Organic Cal-Mag Nutrient

go with botincares Organicare line they have cal/mag along with other organic supplements

Molassas is a cal/mag source never had a defiencincy using it indoors . But Yup like they said Dolomite LIme is what u need to ammend your soil with for cal/mag .

Never been an organic grower.Every now and then I'll use some parts of my nutes that are organic.My grow bags go into the ground.My own mix.Then I go with Technofloura nutes.I'd love to do a Guano grow outdoors.May do it this spring/summer.No need for lime this way.Root 66 and Calmag.May try that organicare at the 1st of the thread.

woodsmaneh! said:

IMHO most people make things worse when they try to treat a deficiency head on, in other words they screw it up. I never recommend treating plants for just one issue, most times your wrong and do more harm. I say this as the mobility of some elements depends on the availability of other elements in the plant. For example: when the level of nitrogen drops it causes other elements to lock up. Magnesium is a good example, low nitrogen and the mag locks. [FONT=&quot]

Most bags of lime carry the recommendation to use in the fall so it can age, they also recommend you don't use lime and fertilizer together in the same year. Lots of people mix and use but that does not mean it's right, there may be some that can be used right away but I have yet see any. Dolomite Lime has way to much magnesium in it so I never use it. The lime industry has done a good job of convincing us we need it but tossing in line is more likely to upset the balance than help. There are much better ways to get what you need than Dolo. If your looking for calcium then use gypsum to add more calcium.

Another good additive is Green Sand or glacial rock. Green sand contains iron-potassium silicate, 7% potash, sulphur, boron, iron, manganese and zink. It comes for the ocean and is made of seashells and organic matter. It will improve the tilth of the soil and increase the water holding capacity of sandy soils. You can apply anytime. You can find it at garden centers.

Here’s The Important Part[/FONT]
The main point I want to make is that even if minerals are leaching from your soil, it doesn’t make sense to blindly go back adding just two of them (the calcium and magnesium in dolomite lime) without knowing you need them. You might already have enough or too much of one or both of them. We need to think a little more than that when organic gardening.
Your soil needs a calcium:magnesium of somewhere between 7:1 (sandier soils) and 10:1 (clayier soils). Outside of this range, your soil will have water problems, your plants will have health problems and insect and disease problems, and you will have weed problems.

One of your most important goals in the garden is to add specific mineral fertilizers to move the calcium to magnesium ratio towards this range. As a side note, I understand it may seem strange to some that we should have to do this, but our soils are way out of balance and we’re trying to grow things that wouldn’t naturally grow there, so we have to do this.
The problem with dolomite lime? It has a calcium:magnesium ratio of 2:1. That’s way too much magnesium for most soils. Magnesium is certainly an essential mineral. Too much of it, however, causes many problems, compaction being one of the most common, but also pest and weed problems.
So if you add this to your garden every year, chances are you’re just causing more compaction and weed problems.

When Should You Use Dolomite Lime?
You should only use dolomite lime when you have a soil test showing a huge deficiency of magnesium in your soil.
Even then, calcitic lime (calcium carbonate) is generally the way to go because it has a small amount of magnesium and often a calcium:magnesium ratio of about 10:1, with a calcium content 34% to 40% or more.
I use calcitic lime regularly in my organic gardening, but even then, only when I need it. A soil test is the main way to find out if you need it.[FONT=&quot][/FONT]

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All of this is well and good, but I'm growing in containers indoors, using a peat-based soilless mix. The only Calcium and Magnesium present are what I add. So if starting from scratch, does a 2:1 cal:mag ratio provides too much Mg?

The garden lime coupled with the GO CalMag I had been using was sufficient for most of my plants, but a couple of recent ones began showing some rust spots and yellow striping associated with Mg deficiency. Interestingly enough, I was checking out the GO CalMag at the store the other day and they changed the feeding suggestion on the bottle from 1/2 tsp light and 1 tsp heavy to 1 tsp light and 2 tsp heavy. Guess they realized it was a little weak.

Also I thought Greensand wasn't immediately available to the plant...

woodsmaneh! said:

Dolomite lime is best used in the fall to condition the soil for next year. It is known as a hot soil conditioner and will burn roots so be careful.

Peace

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This is not true. Dolomite is not "hot" at all, it is the mildest form of lime available. Hydrated lime (quicklime) is very hot and shouldn't be used, dolomite is fine. Use 1/2 cup/cf of soil.

kingofqueen said:

Molassas is a cal/mag source never had a defiencincy using it indoors . But Yup like they said Dolomite LIme is what u need to ammend your soil with for cal/mag .

