Diy calcium magnesium suppliment - calmag

roidrage152

Active Member
I used to use GH calimagic, or Botanicare CalMg with my reverse osmosis water, for deficiencies but it was getting real expensive, so I searched for alternatives. I can't vouch exactly for the science behind what I did, but I can verify that my plants didn't die, and they also seemed to not have Cal or MG deficiency.

Basically I took information from various people who have already done similar, and somewhat modified it in different ways. Basically the major brands of nutrients based on their bottle labeling got their calcium and magnesium from things I had trouble finding, or seemed too dangerous for me to want to have mailed to my house. The major brands of Cal/Mag supplements have Calcium/Magnesium/iron chelate. So I'll tell you whats in mine, how much to use, and why I chose the amounts. I mixed the chemicals with my own RO water. The qtys that I purchased could make like 100+ gallons I think.

Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salts) - This can be purchased online, but I bought it from CVS for like $2. You can find it in many drug stores and stuff, it's considered a plant nutrient on its own, and it's used as bath salts and other things.

Calcium Nitrate - I purchased this on eBay. I got 5lbs of it for $14.00, and turns out I bought way too much. Primarily a fertilizer additive though it has some other uses. Seemed pretty harmless to buy online, and was easy to find.

Chelated Iron - Iron EDTA - This guy I don't know much about. I found some on eBay for like $15, though I've seen it in many forms. The one I used was actually a powder. I think the powder is for commercial sized fields of vegetable crops, but someone had made tiny packages of it to sell on eBay. I think the nutrient companies are selling water soluble iron chelate with nitrogen now, which would probably be what I buy next time.

Now to figure out the proportions I used an old formula by "FATMAN" from a different message board and plugged it into Hydrobuddy a nutrient calculator to figure out the weights. The one problem is that the PPM vs the Weights FATMAN recommended didn't match. So I basically just plugged his PPMs into HydroBuddy, and used those weights to make my mixture.

fatmans Cal-Mag

PPM
Nitrogen 200
Magnesium 120
Calcium 259
Sulfur 160
Iron 10.00

I plug these PPMs into HydroBuddy and the results it gives me are so:

Magnesium 120ppm
Calcium 259ppm
Sulfur 160ppm
Iron 10.00ppm


Per 1 Gallon of water:
IRON EDTA : .291 grams
Calcium Nitrate: 5.8 grams
Magnesium Sulfate: 4.607

Please note that these amounts are pretty tiny. I used a pretty accurate scale for this and made a gallon. Next time I plan to make a 5 gallon batch. I feel like it could be more accurate if I could work with larger qtys of these chemicals. Another side note, mixing Calcium nitrate and Magnesium Sulfate is supposed to create Gypsum. So I made sure to completely dissolve my Calcium nitrate in my gallon of water before adding the Magnesium Sulfate or Iron Chelate.

I am not a scientist, and I honestly don't know how to work Hydrobuddy that well. I have been growing for some years now, though I don't consider myself a grand master or anything. I did go through 1 gallon of this mix with a fairly large crop. I used approx 1 teaspoon per gallon of water with my regular nutrient schedule. (I use General Hydro 3 part + some supplements). I added this CalMag mixture at least 70% of the time that I watered. I would normally just add it every time, especially since its so cheap, but sometimes I was in a real hurry or something or paranoid about my experimental mixture.

I can't give you a guaranteed analysis or anything, but I can tell you this. My plants grew pretty much the same as if I had been still feeding the name brand CalMag. And my plants didn't seem to have deficiency in Calcium or Magnesium. I'm making some more, and I'm going to keep using it. I'll post if something changes, but I would love to hear input from people smarter than me.



 

PetFlora

Well-Known Member
Depending on how much nutes you need, instead of gathering up a bunch of raw materials which would last me several lifetimes, I started using Hydroponic-Research VEG+BLOOM- a dry powder formula. I love it

It's very concentrated I only use 1000ppm for one week at peak flower
 

shaggyballs

Well-Known Member
calcium nitrate and mag/sulfate is a no no !!!
The precipitate is gypsum -- CaSO4.2H2O -- aka hydrated calcium sulfate. Magnesium cations and nitrate anions dominate the solution. Calcium sulfate is slightly soluble, so not all of the calcium cations and sulfate anions would precipitate
 

Jbone77

Well-Known Member
Calnit and mag sulfate have have been used together for years and by most every nute company around. Dissolve the calnit first, epsom second, iron last and their is no precip. Dump em in at the same time and they will bind. No different than any other 2 part hydro solution. I know google says it makes gypsum but thats when you dont follow directions.
 

zem

Well-Known Member
I feed my plants the following:
Calcium nitrate, potassium nitrate, monopotassium phosphate(MPK), magnesium sulfate, iron and trace element mix, phosphoric acid, and h2o2. with proper use, i get great results
 

budman111

Well-Known Member
I used to use GH calimagic, or Botanicare CalMg with my reverse osmosis water, for deficiencies but it was getting real expensive, so I searched for alternatives. I can't vouch exactly for the science behind what I did, but I can verify that my plants didn't die, and they also seemed to not have Cal or MG deficiency.

