CalMag in my water

[AliceGG]

So I asked my local Waterworks Department (not sure about the correct translation) about the different minerals in my tapwater and got the following numbers:

Total dissolved minerals: 510-550mg/l
Calcium: 80-90mg/l
Magnesium: 23-26mg/l

Do you think I should buy additional CalMag or is this enough? I don't really find an answer for this, I only see that if I buy Sensi CalMag Xtra it says I should add 2ml/l but there's no info about how much calcium and magnesium are there in 1ml. There's also some calmag in my soil.

 

[Emilya Green]

Our plants are gluttons for both calcium and magnesium. They oftentimes need much more than is in our soil, water and even most of the brands of nutes. Most of us have some calmag around just for those plants who show that they need more, and it happens often enough that you should have some on hand.

 

[AliceGG]

So I should buy it and wait for the signs if they need it? Or if I add a little amount sometimes that can't hurt them too much?

 

[Emilya Green]

if you have too much calcium or magnesium in your soil, they can each lock out other nutrients... its best to use it just as needed.

 

[bobrown14]

The ratio of Ca to Mg is the important factor. You water looks like its about 4:1 Ca to Mg - that's a decent ratio. What happens is the plants use up much much more Ca than Mg. If left to go that route without adding in any Ca to the soil, over time there becomes less and less Ca to Mg ratio and then you get what looks like (well pics on deficiency show this) a Mg deficiency but in reality its an Mg toxicity as that Ca to Mg ratio is off. (too much Mg).

I like my soil to have a 8:1 ratio of Ca to Mg. This will be enough Ca for the plant to thrive and there is usually always enough Mg for a plant either from the soil and or the water.

With tap water I would suggest putting it in a bucket and let it sit over night at least if you don't filter it.

There's lots of other things in tap water to worry about than the Ca/Mg thing. Why I filter my water.

PH becomes an issue - ask your water people what the PH of the water is. This will fluctuate all the time, it's VERY dynamic.

You'd be better off collecting rain water if you can. That will solve lots of issues down the road and it's good for the environment/water company as well.

Your dissolved solid count is pretty high. 510 ppm is higher than the water we have and we do not drink it without filtration and it would kill my plants in containers if we used it. Food for thought!

 

[AliceGG]

Thank yo for the detailed answer, @bobrown14
I heard that proper water filtration is very expensive, so I think since it's my first grow, I will stick to leaving the water sti overnight.
I plan to use these pH stripes, they are available with 0.1 precision. The thing is, I'm not yet sure about the right pH for soil, some say it's betwen 5.8-6.2, then others say for soil it shold be higher, between 6.4-6.8. Is there an ultimate intervall for this? It may depend on the type of my soil.
Unfortunately, collecting rain is not an option, I live in a flat in a block of houses.

Your dissolved solid count is pretty high. 510 ppm is higher than the water we have and we do not drink it without filtration and it would kill my plants in containers if we used it. Food for thought!

This surprised me quite much. Doctors here used to say that water is very heavy in this part of the country, where I live, and that people here should drink more tapwater since it is very healthy opposed to the "light" water.

 

[farside05]

Funny, I've been researching this topic this evening. Plants show Calcium deficiencies when there is less than 40-60 ppm of Calcium in your feed. Your water already exceeds that without addition supplementation. If you are showing Calcium deficiencies and have more than that 60 ppm of Calcium, then you probably have excesses of Potassium, Magnesium, or Sodium. As stated earlier, the ratio of Magnesium to Calcium in your water is acceptable. In short, you should not need to buy Cal Mag.

To answer your other question, a Cal Mag supplement that is 2% Calcium provides 5 ppm of Calcium for every ml added to 1 gallon of water (approx 4 liters).

 

[bobrown14]

Farside nailed it.

For water filtration I use Reverse Osmosis - we use the same thing that people use for aquariums for fish. It's not expensive.

Look up RO Buddy - these are fairly cheap - $50 US for a filter that we can change filters ever few years when needed. We do this mainly for our health but it works for our plants as well. A simple

Your doctor is correct in that we do need to drink water that has minerals in it for sure. Our problem here is there's LEAD and also Fluoride in addition to the bacterial killing chlorine/chloromine (I'm allergic to this due to overexposure - I'm a swimmer).

Since we want to keep our soil bacteria healthy, we filter.

The PH of our RO water is 6.5 every day all day.

You can have PH between 6.2 to 6.8 and be totally good.

The soil bacteria and fungi with take over the PH in the soil, so even outside of the above is ok as long as its not too far outside the norm.

Soil PH is dynamic and will change depending on the plants needs and they communicate this thru the root exudate. So there are microbes and roots constantly changing soil PH.

