Nightmare's Cal/Mag mix! Coco & Hydro

[nightmarecreature]

I decided to make my own Cal/Mag recipe. Most of the Cal/Mag recipes that I see are improper. They use magnesium sulfate, which is ok to use in soil, but is not ok to use in hydro or coco. Magnesium Sulfate and Calcium Nitrate precipitate and do not mix. What you want is Magnesium Nitrate and Calcium Nitrate. I still have bottles of Botanicare Cal/Mag and it's good stuff but this recipe allows you to make 3X the amount for the same price. This recipe is very similar to Botanicare's Cal/Mag.

Nightmare's Cal/Mag mix!

20lbs (Calcium Nitrate)
10lbs (Magnesium Nitrate)

Iron EDTA ebay 4 ounces $8
Magnesium Nitrate 10 pounds $30 (Shipping Included) Makes 2270 Gallons
Calcium Nitrate 20lbs $42 (Shipping included) Makes 2270 Gallons
Total $80 Shipped 2270 gallons!

Add in this order:
2 grams per gallon of Magnesium Nitrate
4 grams per gallon of Calcium Nitrate
0.145 gram per gallon of Iron EDTA


Nightmare's Cal/Mag mix!
Nitrogen 222ppm
Magnesium 50ppm
Calcium 200pmm
Iron EDTA 5ppm

Botanicare Cal/Mag @ 5ml per gallon
Averaged Nitrogen 205ppm
Averaged Magnesium 60ppm
Averaged Calcium 220ppm
Averaged Iron EDTA 4.5ppm

 

[thunderfudge]

Nice recipe

 

[OGkushistein]

you do know you could have bagged it up and sold it as your own blend ... it doesn't pay to be the nice guy especially in a world full of greedy crooks and haters

 

[nightmarecreature]

you do know you could have bagged it up and sold it as your own blend ... it doesn't pay to be the nice guy especially in a world full of greedy crooks and haters

Nah, im not in this for the money. By the time i pay for nutes, lights ect, im in the hole!

 

[Seamaiden]

Very nice! I'm curious, can you play around with those ratios, say if you wanted to get the Ca:Mg up to around 7:1?

 

[nightmarecreature]

The Nitrogen would be too high. I believe the ratio I posted works best. According to Mulder's chart, too much Ca and Mg antagonize each other.

 

[nightmarecreature]

I'm trying to figure out how to make a gallon of this in liquid form.

 

[Seamaiden]

The Nitrogen would be too high. I believe the ratio I posted works best. According to Mulder's chart, too much Ca and Mg antagonize each other.




View attachment 398947

It does, but the chart doesn't say how much is needed to become antagonistic. What about another form of Ca? Say, CaCO3, or calcium gluconate, or... gypsum.. CaSO4?

 

[connoisseurde420]

I'm trying to figure out how to make a gallon of this in liquid form.

multiply your numbers by 250 but remember it will take less than 1 gal of RO/distilled water because the salts take up space so fill half way--dissolve--top off to a gallon. Then use at 15ml per gallon to hit your same ppms. Download hydrobuddy and play with the numbers and figure out how things work. i just started to mix my salts and im almost out of bottled stuff so I'm learning too.

 

[nightmarecreature]

It does, but the chart doesn't say how much is needed to become antagonistic. What about another form of Ca? Say, CaCO3, or calcium gluconate, or... gypsum.. CaSO4?

I believe its because its dependant on the plant or strain because every plant has different needs. I have a good og stable and they demand Magnesium.

Cal/Mag are bottled together to make it idiot proof. If they just sold Calcium people would complain about a Mg deficiency and if they sold just Mg people would complain about Ca deficiency.

From what i read about Mulder's chart,
Too much Ca antagonizes Mg. Most companies ive noticed use a Ca/Mg ratio of 4:1.

I use Ca and Mg nitrates for two reasons:
1# Best uptake, 100% water soluble.
2# Does not precipitate like Sulphates when combined together. (Meaning, it does not bind and form a solid.)