Basically I took information from various people who have already done similar, and somewhat modified it in different ways. Basically the major brands of nutrients based on their bottle labeling got their calcium and magnesium from things I had trouble finding, or seemed too dangerous for me to want to have mailed to my house. The major brands of Cal/Mag supplements have Calcium/Magnesium/iron chelate. So I'll tell you whats in mine, how much to use, and why I chose the amounts. I mixed the chemicals with my own RO water. The qtys that I purchased could make like 100+ gallons I think.

Magnesium Sulfate (Epsom Salts) - This can be purchased online, but I bought it from CVS for like $2. You can find it in many drug stores and stuff, it's considered a plant nutrient on its own, and it's used as bath salts and other things.

Calcium Nitrate - I purchased this on eBay. I got 5lbs of it for $14.00, and turns out I bought way too much. Primarily a fertilizer additive though it has some other uses. Seemed pretty harmless to buy online, and was easy to find.

Chelated Iron - Iron EDTA - This guy I don't know much about. I found some on eBay for like $15, though I've seen it in many forms. The one I used was actually a powder. I think the powder is for commercial sized fields of vegetable crops, but someone had made tiny packages of it to sell on eBay. I think the nutrient companies are selling water soluble iron chelate with nitrogen now, which would probably be what I buy next time.

Now to figure out the proportions I used an old formula by "FATMAN" from a different message board and plugged it into Hydrobuddy a nutrient calculator to figure out the weights. The one problem is that the PPM vs the Weights FATMAN recommended didn't match. So I basically just plugged his PPMs into HydroBuddy, and used those weights to make my mixture.

fatmans Cal-Mag

PPM
Nitrogen 200
Magnesium 120
Calcium 259
Sulfur 160
Iron 10.00

I plug these PPMs into HydroBuddy and the results it gives me are so:

Magnesium 120ppm
Calcium 259ppm
Sulfur 160ppm
Iron 10.00ppm


Per 1 Gallon of water:
IRON EDTA : .291 grams
Calcium Nitrate: 5.8 grams
Magnesium Sulfate: 4.607

Please note that these amounts are pretty tiny. I used a pretty accurate scale for this and made a gallon. Next time I plan to make a 5 gallon batch. I feel like it could be more accurate if I could work with larger qtys of these chemicals. Another side note, mixing Calcium nitrate and Magnesium Sulfate is supposed to create Gypsum. So I made sure to completely dissolve my Calcium nitrate in my gallon of water before adding the Magnesium Sulfate or Iron Chelate.

I am not a scientist, and I honestly don't know how to work Hydrobuddy that well. I have been growing for some years now, though I don't consider myself a grand master or anything. I did go through 1 gallon of this mix with a fairly large crop. I used approx 1 teaspoon per gallon of water with my regular nutrient schedule. (I use General Hydro 3 part + some supplements). I added this CalMag mixture at least 70% of the time that I watered. I would normally just add it every time, especially since its so cheap, but sometimes I was in a real hurry or something or paranoid about my experimental mixture.

I can't give you a guaranteed analysis or anything, but I can tell you this. My plants grew pretty much the same as if I had been still feeding the name brand CalMag. And my plants didn't seem to have deficiency in Calcium or Magnesium. I'm making some more, and I'm going to keep using it. I'll post if something changes, but I would love to hear input from people smarter than me.



It would be interesting to see the reaction to plants under LED, that would be the real test.
 

shaggyballs

Well-Known Member
Calnit and mag sulfate have have been used together for years and by most every nute company around. Dissolve the calnit first, epsom second, iron last and their is no precip. Dump em in at the same time and they will bind. No different than any other 2 part hydro solution. I know google says it makes gypsum but thats when you dont follow directions.
Thanks for takin me to school on that one I always want to learn!!
 

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
While he's right that you can avoid precipitation if you're careful, I see no reason for packaging Mg and Ca in the same stock solution to begin with. (unless your whole feeding is based on 1 stock solution, dyna-gro or ionic products)

There's no specific need to emulate a "cal-mag" product in the first place if you have calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate as standalone ingredients.

Example, general hydroponics 3 part puts all the calcium nitrate in the "micro" bottle. (i don't know why they call it micro... perhaps to be misleading, but there's nothing micro about calcium nitrate). All the magnessium goes in the "bloom" and "grow" bottles.