Collecting rain water is the cheapest best option for plants - your PH will be fine and there will be minerals in the rain water as well. Just not 500+ ppm.

LEAD is a thing. Just ask the Romans. Humans have a hard time with learning from experience. Not sure why??

 

[TorturedSoul]

Doctors here used to say that water is very heavy in this part of the country, where I live, and that people here should drink more tapwater since it is very healthy opposed to the "light" water.

Heavy water is deuterium oxide, lol. I doubt you have any there.

Funny, I've been researching this topic this evening. Plants show Calcium deficiencies when there is less than 40-60 ppm of Calcium in your feed. Your water already exceeds that without addition supplementation.

Yes, but is it in a form accessible to plants? I have read that much of that found in tap water isn't.

 

[AliceGG]

Heavy water is deuterium oxide, lol. I doubt you have any there.



Yes, but is it in a form accessible to plants? I have read that much of that found in tap water isn't.

I might have used the wrong expression
In my language, water is said to be "heavy", when there are a lot of minerals in it.

To your other question, I don't have much scientifical background, but I think it's accessible, because the word "dissolved" is there for a reason. I could be wrong, maybe farside can confirm it.

 

[bobrown14]

Soluble Calcium - thats the term you wanna look for, well in english.

We call water with a lot of minerals HARD water here in the USA.


If you wanna make soluble Calcium and foiler it on your plants, use crushed egg shells in vinegar. I use worm castings in my soil as it also has Ca in it and I add in Gypsum (shorter term release) and crustacean meal in my soil mix for longer term release.

Here's a link to some science for the egg shell deal and also @Emilya has a tutorial here on 420mag on the whole process.

Good read:

https://www.ctahr.hawaii.edu/oc/freepubs/pdf/sa-10.pdf

 

[Gadfly]

When using my local tap, never needed cal/mag—ever. I have hard/heavy water with a ph close to 8, could look up the ppm but, naw. It’s loaded with Calcium and some magnesium. I too have read about the calcium in tap not being readily available for a variety of reasons. Has never been an issue for me. Most of the major fertilizer “complete systems” also incorporate calcium and magnesium into their formulas as well.

“Add calmag” seems to be a regurgitated answer that gets thrown around a lot on these forums. Micro deficiencies are usually pretty rare unless using R/O or something else being out of wack.

 

[AliceGG]

When using my local tap, never needed cal/mag—ever. I have hard/heavy water with a ph close to 8, could look up the ppm but, naw. It’s loaded with Calcium and some magnesium. I too have read about the calcium in tap not being readily available for a variety of reasons. Has never been an issue for me. Most of the major fertilizer “complete systems” also incorporate calcium and magnesium into their formulas as well.

“Add calmag” seems to be a regurgitated answer that gets thrown around a lot on these forums. Micro deficiencies are usually pretty rare unless using R/O or something else being out of wack.

I'm on a strict budget for this first grow, I decided I won't buy additional CalMag until I don't see that my plants need it.

 

[bobrown14]

Calcium is more soluble in water with a higher ph.

 

[TorturedSoul]

“Add calmag” seems to be a regurgitated answer that gets thrown around a lot on these forums.

Yeah... And the biggest issue with that is that there is no element called "calmag." It's two elements. Walk into a fast food place, order a sandwich, and tell them to put cheese on it... and if the droid behind the counter replies, "Okay, I told the cook to add extra cheeseandcoleslaw to your sandwich," and you might get a little annoyed, lol. Especially if you don't like coleslaw - or feel that the amount of coleslaw already on the sandwich in the first place was, in fact, already adequate.

IDK. I have a bottle of a calcium plus magnesium (and a little nitrogen, IIRC) product, too. But it's a small bottle - and I also have a big sack of calcium nitrate and a fairly good sized one of Epsom salt in case I have a plant with a deficiency in one but not the other... and a pH meter to allow me to ascertain whether the deficiency might actually be a nutrient lock-out situation.

I'm on a strict budget for this first grow, I decided I won't buy additional CalMag until I don't see that my plants need it.

Sometimes the grower who barely has two pennies to rub together can do as well - or even better - than the one with fistfuls of cash. After all, lol, he/she will (hopefully) tend to make sure that es actually needs a product before purchasing it. Alice, I just mentioned, above, two products that might be helpful (alone or in concert), calcium nitrate and Epsom salt. The latter can be found at most every grocery store and pharmacy (which means that generic "store brands" are available) and there might even already be some in your bathroom cabinet, at least if you're older than 25, lol (I think that's when I stopped laughing uncomprehendingly every time I heard someone say, "That's going to hurt in the morning!"). The calcium nitrate product is commonly found at larger plant nurseries... and at real farm feed/supply stores. Many of them sell the stuff by the pound for those who do not need - and/or cannot afford - a 50-pound bag of it. As with most dry nutrients, a little goes a long way. Just be aware that calcium nitrate contains nitrogen in it - and that, therefore, you might find it advantageous to reduce the level of nitrogen in your nutrient mix when adding Ca(NO₃)₂ to it. Most calcium nitrate labelled for agricultural use is typically around 15½% nitrogen (15.5-0-0) and 19% calcium. Calcium seems to be the second most important element after nitrogen to cannabis plants (and to plants in general; they probably use more of it than they do phosphorous).

