Cal-Mag and Gypsum; too much calcium ?

[hightech316]

I usually use TPS - Organic CAL-Mag as a cal-mag supplement .

Although , Ive ordered some gypsum for my upcoming living soil. ( or attempt of )

Should I use both gypsum and cal-mag additive? Seems gypsum would be enough , and both would be double dosing calcium?

Thanks Gromies !

 

[Phyto]

It might be overkill, but what living soil recipe are you using? That should tell you what and how much to add.

 

[RootFarmer]

Are you planning to use only dry amendments or liquid organics or both?

 

[hightech316]

Are you planning to use only dry amendments or liquid organics or both?

I was planning on only dry. My soil / feeding consists of ;

Pro Mix HP
Worm castings
Gaia greens 4-4-4

Going to be transplanting a 2 week old plant into a 1 gallon this weekend, I plan and adding some amendments such as ;

Kelp Meal
Fish Bone Meal
Azomite
Alfalfa meal

Mixed in with the soil . Then for feeding, top feed every month or so.

First try at living soil. If I were to go with gypsum , what dose for a 1gal ?

 

[Zill]

High,

Save your money and formulate these weak salt solutions yourself. Such a rip off.

 

[RootFarmer]

I was planning on only dry. My soil / feeding consists of ;

Pro Mix HP
Worm castings
Gaia greens 4-4-4

Going to be transplanting a 2 week old plant into a 1 gallon this weekend, I plan and adding some amendments such as ;

Kelp Meal
Fish Bone Meal
Azomite
Alfalfa meal

Mixed in with the soil . Then for feeding, top feed every month or so.

First try at living soil. If I were to go with gypsum , what dose for a 1gal ?

Thanks for that. I would recommend some Langbeinite, aka Kmag, and possibly some greensand/Basalt or Epsom Salts.
As far as dosing goes, most minerals you'll want 1-2 Tbsp/gal of soil. Azomite probably more like 2-3 Tbsp/gal. Epsom Salts you'll want like 1-2 tsp/gal of soil.
I would also recommend going forward that you consider adding some Alfalfa and Kelp to your starter soil. Lots of excellent growth boosters in both. And if you're growing organically, you'll want to use a good soil inoculant. Microbes are key to organic growing. Organic ingredients need to to decompose so plan ahead. Phosporous needs time to form complexes with micronutrients also. I just mix up my soil, throw in the grow bags and let it do its thing.

 

[Week4Bytch]

I usually use TPS - Organic CAL-Mag as a cal-mag supplement .

Although , Ive ordered some gypsum for my upcoming living soil. ( or attempt of )

Should I use both gypsum and cal-mag additive? Seems gypsum would be enough , and both would be double dosing calcium?

Thanks Gromies !

Gypsum will be enough... And if it's not broken down in time and you see deficiencies.. then just foliar spray with the cal mag.. win.

 

[hightech316]

Thanks guys .

Using gypsum to handle calcium .
If deficiency pops up , I'll have backup .

While we are talking living soil,

Do you guys use Bio Char , with soil bases ( pro mix HP in my case ) that already include perlite?

 

[Mikedin]

I was planning on only dry. My soil / feeding consists of ;

Pro Mix HP
Worm castings
Gaia greens 4-4-4

Going to be transplanting a 2 week old plant into a 1 gallon this weekend, I plan and adding some amendments such as ;

Kelp Meal
Fish Bone Meal
Azomite
Alfalfa meal

Mixed in with the soil . Then for feeding, top feed every month or so.

First try at living soil. If I were to go with gypsum , what dose for a 1gal ?

Your fish bone meal should have all the calcium you need mine from coast of Maine is 5-18-0 and 18% cal, I stopped adding gypsum when I switched in the fish bone, but you’ll still need mag

Wether using gypsum / bone meal / or the fish bone meal for cal I’d water in with a ratio of 1tsp epsom/ gal water once per week

What you have listed is nearly my exact mix down to the promix, (I don’t use the alfalfa meal but it’s not a bad addition!) I also add 15-25% perlite (you can use rice hulls if you wanna be pure organic)

For liquids and teas with that mix I use

My favorite and cheapest is Alaska Fish Fertilizer ( $13/liter at Home Depot etc) I use at 3-4ml per gallon of water through veg and cut it to 1.5-2ml/gal in flower until week 6

Advanced Nutrients Organics OG Tea
Fish Sh!t
Also actual fish shit from a neighbors pond
Kelp extract (high k)
Fox Farms Microbe Brew and sledgehammer (10% Yucca derived for water retention in the peat)

 

[hightech316]

Your fish bone meal should have all the calcium you need mine from coast of Maine is 5-18-0 and 18% cal, I stopped adding gypsum when I switched in the fish bone, but you’ll still need mag

Wether using gypsum / bone meal / or the fish bone meal for cal I’d water in with a ratio of 1tsp epsom/ gal water once per week

What you have listed is nearly my exact mix down to the promix, (I don’t use the alfalfa meal but it’s not a bad addition!) I also add 15-25% perlite (you can use rice hulls if you wanna be pure organic)

For liquids and teas with that mix I use

My favorite and cheapest is Alaska Fish Fertilizer ( $13/liter at Home Depot etc) I use at 3-4ml per gallon of water through veg and cut it to 1.5-2ml/gal in flower until week 6

Advanced Nutrients Organics OG Tea
Fish Sh!t
Also actual fish shit from a neighbors pond
Kelp extract (high k)
Fox Farms Microbe Brew and sledgehammer (10% Yucca derived for water retention in the peat)

Thanks!

I'm starting to research teas...
How often to you " top feed " , once a month?

 

[Week4Bytch]

Your fish bone meal should have all the calcium you need mine from coast of Maine is 5-18-0 and 18% cal, I stopped adding gypsum when I switched in the fish bone, but you’ll still need mag

Wether using gypsum / bone meal / or the fish bone meal for cal I’d water in with a ratio of 1tsp epsom/ gal water once per week

What you have listed is nearly my exact mix down to the promix, (I don’t use the alfalfa meal but it’s not a bad addition!) I also add 15-25% perlite (you can use rice hulls if you wanna be pure organic)

For liquids and teas with that mix I use

My favorite and cheapest is Alaska Fish Fertilizer ( $13/liter at Home Depot etc) I use at 3-4ml per gallon of water through veg and cut it to 1.5-2ml/gal in flower until week 6

Advanced Nutrients Organics OG Tea
Fish Sh!t
Also actual fish shit from a neighbors pond
Kelp extract (high k)
Fox Farms Microbe Brew and sledgehammer (10% Yucca derived for water retention in the peat)

That's my conundrum, been fighting something for 3 years and just realized what I thought was a calcium deficiency was actually a TOXICITY. So I now try to get the word out and share (from my own experiences) that almost everything we add to our soil has CALCIUM in it! It's too easy to overdo it with the Calcium. In my particular situation where my HARD tap water is high in calcium carbonate... BRUH... just too easy. I even had my soil tested from priors and yup, High in Calcium. .. From my last grow I had four pots to work with. Two of them got re amended with compost. The go to fix for high calcium in organic soil, well, the one I know about anyway. The other two we did nothing, or we tried something diffrent, just don't remember wtf..lol, but, yeah, showing signs of toxicity. The other two pots that got re amended with compost... smooth sailing.

All that to say , yes what Mikedin said!