Hell, I'll sum up what GH 3 part FOR THE MOST PART is....

"micro" is mostly calcium nitrate
"bloom" is mostly mono potassium phosphate
"grow" is mostly potassium nitrate.

It's so easy to reverse engineer as long as you did well in high school chemistry. Knowing this, why do people even use cal-mag? Why not just use more "micro"? Oh i know, it's because people are willingly ignorant of what's in their products.

People automatically assume "grow" means nitrogen, but potassium nitrate actually has more potassium than nitrogen by mass. Go ahead, check wikipedia. It straight up tells you the NPK ratio of potassium nitrate, or you could just find the molar masses and find the NPK ratios by yourself (not hard at all).


can anyone else confirm this as i have read they would not mix together....but you are correct i have seen them on the same label.

one of those he said she said things?????
 

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
It's good to see people finally having the balls to REJECT cal-mag products for what they are..

BULLSHIT.

Repackaged calcium nitrate with $$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$$
 

Nullis

Moderator
While he's right that you can avoid precipitation if you're careful, I see no reason for packaging Mg and Ca in the same stock solution to begin with. (unless your whole feeding is based on 1 stock solution, dyna-gro or ionic products)

There's no specific need to emulate a "cal-mag" product in the first place if you have calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate as standalone ingredients.

Example, general hydroponics 3 part puts all the calcium nitrate in the "micro" bottle. (i don't know why they call it micro... perhaps to be misleading, but there's nothing micro about calcium nitrate). All the magnessium goes in the "bloom" and "grow" bottles.

Hell, I'll sum up what GH 3 part FOR THE MOST PART is....

"micro" is mostly calcium nitrate
"bloom" is mostly mono potassium phosphate
"grow" is mostly potassium nitrate.

It's so easy to reverse engineer as long as you did well in high school chemistry. Knowing this, why do people even use cal-mag? Why not just use more "micro"? Oh i know, it's because people are willingly ignorant of what's in their products.

People automatically assume "grow" means nitrogen, but potassium nitrate actually has more potassium than nitrogen by mass. Go ahead, check wikipedia. It straight up tells you the NPK ratio of potassium nitrate, or you could just find the molar masses and find the NPK ratios by yourself (not hard at all).
Probably because the FloraMicro is a 5-0-1, and it contains no magnesium. Apparently, they keep the chelated trace minerals in the FloraMicro (which also has N due to the ammonium and nitrate salts). The Grow and Bloom contain just primary\secondary macro-nutrients.
Really though, the FloraMicro is not 'mostly calcium nitrate. The FloraBloom is not 'mostly mono-potassium phosphate. The FloraGrow is not 'mostly potassium nitrate'.

FloraMicro Ingredients: Ammonium Molybdate, Ammonium Nitrate, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Nitrate, Cobalt Nitrate, Copper EDTA, Iron DTPA, Iron EDDHA, Iron EDTA, Manganese EDTA, Potassium Borate, Potassium Nitrate, and Zinc EDTA.

FloraGrow Ingredients: Ammonium Phosphate, Magnesium Carbonate, Magnesium Nitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Potassium Carbonate, Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Phosphate, and Potassium Sulfate.

FloraBloom Ingredients: Derived from: Magnesium Carbonate, Magnesium Phosphate, Magnesium Sulfate, Phosphoric Acid, Potassium Carbonate, Potassium Phosphate, and Potassium Sulfate.

Also remember the way NPK is expressed, N is elemental N whereas P and K are listed as the oxide equivalents.

To the OP: as long as you don't mix solutions of calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate which are concentrated\slurry, you might be okay. If you did make gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate) you should notice a precipitate.

Perhaps you could try calcium or magnesium citrate instead.
 

churchhaze

Well-Known Member
I never said Micro had magnesium in it, but it's very clear that I'm right about this. Micro is mostly calcium nitrate, bloom is mostly mono potassium phosphate, and grow is mostly potassium nitrate (excluding water as an ingredient, of course). You can tell by the percentages of each element contained that those are the dominant ingredients.

Infact, i specifically made the point that most 3 part mixes don't have the Mg in the same bottle as the Ca. In the case of GH 3 part, the Mg is distributed between the grow and the bloom bottles.

Sure, the micro bottle actually does contain micro nutrients, but that doesn't change the fact that the majority of it's composition is calcium nitrate. I can say without a doubt that the Ammonium molybdate, Cobalt Nitrate, Copper EDTA, Manganese EDTA, Potassium Borate, and zinc EDTA all combined, exist in negligible amounts when compared to the amount of calcium nitrate added. We're talking a few milligrams vs a few grams.

