CAL-MAG useage??

[bobby34]

Could any one give me a heads up on how to use cal-mag correctly in the uc??? Im gonna be using ionic nutes/ grow / bloom / boost and DM Zone!

Cheers in advance

 

[jammie]

Hey there bobby- I do dwc, not uc, but I don't think the difference matters. I also use the ionic line. If you use ro water, I first add 50-70ppm of cal mag then add ionic till I hit my target ppm, then use pro tetkt silica to ph to 5.8ish.

 

[bobby34]

Ok cool cheers Jammie, Im not using RO so would you say id need less calmag??. Im in a hard water area and the waters natural ec is around .4 ish if i remember correctly. Ive got a few grows under my belt now but have never used calmag and since being on this site it seems its a must!.

Cheers for the help dude

 

[sixstring]

if your growing without it and everything looks good then dont use it.calmag is only needed with r/o water imo.if you had really clean tap water it wont hurt to toss some cal in now n then but i wouldnt bother unless you think your plants look bad.i been running ionic for about 4 years now for soil and dwc,good stuff.i was using calmag about once a week in dirt watering every day and run it at around 200ppm in dwc.im using jacks right now with no calmag and my shrubz r happy as hell.gl

 

[jammie]

six is right. if you aren't using ro or rainwater, its probably not needed. i think that the cal mag deficiencies people have is due to lockout. high pk levels will lockout ca and mg as will adding extra epson salts which screws up the cal mag ratios.

 

[bobby34]

cool,, Thanks for the input guys

 

[uc pro]

i use uc roots at 2 mls per gallon, calmag @ 3 mls per gallon, and base at 2 mls per gallon to start and i watch the plants from here. this puts my ec at 0.5

hope it helps.

 

[Quantum9]

Start with none and let your plants express their own needs.

 

[ttystikk]

six is right. if you aren't using ro or rainwater, its probably not needed. i think that the cal mag deficiencies people have is due to lockout. high pk levels will lockout ca and mg as will adding extra epson salts which screws up the cal mag ratios.

Test your water hardness, or if you live in a city, go to their water quality web page and let them tell you what's in the water. I use tapwater, but at 0 to .1 EC there still isn't anything in there! I use 5ml/gal of botanicare's cal-mag w/ iron to sweeten things up.

When adding other nutrients to hydroponic systems, be damn sure everything is fully dissolved first! Epsom salts are bad about this as the crystals are invisible in water and take awhile to dissolve. Until they do, they love to grab any sulphur floating around and pull it out of solution. That would be the grayish layer of... gypsum in the bottom of your hydro bucket...

 

[Cort]

I have a jar I use for dissolving powdered or thick liquids (like molasses) Hot tap water, nute needing dissolving, lid, shake, done. Only do one at a time or you can cause some lockouts due to the high concentrations. :oops: Lesson learned.

If your water is really hard, you may want to start filtering in the future. Just because the water has xxx level of calcium does not mean its in a useable form for your plants.

 

[ttystikk]

I have a jar I use for dissolving powdered or thick liquids (like molasses) Hot tap water, nute needing dissolving, lid, shake, done. Only do one at a time or you can cause some lockouts due to the high concentrations. :oops: Lesson learned.

If your water is really hard, you may want to start filtering in the future. Just because the water has xxx level of calcium does not mean its in a useable form for your plants.

Very true- Seamaiden has often commented on the nature of the calcium in hard water and that it may not be very available. This would be even more true in hydroponics, as there is no place to break such molecules down to make their constituents available.

 

[woodsmaneh]

In fact Calcium in hard water can build up around roots and cause lock out and act as a barricade. It will also bind any Mag to it.

 

[ttystikk]

In fact Calcium in hard water can build up around roots and cause lock out and act as a barricade. It will also bind any Mag to it.

That explains the mysterious affinity coco supposedly has for calcium and magnesium. It's just the large surface area coco naturally possesses allows calcium plenty of places to precipitate- and then being the culprit grabbing magnesium, too. Neat!

 

[COCOAKUSHXBLUE]

i usually run between 1-2.5 ml per gallon of cal mag in the uc......

 

[ttystikk]

I've run Botanicare's Cal-Mag w/ iron. The water quality here in town is ridiculous; out of the tap at 60f and .05 EC. The instructions on the cal-mag said 5-10ml/ gallon. I've used 5 in RDWC in conjunction with the standard Jacks 3-2-1 formula and it worked very well. I've also had good success with switching up the ratios slightly; 3 - 2.5 - 2. This boosts calcium and magnesium using the least expensive fertilizer inputs I have. Jacks makes even Cal-Mag look expensive by comparison!

 

[ri420patient]

i was only using 5 ml per gallon in my 75%ro 25%tap and was having problems with a few of my plants yellowing up im running cinderalla99 buddha tahoe blueberry headband and 1 skunk11 the cindys were fine but the rest needed more so gave it 2 doses of cal mag at 10 ml a gal and cleared it right up now back to 5 ml a gallon when do u vuys stop using cal mag

 

[woodsmaneh]

i was only using 5 ml per gallon in my 75%ro 25%tap and was having problems with a few of my plants yellowing up im running cinderalla99 buddha tahoe blueberry headband and 1 skunk11 the cindys were fine but the rest needed more so gave it 2 doses of cal mag at 10 ml a gal and cleared it right up now back to 5 ml a gallon when do u vuys stop using cal mag

I stop using it last 2 weeks of flower, if you got yellow leaves I think you need to up you food a bit.

 

[Quantum9]

i was only using 5 ml per gallon in my 75%ro 25%tap and was having problems with a few of my plants yellowing up im running cinderalla99 buddha tahoe blueberry headband and 1 skunk11 the cindys were fine but the rest needed more so gave it 2 doses of cal mag at 10 ml a gal and cleared it right up now back to 5 ml a gallon when do u vuys stop using cal mag

sounds like 5 too many if your using CS.

 

[Texas Kid]

Much easier to do a spot application of cal/mag as a foliar..run the CS by the charts systemically..i'll also do a couple epsom salt foliar feeds in flower but more for the sulfur action than anything

 

[ri420patient]

sounds like 5 too many if your using CS.

While using that extra 5 ml it got rid of the yellowing and brown spots then I went back to 5ml a gallon and I started to get spotting again upped it to like 8ml a gallon and went away again could I have some cal mag pigs