35ppm water (Cal/Mag)

Hey guys,

So my water reads 35ppm out the tap. I'm growing in soil at the moment and was wondering how much/when should I add Cal/Mag?

Should I add cal/mag with every watering/feeding? Or just with feeding?

Thanks

Is that city water?

The real question is, What soil?

35 ppm water is on that Use a Ca/Mg list if in hydro or soilless media.

my tap water averages 35-50 ppm I use cal-mag @ 2 m/l = 1- gal. water when I mix nutrients I'm using royal gold tupur as a soilless medium

Thanks for the reply guys!

@apollo4201982 No it's not city water, out in the country so no water softener here which is good.

@Dr. Who It's this soil here https://www.hydroculture.co.uk/plagron-light-mix-soil - mixed with 15% worm castings. Seems like the soil is just lightly fertilised then feed at your own judgement.

@horribleherk Right, so you add cal/mag every feed? and then just plain water in between?

35ppm is ridiculously clean water.

What is the basic nutrient package you're offering your plants?

ttystikk said:

35ppm is ridiculously clean water.

What is the basic nutrient package you're offering your plants?

Click to expand...

I know right! It comes out the tap at PH 9.1 too lol

For the time being it's just Powerzyme, half dosage of cal/mag, 1tsp per L of organic molasses and 1 drop of supervit.

So all the nutes so far are from the worm castings/light soil mix.

Once they start to show needs of feeding I'm going to be introducing Hesi nutes around 1/2 strength.

Here she is. Kali mist at 20 days since germination.

I added too much worm castings in her first pot. Hence why she's a bit dark green and the yellow tips I guess is a bit of nute burn from the castings?

She's pretty stubby though right?

I have recently had calcium deficiencies in my garden for the first time in over 2 years of growing at my new place.

My well water has been .3 ec or 150 ppm mineral content and 8.0 ph according to my truncheont and water test kit steady up until recently.

When I tried to troubleshoot I found with the lack of rain this summer my well water had dropped to .2 ec or 100ppm.

I have corrected the problem by adding 2 ml cal mag + with all water and nute mixes I add.

The 2 ml raises the ec back to .3 which is perfect and recomended in most guides and books I have read.

I will keep checking as the fall rains come to see if the natural ec raises back up or I will burn my plants with the additional cal mag in time.

It is the alkalinity of the source water that is important not the ph. I do not adjust in potting soil with lime or oyster shell as the water nutes and soil all balance each other.

My runoff when things are working is always right about 6.3-6.5 ph in ocean forest or pro mix.

ttystikk said:

35ppm is ridiculously clean water.

What is the basic nutrient package you're offering your plants?

Click to expand...

I'm on well water and it has been lab tested (multiple times) at between 40 and 50 ppm. It comes out of the tap at 5.9.

People who poo on well water don't always know what's really out there......

@MichiganMedGrower


Thanks for the reply mate. Seems like I've got similar issues regarding lack of mineral content. The Hesi nutes contain all the macro, micro nutrients but since I'm not on that just yet I need to supplement.

I first noticed white tips when I watered with pure water, no cal/mag. So I'll stick to the recommended feeding of the cal/mag for now.

I'll check my runoff ph/conductivity to see where I'm at next time I water.

First soil grow for me, used Coco before but I fancied a switch up

Thanks again!

Nutty sKunK said:

@MichiganMedGrower


Thanks for the reply mate. Seems like I've got similar issues regarding lack of mineral content. The Hesi nutes contain all the macro, micro nutrients but since I'm not on that just yet I need to supplement.

I first noticed white tips when I watered with pure water, no cal/mag. So I'll stick to the recommended feeding of the cal/mag for now.

I'll check my runoff ph/conductivity to see where I'm at next time I water.

First soil grow for me, used Coco before but I fancied a switch up

Thanks again!

Click to expand...

White tips is a good indicator. Also droopy tips is what I kept seeing. And then the spots.