Like a big scoop of ice cream (calcium nitrate) with a sprinkle (everything else) on top.

The ammonium nitrate actually is included because the most common and cheap form of calcium nitrate is a double salt containing 1 part ammonium nitrate for every 5 parts calcium nitrate.

"Also remember the way NPK is expressed, N is elemental N whereas P and K are listed as the oxide equivalents."

I know this and take it into consideration when I do my calculations.

There's even software that allows you to engineer/reverse engineer this stuff.


Probably because the FloraMicro is a 5-0-1, and it contains no magnesium. Apparently, they keep the chelated trace minerals in the FloraMicro (which also has N due to the ammonium and nitrate salts). The Grow and Bloom contain just primary\secondary macro-nutrients.
Really though, the FloraMicro is not 'mostly calcium nitrate. The FloraBloom is not 'mostly mono-potassium phosphate. The FloraGrow is not 'mostly potassium nitrate'.

FloraMicro Ingredients: Ammonium Molybdate, Ammonium Nitrate, Calcium Carbonate, Calcium Nitrate, Cobalt Nitrate, Copper EDTA, Iron DTPA, Iron EDDHA, Iron EDTA, Manganese EDTA, Potassium Borate, Potassium Nitrate, and Zinc EDTA.

FloraGrow Ingredients: Ammonium Phosphate, Magnesium Carbonate, Magnesium Nitrate, Magnesium Sulfate, Potassium Carbonate, Potassium Nitrate, Potassium Phosphate, and Potassium Sulfate.

FloraBloom Ingredients: Derived from: Magnesium Carbonate, Magnesium Phosphate, Magnesium Sulfate, Phosphoric Acid, Potassium Carbonate, Potassium Phosphate, and Potassium Sulfate.

Also remember the way NPK is expressed, N is elemental N whereas P and K are listed as the oxide equivalents.

To the OP: as long as you don't mix solutions of calcium nitrate and magnesium sulfate which are concentrated\slurry, you might be okay. If you did make gypsum (calcium sulfate dihydrate) you should notice a precipitate.

Perhaps you could try calcium or magnesium citrate instead.
 

enzofilo

Active Member
Hello everybody, Im glad I've found this thread. I've been reading that I need a base water EC of around 0.4, then, I should add the nutes to this to feed the girls. My tap water is 0.1 EC, so i read i need to increase it by adding calcium sulphate and magnesium sulphate. I bought a powdered kilo of both. The thing is, there's not much info about this on forums and I can't find any trustworthy source of the dosage for each of them. Does anyone know how much should I add to get a 0.3-0.5 base water EC????bongsmilie
 

enzofilo

Active Member
Sorry to double post, but I want to leave a comment on this matter just in case. I added 0.3 grams of calcium sulphate and 0.1 grams of magnesium sulphate to 1.5 liters of tap water EC 0.1. The result was water with 0.5 EC. :bigjoint:
 

OldSoul777

Well-Known Member
calcium nitrate and mag/sulfate is a no no !!!
The precipitate is gypsum -- CaSO4.2H2O -- aka hydrated calcium sulfate. Magnesium cations and nitrate anions dominate the solution. Calcium sulfate is slightly soluble, so not all of the calcium cations and sulfate anions would precipitate
I know this is old but I have been buying my calmag fro kelp4less in 1 pound powder form but it doesnt dissolve all the way. is this the calcium that is not disolving? I need to use 3 times the amount to reach the same PPM as GH and now seem to be having some issues. Im going back to GH but would love to find something cheaper as I us RO water as well. Hopefully you are still a member here!
 

Joomby

Well-Known Member
When I want to use calcium and magnesium on my plants I use Epsom salts and egg shells
Yes. I save up all my egg shells and rinse them in hot water and then bake them just under 100 Celsius for how ever long it takes to properly dry them usually around 10 mins. I then crush them up and blend them in a magic bullet add Epsom salt at 3 parts egg shells to 1 part Epsom salt .boil mix with very little water for 5 mins continually stir then pour the mix in a tray and let evaporate.product finished. spread around roots and water in or mix in with soil mix
 

Jon E. Doe

Well-Known Member
I anticipated needing calmag because I was moving from DWC to coco hempy buckets with RO water. I set out by studying some before shelling out any cash. I found an old thread fhat goes on forever, but the premise was using a modified Lucas scheule that is coco specific. I've been jamming on it for a little over a week now (6micro, 9 bloom into tapwater) and my girls are booming. I suppose the quantify/ratio of the GH nutes is such that allows uptake of the Ca/Mg thats in my tapwater (155ppm/8.2Ph), who knows. In any case, thanks for the recipe. Never hurts to have an extra tool in kit. If I ever move or our water, or my grow style change, this will come in handy.
 
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