonates too and also the lock up of magnesium because too much calcium is in their mix. It really is a balance that is needed and best done by making your own soil mix. Epsom salt if needed is a good choice but often times its not because too little mag is in your mix but instead too much of another nutrient or carbonates locking them up.

 

[Madmax]

I dont think it is phosphorus..i could b wrong....i have 2 plants side by side outdoors that get same fertilizer same strain etc.it has been fed bat guarno on 27th jan 10/10/2 and couple days ago had bat guarno 1/9/1 at beginning of flower.im blaming cold weather for mine.
Funny thing is the one that is purple gets more of a breeze than the one beside it..

Is there a difference of more than 10-15 deg between night and day i your room

Plants have only just started budding but have noticed it for a good couple weeks....

 

[Nugg]

My led..do turn my leaf stems purple where the light hits them hard...never has it turned my stem of the plants....unless... maybe... excessive calcium will cause lock out..so more calmag only makes things worse..yes some run just mag.or Epson salt..but in no way I am saying that's your problem,but it is not right..lack of phosphorus will also make leafs darker,with a kinda blue or gray look ....

 

[Nugg]

My led..do turn my leaf stems purple where the light hits them hard...never has it turned my stem of the plants....unless... maybe... excessive calcium will cause lock out..so more calmag only makes things worse..yes some run just mag.or Epson salt..but in no way I am saying that's your problem,but it is not right..lack of phosphorus will also make leafs darker,with a kinda blue or gray look ....

Maybe this will help..

 

[Nugg]

And this

 

[JWM2]

It’s made worse by led lighting vs HID.

It’s a bit of an epidemic with led growers and purple stems and stalks

You can supplement calcium without anything else if needed and it would be preferred so you can control the amount given to your plants vs relaying on premixed Calmag Solutions.

A bag of calcium carbonate costs next to nothing. A bag of Epsom salt costs next to nothing. So why are we paying for bottles of water?

 

[Nugg]

Because we are in the wrong business..lol

 

[the rrock]

Calmag is an awesome supplement if you know what your doing.

 

[JWM2]

Calmag is an awesome supplement if you know what your doing.

Calmag is a bandaid in the cannabis industry. It masks the fact that many of us don’t know what we are doing and sometimes tossing some random additive seems to work long enough that we can chop the plant and smoke it. Meanwhile never addressing the real issue or taking corrective measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

If it works for you by all means. I don’t own an Epsom salt or calcium carbonate company. So I’m not financially motivated to get you to use them instead.

 

[SoLowDolo]

Calmag is a bandaid in the cannabis industry. It masks the fact that many of us don’t know what we are doing and sometimes tossing some random additive seems to work long enough that we can chop the plant and smoke it. Meanwhile never addressing the real issue or taking corrective measures to ensure it doesn’t happen again.

If it works for you by all means. I don’t own an Epsom salt or calcium carbonate company. So I’m not financially motivated to get you to use them instead.

So far in my short little growing career, I have only needed calmag one time. And that's when I was using distilled water. Since then I've switched to tap water and I've kinda forgot about. I'll throw a little squirt in the water every now and then on some plants. But I haven't used it once this whole grow on my plants getting fed NFTG.

 

[AnselAdams]

Thanks MeanGreen420;
I will turn out the lights and look. I suspect that there are some spotted leaves in the "jungle" that i have not seen.

Yup, Yup there is damage.... I suspect this is all a hang over from my double-dosing a few weeks back during transfer from grow cabinet to flower cabinet. It only appears to be on one of four plants; it could be worse.

Because it was a fresh fill i was able to quickly drain half of the solution into 3 5 gallon buckets and add 15 gallons of RO (my flower res is 35gal). Thank goodness for a 35 gal RO rez. Even after a change out i still had enough to recover from my screw up.