If I add calcium nitrate, I'll do so first, and ensure that it's thoroughly dissolved before adding anything else. My concern is with not wishing to precipitate out / create gypsum. I don't know how valid a concern this is. If I'm adding silicon, though, I'll probably add that first, ensure it's completely dissolved, and then add the calcium nitrate. I never adjust pH until I've added everything (else) that I'm going to, because such additions will tend to change the solution's pH anyway. Is this in line with everyone else's thinking in terms of mixing nutrients, or...?

 

[farside05]

Calcium seems to be the second most important element after nitrogen to cannabis plants (and to plants in general; they probably use more of it than they do phosphorous).

Check this POST. Start around the 10 minute mark (although all of it is good). Calcium was #1. I hadn't listened to it all in a while. I thought N was #1 also, but it's #4. It goes Calcium, Potassium, Silicon, then Nitrogen.

 

[AliceGG]

Alice, I just mentioned, above, two products that might be helpful (alone or in concert), calcium nitrate and Epsom salt.

Good tip, I checked them, I can buy both at a fairly cheap price, thank you

and there might even already be some in your bathroom cabinet, at least if you're older than 25, lol

I'm exactly 25, haha it may be the borderline year for getting this salt

 

[bobrown14]

For Ca I always incorporate:

Short, medium and long release soil amendments.

Short = worm castings + Kelp meal
medium = Gypsum + Crustacean meal (crab/lobster).
Long = oyster shell flower and Crustacean meal.

Add kelp meal/crustacean meal/Oyster shell flower to you compost bin and you will have readily available Ca when you add your compost to your soil mix or top dress with it going into flower.


This ^^^^ of course is how we do it organically if that's a thing for you.

 

[AliceGG]

For Ca I always incorporate:

Short, medium and long release soil amendments.

Short = worm castings + Kelp meal
medium = Gypsum + Crustacean meal (crab/lobster).
Long = oyster shell flower and Crustacean meal.

Add kelp meal/crustacean meal/Oyster shell flower to you compost bin and you will have readily available Ca when you add your compost to your soil mix or top dress with it going into flower.


This ^^^^ of course is how we do it organically if that's a thing for you.

Well, the thing about composting is I live in a flat, not in a house, but I will try to keep it as organic as I can.

Btw, I've just put the first seed in hot water 5 minutes ago, so the journey began

 

[AliceGG]

It's a Royal AK Automatic from Royal Queen Seeds with the following info:

Autoflowering version of a potent well mixed strain
Originally a hybrid of Columbian, Mexican, Thai and Afghani, AK47 is classic strain of cannabis. This mostly Sativa strain is known and loved by many for its heavy-hitting effects and good yields. Royal AK Automatic has been awarded with many awards over the years.
Now this potent strain has been upgraded to a full automatic, the Royal AK Automatic. We crossed the classic AK47 with our best autoflowering genetics. Much like the original, this autoflowering hybrid produces potent resin-covered buds, with a somewhat spicy yet sweet taste. The aroma is almost like musky, sweet incense.
Very similar effect to the Feminized variety
Royal AK Automatic’s high is happy and active, giving a nice up high balanced with a gentle body stone. Strong and smooth just like the original. The only real difference is that the Royal AK Automatic is easier to grow and can be harvested in just 9 to 10 weeks after planting the seed.
It will grow to a maximum height of around 80 to 100 cm, this allows Royal AK Automatic to be grown almost anywhere. This potent autoflowering strain gives great yields in the right conditions, producing up to 160 g per plant! Like all of our strains, the Royal AK Automatic seeds are feminized, making even easier to grow them.

• THC: 15%
• CBD: Low
• Yield Indoor : 425 - 475 gr/m2
• Yield Outdoor: 110 - 160 gr/plant
• Height Indoor: 60 - 70 cm
• Height Outdoor: 70 - 100 cm
• Flowering time: 5 - 7 weeks
• Harvest Month: 9-10 weeks after sprouting
• Genetic Background: AK 47 x Ruderalis
• Type: Sativa 35% Indica 40% Ruderalis 25%
• Effect: Happy and active
• Flavor: Spices, Sour
• Climate: Cold

Do any of you have experience with this strain?