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My girls right now are into week 8 of flower from day of light switch to 13/11 and are starting to show signs of Mg def, I have used Age old organic line (for the Most part but still all organic) they are currently being fed with Age Old Bloom, Bonticare Cal/mag, Age old Kelp, Silica Blast, Strapped molasses. I would like to start using the lime in my medium (pro-mix) as a PH bffer but I fear it may begin to overdose them on calcium and magnesium. Could i just stop using the Cal/mag if using the lime? BRINGING THIS OLD THREAD BACK TO LIFE.

StonerFiesta said:

My girls right now are into week 8 of flower from day of light switch to 13/11 and are starting to show signs of Mg def, I have used Age old organic line (for the Most part but still all organic) they are currently being fed with Age Old Bloom, Bonticare Cal/mag, Age old Kelp, Silica Blast, Strapped molasses. I would like to start using the lime in my medium (pro-mix) as a PH bffer but I fear it may begin to overdose them on calcium and magnesium. Could i just stop using the Cal/mag if using the lime? BRINGING THIS OLD THREAD BACK TO LIFE.

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First of all I like your nutrient line up. Simple yet effective. You can stop using cal mag if you add lime most likely but you will still need a little micro nutrients. I like earthjuice microblast for this purpose. It has magnesium and other minerals that help buffer it. Covers almost any micro defeciency your plants will ever have. GET IT

StonerFiesta said:

My girls right now are into week 8 of flower from day of light switch to 13/11 and are starting to show signs of Mg def, I have used Age old organic line (for the Most part but still all organic) they are currently being fed with Age Old Bloom, Bonticare Cal/mag, Age old Kelp, Silica Blast, Strapped molasses. I would like to start using the lime in my medium (pro-mix) as a PH bffer but I fear it may begin to overdose them on calcium and magnesium. Could i just stop using the Cal/mag if using the lime? BRINGING THIS OLD THREAD BACK TO LIFE.

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If you're not having problems with pH, I'd go with a cal/mag supplement rather than added lime. You really need to get the pH of the soil set with lime at the beginning BEFORE you transplant. Unless you're using RO or distilled water, there ought to be sufficient Ca and Mg, but ocassionally you may need a supplement. In that case, I personally keep a bottle of Botanicare Cal/Mag on hand for fast acting, but prefer to make my own with powdered egg shell and Epsom salts.

Jack Harer said:

If you're not having problems with pH, I'd go with a cal/mag supplement rather than added lime. You really need to get the pH of the soil set with lime at the beginning BEFORE you transplant. Unless you're using RO or distilled water, there ought to be sufficient Ca and Mg, but ocassionally you may need a supplement. In that case, I personally keep a bottle of Botanicare Cal/Mag on hand for fast acting, but prefer to make my own with powdered egg shell and Epsom salts.

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About how many egg shells would you say you powder up? and is this added to 1 gallonwater with 1 tsp epsom?

You can make calcium phosphate with egg shell and vinegar too. Great for "changeover" periods on any plant (changeover is switching from veg to flower).

egg shells and dolomite lime

Ccoastal

oyster shell powder!

^^^^^ That's gonna be one of your best sources, least smelly anyway. Egg shells have to be baked a bit before you grind em up. I was able to do that in the house exactly once, then I had to buy a used oven.

Oystershell has calcium and iron but everything else is too little according to this. .025% magnesium is not enough to count as anything really.

Pacific Pearl Oyster Shell: Nature's Best Calcium
Guarantee Analysis

Calcium Carbonate (CaCo3) Not Less Than 96%
Expressed as Calcium Not Less Than 36%

Typical Analysis

Calcium (Ca)
37.62%

Magnesium (Mg)
.025%

Potassium (K)
.05%

Sulphur (S)
.037%

Phosphorus (P)
.03%

Iron (Fe)
.1176%

Manganese (Mn)
.0370%

Zinc (Zn)
.0033%

Copper (Cu)
.0009%

Molybdenum (Mo)
.0003%

Boron (B)
.0021%

Its mainly used to help stablize your soil ph

I use egg shells. Boil them to kill germs, let dry, grind to a powder, put in soil and let it cook for a month

Crab shell meal. http://www.neptunesharvest.com/cs-604.html

Vital earth has a organic cal mag product. I think oysters shell is your best bet, make sure ur ratios are good and u should have no worries. Also try mixing reg tap water with RO and make sure u bubble, that's what I've been doing and everything looking great

Here's the analysis on the crab shell... lots of goodies

botainecare has a good calmag, a unsulphered molasses cant act as a calmag supplement as well

there's an OMRI listed organic calmag from Future Harvest Nutrients. It's called Organical Magic. Apparently it's 100% water soluble so it's immediately available to the plant.