Update: Grow #8 Candy Cane
germination 26 Sept 2020;
The last 10 days or so have been a real bitch! All of a sudden the plant went into
calmag def in a blink. I have been feeding on schedule, etc and things were looking fine. Long story short;
@logic and I had a few discussions and i found out that in general the off-the-shelf products that we are all quite used to. fall WAY short to the recommended levels of both elements and generally in the wrong proportions. Consensus seems to indicate that the proper ratio is 2(Ca) : 1(Mg).
The ideal ratio is two parts calcium to one part of magnesium. A safe homemade
Cal-Mag concentration would be 380ppm, with 260ppm Calcium and 120ppm Magnesium.
View attachment 1066465 (this product is no longer made by mfg)
. . . you could try and find a similar product, just look for 9% calcium, 5% magnesium and 14% sulfur
CALiMAGic = 5% cal and 1.5% mag
botanicare = Nitrogen 2% cal 3.2% mag 1.2% iron.19 no sulfur
vitalink = 4% cal and 1.7% mag
nectar for the gods Demeter's Destiny also only 4% cal and 0 mag
General Organics CaMg+ is also 5% and 1%
Emerald Harvest cal mag = 3% and 0.5%
The product i finally setteled on was this one:
View attachment 1066466
Save money $ buying high quality soluble nutrients with bulk pricing. - 2 to 1 calcium (Ca) to magnesium (Mg) ratio. - Contains chelating agents for superior absorption. - 100% water soluble. - Warming water will help product dissolve better. - Dissolve this product separately from other...
drseeds.net
mainly because it had nothing BUT Ca/Mag so i could use it during the rest of the grow without worrying about the "N". Since i use RO water, my solution was to use this product in my 35 gallon top-off tank. I found out that it also has buffering agents in it to prevent the PH swing
.
I figured that if i did the setup using this product:
Cal-Mag Complete Calcium Magnesium Growing Supplement by TPS Nutrients
by using it to setup the rez and during the first 4 weeks, and then i switch to the Dr. Seeds mix for the rest of the grow. With the top-off already cal/mag and alk balanced, i can use it for feeding mixes etc without worry.
It took a week for the two products to both arrive, by then the scene was ugly (understatement) I will try and show the before and after images as much as possible. I will recover but yield has certainly been affected. Try again on the next go-round