Lol an old man at the store called me out once. I was pushing a cart full of distilled and he goes "if i didnt know any better looks like youre running an op" to which i responded "good thing you know better ;)"I thought I was the only one at the grocery store explaining the benefits of "drinking" water to nosy people as I push an entire cart of 5 gallon containers.
Your ph pen reads H+ ions, distilled has no H+ ions so your pen wont read it correctly. This is normal.I also have GH kool bloom bulking and ripening that I planned on adding later in flower(0-10-10 and 2-45-28)
I have some fox farm big bloom that I could add to the mix or I have the cocotek grow a and b
I was just giving them flower nutes from the start because I had heard that it makes your autos have denser nugs. The autos I am growing are from me pollen chucking a fem auto with photo pollen and all of the autos except for two of the ones I have been feeding only flower nutes to have been really airy and fox tailed.
Would you suggest adding some of the GH grow a and b to my 10ml of cocotek flower and cutting back on the calmag?
Also it is distilled jug water which I am assuming is the same as RO, I just tested a jug of distilled water with my pens and it reads 0ppm but a ph of 8.6? Does my meter pen need calibrated or is that normal for jug distilled?
If you just use cocotek flower A,B; then I'd do the A=13ml and B=10ml with no calmag for veg. and A=10ml B=13ml no calmag for flower. 1ml of liquid kool bloom for PK booster.Would you suggest adding some of the GH grow a and b to my 10ml of cocotek flower and cutting back on the calmag?
Tap is horrible too drink Lmao. But it's an easier combo with flint and other cities in the news...LmaoI thought I was the only one at the grocery store explaining the benefits of "drinking" water to nosy people as I push an entire cart of 5 gallon containers.
Great info, but the last paragraph was over my head lol. Thanks for the info tho, the rest of it made perfect senseGuess I'm always R/o, save for a little bit where i did use tap to pH up. Ran mediums from full peat to full coir, but tend to run a combo. Have been able to illicit (individually) N-,P-,K-,Mg-Fe- in veg. However I've yet to illicit Ca- or S-. I have only seen the inclusion of Ca- in flower.
totally imho, but thinking about how it (Ca) got popular is probably related to many things. Over the years; more indoor ops, more growers using r/o, more using non-limed mixes, trend of increasing temps and CO2, trends of higher humidity, greater average ppfd fluxes to more grows and I suppose also trends changing some with NPK's.
Ca and Mg were already lumped together in research, where Ca:Mg ratios (or K to Ca:Mg) are often used I suppose. The company that makes calmag (which has Fe, N, Mg....and Ca) will probably net more "visible" response than another company selling only Ca. As Fe,N and Mg can all show a visible response within a short period. A response means "it works" right? haha. Naw, but it sure can help sales. Calmag has a ring to it, so that's gotta be worth somethin' too xD.
There are a few elements (Ca, Mg, K, S) that have essentially no, or stupid high toxicity levels for plants. As well, Ca sucks because when you actually see Ca-, it is often weeks late (low as days w/true hydros) and even then damage cannot be repaired. So, i suppose the trend is more of a "better safe than sorry". The only downside is that starts a cascade of changes required in other NPK components in order to net the same total "availability" prior to XX element being adjusted (Ca in this case). With calmag, this availability impact also must include N,Mg and Fe too lol.
In regards to nutrient solutions as a whole:
The cations all interact relative to their ratios with each other and similarly anions to themselves. Then cumulatively, total cation ratios have a loose interaction with total anion ratios. For every ratio of Cations and a specific plant (including environment), there is a point of optimal growth. Similarly for every ratio of anions there is a point of optimal growth. Further there is a point of optimal growth relative to ratios of anions (to themselves) and cations (to themselves). Including all 3 interactions, nets only 1 "most" optimal ratio of both cation and anions for a specific plant (and evnironment). For any ratios outside of this, growth can be optimized relative to those ratios. It is entirely possible for 2 completely different NPK profiles to have similar growth characteristics as a result of this. (i.e. total net availability is equal despite differing npk values). IMHO, Mfgs take advantage of this a bit.....
Lot's of ways to skin a cat.
D'oh! rambled sorry.
Thanks for all the great info. I'd love to understand the plants at that level some day.If you just use cocotek flower A,B; then I'd do the A=13ml and B=10ml with no calmag for veg. and A=10ml B=13ml no calmag for flower. 1ml of liquid kool bloom for PK booster.
If you have / will use cocotek Grow; then
I'd prolly do Cocotek Bloom A = 11ml and Cocotek Grow B = 14ml and Kool Bloom Liquid = 2ml no calmag for flower.
(gives; 107-63-215-132-41 / N,P,K,Ca,Mg)
All these dilute as necessary after mixing of course.
How do you adress any onset of root rot?
Alot of people use r.o. water and dont really need to. Of course knowing exactly whats in the starting tap water with an analysis would be ideal...its safe to assume that without one...your tap. EC or ppm is largely comprised of calcium and magnesium carbonates. And some fluoride. That being said....if your tap is reading 0.2 to 0.5 EC ( 100 to 250 ppm) then this is the PERFECT start water to add a coco coir specific nutrient line with. Brands like Canna , House and Garden , GH Cocotek , Advanced Sensi Coco , Botanicare Kind and CNS 17 and all the rest have a ton of calcium and magnesium in the base. Keep total EC between 1.2 to 1.9 (600 - 950 ppm) and pH in the 5.8 - 6.2 range and all the strains i grow or have grown in coco coir have had NO problems. Additives like root and bloom boosters are largely overrated. Roots and blooms do just fine if your base feeds are grewt along with the room environment. I do like a silica and weekly foliar sprays of kelp extract and humic/fulvic acid in veg. But the high priced root and bud boosters....ive never really noticed that big of a difference than just a good coir specific base nutrient and not overdoing it in ppm's.I use well water 250ppm.. use GH expert nutes. Micro Hardwater. Bought the calmag as a per-caution but dont seem to need it. I would only use if have RO water or have deficiency signs.
Yeah. That high of tap...you need reverse osmosis. And bring it back up to about 150 to 200 ppm. Ive never experienced super hard water like that.I use ro water because my tap water is 650 ppm 1.3 ec. I use calmag at 3 ml per gallon, otherwise I start seeing deficiencies.