The correct Ca/Mg ratio depends on what base nutes you use.
I use House & Garden Cocos A+B. It contains 0.14% Ca and 0.8% Mg. Their ratio is closer to 2:1. I have to adjust my ratio because using H&G plus botanicare my ratio is Ca/Mg 5:2. From talking to them on the phone, they said this can cause problems with K. Using a 2:1 ratio is whats needed for my base nutes.

 

[nightmarecreature]

Botanicare Cal/Mag at 5ml is registering 205ppm per gallon. I posted that as a reference.

 

[nightmarecreature]

This is an interesting read on Magnisal. There's lots of good info on it. There is no point in buying any other Calcium or Magnesium than Haifa, it's super cheap! I'm going to run the Mag by itself since my base nutes have 4% Calcium.

"Magnisal is fully water-soluble. It is approximately ten-fold more soluble than magnesium sulfate."

http://www.mbferts.com/media/Haifa Magnisal Brochure.pdf

 

[G Star]

I tried this today!

Nightmare, I think your numbers are off...by a lot

I had to use a fraction of the salts you recommended to obtain approx 200ppm.

 

[G Star]

Didn't mean to come off like a dick, I did use a variant of the recipe and it is working.

Thanks for putting me on the right path nightmarecreature

Can you clarify a bit about the right ratio for base nutrients? What would work best for a base nute with a 4:1 ratio? 4 parts cal to 1 part mg?

 

[nightmarecreature]

Yeah those numbers were off because I couldnt edit the post. Now i just keep adding salt to 1000ml of RO or distilled water until I reach about 205ppm.Use at a ratio of 3 parts Calcium to 1 part Magnesium or 4:1, both work.The Nitrogen is too high so I use it in flower once a week to keep my plants green. It works well.

 

[nightmarecreature]

I use Calimagic in veg and the Magnisal mix once a week in flower. The rest of the time in flower I use Calimagic.

I have enough Magnisal to last me a lifetime and it didnt cost much. I buy the Calimagic for $35 shipped a gallon.

The good thing is that this mix is perfect when you need a Nitrogen boost.

 

[nightmarecreature]

Update: Went back to my homemade mix. GH has Calcium Carbonate and it's not readily available to plants. It builds up over time and makes plants look unhealthy. Botanicare Cal/Mag goes bad and turns cloudy. This mix is dirt cheap and works better than both. Uptake of both magnesium and Calcium are really good. The nitrogen is very high on this mix and works perfect if you use bloom nutes for both veg and flower.

Here's what I'm mixing:
1 liter container
66 grams Magnesium
132 grams Calcium
Hot distilled water 1/2 full and shake till dissolved. Do each separately. Then top off with water. Use @ 200-236ppm per gallon.

 

[chillywilly]

Peace all, I've been using for years ic coco a mix of sonnes #2 formula, a montmorillinite or volcanic ash. It is ca+ mg+ k+ fe +na. Well balanced imo. I mix willards xxx water to further break the ash down for a while and apply 1 tbsp- 1oz to gallon. Sometimes sonnes #7 bentonite refined (azomite).
Also to buffer the cal mix is to use a humic imo that's why I use the willards water. Check it out.

 

[Mr.X]

Pretty cool creature, i personally dont like botanicare cal magvplus, i found it didn't give me the quick response calimagic does. I ended up using the botanicare for ocasionally foliar feeding. I also mix epsom salt @ml per gallon. On an unrelated note i just saw this guy on youtube just now b4 i read yer post claiming that cal mag should be added first when making your solution. I've never heard this b4 and since you seem 2b quite knowledgeable on the subject.... also if im adding silica wich i often do, what would B the necessary steps? I know 4 a fact that should be the 1st thing in my cocoction, and what about micro? I know micro should also B the 1st @ least in a 3 part solution like GH's..... HMU man im baked N confused! LMFAO