I use pure Blend Pro which is notorious for needing cal mag in ro water.

If my well water stays soft I may switch to a higher calcium nute or even the kind trio. The basenis just calcium nitrate so I could just customize if I have to use 2 bottles anyway.

Or I will find out there isnt enough iron anymore.

Lol.

Good luck bud

@MichiganMedGrower

Yeah, it's quite mind boggling how many variations there are. Also MJ seems to show similar signs even with different things wrong.. and the fact that each plant is unique. Got another Kali mist and shes not that fussed at all.

Cheers bud!

Nutty sKunK said:

@MichiganMedGrower

Yeah, it's quite mind boggling how many variations there are. Also MJ seems to show similar signs even with different things wrong.. and the fact that each plant is unique. Got another Kali mist and shes not that fussed at all.

Cheers bud!

Click to expand...

Grow weed easy had a great link explaining this simply.

Nutrients need to be in balance and here is why the relatively high nitrogen ocean forest needed more calcium to balance it out.

http://www.growweedeasy.com/common-nutrient-problems

And here is the calcium link.

http://www.growweedeasy.com/calcium-deficiency-cannabis

@MichiganMedGrower

Thanks bud! I see my other Kali is curling at her leaf tips. Too much nitrogen. Was my mistake, I went for 50/50 soil/worm castings xD. Should I give her a good flush to get that extra nitrogen out? And should the flush contain Cal/mag?

I'll post a pic, 2 secs

It's not over/under watering btw

Nutty sKunK said:

@MichiganMedGrower

Thanks bud! I see my other Kali is curling at her leaf tips. Too much nitrogen. Was my mistake, I went for 50/50 soil/worm castings xD. Should I give her a good flush to get that extra nitrogen out? And should the flush contain Cal/mag?

I'll post a pic, 2 secs

Click to expand...

I didn't leach very much. I usually give a gallon per plant when they are in 3 gallon pots and get 20% runoff.

I gave a half gallon of fresh well water let it soak a bit then gave a gallon with the 2 ml. Cal mag and a medium strong 12.5 ml dose of pure Blend Pro Grow.

3 days later even the lesser spotted leaves started turning green again and the leaves are all flat and happy now.

I have 1 very ugly plant clinging to its spotted rusty fan leaves but is also growing fine now.

Took a couple weeks now to get the right amount of calmag to grow formula. But I think if I start the cal mag with the final transplant in be gone I will avoid the problem that always peaks at week 3-4.

Nutty sKunK said:

It's not over/under watering btw

Click to expand...

Alright. Pretty sure it's the same thing we are dealing with.

Here are some pics

The right front plant is deficient and 2 days ago had also gone very light green.

Also the unbent younger plant in the back row middle is showing the calcium tips and iron lightening as well.


Closer up on right front plant. (It is actually left front in the room looking at garden)
3 days later.



It was easy to add too much nutes with the extra cal mag. I had to back off my regular amount a bit.

Hope this helps.

If your soil is good you shouldn't have to add any cal-mag. Cal-mag is one of the most overused additives out there. It's typically not needed when growing in soil and it can be omitted in coco and hydro if using calcium nitrate as your nitrogen source.
Your plant looks fine. Feed it a good base nutrient and if you have good soil you won't need any cal-mag. Less is usually better. Don't buy into all the additive hype that is making the nutrient companies billions. I'm sure they appreciate people spending their money on watered down chemical salts but I personally have no desire to hand my money over unnecessarily.
If you really think you need cal-mag then get a bag of epsom salts and start saving your egg shells. Grind the eggs shells into a powder and soak them overnight in warm water. You now have your own sources of calcium and magnesium for at most a couple of dollars and enough to last a long time.
The worst looking plants I see on this forum are from people using a bunch of additives.

@MichiganMedGrower Amazing. I'll do this and post report on how they shape up

Thanks 'bud'